Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

New DeSales World Newsletter - Summer Edition

14TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (July 9, 2006)

Readings Ez 2:2-5 Ps 123:1-4 2 Cor 12: 7-10 Mk 6: 1-6

Suggested Emphasis

"A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house."

Salesian Perspective

The account in today's Gospel is but one of many episodes in which Jesus experienced rejection: people "took offense" at him because of his dedication and devotion to doing God's Will in his own life. So strong was this resistance and rejection in his native place that "he was not able to perform any mighty deed" there.

The temptation that Jesus faced - the temptation we all face - is to be more concerned about being accepted by others than to stick with our convictions when confronted by rejection. We are tempted to dilute the truth, to lower our standards, to abandon anything that "rocks the boat." We are tempted to win friends at all costs, but we lose ourselves in the process.

St. Francis de Sales, the gentleman saint, was a man who tried his best to speak and live the truth of the Gospel in a humble, gentle and friendly way. For all his powers of persuasion, though, he, too, experienced rejection. In his Introduction to the Devout Life he writes: "As soon as people see that you wish to follow a devout life they aim a thousand darts of mockery and detraction at you. The most slanderous of them will slander your devotion as hypocrisy, bigotry and trickery. Your friends will raise a lot of objections which they consider very prudent and charitable: they will tell you that you will become depressed, lose your reputation in the world, be unbearable, grow old before your time, and that your affairs at home will suffer. They will say that you can save your soul without going to such extremes." (Part IV, Chapter 1)

Ouch! Seems that the Good News is not always so good for the folks who try to live it!

To be sure, we sometimes need to look for the kernels of truth that may be contained in criticism and rejection. Are we arrogant? Are we strident? Are we too pushy or stubborn? Is it really God's Will that we promote, or our own? Still, if our conscience is clear, how do we deal with rejection?

Francis de Sales' advises: "Be firm in your purposes and unswerving in your resolutions. Perseverance will prove whether you are sincerely sacrificing yourself to God and dedicating yourself to living a devout life." He concludes: "The world may hold us to be fools." Like Jesus, sometimes rejection is a price - however painful - that we must be willing to pay.

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