Gospel in Art: Feast of Saint John Vianney

Le monument de la Rencontre, Erected by the d'Antoine Givre family, © Christian Art

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 4 August 2022
Matthew 16:13-23

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of Man is?' And they said, 'Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' 'But you,' he said 'who do you say I am?' Then Simon Peter spoke up, 'You are the Christ,' he said, 'the Son of the living God.' Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.' Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

From that time Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day. Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him. 'Heaven preserve you, Lord;' he said 'this must not happen to you.' But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because the way you think is not God's way but man's.'

Reflection on the public sculpture

In 1818, Saint John Vianney (le Curé d'Ars) was appointed by his Bishop to be the parish priest at Ars in France. Apparently before his arrival, the town was very sceptical towards the Catholic faith, so it was a challenging appointment. On his way to Ars, St John got lost. He encountered a young shepherd boy by the name of Antoine Givre. After they exchanged a few words, Vianney admitted to the boy that he was lost. The little shepherd (shown in our sculpture holding a shepherd's staff) pointed him in the right direction and walked alongside his new priest friend to the small town of two hundred people. It is said that Saint John Vianney at the end of their walk said to Antoine: 'Thank you for showing me the way to Ars. Now I will show you the way to heaven'. Our sculpture shows this very moment; we see Saint John Vianney pointing towards heaven.

The work of Saint John reached far beyond the boundaries of the little town of Ars. He would often be in the confessional for over 16 hours a day. People came from all over France and beyond, to confess their sins and to hear him preach. He must have been an extraordinary man. At 2 am on the 4th August 1859 (hence his feast day today), the Lord called his faithful servant home. For nearly ten days and nights, people lined the streets in Ars waiting patiently to pay their respects to him. His funeral was attended by three hundred priests and more than six thousand people. All the neighbouring villages rang their church bells in a radius of over 10 kilometres…

The Devil writes down our sins - our Guardian Angel all our merits. Labour that the Guardian Angel's book may be full, and the Devil's empty.

LINKS

Christian Art: https://christian.art/
https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/matthew-16-13-23-2022/