0 
 
Thoughts of the Cure of Ars 
 
 (John Baptist Vianney) 
 
 “ Sicut odor agri pleni.” 
 
 — Gen. xxvii. 27. 
 
 Translated by Pauline P. Stump. 
 
 Published for the 
 Benefit of the Boston Carmel. 
 
 
 Boston: 
 
 Flynn 6 ° Mahony , Publishers. 
 
 i8<p6. 
 
Copyright, 1896, 
 
 By Flynn & Mahony. 
 
 Press of John Cashman & Co. 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
^x^loo, 
 vs$<j 
 
 EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 Go, little flowers, whither the hand of the good 
 God sends you. Open your petals, exhale your 
 fragrance and embalm the souls of all who see you : 
 Florete , Flores . . . Date Odorern Ft Frondete In 
 Gratiam. 
 
 Be not ephemeral, like those flowers of our gar¬ 
 dens that bloom and die in a day; but bear fruits 
 — fruits containing the seeds of vitality: Semen 
 Fst Verbum. 
 
 May every word of these pages, falling upon the 
 soil of upright hearts enriched by fervent prayer 
 and meditation, be like the germ which, heated and 
 nourished by favorable influences, expands into a 
 beautiful flower, a magnificent tree. Let a new 
 stem arise therefrom, with its branches, its per¬ 
 fumes, its treasures, —the fruits of honor and sanc¬ 
 tity : Flores Mei, Fructus Honoris Ft Honestatis ! 
 Amen ! 
 
 A. MENNIN. 
 
 I 
 
 Paris, Vigil of Our Lord’s Nativity, 1867. 
 
 H f7 £? £? 
 
The Infant Jesus oilers His friends a tiny bou¬ 
 quet, culled from one of his choicest gardens. 
 Although years have passed since these flowerets, 
 springing from the heart of the saintly Curd of 
 Ars, first opened their petals to the light of day, 
 and many who then enjoyed their beauty and fra¬ 
 grance have descended to the tomb, even as the 
 holy Curd himself, yet, like all other plants of 
 celestial origin, they are imperishable ; time’s with¬ 
 ering hand neither leaves blight upon their beauty 
 nor diminishes the sweet odor which they erst pos¬ 
 sessed. May all who receive them now be em¬ 
 balmed with this odor; and, while praising God for 
 the graces that He vouchsafed to bestow upon the 
 work of His own hands, — the man whose life of 
 heroic abnegation challenges the admiration even 
 of unbelievers and loudly calls for a place on our 
 altars, — may they, during the devious course of 
 life’s pilgrimage, learn to look beyond earth’s mists 
 and vapors to that home on high, where an incor¬ 
 ruptible crown awaits all who have fought the good 
 fight. 
 
 TRANSLATOR. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 
 
 I. — Salvation . 
 
 II. — Love For God . 
 
 III. — The Pure Soul . 
 
 IV. — The Holy Spirit 
 
 V. — The Blessed Virgin 
 VI. — Prayer 
 VII. — The Priest . 
 
 VIII. — The Eucharist . 
 IX. — Sin 
 X. — Hell . 
 
 XI. — Suffering . 
 
 XII. — Hope and Heaven 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 i. 
 
 SALVATION. 
 
 We know the value of our soul by the efforts 
 that God makes to save it and the demon to cast it 
 into perdition. All Hell is leagued against it, all 
 Heaven in its favor. Oh, how inestimable it must be ! 
 
 To form an idea of our dignity, we must often 
 think of Heaven, Calvary and Hell. 
 
 We are as little mirrors in which God contem¬ 
 plates Himself. 
 
 We are in this world but not of this world, since 
 we daily repeat these words, Our Father Who Art 
 In Heaven. 
 
 We are much, and we are nothing. . . There is 
 nothing more grand than man when we regard his 
 soul, nothing less so when we regard his body. 
 
 We occupy ourselves with the body as if our 
 greatest care, our sole care, should be for it; while, 
 on the contrary, our greatest care should be to 
 despise it. 
 
 How shameful it is for man to descend so low — 
 man, whom God has placed so high ! 
 
8 
 
 THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 Good Christians, who labor to secure their salva¬ 
 tion, are always content and happy; for they enjoy in 
 advance the happiness of Heaven, and they will be 
 happy during all eternity; while bad Christians, who 
 take no thought for their souls, are greatly to be 
 pitied; they murmur, they are sad, they are miser¬ 
 able in this world, and they will be so during all 
 eternity. What a contrast! 
 
 II. 
 
 LOVE FOR GOD. 
 
 How beautiful to have a heart with which, little 
 as it is, we may love God ! 
 
 How beautiful to be able to please God, lowly 
 creatures though we are ! 
 
 Man has been created for love ; this explains why 
 he is so borne towards it. From one point of view, 
 he is so great that nothing on earth can satisfy him, 
 and it is only when he turns towards God that he is 
 satisfied. Keep a fish out of the water and it dies. 
 Man without God is like that fish. 
 
