We have heard of some outstanding men and women of their achievement and success due to the possession of two great virtues of humility and simplicity. They are on lips and in the minds and hearts of millions of people for centuries. They have left a path of success both in the spiritual and physical fields. They have taught by their lives that these two virtues and values can sail our sinking ship of humanity. These men and women especially saints who are officially declared and millions where not declare are respected and loved by people of all caste, creed, color, and religion. Through their sheer confidence in the grace of God and unfailing collaboration with God bring them to be models of millions of people centuries after centuries. These men and women from all walks of life and religion were human and humane, had guts to be faithful to the call and vocation, went through suffering and pain but hanged in there with simplicity and humility.
St. John Vinney is one of them who though simple and uneducated climbed the ladder of spiritual success and brought change and conversion in the lives of millions. He did not become revengeful and arrogant when rejected and told that he would not be able to study. His fame and name is so wide-spread and live so long because there was a pure intention to love God and serve humanity. He believed and trusted in God and in himself that everything is possible to achieve when we accept the situation as it is presented to us. He did not have extraordinary powers but ordinary powers with a simple and believing heart that he submitted himself to the Creator who worked wonders through him. Through prayer and contemplation, confidence and persistence like the woman in the Gospel seeking justice which she received. John climbed higher and higher in the spiritual world only through simplicity, obedience, and humility and there was no ounce of arrogance. He considered himself lowly who was willing to make the grace of God operative and achieve the ability to defeat evil around and become an instrument of God’s grace of forgiveness and blessing.
St. John Vinney is loved and respected mostly because of his life of prayer, simplicity, and humility, his readiness to be available to the needy who were spiritually hungry. He strongly believed that the key to spiritual life is only a commitment to God’s mission and being faithful to our vocation as priests. What made him popular across the community of all ages, caste, creed, religion, race, and generation because he was open and transparent to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. St. John Vinney has been a role model for so many priests and religious, faithful, and consecrated people being a man of simplicity and humility. Pope Francis, Holy Father reminds us of St. Vianney, whenever he performs acts of mercy and compassion when he speaks of being simple and humble or he does show that in his life. When Francis was elected as the Pontiff of the Catholic Church, he bowed his head and asked thousands of faithful to bless him – a sign of simplicity and humility. A sign of spiritual connection with people and heart longing to be always pure and simple.
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