thursdays with John Vianney

"This is what purifies the eye of the heart, and enables it to raise itself to true light: contempt of worldly cares, mortification of the body, contrition of heart, abundance of tears...meditation on the admirable essence of God and on his chaste truth, fervent and pure prayer, joy in God, ardent desire for Heaven.  Embrace all this and continue in it.  advance toward the light which offers itself to you as to its sons, and descends of itself into your hearts.  Take your hearts out of your chests, and give them to Him who speaks to you, and He will fill them with deific splendor, and you  will be sons and daughters of light and angels of God."

John Vianney

what we put into our hearts and minds and lives will show itself in the manner of our life.  What we choose to devote our life to, will be written all over our face, illustrated by our lives, seen in the works of our hands and words of our lips.  We are, as St. Paul says, a letter written in recommendation.   By our life choices, people read in our life either the noise of the world or the solemnity and joy of eternity.  John Vianney simply seeks to edit our life with his words so that in the end the edition that stands before God is that which most perfectly reads as a love story between the human soul and God Himself.  What remains in every page written in our blood and flesh and desire and will is a simple "yes" to God.