 To love God ! Oh, how beautiful! In Heaven 
 alone does one comprehend love. Prayer aids us 
 a little herein, because prayer is the elevation of 
 the souFto Heaven. . . 
 
 The more we know men, the less we love them. 
 It is just the contrary in regard to God, the more 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 9 
 
 we know Him, the more we love Him. This knowl¬ 
 edge inflames the soul with so great love that it can 
 no longer love nor desire anything but God. 
 
 Without faith, one is blind. He who does not 
 see, does not know; he who does not know, does 
 not love; he who does not love God, loves himself, 
 and, at the same time, his pleasures. He attaches 
 his heart to things that vanish like smoke. He can 
 know neither the truth nor aught of good. He 
 can know only falsehood because he has not the 
 light. Had he the light, he would see clearly that 
 all that he loves can bring him only death everlasting. 
 
 Except the good God there is nothing solid. As 
 to life, it passes away; fortune may take wings, 
 health be lost, reputation attacked. Everything 
 slips from our grasp. 
 
 How greatly are they to be pitied who place their 
 affections upon such things ! They do this because 
 they love them too much; but it is not with a 
 reasonable love, it is with love of self and of the 
 world, by seeking self and creatures more than God. 
 Wherefore, they are never tranquil, never happy, 
 but ever restless, harassed, tormented in mind. 
 
 Were a king to summon one of his subjects into 
 his presence and say to him “ I wish to make you 
 happy; remain with me and share all my goods; 
 I ask only that you will not displease me by any 
 violation of what is right and just,” how eagerly 
 and earnestly would not this subject endeavor to 
 satisfy his prince. Now, God makes the same 
 advances to us and we do not appreciate His friend¬ 
 ship, we seem to care naught for His promises ! 
 
IO 
 
 THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 i 
 
 III. 
 
 THE PURE SOUL. 
 
 When one has preserved his innocence, he feels 
 himself borne aloft by love, even as a bird is borne 
 upward by its wings. 
 
 A Christian possessing purity of soul is, in this 
 world, as a bird tied by a string. Poor little bird ! 
 It is ever awaiting the moment when the string 
 shall be cut, that it may fly away. 
 
 Good Christians are like those birds with very 
 large wings and small feet, which never rest upon 
 the ground, lest, being unable to rise again, they 
 should be captured. They build their nests in 
 elevated places; on the summits of rocks ; on the 
 house-tops. Even so should the Christian ever 
 seek the heights. As soon as we turn our thoughts 
 to earth, we are captive. 
 
 A pure soul is like a beautiful pearl. ' When con¬ 
 cealed in a shell, at the bottom of the sea, no one 
 admires it, but bring it forth to the sun, it becomes 
 radiant and attracts the admiration of all. It is 
 thus the pure soul, although concealed from the 
 eyes of the world, will one day shine before the 
 angels in the sun of eternity. 
 
 The pure soul is a beautiful rose, and the Three 
 Divine Persons descend from Heaven to inhale its 
 fragrance. 
 
 There is nothing so beautiful as a pure soul! If 
 this were fully understood no one would ever lose 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS . II 
 
 his purity. The pure soul is disengaged not only 
 from material, and from worldly things, but also 
 from itself. 
 
 We must close our heart to pride, sensuality 
 and all other passions . . . for when the doors 
 
 and windows of a house are closed no one can 
 enter. 
 
 All Heaven regards the pure soul with eyes of 
 love ! 
 
 Pure souls shall form a circle around our 
 Lord. The purer one has been on earth, the 
 nearer will he be to our Lord in Heaven. 
 
 When the heart is pure it cannot help loving, be¬ 
 cause it has found the source of love, which is God. 
 ' The power that a pure soul has over the good 
 God is ihcpmprehensible. It is not that this soul 
 does God’s will, but that God does its will. 
 
 God contemplates with love the pure soul, and 
 grants all its petitions. How could He resist a 
 soul that lives only for Him, by Him and in Him 
 It seeks God and God shows Himself to it, it calls 
 Him and He comes ; it makes itself one with Him ; 
 it enchains His will. 
 
 A pure soul is with God like an infant with its 
 mother; it caresses and embraces her; and the 
 mother returns these caresses and embraces. 
 
12 
 
 THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS . 
 
 i 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 Man is wholly terrestrial and animal; and only 
 the Holy Spirit can elevate his soul and bear it 
 aloft. 
 
 Why were the saints so detached from earth ? 
 Because they abandoned themselves to the guid¬ 
 ance of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 They who trust to the guidance of the Holy 
 Spirit are truly enlightened. Behold the reason 
 why so many of the unlettered know more than the 
 learned: when one is guided by the God of 
 strength and of light, he cannot be deceived. 
 
 Like those glasses which magnify every object 
 seen through them, so does the Holy Spirit give 
 us a clear vision of good and evil. With the aid 
 of the Holy Spirit, we see everything standing 
 out in bold characters,— the grandeur of our least 
 actions done for God and the enormity of our least 
 faults. As the watch-maker, by means of his 
 glasses, distinguishes the smallest wheels of a 
 watch, even so, by the light of the Holy Spirit, do 
 we distinguish every detail of our poor lives 
 Then, the least imperfections appear very great 
 and the least sins fill us with horror. 
 
