August 24 through August 30, 2025

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(August 24, 2025: Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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“Go out to all the world and tell the good news.”

Pope Paul VI defined evangelization as "bringing the Good News into all strata of humanity and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new."

In their book entitled Creating the Evangelizing Parish, Paulist Fathers Frank DeSiano and Kenneth Boyack challenge us to accept this simple truth: each of us is called to be an evangelist, to “go out to all the world and tell the Good News,” and to give witness to the power and promise of God's redeeming love in our lives. (Paulist Press, 1993)

While the good news is essentially the same, the authors insist that the manner and method in which each of us evangelizes must be rooted in the state and stage of life in which we find ourselves. For a deeper understanding of what this means, they turn to our old friend and companion, St. Francis de Sales:

“St. Francis de Sales wrote a marvelous book entitled The Introduction to the Devout Life. In it he makes the simple yet profound point that a follower (a disciple) of Jesus should look at his or her situation in life and then live a Christian life accordingly. A wife and mother will find holiness in the way she lives in relation to her husband, and in taking care of the family. She could hardly leave her family many times each day, like monks or nuns, to attend Liturgy of the Hours...Her spirituality, her way of following Christ is determined by her vocation and lifestyle...and if she works, living out her vocation as a married woman bearing witness to Christ in the workplace.”

We are made in the image and likeness of God. We are redeemed by the life, love, death and resurrection of Jesus. We are inspired and strengthened by the Holy Spirit. This acclamation is indeed Good News! This Good News should make a difference in our lives and in the lives of those with whom we love, live, work pray and play. This Good News should transform and renew us. Through us, this Good News offers the possibility of transformation and renewal to others.

How we share this Good News -- how we evangelize -- depends on who we are, where we are and how we are. How we share this Good News must match the state, stage, circumstances, responsibilities, routines and relationships in which we find ourselves each day. Following Jesus is not about forsaking our ordinary lives. No, it is about making real the life and love of God in our thoughts, feelings attitudes and actions.

Evangelization has a lot to do with what we say. After all, it is about ‘telling’ something, which in this case, is the Good News of God. However, evangelization also has a lot to do (perhaps even more) with what we do. What we say is a convincing sign of God's love only insofar as it is congruent with how we relate to one another.

By all means - by any means - "go out to all the world and tell the Good News" of God's love, God's forgiveness, God's justice and God's peace. But most especially, do it in the places - with the people - where you live, work, pray and play every day.

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(August 25, 2025: Monday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time)

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“We give thanks to God always…unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love.”

You can hear the happiness in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. His joy flows from reminding himself of the “work of faith and labor of love” in the members of that early faith community.

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“When our mind is raised above the natural light of reason and begins to see the sacred truth of faith, O God, what joy ensues! The holy light of faith is filled with delight!” (Select Salesian Subjects, #0263, p. 58)

What a contrast with how Jesus describes the scribes and Pharisees! Their faith produces no good works; their love is lacking. Their faith is anything but happy. Jesus simply describes what is painfully obvious about them in his litany of “woes” that begin with today’s Gospel and continue thorough Wednesday’s Gospel. In a word, these people were just plain miserable.

How do people experience the gift of faith in us? Are we sources of happiness – or woe – in the lives of others?

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(August 26, 2025: Tuesday, Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time)

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“You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. 

In his commentary of this selection from Matthew, William Barclay makes the following observation:

“The Pharisees were so meticulous about tithes that they would tithe even one clump of mint; and yet these same people were guilty of injustice, could be hard and arrogant and cruel, forgetting the claims of mercy. They could take oaths and pledges and promises with the deliberate intention of evading them, forgetting fidelity. In other words, many of them kept the trifles of the Law and forgot the things that really mattered.”

“There is many a person who wears the right clothes to church, carefully hands in his offering, adopts the right attitude at prayer, is never absent from the celebration of the Sacrament, all the while not doing an honest day’s work and is irritable, bad-tempered and stingy with his money…There is nothing easier than to observe all the outward actions of religion and at the same time be completely irreligious.”

