We live in an age when laity, clergy, and religious are seeking holy guides. These confusing and dark days have left countless people discouraged. I repeatedly have conversations with friends in the clergy and the laity who are in search of a spiritual director but cannot seem to find one. Kevin Wells has sought to provide a warm hearth in this dark wintertime through the literary resurrection of St. John Vianney in his most recent book, Coached by the Curé: Lessons on Shepherding with St. John Vianney.
I remember clearly the words of a confessor to me years ago: “Turn to the lives of the saints as your guides.” Wells does just that for the numerous families searching for clarity in the midst of soul-crushing ambiguity. While the book is targeted for parents who want to keep their children Catholic or commit to the spiritual battle to bring them back to the Church, the patron saint of parish priests has plenty of direct advice to priests and their call to save souls no matter the cost.
During the summer of shame that was 2018, Wells turned to deep study of St. John Vianney in order to understand the call of the ministerial priesthood—and the common priesthood—and the requirements for growing in holiness. Many would argue that St. John Vianney’s approach is outdated or extreme, but the fruit of his priestly ministry counters these often-worldly objections. It was precisely in Vianney’s willingness to be crucified for his flock that Christ brought resurrection to Ars and wider France after the chaos and destruction of the French Revolution.
Wells’ literary resurrection of St. John Vianney as a coach for our souls is steeped in biographical accounts and teachings from his life. This simple, country parish priest becomes the spiritual director we all need.
Both as a mother and a campus minister, I am confronted with the darkness of our age. It is St. John Vianney’s quiet witness before the Tabernacle that resonates with me every time I step on the college campus where I serve.
On more than one occasion, I have found myself in the candlelight before a statue of Our Lady, praying the Rosary with one student while many souls are lost in promiscuity, drunken binges, hedonism, witchcraft, and even Satanism across the campus. My own daughter faces the uphill climb to holiness in a world that has turned its back on the Gospel. I spend long hours before the Tabernacle for her and the souls of students, priests, and seminarians entrusted to my spiritual care and intercession by Our Lady.
To many, an emphasis on prayer above all else is folly. Even within the Church, we are paralyzed by a lifeless activism that yields very little lasting fruit. It is when we focus on deep lives of prayer that we are able to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in order to save souls within our families, ministries, parishes, and the wider culture. This life of prayer is what allowed St. John Vianney to reach into cavernous darkness and broken places of the lost in his community.
Wells continues by drawing on St. John Vianney’s deep devotion to Our Blessed Mother. Endless souls in multiple generations have been shattered against the sharp rocks of divorce. Our culture is filled with the walking wounded who have never known the deep love of a mother and father. Within families and on college campuses, I have encountered scores of young people who do not know their own worth and dignity. Whether it’s the lies of the culture or broken families, these men and women are shipwrecked and adrift. St. John Vianney provides the solution: Our Heavenly Mother.
The love of a mother can transform souls. The love of a perfect Mother raises up saints. This same Mother also crushes the head of the legions of demons that are seeking to drag young people away from Christ. We see it within our families as our technocratic age perpetuates Cartesian dualism to a radical degree. Young people—and the rest of us—have become zombies before screens where choruses of demons keep us enthralled with virtual reality so we will not raise our eyes to heaven.
Turning to Our Blessed Mother as the sure guide to Christ is what is needed in this age of broken, lonely, and addicted hearts. Her tender, motherly care and fierce defense of her children will keep the enemy at bay so long as we invite her in. She will bind the wounds of generations who have not known the gentle love of a mother. If we are to fight for souls, then we must follow St. John Vianney’s example and hide ourselves within the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Mary and entrust our children and all those we love and serve to Her care.
As Wells draws us deeper into the wisdom of St. John Vianney, we are coached with the difficult truth that we must abandon worldly comfort. It is no accident that desert spirituality is making a comeback in our own day. Men and women are starting to wake up to the lies of our age and the false seductions of Satan. It’s as if many of us have woken from slumber to discover that materialism, consumerism, and addiction to comfort is spiritually killing us.
St. John Vianney’s coaching in Wells’ book leads us to the ancient and ever new practices of mortification and penance so that we may find true freedom in Christ and the hope that souls will be saved through our unification with Christ Crucified. The decades of a Cross-less Church are coming to an end. It is the Cross that we must raise high, for it is our sword that will vanquish sins and the enemy. We cannot hope to save fallen away souls if we are unwilling to sacrifice on their behalf. Countless saints down through the ages are witnesses to this reality, with St. John Vianney being one of the most powerful in recent centuries.
St. John Vianney was known for his prayer and penances. The devil once told him: “If there were three such priests as you, my kingdom [in France] would be ruined.” If this is true for this priest, it is also true for parents and others who desire to save souls with Christ. We must start to focus on the things of heaven with great earnestness and learn detachment through mortification.
The call to holiness is not particularly complex. It is difficult and arduous, but it is not complicated. The smallest child to the most learned of spiritual masters and theologians can do it because Christ provides the necessary graces when we lean completely on Him. The saints lived holiness through frequent reception of the Sacraments, lives of deep prayer and penance, love of the Blessed Mother (and St. Joseph), service to others above themselves, and complete trust in the Lord.
For those in the Church who are seeking a spiritual director, look to St. John Vianney. Kevin Wells’ literary coaching through St. John Vianney’s teachings is the answer to the countless members of the Church who are seeking guidance and wisdom on the path to holiness during this spiritual wintertime.
Editor’s Note: This article was inspired by Kevin Wells’ book, Coached by the Curé: Lessons on Shepherding with St. John Vianney, available from Scepter Publishers.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
