Serving God "better?"

[Lucy_1]

I came across this quote by St John Vianney “One serves God better by doing those things in which he takes neither pleasure or delight.”

Is this true?

Now obviously penance and mortification is an integral part of being Catholic.

But do you really serve God “better” doing things you don’t want to do? If that’s true, does it stand to reason that when choosing between something you want and something you don’t want you should choose the latter? To me this seems a puniative way to live, but I can’t see that it contradicts what St. JV is saying.

My general approach has always been to do things you don’t want to do, if you can do them with a good attitude. Otherwise I just get burnt out, and make other people miserable by letting my bad attitude show. I mean of course often you have to do things you don’t want to, but I’m speaking of voluntary penance.

 

[brown_bear]

The saints in themselves are not Magisterium, certainly they do not say heresies, and on the other hand the Church often draws on them: but we are not obliged to accept their words as if they were Magisterium.

I try to interpret St John Mary Vianney in my own way: given that the most important thing here and now is to do the will of God, when this Will wants me on the Cross I can give much glory to God, combining my sacrifice with that of the Son.

It’s just a proposal.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

First of all, quotes, including from saints, have to be taken in context and within the culture of their time. Taking this one quote from St. John Vianney out of context works about as well as taking St. Bridget of Sweden’s quotes about the sinfulness of marital sex out of context (especially given that she had a long happy marriage and a lot of kids).

Second, it’s not clear when St. John Vianney said this. He was heavily influenced by Jansenism which was permeating France at the time and continued to do so until about the end of the 19th century at least. Jansenism was similar to Puritanism and scrupulosity. Anything pleasurable or fun was suspect or discouraged and people instead thought of themselves as miserable sinful wretches who barely had hope of making it to Purgatory unless they knocked themselves out racking up long lists of prayers and sacrifices. St. John Vianney didn’t start to get away from Jansenist thinking till he was an elderly man. So if he said this when he was younger, it’s the Jansenism talking, probably.

Third, one could reasonably interpret this as saying we should make sacrifices and do penance for mankind’s sins. St. John Vianney often promoted that idea, and he practiced it himself by eating old un-tasty food and living very austerely and giving most of what he received to the poor (important then as there were lots of poor and no decent social welfare, so the poor literally had nothing to eat or wear unless somebody gave them something). However, St. John Vianney arguably took at least some pleasure in being a priest. He made mighty efforts and overcame huge obstacles to become one. And he probably was happy to help the poor and bring people to God. So, take his remark with a balanced view.

Those in religious life are encouraged to have a little recreation or fun or a treat from time to time. God does not expect us to spend our life 24/7 in abject misery, and indeed, those who are trying to serve him often do so joyously much of the time because they generally enjoy the service of God. They may hate doing certain tasks that they are assigned to do and these can be offered up in the way St. John Vianney is suggesting.

 

[Lucy_1]

Thanks, that’s what I thought, but it’s good to have confirmation.