“There is nothing more essential that having a sense of proportion to save us from confusing religious observances with true devotion.”

As Jesus reminds us in other places, while we must pay attention to the letter of the law, those letters are not there to take the place of true religion. The letter of the law exists to support the spirit of the law: which is the law of love.

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(August 27, 2025: St. Monica)

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“Walk in a manner worthy of God.”

“St. Monica was married by arrangement to a pagan official in North Africa, who was much older than she, and although generous, was also violent tempered. His mother lived with them and was equally difficult, which proved a constant challenge to St. Monica. She had three children: Augustine, Navigius, and Perpetua. Through her patience and prayers, she was able to convert her husband and his mother to the Christian faith in 370. He died a year later. Perpetua and Navigius entered the religious life. St. Augustine was much more difficult, as she had to pray for him for seventeen years, begging the prayers of priests who - for a while - tried to avoid her because of her persistence at this seemingly hopeless endeavor. One priest did attempt to encourage her by saying, ‘It is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish.’ This thought, coupled with a vision that she had received, strengthened her in her prayers and hopes for her son. Finally, St. Augustine was baptized by St. Ambrose in 387. St. Monica died later that same year in the Italian town of Ostia, on the way back to Africa from Rome.” (http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1)

We can all relate to Saint Monica. We all have people in our lives for whom we want the best. We all have people in our lives that we want to be happy. We all have people in our lives about whom we have concerns and heartaches. Of course, as much as we might love someone else, we cannot live their lives for them. Sometimes the most we can do is to pray for them, encourage them and support them. As for the rest, we need leave it in the hands of God and hope that God will do His best.

Saint Monica is a model of courage. We see in her struggles the power that flows from a life of prayer and perseverance. Even as she prayed that her son might eventually walk in ways worthy of God, she put those prayers into action in her own life. How can we imitate her example today?

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(August 28, 2025: Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church)

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“Be blameless in holiness before our God and Father…”

“This famous son of St. Monica was born in Africa and spent many years of his life in wicked living and in false beliefs. Though he was one of the most intelligent men who ever lived and though he had been raised a Christian, his sins of impurity and his pride closed his mind to divine truth. Through the prayers of his holy mother and the marvelous preaching of St. Ambrose, Augustine gradually became convinced that Christianity was indeed the one true faith. Yet he did not become a Christian even then, because he thought he could never live a pure life.”

“One day, however, he heard about two men who had suddenly been converted after reading the life of St. Antony, and he felt terribly ashamed of himself. ‘What are we doing?’ he cried to his friend Alipius. ‘Unlearned people are taking heaven by force, while we, with all our knowledge, are so cowardly that we keep rolling around in the mud of our sins!’ Full of bitter sorrow, Augustine cried out to God, ‘How long more, O Lord? Why does not this hour put an end to my sins?’ Just then he heard a child singing, ‘Take up and read!’ Thinking that God intended him to hear those words, he picked up the book of the Letters of St. Paul and read the first passage upon which his gaze fell. It was just what Augustine needed, for in it, St. Paul said to put away all impurity and to live in imitation of Jesus. That did it! From then on, Augustine began a new life.(http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=418)

Yesterday in his Letter to the Thessalonians, we heard Paul who had such a powerful influence in the life of Augustine challenges us to “walk in a manner worthy of God.” Desirable as that goal may be, the ability to walk in God’s ways – to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father – doesn’t necessarily happen overnight. For most of us, walking in a blameless manner worthy of God isn’t a sprint – it’s a marathon!

