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What does power look like in the Kingdom of God? This is a question Christians ask in every age. It was at the forefront of the minds of Christ’s followers during His public ministry. It is at the forefront of His followers in our own day. The problem is, He does not view power in the same way we do. This seems to be one of the biggest mistakes His followers have made from the very beginning. We desire worldly power and dominance, even within the Church. This is not how the Lord operates, and it is evidenced by some of his most successful saints. Two that come to mind are St. John Vianney and St. Andre Bessette.
St. John Vianney lived through the exercise of fallen man’s desire for ultimate power. He lived through the French Revolution during which countless priests, nuns, and laity were executed for their Catholic faith. He received his First Holy Communion in a barn celebrated by a priest in the underground Church. It was the heroism of the priests who were willing to die in order to provide the Sacraments to Christ’s sheep that led him to the priesthood.
Growing up on a farm, he spent his childhood functionally illiterate except for the prayers of his Catholic upbringing. He struggled in his seminary studies, particularly in Latin. What he lacked intellectually, he made up for in deep devotion and dedication. Despite the difficulties and corruption of his day, he was finally ordained a priest on February 13, 1815.
The French Church had been decimated by the French Revolution. The executions of clergy and attacks on the Catholic Church had a profound impact on the faithful. Many turned away from the Church to lives of dissipation and indifference or hostility. St. John Vianney proved to be exactly what was needed. It was not so much theological erudition that would renew France, but rather, a priest with a shepherd’s heart. He wanted to save souls and was willing to do whatever it took to do so.
St. John Vianney was simply a priest who loved Jesus with every ounce of His being, and he loved his flock enough to serve them night and day without counting the cost. He put the Sacraments, prayer, penance, and ministering to the spiritual needs of his flock first. Even among his brother priests, he wasn’t seen as much. In the Kingdom of God, St. John Vianney is the patron saint of parish priests. He was not a great reformer, theologian, bishop, or even a pope. For all intents and purposes, he was a nobody.
He is exactly the type of man the Lord could use in powerful ways. St. Paul preached this truth in 1 Corinthians 26:31:
For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to the flesh, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no flesh might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption; therefore, as it is written, “Let him who boasts boast of the Lord.”
The Lord cannot do great things through the proud. Unfortunately, Christians tend to fall for the lie that following Christ means worldly power, control, and esteem. In truth, we cannot bear much fruit when our works are more about our own ego than serving Christ. Often what looks like failure is winning in the Kingdom of God. St. John Vianney sought real power through intense prayer and sacrificial service amongst people who mocked and derided him. He sought Christ’s power alone to heal his people and save souls. This nobody was used by Christ to save tens of thousands of souls. This is the type of man the Lord could use to do great things because He was completely empty of self and totally focused on Christ.
Another “nobody” among the saints is St. Andre Bessette. St. Andre was a sickly child who suffered from terrible stomach pains. He found it very difficult to eat. It was hard for him to hold down a job; he went from failure to failure. It did not seem that he would amount to much from a worldly perspective. Eventually, he found his way to the Congregation of the Holy Cross in Montreal after a priest recommended he try a vocation with the order. The priest said of St. Andre: “I am sending you a saint.”
He was a deeply devoted and pious man, but his health posed a challenge for him and the community. At one point the congregation wanted him to leave, but the bishop intervened, and St. Andre stayed. He completed menial tasks and was eventually assigned to porter at the door of Notre Dame College in Montreal where he remained for decades.
St. Andre was powerless in the face of physical difficulties. He was weak and lowly. He put his trust completely in Christ and had a deep devotion to St. Joseph. It turned out being a porter was the role the Lord would use to change countless lives. St. Andre lived radical hospitality and sought to love each person who came through the door of the college with the love of Christ. He spent long hours in prayer–a hallmark of the saints—and would intercede for the needs of the people he met.
The suffering St. Andre had lived his entire life, opened within him a profound love of those who were sick. He would tell them to seek St. Joseph’s intercession and to trust in God. He would offer oil from a lamp that burned in the chapel near a St. Joseph statue as a sacramental to be used on ailments. Healing after healing began to take place. St. Andre’s fame spread. His only desire was to give glory to God and to honor St. Joseph. He did not seek anything for himself. When he died, over one million people attended his funeral.
These two men were nothing in the eyes of the world, but God used them to unleash powerful healings, conversion, and renewal. We so often look for success and power in all the wrong places. We want it in the halls of government, or even within Rome, but the Lord chooses the weak, the lowly, and the poor to do His greatest work and to exert His power.
Many of the difficulties in the Church today, and in the world, would be resolved if we truly sought Christ’s real power. If we understood that it is through our weaknesses that Christ unleashes power and strength. If we sought the power of prayer and the Sacraments first and foremost. If we stopped being afraid of being foolish for Christ. If we understood that what ultimately matters are how much we love God and love others, not the worldly power we exert.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
