A Faithful Priest

*Simple statue of St John Vianney. Photo Mr G*.

One of my most treasured possessions is a plain plaster statue of a French parish priest known universally as the Curé d’Ars—so named because for over 40 years he served the parish of Ars-en-Dombes.

John-Marie Baptiste Vianney (whose feast day we keep on August 4th) was brought up in a peasant farming family near Lyons. He was born in 1786 and as a child of farmers he was given very little formal education. Yet, by the time he was 20 he had heard God’s call to ordination and had begun to study for the priesthood.
He found study very hard and on more than one occasion his superiors thought to end his time in the seminary. However, they noted his devotion to God and a quality of holiness which far outweighed academic ability. They saw a young man whose heart God had touched.

He was ordained and after a curacy he was appointed the Parish Priest of a backwater village—Ars. He went there in 1818 and remained until his death in 1859 on August 4th. Very quickly he gained a reputation for being a preacher and people began to flock to hear him. At the same time he became known as a priest who could give wise and gentle counsel to souls in distress.
Very soon people began to consult him and to bare their souls to him.

The trickle of people became a stream and then a torrent. Many came to him to receive both God’s forgiveness and wise counsel.
All was rooted in personal prayer and devotion. He would preach a sermon daily at 11am and then spend many hours in hearing confessions and giving spiritual direction. He was often moved to tears by the things people told him and he brought to them the comfort born out of someone who understood human weakness and the power of God’s love.

He was offered more important jobs in the Church and he also struggled with a call to the monastic life but he stayed where God had put him and in so doing put the little village of Ars on the map—not only in his own day but for all time.

Not surprisingly, after his death, he was declared a Saint and he became known as the Patron Saint of Parish Priests. As an example of the devotion and service priests are called to emulate, this is hardly surprising.
The simple statue I have, unadorned by paint, is a reminder of what priesthood means.
Here’s one of my favourite sayings of his:

Speaking of the difference between private and public prayer, he said:

“Private prayer is like straw scattered here and there : if you set it on fire it makes a lot of little flames. But gather these straws into a bundle and light them and you get a mighty fire, rising like a column into the sky. Public prayer is like that.”

[Mr G. August 4th 2026]

Blessing Bread at Lammas

Rural England has a number of festivals which in earlier times were celebrated much more fully in the Country and in the Church than is the case today. Lammas which falls on the 1st August was one of these and it is good that in this time of renewed caring for Creation, Agricultural festivals and observances are regaining an emphasis and in many parts of our world.

Lammas is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word, hlafmæsse, which means loaf-mass and from the 9th century a church festival was celebrated in which a newly baked loaf was presented for use at the Eucharist. This celebrated the corn harvest.
Rural Festivals take us back to our roots and help us to remember the close affinity we have with nature and the earth, on which we depend for our sustenance. In these days of supermarkets and fast food shops it is easy to forget this dependence though nature has a way of reminding us.
This week we have seen the terrible devastation caused by wildfires in Spain, France, Suffolk, and Scotland and the earthquake in Japan. Other places have suffered from what I see as a ‘shuddering’ of the earth as it suffers as humanity is complacent and even in denial about the planet we call ‘home’ and which we certainly take for granted.

Whilst those who are affected most cannot be blamed and deserve our compassion, we do need to remember the delicate balance of our planet which God has ordered so magnificently. We play with this balance at our peril and throughout the world at any given time we are often reminded what can happen when we fail to respect this.
Not all catastrophes are made by humans.
The planet is a volatile ball floating in a vast universe. Humanity occupies such a small part of this and if we stand in a clear spot on a dark night and look at the stars we realise our smallness in the midst of such vastness. Yet we also seem to have a belief in our own invincibility as a race as we make so-called progress which harnesses nature (or at least tries to). That of course is when we are distracted from killing each other!
Our forebears had no such view and they lived in healthy respect of nature’s force. They also remembered that the author of creation, God, is to be thanked and praised. That is why the Agricultural Year was punctuated with festivals such as Lammas. It would do us no harm to follow their example.