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(August 29, 2019: The Passion of St. John the Baptist)

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“We earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus…”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“All the martyrs died for divine love. When we say that many of them died for the faith, we must not imply that it was for a ‘dead faith’ but rather for a living faith, that is, faith animated by charity. Moreover, our confession of faith is not so much an act of the intellect as an act of the will and love of God. For this reason, on the day of the Passion the great St. Peter preserved his faith in his soul – but lost charity – since he refused in words to admit as Master Him whom in his heart he acknowledged to be such. But there are other martyrs who died expressly for charity alone. Such was the Savior’s great Precursor who suffered martyrdom because he gave fraternal correction…” (TLG, Book VII, Chapter 10, pp. 40-41)

As the herald of Jesus both before and after the latter’s baptism in the Jordan, John respected, honored and loved the Lord, as well as the things, values and standards of the Lord. His willingness to stand firm in the Lord and in the ways of the Lord impelled him to call Herod on his immoral lifestyle (taking his brother’s wife to be his own) in a very public forum. His willingness to exhort (in both word and deed) for what was right ultimately cost John his life.

John didn’t lose his head over some mere intellectual principle: he gave it because of something he believed from – and in – the depth of his heart.

How far are we willing to go for the things, the values and the people that we hold deeply in our hearts, presuming, of course, we possess such deep, heartfelt convictions?

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(August 30, 2025: Saturday of the Twenty-first Week of the Year)

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“Mind your own affairs, and work with your own hands…”

In a conference to the Visitation Sisters, Francis de Sales wrote:

“It in indeed for us to labor diligently, but it is for God to crown our labors with success. Let us not be at all eager in our work – for in order to do it well, we must apply ourselves to it carefully indeed – but calmly and peacefully, without trusting in our own labor, but in God and in His grace.” (Conference VII, “Three Spiritual Laws”, p. 112)

Perhaps this is what was lacking in the case of one of the three servants cited in the parable of the talents in today’s Gospel. Two of the servants present their master, who had just come home, with a return on the talents. Whereas the third servant merely returned single talent to his master (after retrieving it from the spot where he had buried it earlier) without having made any attempt of doing something with it.

Why did the one servant fail to make even the slightest attempt to return his master’s talent with some semblance of interest? It turns out he was afraid of his master. Paraphrasing Francis de Sales’ words above, perhaps the reason the servant didn’t trust in his own labor was that – ultimately – he did not trust in his master. By contrast, the other two servants appear to have had every confidence and trust in their master, regardless of how much – or how little – a return that they would ultimately make on their master’s investment.

In an exhortation to the Sisters of the Visitation, Jane de Chantal once remarked:

“Let us redouble our efforts at serving God and one another faithfully, especially in small and simple ways.  God expects only that which we can do, but that which we can do God clearly expects.  Therefore, let us be diligent in giving our best to God, leaving the rest in the hands of God’s infinite generosity.” (Based upon St. Jane de Chantal’s Exhortation for the last Saturday of 1629, On the Shortness of Life. Found in Conferences of St. Jane de Chantal.  Newman Bookshop: Westminster, Maryland.  1947. Pages 106 – 107)

We may not always know how God wants us to make use of all the talents, gifts and blessings that he has given us, but one thing is certain: doing nothing with them in the eyes of God is not an option.

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August 17 through 23, 2025

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(August 17, 2025: Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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“Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth? I assure you; the contrary is true: I have come for division.”

This is a hard saying that we hear from Jesus in today’s Gospel. However, when we stop to consider our own experience of trying to faithfully live the Gospel, we realize that it is not merely a hard saying. It is also a hard truth.

We experience this “division” in two ways.

First, our attempts to follow Jesus may produce division within ourselves. While our attempts to practice a life of devotion – as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews might say, to “lay aside every encumbrance of sin which clings to us and persevere in running the race which lies ahead” - should be its own reward, it also brings its own share of struggles. Our daily effort to turn away from sin and to pursue a life of virtue is imperfect at best. Who of us cannot relate to St. Peter’s confession of his failures to do what he should do and his apparent inability to refrain from doing things that he should not do? Many of us experience the spiritual life as a form of the game “Chutes and Ladders” wherein our virtues are hard-fought, and our vices come all too easily.