 They who possess the Holy Spirit cannot be 
 puffed up with self, because they have so clear a 
 vision of their own miseries. The proud have not 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS . 13 
 
 The worldly have not the Holy Spirit, or, if so, 
 it is but for a time ; He lingers not with them ; He is 
 banished by the tumult and noise of the world. 
 
 The eye of the world sees not beyond this life. 
 The Christian’s eye looks even into the depths of 
 eternity. 
 
 For that man who abandons himself to the 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit there seems to be no 
 world; for the world, there seems to be no God. 
 
 They who trust to the guidance of the Holy 
 Spirit experience within themselves every manner 
 of happiness, while bad Christians roll themselves 
 upon thorns and sharp stones. 
 
 A soul possessing the Holy Spirit is never 
 weary in God’s presence : from its heart exudes a 
 balm of love. 
 
 Take in one hand a sponge saturated with 
 water, and in the other a stone, press them 
 equally. From the stone you will obtain nothing, 
 while the sponge will yield an abundance of water. 
 The sponge represents the soul filled with the 
 Holy Spirit, and the stone, the hard, cold heart 
 in which the Holy Spirit does not dwell. 
 
 When one has the Holy Spirit the heart ex¬ 
 pands and immerses itself in divine love. The fish 
 never complains of having too much water: and 
 the pious Christian never complains of spend¬ 
 ing too much time with the good God. Some per¬ 
 sons find religion wearisome : these have not the 
 Holy' Spirit. 
 
 If one were to inquire of the damned, “ Why are 
 
14 THOUGHTS OF THE CUR& OF AES. 
 
 you in Hell ? ” they would answer, “ For having re¬ 
 sisted the Holy Spirit ; ” and if one were to ask the 
 saints, “ Why are you in Heaven ? ” they would an¬ 
 swer, “For having heeded the Holy Spirit. ” 
 
 The good God, in sending us the Holy Spirit 
 acts towards us like a great king who charges his 
 minister with the guidance of one of his subjects, 
 saying: “ Accompany this man everywhere, and 
 bring him back to me safe and sound.” Oh ! how 
 admirable a thing it is to be accompanied by the 
 Holy Spirit ! Oh ! what a good guide ! And to 
 think that there are persons who will not follow 
 Him! 
 
 The Holy Spirit reposes in the souls of the just 
 as the dove in its nest. He brings forth good de¬ 
 sires in a pure soul, even as the dove hatches its 
 little ones. 
 
 The Holy Spirit guides us as a mother leads by 
 the hand her two-year-old child, or, as one who 
 has his sight leads the blind. 
 
 The Holy Spirit reposes in a pure soul as upon a 
 bed of roses. 
 
 The soul which is the abode of the Holy Spirit 
 gives forth a good odor, like unto the vine when in 
 flower. 
 
 As a beautiful white dove arises from the wave, 
 and, on land, shakes off the water from its wings, so 
 does the Holy Spirit, arising from the infinite 
 ocean of divine perfections, flutter His wings over 
 pure souls to distil upon them the balm of love. 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CUR& OF ARS. 
 
 15 
 
 V. 
 
 THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 The Blessed Virgin is the mediatrix between her 
 Son and ourselves. 
 
 The Son possesses the quality of justice, but the 
 Mother is wholly love, 
 
 God has so loved us as even to die for us; but 
 in our Lord’s Heart there is justice,— justice a 
 divine attribute. In the Blessed Virgin’s heart there 
 is only mercy. . . . Her Son is about to punish 
 a sinner, Mary hastens to stay the uplifted sword, 
 and asks pardon for the unhappy culprit. 
 “ Mother, ” replies our Lord, “ I can refuse you 
 nothing. Were it possible for the damned to re¬ 
 pent, you would obtain their pardon. ” 
 
 Devotion to the Blessed Virgin is strong, sweet, 
 full of spiritual nourishment. 
 
 We do not enter a house without speaking to the 
 porter; the Blessed Virgin is the portress of 
 Heaven. 
 
 Our hands, when they have touched spices, im¬ 
 part fragrance to all that they touch. If we wish 
 to embalm our prayers, let us offer them through 
 the hands of the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 At the end of time, the Blessed Virgin will be 
 very quiet, but as long as the world lasts, she will, 
 like a mother with many children, be continually 
 occupied in going from one to another. 
 
i6 
 
 THOUGHTS OF THE CURg OF ARS. 
 
 i 
 
 VI. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 The Christian’s treasure is not upon earth, but 
 in Heaven, and our thoughts should be where our 
 treasure is. 
 
 Man has a beautiful office, — that of praying and 
 of loving. To pray, to love, — behold man’s happi¬ 
 ness upon earth! 
 
 Prayer is a foretaste of Heaven, a product of 
 paradise. It always brings sweetness to the soul. 
 
 Troubles melt away before prayer as snow be¬ 
 fore the sun. 
 
