Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

New DeSales World Newsletter - Summer Edition

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 8, 2002)

Suggested Emphasis from the letter of Paul to the Romans

"Owe no debt to anyone except the debt that binds us to love one another."

Salesian Perspective

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines debt as "something owed, such as money, goods or services; an obligation or liability to pay or render something to someone else." The reader is then encouraged to see ghabh in the index of Indo-European Roots: "Important derivatives are give, forgive, gift, able…duty and endeavor."

Life is full of debt, obligations and things that we owe to others: money, respect, time, patience, justice, peace, reconciliation, kindness, care, concern…and the list goes on and on.

I suppose that if one considers all the things that he or she owes to others, it can be more than a little overwhelming. St. Paul advises us to "owe no debt to anyone except the debt that binds us to love one another." The debt of love - the bond of love - is not only the most important obligation that we owe to one another: it also includes all others.

In a letter to St. Jane de Chantal, St. Francis de Sales wrote: "I must tell you that I have never understood that there was any bond between us carrying with it any obligation but that of divine love and true Christian friendship, what St. Paul calls the 'bond of perfection,' and truly that is what it truly is, for it is indissoluble and never weakens. All other bonds are temporal…but the bond of love grows and gets stronger every time. It cannot be cut down by death, which, like a scythe, mows down everything but charity…So this is our bond, these our own chains which, the more they are tightened and press against us, the more they bring us joy and freedom…nothing is more pliable than that; nothing, stronger." (Letters of Spiritual Direction, page 127)

Our lives are filled with debts and obligations that we owe to one another. In the midst of our daily attempts to meet these obligations, may God give us the grace to remember and pursue the ones that really matter.

By owing no debt to anyone other than that of love, we accept the challenge of fulfilling the most important obligation of all: that we love one another…as God loves us.

Rev. Michael S. Murray, OSFS, is Executive Director of the
De Sales Spirituality Center in Washington, DC