Francis de Sales knew of this experience all too well. He wrote:

“It may well turn out that this change in your life will cause you many problems. While you have bid a great, general farewell to the follies and vanities of the world, your decision brings on a feeling of sadness and discouragement.” (Introduction, Part IV, Chapter 2)

Second, our attempts to follow Jesus may produce division within our relationships with others. While doing what is right should be its own reward, we also know that sometimes “no good deed goes unpunished.” Francis de Sales observed:

“As soon as worldly people see that you wish to follow a devout life, they aim a thousand darts of mockery and even detraction at you. The most malicious of them will slander your conversion as hypocrisy, bigotry and trickery. They will say that the world has turned against you and, being rebuffed by it, you have turned to God. Your friends may raise a host of objections which they consider very prudent and reasonable. They will tell you that you will become depressed, 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, and a thousand similar trivialities.” (Introduction, Part IV, Chapter 1)

Ironically, it is only in the midst of these experiences of division (both within ourselves and with others) that are sometimes part and parcel of our attempts at pursuing lives of devotion that we can have any hope of finding true peace: the peace that comes from our patient perseverance at being faithful to whom God calls us to be, regardless of how the voices within us and around us may try to dissuade us from our quest. Our experiences of the troubles that come with doing the right thing – living the right way – remind us of yet another hard truth: Peace has its price.

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(August 18, 2025: Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“If you wish to be perfect, sell what you have and give to the poor…”

And the man went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Listen carefully to Jesus’ words. He doesn’t say, “Give it all to the poor.” He does say, “Give to the poor.” This presumes that what – or how much – is given to the poor is left to the individual to decide. In the case of the unnamed young man in today’s Gospel, perhaps his sadness was caused by the fact that he didn’t want to give anything away – not one bit – to the poor. If, in fact, he had many possessions, this makes his reluctance to share even the smallest amount of his good fortune with those less fortunate than he even more saddening.

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales counseled:

“We must practice real poverty in the midst of all the goods and riches that God has given us. Frequently give up some of your property by giving it with a generous heart to the poor. To give away what we have is to impoverish ourselves in proportion as we give, and the more we give the poorer we become. It is true that God will repay us not only in the next world but even in this world…Oh, how holy and how rich is the poverty brought on by giving alms!” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 15. p. 165)

Listen carefully to Francis’ words: “Frequently give up some of your property…”

Count your blessings. Name your possessions. Be they material, like money, or non-material, like influence, time or talent, what transforms our riches into wealth is our willingness to share them with the poor, with the impoverished, with the less fortunate, with those who have fallen on hard times.

Do you want to gain eternal life? How many – or much – of your possessions are you willing to share with someone poor or in need today?

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(August 19, 2025: John Eudes, Priest)

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“It will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Riches themselves are not the greatest obstacle to our entering into the Kingdom of God. From a Salesian perspective, it is our desire for riches that poses the problem - the grandeur with which we protect them and the passion with which we pursue them.

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed:

“Your heart must be open to heaven alone and impervious to riches and all other transitory things. Whatever part of them you may possess, you must keep your heart free from too strong an affection for them. Always keep your heart above riches: even when your heart is surrounded by riches, see to it that your heart remains distinct from them and master over them. Do not allow your heavenly spirit to become captive to earthly things. Let your heart remain always superior to riches and over them – not in them… I willingly grant that you may take care to increase your wealth and resources, provided this is done not only justly but also properly and charitably.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 14, p. 163)

How can we determine if our possessions might be holding us back from the Kingdom of Heaven? Francis wrote:

“If you find your heart very desolated and devastated at the loss of anything you possess then believe me when I tell you that you love it too much. The strongest proof of how deeply we are attached to possessions is the degree of suffering we experience when we lose it.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 14, p. 164)

Are we experiencing any difficulties entering into the Kingdom of Heaven during our journeys here on earth? Perhaps, it is because our possessions have somehow managed to possess us!

