Born in La Mure d'Isère in southeastern France, Peter Julian's
faith journey drew him from being a priest in the Diocese of Grenoble (1834) to
joining the Marists (1839) to founding the Congregation of the Blessed
Sacrament (1856).
In addition to those changes, Peter Julian coped with poverty, his
father's initial opposition to Peter's vocation, serious illness, a Jansenistic
overemphasis on sin and the difficulties of getting diocesan and later papal
approval for his new religious community.
His years as a Marist, including service as a provincial leader,
saw the deepening of his eucharistic devotion, especially through his preaching
of Forty Hours in many parishes.
Inspired at first by the idea of reparation for indifference to
the Eucharist, Peter Julian was eventually attracted to a more positive
spirituality of Christ-centered love. Members of the men's community, which
Peter founded, alternated between an active apostolic life and contemplating
Jesus in the Eucharist. He and Marguerite Guillot founded
the women's Congregation of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament.
Peter Julian Eymard was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1962,
one day after Vatican II's first session ended.
Comment:
In every century, sin has been painfully real in the life of the Church. It is easy to give in to despair, to speak so strongly of human failings that people may forget the immense and self-sacrificing love of Jesus, as his death on the cross and his gift of the Eucharist make evident. Peter Julian knew that the Eucharist was key to helping Catholics live out their Baptism and preach by word and example the Good News of Jesus Christ.
In every century, sin has been painfully real in the life of the Church. It is easy to give in to despair, to speak so strongly of human failings that people may forget the immense and self-sacrificing love of Jesus, as his death on the cross and his gift of the Eucharist make evident. Peter Julian knew that the Eucharist was key to helping Catholics live out their Baptism and preach by word and example the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Quote:
“The Eucharist is the life of the people. The Eucharist gives them a center of life. All can come together without the barriers of race or language in order to celebrate the feast days of the Church. It gives them a law of life, that of charity, of which it is the source; thus it forges between them a common bond, a Christian kinship” (Peter Julian Eymard).
“The Eucharist is the life of the people. The Eucharist gives them a center of life. All can come together without the barriers of race or language in order to celebrate the feast days of the Church. It gives them a law of life, that of charity, of which it is the source; thus it forges between them a common bond, a Christian kinship” (Peter Julian Eymard).
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