Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

New DeSales World Newsletter - Summer Edition

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 19, 2004)

Salesian Perspective

We often hear success stories of those young people who impress us because they seem to be climbing the ladder at unusual speed. This election year, I have been particularly noting the interest in a young Senate candidate from Illinois, Barack Obama, who has gained popularity quickly. Many have noted this young state sentator as a "sure thing," a win for his party and a boost to the political spirit.

Francis de Sales might be looked upon as a kind of Barack Obama of his day. While his beginnings were, perhaps, not as humble as Obama's, Francis was a member of the lesser nobility who lived comfortably, but was not destined for the highest levels of noble rank. He did, like Obama, catch the attention of others at a very early age. After becoming a priest, he was quickly noted as someone to know, someone who was making a difference. He was sent as an envoy to John Calvin's successor to attempt dialogue with him. The young priest was summoned to Rome to report his findings not to some curial official as would have been the protocol for someone of his clerical rank, but to the Pope himself. Claude de Granier, the bishop of Geneva, requested that Francis de Sales be made his coadjutor bishop, his future successor. Francis was only thirty-one at the time. The Savoyard even found himself welcomed and honored at the court of the French king. By all standards, Francis had 'made it'.

Francis' story does not end there, however. While he graciously accepted the assignments and duties entrusted to him, he did not live to receive them but received them in his quest to "Live Jesus." In fact, because he realized what God had entrusted to him in Annecy, it is even believed that Francis turned down the Archbishopric of Paris, a position that would have automatically put him and his family at a higher place on the ladder. Francis de Sales believed that it was absolutely necessary to use the gifts that he have been given by God to build up God's Kingdom, rather than build a kingdom for himself.

In today's Gospel, Jesus tells us that we cannot serve both God and mammon. Mammon is the embodiment of wealth as a god. Should we then hate what we have been given? Should we despise our homes, our money, and our education? Should we resign as officers of corporations, close our stores, and quit the factories? The answer is clearly no if we can see that what we do advances God's glory, if we can say that we lift up the poor as Amos and the Psalms admonish us, and if we can say we leave no one behind as Paul instructs Timothy. Francis says we are all called to holiness and we are called to it in the station in life in which we find ourselves. He rejected the idea so prevalent in his time that holiness was only to be found in the monastery or the priesthood. For Francis, this belief served as a false sense of importance by some and an abdication of the Christian call by others. Francis would remind us to never make these things an end, but a means by which we serve, a means by which we are "people of ordinary goodness…." Francis reminds us to "Ask for nothing, desire nothing, and refuse nothing." Many in life who have made their millions, gotten that corner office or been raised in rank realize that if they have lived just for these things, it is like climbing to a mountain top seeking a treasure that is not there.

How do we give our life over to God? We do it every day my directing our intentions to God: "My God, give me the grace to perform this action with you and through love for you. In advance, I offer to you all the good that I may do and accept all the difficulty I may meet therein." We do it by asking ourselves if, in our state in life, we work every day to make sure no one is left behind, if we lift up the poor.

Only time will tell what is in store for Barack Obama, for others who seek office, and for all who will place their trust in them. Each of us has before us a tough climb up the mountain because if we are going to serve the people of God well, we have many to carry up with us. We participate in the plan by cooperating with God and offering the time, talent, and treasure given to us as a means to work for God's glory by raising up the lowly.

Michael Vannicola, OSFS, is pursuing theological studies in Washington, DC