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(August 20, 2025: Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church)

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“Are you envious because I am generous?”

The parable in today’s Gospel certainly suggests that those who labored the longest surely were envious! They felt cheated, because as we are told, they “grumbled” –when they realized that the landowner had paid them the same amount as those who had barely worked a few hours!

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales counseled:

“We must be most careful not to spend much time wondering why God bestows a grace upon one person rather than another, or why God makes his favors abound on behalf of one rather than another. No, never give in to such musings. Since each of us has a sufficient – rather, an abundant measure of all things required or salvation – who in all the world can rightly complain if it pleases God to bestow his graces more largely on some than on others?” (Living Jesus, 0618, p. 246)

Of course, given how generous God is to us we would never be envious or complain about somebody else having more than we do! Or would we?

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(August 21, 2025: Pius X, Pope)

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“Many are invited, but few are chosen...”

We are all familiar with the story of the Annunciation. An angel appears to Mary, announcing that God had chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah. Perhaps with a bit of foreboding she raised few understandable questions with the angel, after which Mary accepts the invitation to play her role in God’s plan of salvation.

Mary’s affirmative response to God’s invitation is in stark contrast to the apathy of many portrayed in today’s Gospel parable. The “king” (obviously, God) repeatedly invites people from hill and dale to accept his invitation to attend his son’s wedding. (By extension, God is asking people to say “yes” to the power, promise and possibilities embodied in his Son, Jesus.) These people simply could not care less, prompting the king to cast his net of hospitality further and further afield.

On any given day God invites each of us to play our unique role in God’s ongoing plan of salvation. Every day God invites us to draw nearer to the feast that is his Son, Jesus Christ.

Today, how will we respond to God’s invitation to the feast?

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(August 22, 2025: Queenship of Mary)

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“Which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

The question put to Jesus in today’s Gospel is not an exercise of ‘Trivial Pursuit.’ This is not mere rhetoric. Ultimately, it is a question of life and death. Jesus’ answer is direct and to the point: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

And when he describes the second as “like” the first, Jesus is saying that the two commandments are essentially one in the same.

In a letter to Madame Brulart, Francis de Sales wrote:

“We must consider our neighbors n God who wishes us to love and cherish them must exercise this love of our neighbor, making our affection manifest by our actions. Although we may sometimes feel that this runs against the grain, we must not give up our efforts on that account. We ought to bring our prayers and meditations to focus on this point, for, after having asked for the love of God, we must likewise ask for the love of our neighbor.” (Living Jesus, 0618, p. 246)

Today, how can we put these two great commandments into practice?

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(August 23, 2025: Saturday, Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you…”

But do not follow their example. Jesus’ criticism, of course, is directed at the scribes and the Pharisees. There is good news and bad news about these religious peers of Jesus. The good news? They excelled at telling other people how to live a virtuous life! The bad news? They failed to practice what they preached.

In other words, they lived life by a double standard. As Francis de sales once described, they had two hearts:

“A mild, gracious and courteous attitude toward themselves and another that was hard, severe and rigorous toward their neighbors. They had two weights: one to weight goods to their own greatest possible advantage and another to weight their neighbors to their greatest disadvantage.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 36, p. 216)

To make matters even worse, not only did the scribes and Pharisees weigh one weight to their neighbors’ greatest disadvantage, but they also laid heavy burdens on others – hard to carry – without lifting even so much as a finger to help carry them.

Francis de Sales’ condemnation of living life by a double standard is short but not very sweet:

“To have two weights – one heavier with which to receive and the other lighter with which to dispense – ‘is an abominable thing to the Lord.’” (Ibid)

Today, do you want to be the greatest among others in the sight of God? Then live not by two standards, but by one: God’s standard. Unlike the scribes and Pharisees, try your level best this day to treat others as you would want them to treat you. Let others see in you someone who not only talks the talk but also walks the walk.