 Man has two cries, the cry of the angel and that 
 of the beast. The cry of the angel is prayer, the 
 cry of the beast is sin. 
 
 They who pray not are bent to earth, like the 
 mole striving to dig a hole in which to conceal 
 itself. They are wholly terrestrial, wholly animal, 
 and think only of the things of time. 
 
 What sweet satisfaction do we not experience in 
 forgetting self to seek God ! 
 
 Were Heaven but one day without adoration, it 
 would no longer be Heaven; and if the damned 
 could adore, Hell would no longer be Hell, despite 
 all its torments. 
 
 Alas! poor reprobates! they had a heart with 
 which to love God, a tongue wherewith to bless 
 Him — such was their destiny, and yet they are 
 condemned to curse Him during all eternity ! If 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 1 7 
 
 they had the hope of only once being able to pray, 
 for even a moment, they would so impatiently 
 await this moment, that the hope would be an 
 alleviation of their torments. 
 
 Our tongue should be employed only in praying, 
 our heart in loving, our eyes in weeping. 
 
 It is always springtime in the heart united to 
 God. 
 
 Prayer is an embalmed dew; but we must pray 
 with a pure heart in order to perceive this dew. 
 
 A savory sweetness exudes from prayer, even as 
 the juice from a very ripe grape. 
 
 Prayer disengages our soul from matter and ele¬ 
 vates it on high even as the fire inflates balloons. 
 
 When we pray, let us open our heart to God as 
 the fish spreads out its fins, when it sees the coming 
 wave. 
 
 Unhappily, our hearts are not sufficiently free 
 nor pure of all terrestrial affection. A very dry, 
 clean sponge, soaked in a liquid will become thor¬ 
 oughly saturated therewith, while if not dry and 
 clean, it lacks the power of absorption. Even so 
 is it with the heart: when not free and disengaged 
 from things of earth, vainly do we steep it in 
 prayer, it absorbs nothing therefrom. 
 
 Heaven dissolves and melts away in the souls 
 of the saints. They bathe themselves and are 
 drowned in its overflowing waters. 
 
 As the disciples upon Tabor saw no longer any 
 one save Jesus, so interior souls see on the Tabor 
 of their hearts none but Him. These are two 
 friends that never weary of each other. 
 
18 THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 i 
 
 The interior life is a bath of love in which the 
 soul immerses itself. 
 
 God holds the interior man as a mother holds 
 the head of her child in her hands, to cover it with 
 kisses and caresses. 
 
 Union with Jesus Christ, union with the Cross 
 — behold salvation! 
 
 To be loved by God, to be united to God, to live 
 in God’s presence, to live for God — oh ! beautiful 
 life and beautiful death ! 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE PRIEST. 
 
 Who is it that received our soul at its entrance 
 into life ? The priest. Who supplies it with the 
 life-giving nourishment in the strength of which it 
 is enabled to make its earthly pilgrimage ? The 
 priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, . 
 by washing this soul a last time in the Blood of 
 Jesus Christ ? The priest, always the priest. And 
 should this soul die, who will resuscitate it, who 
 restore its lost peace and happiness ? Still the 
 priest. We cannot recall a single one of God’s 
 benefits, without perceiving the priest standing be¬ 
 side it. 
 
 God’s other benefits without the priest would 
 avail us nothing. Of what use to us were a house 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 J 9 
 
 filled with gold were there no one to open to us 
 the door ? The priest holds the keys of the celes¬ 
 tial treasures; it is he who opens the doors leading 
 thereto; he is God’s treasurer, the administrator of 
 His goods. 
 
 After God, the priest is all! . . . Leave a 
 
 parish twenty years without a priest, and the people 
 will adore beasts. 
 
 When you see a priest you should say to your¬ 
 self, “Behold him who has made me a child of 
 God, opening Heaven to me by holy Baptism, him 
 who purifies me when I sin, him who feeds my 
 soul!” 
 
 We set a great value upon objects that have been 
 placed on the cup of the Infant Jesus and the 
 Blessed Virgin, at Loretto, but are not the fingers 
 of the priest that have touched the adorable flesh 
 of Jesus Christ, that have been plunged in the 
 chalice containing His Blood, the ciborium where 
 reposes His Body, far more precious ? 
 
 The priest is the love of the Heart of Jesus. 
 When you see a priest think of our Lord. 
 
 The priest is for you as the mother, the nurse of 
 a babe but a few months’ old. She gives it its 
 nourishment, for which it has only to open its 
 mouth. The mother says to her child, “ Come, my 
 little one, eat ” ; and the priest says to you, “ Be¬ 
 hold the Body of Jesus Christ! Take ye and eat! 
 May it preserve your soul unto life everlasting! ” 
 Oh, beautiful words ! 
 
 A child when it sees its mother, runs to her and 
 
20 
 
 THOUGHTS OF THE CUR& OF ARS. 
 
 ) 
 
 struggles against those who would restrain it, it 
 opens its little mouth and puts up its tiny hands 
 to embrace her. So does our soul, in the presence 
 of a priest naturally go forth to meet him. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE EUCHARIST. 
 
