St. John Vianney Keeps Us On Track During Our Work Today

St. John Vianney will help keep us on track at work today. He'll provide a series of insights that will take us out of ourselves and help us move an inch or two closer to God.

We won't need to set aside a chunk of time for this. We can plunge right into our daily task list and attend to each item with diligence, performing each task with fervor and exactness.

That last phrase - with fervor and exactness - is one we learned from Father Willie Doyle. It was a favorite of his. If we're determined to work for the greater glory of God, it's meaning is self-evident.

So we'll kick off with some comments by Father Willie about St. John Vianney: 

Making my meditation before the picture of the Blessed (John Vianney), he seemed to say to me with an interior voice: “The secret of my life was that I lived for the moment. I did not say, I must pray here for the next hour, but only for this moment. I did not say, I have a hundred confessions to hear, I but looked upon this one as the first and last. I did not say, I must deny myself everything and always, but only just this once. By this means I was able always to do everything perfectly, quietly and in great peace. Try and live this life of the present moment. Pray as if you had nothing else whatever to do; say your Office slowly as if for the last time; do not look forward and think you must often repeat this act of self-denial. This will make all things much easier.” 

We can easily see how to apply St. John Vianney's words to our work today, especially if we're super-busy, even overwhelmed by our work load.

Start by stepping back from that load and narrow our focus to the task at hand - and only that task. We don't have to consider all the rest that will come after this task. We simply address the task at hand, and only that task as our first and last. First and last.

If we can corral our emotions and any anxiety that may be part of those emotions, we can perform our current task perfecly, quietly and in great peace. That will place us and keep us in the present moment, a practice we've discussed many times in the past.

So far so good. Now let's bring in some more St. John Vianney to lift us out of ourselves as we work our way through this day.
  

There are people who make capital out of everything, even the winter. If it is cold they offer their little sufferings to God.

A Christian either rules his inclinations or his inclinations rule him.

God has given each of us our work to do. It is for us to pursue our road, that is to say, our vocation…When God gives such and such a vocation, He bestows upon us at the same time His grace to fulfil it. 

Very few people invite Jesus Christ to their wedding; on the contrary they seem to do all they can to keep him away.

The way to destroy bad habits is by watchfulness and by doing often those things which are the opposite one’s besetting sins.

We all make wonderful promises to God so long as nobody says anything to us, and all goes well

All soldiers are good in garrison. On the field of battle we see the difference between the brave and cowardly.

We must be like the shepherds in the fields during the winter. They have a fire, but from time to time they search about for sticks to keep it alive. If we knew how to keep up the fire of the love of God in our heart by prayers and good works, it would not go out.

In the soul which is united to God it is always spring.