The talk – and walk – of love.

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August 10 through August 16, 2025

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(August 10, 2025: Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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“Faith is confident assurance concerning those things for which we hope, and conviction about that which we do not see.” “Do not be afraid...”

As followers of Jesus, we are called to live lives of faith. Each day, each hour, each moment of our lives should be faith-filled opportunities to grow in our love and knowledge of God, ourselves, and one another.

Today's Scriptures beg the question: What, exactly, is faith? St. Francis de Sales distinguished between faith that is living, and faith that is dead:

“Examine your works and actions. It is when all signs of life cease that we consider a person to be dead. So, it is with faith. While in winter living trees may resemble dead ones, in their season they produce leaves, flowers and fruit. In the same way, while dead faith may appear to be living faith, only the latter bears the fruit of faith in all seasons. Living faith is excellent because, being united to love and vivified by love, it is strong, firm and constant.”

People who are faith-filled, Francis de Sales would suggest, are living vigilant, strong, prudent and attentive lives. Adhering to the truth that God is love, they are created, redeemed and inspired in love, and they are called to share this love with others. Faith-filled people are people of action, courage and perseverance, always moving forward, even toward things they do not see.

Compare this power and promise with the alternative: the decision to live in fear.

Today's Scriptures beg the question: What, exactly, is fear? It is "a state or condition marked by feelings of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger; a feeling of disquiet or apprehension." (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language)

Those who live in fear do not trust the truth that God is love. They dare not believe that they are created and sustained in that love. They feel that they must not take the risk of sharing that love with others. People who live in fear are people of inaction, discouragement and timidity. They long to turn back; they fear to look forward. People of fear are, in a very real sense, already dead.

Make no mistake - people of faith are not immune to fear. They fear their own infidelity; they fear their own weakness; they fear their own sin. Sometimes, they likewise fear the infidelity, weakness and sin of others. But in the end, people of faith choose not to live in fear but to live in the truth of who God is, who God is calling them to be, and who God challenges them to be in the lives of their brothers and sisters.

People of faith are human beings who try their level best to be fully human. People of faith know that while fear is a part of life, there is more to life – much, much more - than fear!

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(August 11, 2025: Claire, Virgin)

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“Go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax.”

This is a rather unique story in the life of Jesus that we find in the Gospel of Matthew. What are we to make of it? Here is William Barclay’s take:

“What are we to say? Are we to say that this is a mere legendary story, mere imaginative fiction, with no truth behind it at all? Far from it. Beyond doubt, something happened.”

“We need to keep in mind the Jewish love of dramatic vividness. In all likelihood, this is what occurred. Jesus said to Peter, ‘Peter, you are right. We must pay our just and lawful debts. Well, you know how to do it! Back you go to fishing for a day. You will make plenty of money in the fishes’ mouths to pay our share. A day at fishing will garner all we need.’”

“Jesus was saying, in effect, “Back to your job, Peter. That’s the way you pay your debts.’ So, the typist will find a new coat in the keys of the typewriter. The motor mechanic will find food in the engine of the vehicle. The teacher will find money to pay for the chalk. The accountant will find enough to support himself and others in the ledger and spreadsheets.”

“In the end, Jesus was not telling Peter literally to get coins form the mouths of fish. Jesus was telling peter that in his day’s work he would get what he needed to pay his way.”

God has given us any number of talents, gifts and skills. How might we put those abilities to work just today in our attempts to pay the more important debt that we owe: the love of God, neighbor and self?

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(August 12, 2025: Jane Frances de Chantal,

Wife, Mother, Religious and Founder)

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In the Introduction to the book, Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal: Letters of Spiritual Direction, we read:

“Jane de Chantal continued with her work of overseeing the large family of religious to whom she was the chief spiritual mother. She wrote ardent letters to superiors, novice-mistresses and novices which reflect her struggle to institute a way in which the authentic Salesian spirit might come to be observed everywhere.”