 All our good works united would not equal one 
 Sacrifice of the Mass, because they are the work of 
 man, while the Mass is the work of God. Martyr¬ 
 dom is nothing in comparison to the Mass, martyr¬ 
 dom being the sacrifice which man makes of his 
 life to God, and the Mass the sacrifice which God 
 makes of His own Body and Blood to man. 
 
 When before the Blessed Sacrament, instead of 
 looking around us, let us close our eyes and open 
 our heart; it is then the good God will open His. 
 We will go to Him, He will come to us; to ask and 
 to receive will be as a breath from one to the 
 other. 
 
 Our Lord has said, “Whatsoever ye ask the 
 Father in my name, He will give it to you.” 
 Never should we have thought of asking God for 
 His own Son. But what man could never imagine, 
 God has done; what man could never express nor 
 conceive, and what he had never presumed to de¬ 
 sire, God, in His love, has expressed, conceived 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 21 
 
 
 \ 
 
 and executed. Could we ever have dared tell God 
 to put His Son to death for us, to give us His Son’s 
 flesh to eat and His Blood to drink ? Were it 
 otherwise, man would then have been able to im¬ 
 agine things that God could not do; he would have 
 outstripped God in the inventions of love ! Ah ! 
 no, this were impossible. 
 
 All created beings have need of nourishment in 
 order to live ; this is why the good God has made 
 the vegetable world with its trees and plants; it is 
 an abundantly served table where all the animals 
 come to obtain nourishment, each taking that which 
 is best suited to it. But the soul must be fed as 
 well as the body. When God wished to provide 
 food for the soul to sustain its strength in the 
 pilgrimage of life, casting His eye over creation, 
 He perceived nothing worthy of this soul. Then 
 looking in upon Himself He resolved to give us 
 Himself for our food. . . . O my soul! how grand 
 thou art, when only God can satisfy thee! . . . . 
 
 The good God wishing to give Himself to us in 
 the Sacrament of His love, has implanted in us a 
 desire, grand and vast that He alone can satisfy. 
 
 . . . Beside this beautiful Sacrament, we are like 
 a person dying of thirst on the river shore: he 
 needs but bend his head to quench his thirst! or 
 like one who remains poor while a treasure is 
 within reach which he has only to stretch forth his 
 hand and take ! 
 
 What does our Lord in the Sacrament of His 
 love ? He there holds captive His tender Heart to 
 
22 
 
 THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 love us. From this Heart there flows a stream of 
 tenderness and mercy to wash away the sins of the 
 world. 
 
 Without the Divine Eucharist there would be 
 no happiness in this world; life would be insup¬ 
 portable. When we receive Holy Communion we 
 receive our happiness, our joy. 
 
 When we communicate, we experience something 
 extraordinary within us, a glow of satisfaction that 
 goes all through our body, and extends even to the 
 extremities. What is this ? It is the thrill im¬ 
 parted to every part of our body by the presence of 
 our Lord. We are forced to say with St. John, “ It 
 is the Lord ! ” They who feel nothing of this are 
 greatly to be pitied. 
 
 When we come from the altar, were some one to 
 say to us, “ What do you bear away with you ? ” 
 you could answer truthfully, “ I bear Heaven within 
 me.” 
 
 In leaving the Holy Table, we are as happy as 
 the Magi would have been, could they have taken 
 the Infant Jesus with them. 
 
 In communicating, the soul revels in the balm of 
 love as the bee amid the flowers. 
 
 One knows when a soul has received worthily the 
 Sacrament of the Eucharist. She is so immersed 
 in love, so penetrated therewith and so changed 
 that no one recognizes her as the same, in her 
 actions and words. . . . She is humble, meek, mor- 
 tified, charitable and modest; she lives in peace with 
 everyone, and is capable of the greatest sacrifices. 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 2 3 
 
 At the Day of Judgment, one will see our Lord’s 
 flesh shine through the glorified bodies of those 
 who received Him worthily on earth, even as one 
 sees gold shine amid brass, or silver amid lead. 
 
 Go to Holy Communion, go to Jesus with love 
 and confidence ! Go to live upon Him, in order to 
 live for Him ! 
 
 Do not say that you have too much to do. Did 
 not the Divine Saviour say, “ Come to me, all ye 
 that labor and are heavy laden, and I will re¬ 
 fresh you ? ” Can you resist an invitation so full 
 of affection and tenderness ? 
 
 Do not say that you are not worthy. It is true 
 that you are not worthy, but you have great need 
 of Holy Communion. If our Lord had had in 
 view your worthiness, He would never have insti¬ 
 tuted His beautiful Sacrament of love, for no cre¬ 
 ated being is worthy of communicating, neither 
 saints, nor angels, nor archangels, nor even the 
 Blessed Virgin . . . but He had in view our 
 
 needs, and we all have great need of it. 
 
 Do not say that you are a sinner, too full of 
 faults, and therefore dare not approach. This 
 were equivalent to saying when in bodily ill health 
 that you are too sick to call in a physician or to 
 take medicine. 
 