In a modern Lammas act of worship, there is a bidding which is made as a new loaf is presented to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the people of God in ancient times presented to the Lord an offering of first-fruits as a sign of their dependence upon God for their daily bread…

and this is followed by a Prayer which roots our lives back into both God and His Creation.

Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation;
you bring forth bread from the fields
and give us the fruits of the earth in their seasons.
Accept this loaf, which we bring before you,
made from the harvest of your goodness.
Let it be for us a sign of your fatherly care.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, worthy of our thanksgiving and praise.

Saying this prayer as you are about to eat bread , or when we receive the bread of the Eucharist at Holy Communion, would remind you of God’s goodness to you and help you to respect His Creation.

This is reflected in the Jewish Faith where a Shabbat prayer before the Friday meal might be “Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who brings forth bread from the earth.” Similarly, in Islam, blessing a meal involves a short prayer, remembering God and giving thanks before and after eating.
There are prayers and mantras chanted in the Hindu religion giving thanks to God before partaking of a meal, the most popular being one that is known as the ‘Bhojan Mantra’ (Sanskrit). Reciting this is a way for the Hindu devotee to offer the food to God and express gratitude before eating. Other religions acknowledge the importance of giving thanks to God for food, harvest and the blessings of creation.

Throughout the world there is indescribable poverty and hunger. We cannot bless creation and allow humanity to starve and suffer malnutrition.For exampIe in Sudan so many are dying and suffering from lack of food.
May Lammas observance help us all to thank God for His creation and in so doing, determine to make our Mother Earth a better place, held together by the Love of God for all.

[Mr. G, Lammas Day. August 1st 2026]

The Flourishing of Creation

Photo of hydrangea in the Lake District, by Gill Henwood.

A summer pondering from Gill Henwood

Hydrangea : Planted long ago by slate steps leading into a spinney on the edge of a track, the huge shrub now blocks access
but is too beautiful to tame.

Above is a ‘handkerchief’ tree, davidia involucra, also known as the ‘dove’ tree, both from the creamy hanging bracts in the spring, around the small flowers. The tall tree shades the hydrangea which isn’t drooping in the heatwave.
There are underground streams in the spinney, flowing into Black Beck in the vale and on to Esthwaite Water,
our local lake.

The hydrangea suckers, providing new plants to give away. The handkerchief tree sets masses of nutmeg sized seeds, chewed by mice and scattered all over the garden.
Shoots emerge and saplings can be moved and given away too.

Over a century, these plants and trees have made their home in the windswept, rainy Lake District. The spinney shelters them from the western winds and shelters the old farmstead (dating back to at least 1536). People knew where to site their homes, against the slate rock wall, near a spring or stream, and to plant trees for shelter and shade.

We need tall shading trees and shelter today, to learn from our forebears how Creation flourishes despite heat and winds. May we, as stewards in our small ways, pay our part in protecting Creation, not least all creatures great and small.

[Gill Henwood. July 2026]

God of love, show us our place in this world
as channels of your love
for all the creatures of this earth,
for not one of them is forgotten in your sight.
Enlighten those who possess power and money
that they may avoid the sin of indifference,
that they may love the common good, advance the weak,
and care for this world in which we live.
The poor and the earth are crying out.
O Lord, seize us with your power and light,
help us to protect all life,
to prepare for a better future,
for the coming of your Kingdom
of justice, peace, love and beauty.
Praise be to you!
Amen.

Summer afternoon

Summer afternoon

Dozing in and out of an open book,
hot-headed in the baking brightness,
sounds coalesce:

Ears buffeted by eddying breezes,
conversations drifting across fencetops,
a lazy wind-chime,
gravel crunch and a distant saw.

The wheeze and hum,
click and whir of hidden insects.
Flies, like far-off squadrons of returning airmen
and the lilting strobe of gaudy wings
on crazy flightpaths.

[Piers Northam]