“In her letters of spiritual direction (where her concern was to stay close to the very Salesian spirit of beginning right where one is and with the facts at hand, Jane de Chantal continued to show herself as a masterful director of souls. She brought to this task her own life-experience and temperament. The experience of motherhood was chief among those experiences. Since her youth she had been engaged in the art of biological mothering, and since midlife she had exercised her spiritual maternity. The correspondence she maintained with the superiors of the Visitation reflects a self-conscious cultivation of attitudes and skills she believed were congruent with maternal care. Superiors were enjoined to be true mothers, tolerant of their children’s weaknesses, encouraging their small steps, never overly ambitious for their advancement until they themselves grew into the maturity of spiritual wisdom…This task of cultivating and disseminating this spirit of motherly direction occupied Jane de Chantal for many years. It was part of her long-term effort to ensure the survival – both institutional and spiritual – of the Salesian charism in its manifestation as the order of the Visitation.” (LSD, p. 32)

The selection from the Book of Deuteronomy underscores the importance of having a legacy – of making intentional efforts at passing on our hard-earned learning and wisdom to those with whom we live and work today, as well as to those who will follow in our footsteps tomorrow. Jane de Chantal shows us a sure and certain method for accomplishing this goal, namely:

·        Beginning right where we are with the facts at hand

·        Nurturing others

·        Tolerating others’ weaknesses

·        Encouraging small steps

·        Allowing others to experience spiritual maturity at their own pace.

We are the beneficiaries of Jane de Chantal’s efforts to ensure the survival of the Salesian charism.

How can we pick up where she left off - just today?

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(August 13, 2025: Wednesday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

In the book, Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal: Letters of Spiritual Direction, we read:

“The Salesian spirit is contextual. It is relational. Making Jesus live is not something that occurs solely in the isolated individual vis-à-vis his or her own God. It is not something that is forged only out of the solitary vigil of silence represented by the hermit monk. (The word monk itself comes from the root ‘monos” or ‘alone’.) A better word to portray the Salesian spirit might be ‘between’. It is what goes on between persons – in their relationships – that are of the essence in making Jesus live. The interpersonal dimension of the Salesian spirit deepens the importance of the insight that it is in the midst that one loves God. For it is not that one glimpses God despite the persons around one, but rather that one finds God precisely through and with those persons.” (LSD, p. 46)

Indeed, our attempts at making Jesus live in us can only be completely achieved by our willingness to help others to do the same in their own unique ways. In other words, when it comes to our individual attempts at “Living Jesus”, we are in this together!

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(August 14, 2025: Maximilian Kolbe, priest and martyr)

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“So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”

Today we remember the ultimate witness to the love of God made by the Polish Conventual Franciscan friar, Maximilian Kolbe.

“During the Second World War, he provided shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including 2,000 Jews whom he hid from Nazi persecution in his friary in Niepokalanów. On 17 February 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in the Pawiak prison. On 28 May, he was transferred to Auschwitz as prisoner #16670. At the end of July 1941, three prisoners disappeared from the camp, prompting the deputy camp commander to select ten men to be starved to death in an underground bunker in order to deter further escape attempts. When one of the selected men cried out, ‘My wife, my children,’ Kolbe volunteered to take his place.”

“In the starvation cell, he celebrated Mass each day and sang hymns with the prisoners. He led the other condemned men in song and prayer. Each time the guards checked on him, he was standing or kneeling in the middle of the cell and looking calmly at those who entered. After two weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe remained alive. The guards administered to Kolbe a lethal injection of carbolic acid. Some who were present at the injection say that he raised his left arm and calmly waited for the injection. His remains were cremated on 15 August, the feast of the Assumption of Mary.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe)

Jesus tells us “to forgive your brother (or sister) from the heart.” From all accounts, like Jesus, Kolbe found it in his heart to forgive those who arrested him, imprisoned him and ultimately murdered him - in the name of love.

