A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Matthew. After the crowds had eaten their fill, this, of course, follows yesterday's reading of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, and it's on the eastern shore of the lake to Galilee. So after the crowds had eaten their fill, Jesus insisted that his disciples get into a boat and go ahead of him to the other side of the lake across to Capernaum. When Jesus had sent them away, he himself went up on the mountain by himself to pray, remaining there alone as evening drew on. Meanwhile, the boat, already several 100 yards out from shore, was being tossed about in the waves raised by strong headwinds.
At about three in the morning, Jesus came walking toward them on the lake. One of the remember, these the the disciples in that in this boat were seasoned watermen. They came from the the lake area that they were fishing. When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, they were terrified. It's a ghost, they cried out.
And in their fear, they began to shout. Jesus hastened to reassure them. I love this translation. Get hold of yourselves. You can just imagine a couple fishermen saying that.
You know? Anyway, get hold of yourselves, if they tell our put this in English. It is I, do not be afraid. Peter spoke up and said, Lord, if it's really you here's old Peter, you know. Lord, if it's really you, tell us to come to you across the water.
Come, Jesus said. So Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water. Think of this in terms of men who spent their whole lives around the lake. And he found himself moving toward Jesus. But when he perceived how strong the wind was, he got frightened and began to sink.
And then Peter cried out, Lord, save me. Jesus at once stretched out his hand and caught ahold of Peter. How little faith you have, Jesus said. Why did you falter? Once they had climbed into the boat, the wind died.
And those who were in the boat showed Jesus reverence declaring, undoubtedly, you are the son of god. After making the crossing, they reached the shore of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they spread the word throughout the whole region. People brought to Jesus all the afflicted with the plea that he let them do no more than touch the tassel of his cloak. As many as touched it were fully restored to health, and this is the gospel of the lord.
And that's one of my very favorite stories from the New Testament. It's absolutely so human. I think of that in terms of the West River. It's just incredible. The main thing about it is they at the end, they say, you are the son of god.
Now today, we are celebrating you see the white Vespas, the feast of saint the of Victoria of ours. That's how he's most familiarly known, Victoria of ours. His name was John Vienne, Saint John Viennet. His dates he was born in 1786 and died in 1859. And notice that date, 1786.
Anyway, the point is this. There are all kinds of stories about him, or there used to be. He's a forgotten man now. Remember, this will tell you something. A few years ago, when the holy father visited France on a formal visit, and then he was going to make an explicit visit to the Gurria to to the to Arles, which is down near Lyon, southern part of France.
A petition was signed by a great number of French priests asking the holy father not to go to ours because they didn't want to have the curie of ours given that attention because he is was not and is not the ideal parish priest anymore. You understand. The church has moved ahead. Think of that. Anyway, he's a saint.
The church thinks pretty well of him. And the point I wanna make is he wasn't that dumb ox that people that you hear about. You see, Saint Thomas the Conyers was called a dumb ox. It seems to be a a real tribute to you to be called a dumb ox. He wasn't the brightest of boys either.
Remember, as I I'd ask you to notice that date, 1789. The or whatever. The point is that he when he came into this world, he came into a very disturbed country. France was in in the throes of its of a war. He got barely he very little elementary education, and he certainly didn't learn Latin.
Now keep that in the back of your head or in the front of your head. Because when he went to the seminary to study theology, that was all in Latin, and I'm acquainted with that. When I first started to teach the seminarians, we taught the stuff in Latin. That's that's really interesting. For people who don't know know Latin, have no philosophy behind them, they try to know what's going on in a foreign language.
You know, it's pretty silly, isn't it? Of course, you see what you could do. You could either eliminate Latin or you could teach them enough Latin to know what's going on. Keep that in mind too. Anyway, he he he got a he practically had no elementary education.
He went through the war. He got into trouble. He he detached himself from his detachment, and that's going good and that's called going taking leave without permission, AWOL. He fled into the mountains, spent spent his time there, then there was a general amnesty. Then he decided to become a priest.
And he went into the prep seminary, the preliminary seminary, got through that, and then he went to study theology. As I say, that was all in Latin. There were textbooks in Latin. The lectures were in Latin. Examinations were in Latin.
And he didn't know Latin. Well, let us say he did not have a distinguished career in theology. Matter of fact, he was so distinguished that he was asked to leave. So he left, but he knew a priest named Montigne b a l l e y. And he just not would get would not give up on on on John Bally.
So he taught him himself using his language native language. He gave him examinations, and then he was given from then the bishop agreed to ordain him. So he was ordained a priest and sent to a almost an abandoned parish. Not as a pastor. It was just a mission.
Had 256 families or persons. 256. The church was in ruins. It wasn't as bad as you read about it. It was just a normally a normal village that had lost its faith for the most part.
It's religious practices. Practices. The The church church was was in in ruins. Ruins. So was their Catholic life in ruins.
Now what I want you to remember is this. He did three things when he got to this abandoned, deserted parish. Notice he's just out of the seminary, and he was ordained for two reasons, because of his goodness and common sense. That's what got him ordained. So when he went to this little town of only 206 people, he did three things.
The first thing he did was to restore the church with his own hands and the help of the parishioners. The church, this physical edifice. And he didn't build a church. I'm sure of that, as we're doing today, of course. The second thing he did was to visit his parishioners, everyone.
The third thing he did was to teach catechism. To teach catechism. That's a naughty word. Let me tell you how naughty it is. Within the next few months, we will be getting, I'm assured, what is called the catech or the universal church.
This will be the sec will be the successor to the catechism of the council of Trent, sixteenth century. When when when the tentative edition of that was sent around, you know what happened in Washington. The Woodstock Theological Center had a had a had a a a two meetings in which they already it it notice it wasn't even legally published yet, voiced their opposition to the catechism. And now the opposition to this catechism, which will come out from Rome and which has been years in the making and which has had the review and the comments of all the bishops of the world, the forces against it are already organized to fight it. They don't want it because we mustn't have doctrine.
As a friend of mine recently was told by the the director of religious education, don't think about a catechism. Teach the bible. That's our church today. Three things Viennet did when he went to restore the power, and he restored it. It became it became a very vital, virile, active, vigorous Catholic parish.
First thing he did was to rebuild the church. The second thing he did was to visit his parishioners. And the third thing he did was to teach catechism. And when he did it, he got in the pulpit in a surplus to teach him. Three things.
And now he's the forgotten man. But the church remembers him. We are celebrating today the feast of Saint John Vienne, the of Ars. This mass is being offered for mister Dove, and he was a great friend to all of us, as you know, and I'm sure a lot of us miss him.