 If you love not the Heart of Jesus, what then 
 will you love ? This Heart is all love. How can 
 you fail to love what is so lovable ? 
 
24 
 
 THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 ■ < 
 
 IX. 
 
 SIN. 
 
 When we abandon ourselves to our passions, we 
 twine a network of thorns around our heart. 
 
 He who lives in sin adopts the habits and ways 
 of the beast, which, being without reason, is gov¬ 
 erned by its appetites; so man, rendering himself 
 like the beast, loses the use of reason and yields to 
 the movements of his carcass. 
 
 A Christian, created to the image of God, re¬ 
 deemed by the blood of a God ! A Christian, the 
 child of a God, the brother of a God, the heir of a 
 God! A Christian, the object of the complacency 
 of the Three Divine Persons ! A Christian, whose 
 body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . . be¬ 
 hold what sin dishonors ! . . . 
 
 Sin is the executioner of the good God, and the 
 soul’s assassin. It is sin that snatches us from 
 heaven to cast us into hell. And yet we love 
 it! ... 
 
 To offend the good God who has always covered 
 us with benefits, and to please the demon who can 
 never do us aught but harm — oh ! what folly ! 
 
 The good God desires to render us happy, and 
 we refuse to be so. We turn away from Him and 
 give ourselves to the demon! We fly from our 
 friend and give ourselves to our executioner ! We 
 waste and abuse the time which He has given us in 
 order that we may work out our salvation! We 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 2 5 
 
 make war against Him with the very weapons that 
 He gave us to battle for Him ! 
 
 To understand that we are the work of a God is 
 easy, but that the crucifixion of a God should be 
 our work ! ! ! oh, this issomething incomprehens¬ 
 ible ! 
 
 Our Lord is like a good mother holding a 
 naughty child in her arms. It struggles to get 
 away, it kicks her, it bites, it scratches her, but to 
 all this she pays no attention, knowing that if she 
 lets go of it, the child will fall; it cannot walk 
 alone. . . . 
 
 Such is our Lord’s conduct towards us. . . . 
 He endures all our bad treatment of Him; He 
 bears patiently with our arrogance; He pardons 
 all our follies and abuse of Him ; He has pity on 
 us in spite of ourselves. 
 
 The good God is more eager to pardon a re¬ 
 pentant sinner than a mother to snatch her child 
 from the fire. 
 
 Picture to yourself a poor mother obliged to 
 make the knife of the guillotine descend upon her 
 own child’s head; this is but a faint picture of the 
 good God when He condemns a sinner to Hell! 
 
 Our faults are as a grain of sand beside the 
 great mountain of the mercies of God. 
 
 The mercy of God is like an irresistible torrent 
 sweeping away hearts in its course. 
 
 Is it not folly indeed for us to prefer Hell, when 
 we can taste, even in this life, the joys of Heaven, 
 by uniting ourselves to God by love ? Oh ! folly 
 
26 THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 incomprehensible folly, that we can never suffi¬ 
 ciently bewail! 
 
 I know of nothing more pitiable than these poor 
 worldlings. They wear a mantle lined with thorns, 
 and they cannot move without its pricking them; 
 while good Christians are wrapped in a mantle 
 lined with rabbit skin. 
 
 The good Christian travels over life’s road in a 
 beautiful triumphal chariot, drawn by angels and 
 guided by our Lord Himself, while the poor 
 sinner is harnessed to life’s chariot, and the demon 
 seated therein urges him on with continued lashes. 
 
 X. 
 
 HELL. 
 
 Heaven, Hell and Purgatory have a kind of 
 prelude in this life. Purgatory is in the souls 
 who are not dead to self ; Hell, in the hearts of 
 the impious ; Heaven, in the souls of the perfect 
 which are united to our Lord. 
 
 The world conceals from us Heaven and Hell: 
 Heaven, because if its beauty were known, one 
 would seek to go there at any price, the world 
 would be little regarded; Hell, because if its tor¬ 
 ments were known, one would wish to avoid them 
 at any cost. 
 
 It really seems as if poor sinners do not wish to 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 27 
 
 wait for the sentence which condemns them to the 
 society of demons; they condemn themselves 
 thereto. 
 
 Some lose faith, and see Hell only on entering it. 
 
 If a soul in Hell could even but once say, “ My 
 God, I love Thee ! ” there would no longer be any 
 Hell for it. . . . But, alas ! this poor soul! it has 
 lost that power of loving which God gave it, but 
 which it did not know how to use. Its heart is dry 
 like the grape that has been through the wine-press. 
 There is no more happiness in this soul, no more 
 peace, because there is no more love! . . . 
 
 God's goodness and beauty enkindle the flames 
 of Hell. The damned will say, “ Oh, if God had 
 not loved us so much, our sufferings would be less, 
 Hell would be supportable ! But to have been so 
 loved by Him ! What anguish it gives us now ! 
 
 What good use would not lost souls make of the 
 time that we lose ! Had they but half an hour, 
 that half-hour were sufficient to empty Hell! 
 
