We celebrated the feast of St. John Vianney earlier this week but I wanted to go back to share with you something he wrote on prayer. Also, this year was declared by pope Benedict XVI to be the "Year of Priests" and the beloved Cure d'Ars is the universal patron of priests. Our minor seminary in Miami is named after him. He almost did not get ordained himself because he had such trouble with his seminary studies which were all in Latin. However, once ordained he attracted great crowds both for his ability to aid people in the confessional and for his short homilies. Here is one he gave on prayer:
"The more we pray, the more we wish to pray. Like a fish which at first swims on the surface of the water, and afterwards plunges down, and is always going deeper, the soul plunges, dives, and loses itself in the sweetness of conversing with God. Time never seems long in prayer.
The fish swimming in a little rivulet is well off, because it is in its element; but it is still better in the sea. When we pray, we should open our heart to God, like a fish when it sees the wave coming.
The good God has no need of us. God commands us to pray only because God wills our happiness, and our happiness can be found only in prayer." (Quoted in Living with Christ).
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