The following is the homily I preached for the novena to St. John Vianney at St. John Vianney Parish in Northlake, IL.
My friends in Christ,
It is an honor to be with you this evening. Prior to entering seminary, I attended Mass here on most Sundays, downstairs for the Tridentine Mass. During my time in seminary, the Knights of Columbus here were very generous and supportive of my vocation. This parish will always be special to me. As a newly ordained priest, it is also an honor to be able to take part in this novena for the patron of Parish Priests, St John Vianney. I was asked to speak to you tonight about “Exquisite Purity.” Something that of course describes our Lord, Jesus Christ, and Our Lady, but also St. John himself.
We are not born pure. We are born with the stain of original sin that we inherit from our first parents Adam and Eve. It is by virtue of our baptism that we are made pure. But of course, due to the effects of original sin, namely concupiscence, it is a struggle for us to maintain this gift. How then, do we do this? St. John tells us “ We must shut our heart against pride, against sensuality, and all the other passions, as one shuts the doors and windows that nobody may be able to get in.” In order to avoid sin, we must avoid the near occasions of sin. This is especially true when it comes to sins against purity. We must flee from the occasions of sin in this regard. We need to make sure the books we read, the tv shows we watch, and the websites we visit are not ones that will lead us away from purity. I know this is difficult, especially in today’s media climate. But we must work at this. For parents, you need to make sure you know what your children are viewing. Do not let them have a smartphone and if you do, make sure you put controls on it. I know I sound like an old man harping on about the evils of technology. Technology of course is morally neutral, but we need to have the wisdom to know how to use it best. This is why we need to protect our children from the filth that is out there.
The best way to approach this subject is to first look at what purity is. Luckily for us, John Vianney wrote on this subject in his Instructions on the Catechism. St John tells us: “Nothing is so beautiful as a pure soul. If we understood this, we could not lose our purity. The pure soul is disengaged from matter, from earthly things, and from itself.” We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church “Baptism confers on its recipient the grace of purification from all sins. But the baptized must continue to struggle against concupiscence of the flesh and disordered desires. With God’s grace he will prevail by the virtue and gift of chastity,… by purity of intention which consists in seeking the true end of man… by purity of vision, external and internal… and by prayer.”
So what do we do when we have fallen into sins against purity? As I said there are so many ways this can happen. Temptation is everywhere. Can we recover that purity we first had at our Baptism? The answer of course is yes. It is yes because our Lord Jesus Christ loves us infinitely. The mercy he wants to share with us is endless. St John again tells us “Three things are wanted to preserve [or in this case restore] purity – the presence of God, prayer, and the Sacraments.” We can experience the presence of God in many different ways. But one of the best ways to do so is adoring our Lord in the Eucharist. I know this parish has an adoration chapel. Make use of it. Go and spend some one and one time with Jesus. Tell him what is going on in your life, the ups and the downs. Ask him for help in areas in which you struggle. When it comes to prayer we should focus on meditating with scripture and the rosary. The rosary is a powerful spiritual weapon given to us by Our Lady. We should make use of it. And of course, we need to take part in the sacramental life of the Church. In order to recover purity, we need to make regular use of the sacrament of confession. In doing so, our mortal sins are wiped away and our soul is made clean again. This then makes us worthy to receive Christ in the holy Eucharist at Mass. Here we receive the sanctifying grace that we need in order to avoid sin and do God’s will in our lives.
So my friends, let us give thanks to God for the gift of purity. Let us give thanks to him for the great example of purity, St John Vianney. Let us seek to preserve this gift in our lives through prayer and the Church’s sacramental life. If we have fallen in this regard, let us pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and get back on the path of moving towards the Lord. Let us never stop working towards purity. Let us remember these words of our patron: “The more pure we have been on earth, the nearer we shall be to Him in Heaven. When the heart is pure, it cannot help loving, because it has found the source of love, which is God. “Happy, ” says Our Lord, “are the pure in heart, because they shall see God!””
Hound of the Lord 