Obstacles to ministry

People said that priests were immoral. They said that priests conspired to advance the interests of the Church against the interests of the people.

Peter wanted to be a priest.

Despite the unpopularity of Catholic priests and his family’s opposition, Peter entered a Marist seminary.

Then, Peter got terribly sick and had to leave.

Peter recovered, entered the diocesan seminary, was ordained a priest and later rejoined the Marists.

As the years went on, he continued to encounter obstacles to ministering to people with the truth and love of Jesus Christ. Not only was there widespread anticlericism, but there was also a extreme but widespread idea about people's unworthiness.

Since he had been a child, Peter had been especially devoted to the presence of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. In his forties, he felt called to center his life on drawing people closer to Christ through that devotion and established two new religious orders that would spread around the world.

St. Peter Julien Eymard, founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament and Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, died at the age of 57 in 1868 and his memory is celebrated on this day.

(Adapted from an earlier post)