Welcome To My World!

WHO ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS?

They stick with you and stand by you. They hold your hand. They watch you live and you watch them live and you learn from them. Your life is not the same without them.

ST. PAUL SUBTERRANEAN NATIONAL PARK (Palawan)

A picturesque stretch of a river, running for an unknown length that overwhelms the beholder, is the main fare offered by the Subterranean River. Emptying itself into St. Paul bay, this physical wonder was appropriately described by a visitor thus: "Nature sculpture is everywhere." Carved by time itself, unaided by the hand of man, there reposes a complete and finished griffin (or is it a Sphinx resting amid the sands of the desert?). Between stately stone pillars rises a series of steps leading from the water to some temple within. Then the cavern stretches away, an almost perfect rectangle with walls and ceiling decorated with many colors - surely the deft work of an artistic, designing hand. One sharp turn of the way and there appears a huge stalactite glittering like a chandelier from the ceiling of some great ballroom. Suddenly, one boat glides into a great chamber resplendent with colors and decoration like a stage set for a scene in some grand opera.

AUGUST 4
ST. JOHN VIANNEY

John Mary Vianney was born in Lyons, France, in 1786. As a child he took care of his father's sheep. He loved to pray but he also loved to play horseshoes. When John was eighteen, he asked his father's permission to become a priest. His father was worried because John had become a big help on the family farm. After two years, Mr. Vianney agreed. At twenty, John studied under Father Balley. The priest was very patient but Latin soon became a major problem for John. He became discouraged. It was then that he decided to walk sixty miles to the shrine of St. John Francis Regis, a popular saint in France. We celebrate his feast on June 16. John prayed for help. After that pilgrimage, he had as much trouble as ever with his studies. The difference was that he never again grew discouraged.

John was finally able to enter the seminary. Studies were hard. No matter how much he tried, he never did very well. When the final examinations came, they were spoken, not written. John had to face a board of teachers and answer their questions. He was so upset that he broke down in the middle of the test. Yet, because John was a holy man, he was full of common sense and he understood what the Church taught about the subjects. He knew the right answers when asked what should be done in this case or that. He just couldn't say those answers in the complicated style of Latin text books. John was ordained anyway. He understood what the priestly vocation was and his goodness was beyond question.

He was sent to a little parish called Ars. Father Vianney fasted and did hard penance for his people. He tried to stop them from sinning. They drank too much, worked all day Sunday and never went to church. Many used terrible language. Eventually, one tavern after another closed down because business became so slow. People began to worship regularly on Sundays and attended weekday Mass. The swearing was not so frequent. What had happened in Ars? "Our priest is a saint," the people would say, "and we must obey him."
God gave John the power to see into people's minds and to know the future. Because of this gift, he converted many sinners and helped people make the right decisions. Pilgrims began to come to Ars. In time, it was hundreds a day. St. John Vianney spent twelve to sixteen hours daily hearing confessions. He wanted so much to spend the rest of his life in a monastery. Instead, he stayed forty-two years at Ars and died there in 1859 at the age of seventy-three.

St. John Vianney was proclaimed a saint in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.

Daily Reading & Meditation

Friday (8/4): "Is this not the carpenter's son?"

Scripture: Matthew 13:54-58

54 and coming to his own country he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?" 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

Meditation: Are you critical towards any of your family members and neighbors you grew up with? No critics are more severe than kin and neighbors who have known you for a long time - maybe even from childhood. Jesus faced a severe testing when he returned to his home town of Nazareth where he grew up, not simply as the carpenter's son, but now as a rabbi with disciples. It was customary for Jesus to attend the weekly synagogue service wherever he went and on many occasions he was invited to read the scriptures and comment on them to the people. His hometown folks listened with rapt attention on this occasion because they had heard about the miracles he had performed in other towns. What sign would he do in his hometown? Jesus startled them with a seeming rebuke that no prophet or servant of God can receive honor among his own people. The people of Nazareth took offense at him and refused to listen to what he had to say. They despised his preaching because he was someone they had known as a laborer who worked with his hands, the son of a carpenter, a mere layman, with no distinguished family background. Don't we often do the same? How easy it is to look down on somone you know and to despise that person because you are familiar with their upbringing or their family. Jesus could do no mighty works in his hometown because those familiar with him were closed and disbelieving towards him. If people have come together to hate and to refuse to understand, then they will see no other point of view than their own and they will refuse to love and accept others.