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A reflection and prayer to start the day with George Craig, a Methodist local preacher in Cardiff.

Good morning. In the east of France – not far from the Swiss border - is the small town of Ars-sur-Formans. Pretty much its only claim to fame is that it was where a man called Jean Vianney was the parish priest for over 40 years from 1818 until he died on this day in 1859.

But Father Vianney was no ordinary priest. He became beloved by his parishioners for his ministry as a confessor and eventually his fame drew literally thousands of people to his small village and in the last 10 years of his life he would spend 16 – 18 hours a day in the confessional dealing with the crowds, The burden was enormous and on more than one occasion he actually tried to run away, only to be caught and brought back.

When he died, his grief-stricken parishioners were so reluctant to lose him that they decided to keep his body from burial and preserve it, and he can still be seen today in a huge glass case at the back of his old parish church. Vianney was made a saint in 1925 and made the patron saint of parish priests in 1929.

Vianney was clearly loved – revered even – but the human cost to him didn’t seem to register with his parishioners and followers. They wanted the ministry whatever the cost to the minister – even after death they wouldn’t let him go.

For a society like ours which treats celebrities as entertainment, apparently getting equal enjoyment from their triumphs and their tragedies, there’s a lesson here I think.

Even famous people are still people and maybe if more of us recognised and put less relentless pressure on them, fewer of them would have lives that crash and burn.

Lord God, we thank you for the achievements of exceptional people, but pray for compassion for them that acknowledges the human cost that comes with those gifts. Amen.