 If some one could say to the damned, “ We are 
 going to place a priest at the gates of Hell, and all 
 who wish to confess have but to go thither,” do 
 you believe that even one soul would hesitate to 
 profit by the opportunity ? Oh, how quickly Hell 
 would be emptied and Heaven filled ! 
 
 Well, now, let us remember that we have the 
 time and means that these poor reprobates have 
 not. 
 
 For what do men expose themselves to God’s 
 curse ? ... For a blasphemy, a bad thought, 
 
28 
 
 THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 i 
 
 for two minutes of pleasure! Oh, for two min¬ 
 utes of pleasure to lose God, one’s soul and Heaven 
 forever! . . . 
 
 If you should see a man heaping up faggots to 
 build a pyre and upon asking him what he was 
 doing, he should answer: “I am preparing the fire 
 that is to consume me, ” what would you think ? 
 And if, when the flames were enkindled, this man 
 should cast himself into them, what would you 
 say ? This is what we do when we commit sin. 
 
 It is not God who casts us into Hell; no, it is 
 we who cast ourselves therein by our sins. The 
 damned will say, “ I have lost God, my soul, 
 Heaven, through my fault, through my fault, through 
 my most grievous fault! ” They continually rise 
 up from the furnace, but to fall back therein. 
 They will always feel the irresistible impulse to 
 rise, because created for God, the grandest, the 
 highest of beings, the Most High . . . even as a 
 bird in a room ever seeks the ceiling, but to find 
 the ceiling an impassable barrier . . . God’s jus¬ 
 tice is the ceiling that opposes the damned. 
 
 XI. 
 
 SUFFERING. 
 
 There are two ways of suffering: to suffer with 
 love, and to suffer without love. The saints suf¬ 
 fered everything with patience, joy and constancy, 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 29 
 
 because they loved; but we, we suffer with anger, 
 vexation, weariness, because we do not love. 
 
 If we loved God, we would love crosses, we 
 would desire them, we would take delight in them. 
 We would be happy to have it in our power to 
 suffer for love of Him who vouchsafed to suffer so 
 much for us. 
 
 Do you say that this is hard ? No, it is con¬ 
 soling, it is sweet, it is happiness even! . . . Only 
 we must love in suffering, we must suffer and love. 
 
 Oh! what sweetness those souls experience in 
 suffering who are all for God ! Suffering to them is 
 as vinegar mingled with a great deal of oil: the 
 vinegar is always vinegar, but its acidity is scarcely 
 perceived, so disguised is it by the plentiful ad¬ 
 mixture of oil. 
 
 There is no happiness in this world except for 
 those who possess tranquility of soul; and these, 
 amid the trials of life, taste the joy of the children 
 of God. 
 
 All trials and sufferings are sweet when united to 
 the sufferings of our Lord. 
 
 What matters it if we do suffer ? ’Tis but for a 
 moment, and the price of this moment of suffering 
 we should appreciate could we spend but eight 
 days in Heaven. Ah! then, indeed, we should not 
 find our cross heavy enough, our trials bitter 
 enough. 
 
 Trials for those who love God are not chastise- 
 ments, but graces. 
 
 What are twenty years, thirty years, compared to 
 
30 THOUGHTS OF THE CUR& OF ARS. 
 
 \ 
 
 eternity ? . . . And what is it that we have so 
 much to suffer here ? Some humiliations, some 
 clashing with others, some cutting words. These 
 do not kill. How good it is to die when one has 
 lived on the cross! We should run to seek the 
 cross as the miser seeks silver. 
 
 The cross is God’s gift to His friends. We 
 should never consider whence crosses come; they 
 come from God. They are always from God who 
 gives us this means of proving our love for Him. 
 
 In the Way of the Cross it is only the first step 
 which costs. The fear of the cross is our greatest 
 cross. 
 
 One does wrong indeed who lacks the courage 
 to carry his cross, for, do what we will, the cross 
 clings to us, we cannot escape it. 
 
 He who goes forth to seek the cross, finds it be¬ 
 fore him, he meets it, but he is pleased to meet it; 
 he loves it, he bears it courageously; it unites him to 
 our Lord ; it purifies him and detaches him from this 
 world ; it removes from his heart all obstacles to his 
 spiritual progress ; it aids him on the journey of life, 
 even as a bridge enables us to cross over water. 
 
 The worldly are afflicted when they have crosses, 
 and good Christians when they do not have them. 
 The Christian lives amid crosses as the fish lives in 
 the water. 
 
 It is only crosses that will reassure us at the Day 
 of Judgment. When that Day comes, how happy 
 we shall be at our past trials, how proud of our 
 humiliations, how rich in our sacrifices! 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 31 
 
 We must consider the recompense, not the labor. 
 A merchant does not rest his attention upon the 
 toils and troubles of his business, but upon the gain 
 which he expects to derive from it. 
 
 Crosses transformed in the flames of love are like 
 a bundle of thorns cast into the fire and reduced to 
 ashes. The thorns are hard but the ashes are 
 soft. 
 
