Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

New DeSales World Newsletter - Summer Edition

9TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (June 1, 2008)

Suggested Emphasis

“I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse: a blessing for obeying the commandments of the Lord, your God…a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord, your God.”

Salesian Perspective

Many things in life are seldom cut and dry. Many situations in which we find ourselves are seldom black or white. Many of the things with which we grapple are wrapped by many shades of gray. However, as today’s selection from the book of Deuteronomy reminds us, when we boil everything down we are faced at any given moment with fundamentally two realities. Two choices.

Blessing, or curse.

Blessing is defined as: “(1) The act of one who blesses. (2) A declaration of divine favor, or an invocation imploring divine favor on someone or something; a benediction; a wish of happiness. (3) A means of happiness; that which promotes prosperity and welfare; a beneficent gift. (4) A gift. (5) Grateful praise of worship.” By contrast, curse is defined as: “(1) An invocation of, or prayer for, harm or injury; malediction. (2) Evil pronounced or invoked upon another, solemnly, or in passion; subjection to, or sentence of, divine condemnation. (3) The cause of great harm, evil, or misfortune; that which brings evil or severe affliction; torment.”

We hear echoes of this fundamental dichotomy – this fundamental reality – in the closing chapter of St. Francis de Sales’ Treatise on the Love of God: “Unhappy is death without the Savior’s love; unhappy is love without the Savior’s death…Upon Calvary we cannot have life without love, or love without the Redeemer’s death. Except there, all is either eternal death or eternal love. (Editor’s emphasis) All Christian wisdom consists in choosing rightly.”

How do we know if we are growing in wisdom? How do we know if we are choosing rightly? How do we know if we are making progress along the boulevard of blessing or plummeting down the causeway of curse? Listen to Matthew’s Gospel: “Anyone who hears my words and puts them into practice is like the wise man…Anyone who hears my words but does not put them into practice is like a foolish man…” Francis de Sales himself understood the pathway to blessing (or devotion) to be a matter of action, of doing. If we stop putting God’s words into practice, we are actually sliding backward into the way of curse. Put another way, when it comes to the spiritual life there is either forward or reverse: there is no neutral.

Maybe the character of Yoda in the epic film series Star Wars presents today’s Scriptural challenge most simply but powerfully: “You do or you do not. There is no try.”

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