Memorial of Saint John Mary Vianney
Today's Mass Readings
Today’s first reading from the prophet Jeremiah tells the story of a sort of prophecy competition between Hananiah and Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s message to the people has consistently been a negative one, warning the people of suffering. Hananiah, meanwhile, promises peace to the people, and the recovery of their own self-government. Jeremiah desires peace as much as any other person. But Jeremiah does not think it is necessarily realistic, especially because the people have not repented as they ought to have. It’s easy to see that Hananiah would have been a more popular prophet than Jeremiah. Who wants to hear about death, destruction, woe, and misery when you can look forward instead to a brighter future of freedom, peace, and prosperity? Jeremiah, then, represents what the people don’t want to hear. Jesus’ own popularity as represented in this section of Matthew seems great; apparently people want to hear what he has to say. Crowds have been following him around, and he has reached out to them by preaching, healing, and even feeding the multitude of people. In today’s passage, we find Jesus sending the disciples on ahead of him so that he can dismiss the crowd. What follows is a well-known story: Jesus decides to rejoin the disciples by walking to them on the water. It’s no wonder that they assumed the figure they saw was a ghost. What human being have you met that could walk on water? Peter, however, shows an impressive demonstration of faith b y petitioning Jesus to command him to come to Jesus. Peter walks out toward Jesus and makes progress until he becomes afraid and sinks.
Jesus, catching him, does not commend Peter for his superb moments of water-walking. Rather he describes Peter as “you of little faith” (Mt. 14:31). Surely this is not what Peter wanted to hear at that moment, especially when the others in the boat recognize in Jesus’ miracle that Jesus is the Son of God. Peter probably would have preferred Jesus to say, “nice try” or “it just takes practice.” Alas! The true prophet such as Jesus does not always tell us what we want to hear.
This truism, however, is what makes a prophet a prophet. Unlike Hananiah, the message of a prophet is challenging. Jesus hear challenges Peter to keep his belief consistent, and to keep his actions consonant with that faith. So too are we called to accept the challenges of the Christian life, even when it involves suffering and difficulty or just downright failure. In other words, we are called to want to hear that which we do not want to hear.
Today we celebrate the feast of St. John Mary Vianney, a priest renowned for his work as a spiritual director and catechist. He was not a great student – very poor at Latin and on first attempt failed the seminary entrance exam – and undoubtedly he had to hear what he didn’t want to hear in regard to his own weaknesses. And yet, St. John Vianney eventually became sought after for his ability to communicate to others, to guide them in their discernment, to instruct people not necessarily in what they wanted to hear, but in what they needed to hear.
Let us pray that we can seek out the wisdom of others in our community not merely because they will confirm us in what we want to think or do, but because they will challenge us to live our faith more fully. Let us be willing to hear what we do not want to hear, and let us grow even to desire to hear that which we might prefer not to hear.
- Maria Morrow