Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

New DeSales World Newsletter - Summer Edition

24TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (September 17, 2006)

Readings Is 50: 4-9 2 Ps 116: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9 Jas 2: 14-18 Mk 8: 27-35

Suggested Emphasis

"Get thee behind me, Satan."

Salesian Perspective

The saints are heroes of our faith tradition. They are people to whom we look up; they are people we admire. They remind us God can accomplish in us the kinds of things God accomplished in them. But the stories of the saints are more than a consideration of the promise of human strength, courage, fidelity and tenacity. Their stories are also powerful reminders of the reality of human frailty, weakness and infidelity. In a sermon he preached on Palm Sunday, March 1622, Francis de Sales observed: "All creatures, you see, are a mixture of perfection and imperfection. For this reason, they can be used as symbols of either. Every person, no matter how holy, has some imperfections. Made in God's image, each person reflects something of God's goodness while, at the same time, that same person carries some imperfections." (Pulpit and Pew)

Consider the example of St. Peter in today's Gospel. When the apostles were asked the question, "Who do you say I am?" by Jesus, Peter is the first to proclaim: "You are the Messiah!" A mere few verses following this great public demonstration of faith, Peter takes issue with Jesus' prediction of his ultimate rejection, death and resurrection, and is subjected to a great pubic humiliation when Jesus turns on him and proclaims: "Get thee behind me, Satan!"

It seems that even saints had their ups and downs. In the case of St. Peter, this would not be the last display of both his perfections and imperfections. In the Treatise on the Love of God, Francis commented: "Who would not marvel at the heart of St. Peter, so bold among armed soldiers that he alone takes his sword in hand and strikes out with it? Yet, just a short time later, among unarmed people, he is so cowardly that at the mere word of a servant girl he denies and detests his master." (Treatise, Book X, Chapter 9)

Francis de Sales believed that we have as much to learn from the setbacks of the saints as we do from their successes. "It is a good thing to see the defects in the lives of the saints. It not only shows God's goodness in forgiving them, but it also teaches us to imitate the saints in their efforts to overcome their failings and to do penance for them. We study the virtues of the saints in order to imitate them; we study the failings of the saints in order to avoid them." (Ibid)

This way of looking at the saints can be most helpful in our everyday attempts to "Live Jesus." Seeing the defects of the saints can serve as a strong vaccine against any dismay or discouragement we may experience when faced with our own sins, failings and imperfections. Likewise, seeing the virtues of the saints can dissuade us from becoming smug or satisfied with our shortcomings. Bottom line? The saints are companions for the journey. They have much to teach us about how to pursue a life of devotion: overcoming our sins and failings, strengthening our practice of virtue. Francis de Sales (himself a saint) challenges us to see the saints as real people, and to realize that we can learn from their tragedies as well as from their triumphs.

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