 A delicious juice exudes from the grape when 
 put under the press. Even so does our soul, under 
 the press of the cross, produce a juice which nour¬ 
 ishes and strengthens us. 
 
 When we have no cross, our soul is parched and 
 sterile. When we bear crosses with resignation, 
 we experience much happiness and sweetness ! . . . 
 it is the beginning of Heaven. 
 
 The thorns give forth balm, and the cross exhales 
 fragrance; but we must press the thorns in our 
 hands, and the cross upon our heart, in order to 
 make them distil the juices which they contain. 
 
 Contradictions place us at the foot of the cross, 
 and the cross bears us to Heaven. 
 
 XII. 
 
 HOPE AND HEAVEN. 
 
 There are some persons in this world who hope 
 too much, and others who do not hope enough. 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
32 THOUGHTS OF THE CURE OF ARS. 
 
 ■ i 
 
 We wish to go to Heaven, but in all ease and com¬ 
 fort, without giving ourselves any trouble to get 
 there; this is not the way of the saints. 
 
 What would you say of a man who should till 
 his neighbor’s field and leave his own uncultivated ? 
 Ah ! this is just what you are doing. You dig con¬ 
 tinually in the conscience of others and leave your 
 own conscience fallow. At the hour of death, 
 what will not be our regret at having thought so 
 much about others and so little about ourselves ! 
 for we must render an account not of others, but of 
 ourselves. 
 
 , We have always two secretaries, the demon who 
 writes down our bad deeds, in order to accuse us, 
 and our Guardian Angel, who records the good, in 
 order to justify us at the Day of Judgment. 
 
 The demon amuses us until the last moment, 
 just as one amuses a culprit, while awaiting the 
 arrival of the officers who are to arrest him. When 
 they seize him, he cries out, he struggles against 
 them, but, nevertheless, they hold him fast. 
 
 When the record of our deeds is laid before God 
 how little that is truly agreeable to Him, will even 
 our best acts contain ! So many imperfections, so 
 many thoughts of self-love, of human satisfaction, 
 of sensual pleasure, of selfishness, will be found 
 mingled with them! They were good in appear¬ 
 ance, but in appearance only, like those fruits which 
 owe their apparent ripeness to the ravages of a 
 worm. 
 
 What would you say of a father who treated a 
 
 r 
 
 
THOUGHTS OH THE CURE OF ARS. 33 
 
 good child and a naughty child alike ? You would 
 say, “ This father is not just. ” Nor would God be 
 just if He made no difference between those who 
 serve and those who offend Him. 
 
 Thje earth is a bridge over which we pass from 
 one shore of eternity to the other; it is merely a 
 foundation for our feet to rest upon. 
 
 In dying, we make restitution : we restore to 
 earth what it gave us. ... A little pinch of dust 
 — behold what we shall all become! Is this 
 much to be proud of ? 
 
 We resemble those little piles of sand heaped up 
 in the road by the wind, appearing for a moment, 
 turning round and round and immediately swept 
 away. . . . Our dead brethren are already reduced 
 to this handful of ashes. 
 
 For our body, death is only a purification. 
 
 In this world, we must labor, we must combat. 
 We shall have ample time for rest in eternity. 
 
 Did we fully comprehend our happiness, we 
 could almost say that we are more fortunate than 
 the saints in Heaven. They live upon their in¬ 
 come ; they can gain nothing more, while we, we 
 can augment our treasure every moment. 
 
 What would you say of a person who should fill 
 his house with a supply of perishable provisions, 
 which must be thrown away because they will spoil, 
 and yet who should make no attempt to collect 
 gold, diamonds, or other precious stones that are 
 imperishable and which would make his fortune ? 
 . . . This is just what we do, we attach ourselves 
 
34 THOUGHTS OF THE CUR& OF ARS. 
 
 to matter, to that which must perish, and give no 
 thought to the acquisition of Heaven, the only true 
 treasure. 
 
 Go from place to place, from kingdom to king¬ 
 dom, from grandeur to grandeur, from pleasure to 
 pleasure, you will not find your happiness in any 
 of these things. The entire world can no more 
 satisfy an immortal soul than can a pinch of meal 
 put into the mouth of one who is famishing, revive 
 him. 
 
 What bliss is not that of the just when, at the 
 end of the world, the soul embalmed with the per¬ 
 fumes of Heaven shall come to seek its body, that 
 once more united they may enjoy God, during all 
 eternity! Then our bodies will come forth from 
 the earth, like linen which has passed through the 
 wash. . . . The bodies of the just shall shine in 
 Heaven as magnificent diamonds, as globes of love ! 
 
 What a cry of joy will resound through the air 
 when the soul unites itself to its glorified body, 
 now no longer an instrument of sin, nor an occa¬ 
 sion of suffering for it! In the balm of love will it 
 revel, as the bee amid the flowers. Behold the 
 soul embalmed for all eternity! 
 
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 3 9031 
 
 1253782 5 
 
 Vianney, 
 
 John B. 
 
 16766 
 
 Author 
 
 
 
 Thoughts 
 
 of the 
 
 Cure of Ars 
 
 Title 
 
 
 
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