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(August 15, 2025: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

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“Blessed are you among women ...”

Our Salesian reflection for this Feast Day – the Assumption – comes entirely from Francis de Sales’ Treatise on the Love of God, Book 7, Chapter 14.

“I do not deny that the soul of the most Blessed Virgin had two portions, and therefore two appetites, one according to the spirit and superior reason, and the other according to sense and inferior reason, with the result that she could experience the struggle and contradiction of one appetite against the other. This burden was felt even by her Son. I say that in this heavenly Mother all affections were so well arranged and ordered that love of God held empire and dominion most peaceably without being troubled by diversity of wills and appetites or by contradiction of senses. Neither repugnance of natural appetite nor sensual movements ever went as far as sin, not even as far as venial sin. On the contrary, all was used holily and faithfully in the service of the holy love for the exercise of the other virtues which, for the most part, cannot be practiced except amid difficulty, opposition and contradiction…”

“As everyone knows, the magnet naturally draws iron towards itself by some power both secret and very wonderful. However, there are five things that hinder this operation: (1) if there is too great a distance between magnet and iron; (2) if there is a diamond placed between the two; (3) if the iron is greased; (4) if the iron is rubbed with onion; (5) if the iron is too heavy.”

“Our heart is made for God, and God constantly entices it and never ceases to cast before it the allurements of divine love. Yet five things impede the operation of this holy attraction: (1) sin, which removes us from God; (2) affection for riches; (3) sensual pleasures; (4) pride and vanity; (5) self-love, together with the multitude of disordered passions it brings forth, which are like a heavy load wearing it down.”

“None of these hindrances had a place in the heart of the glorious Virgin. She was: (1) forever preserved from all sin; (2) forever most poor in spirit; (3) forever most pure; (4) forever most humble; (5) forever the peaceful mistress of all her passions and completely exempt from the rebellion that self-love wages against love of God. For this reason, just as the iron, if free from all obstacles and even from its own weight, would be powerfully yet gently drawn with steady attraction by the magnet – although in such wise that the attraction would always be more active and stronger according as they came closer together and their motion approached its end – so, too, the most Blessed Mother, since there is nothing in her to impede the operation of her Son’s divine love, was united with him in an incomparable union by gentle ecstasies without trouble or travail.”

“They were ecstasies in which the sensible part did not cease to perform its actions but without in any way disturbing the spiritual union, just as, in turn, perfect application of the spirit did not cause any great distraction to the senses. Hence, the Virgin’s death was the gentlest that can be imagined, for her Son sweetly drew her after the odor of his perfumes and she most lovingly flowed out after their sacred sweetness even to the bosom of her Son’s goodness. Although this holy soul had supreme love for her own most holy, most pure, and most lovable body, yet she forsook it without any pain or resistance…At the foot of the cross love had given to this divine spouse the supreme sorrows of death. Truly, then, it was reasonable that in the end death would give her the supreme delights of love.”

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(August 16, 2025: Stephen of Hungary)

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“You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence.”

“St. Stephen the Great (977-1038), was the son of the Magyar chieftain Geza, Stephen succeeded him as leader in 997. Already raised a Christian, in 996 he wed the daughter of Duke Henry II of Bavaria and devoted much of his reign to the promotion of the Christian faith. He gave his patronage to Church leaders, helped build churches, and was a proponent of the rights of the Holy See. Stephen also blunted the pagan counter reaction to Christianity, forcibly converting the so-called Black Hungarians after their failed rebellion. In recognition of his efforts, Stephen was anointed king of Hungary in 1000, receiving the cross and crown from Pope Sylvester II. The remainder of his reign was taken up with the consolidation of the Christian hold on the region. His crown and regalia became beloved symbols of the Hungarian nation, and Stephen was venerated as the ideal Christian king. Canonized in 1083 by Pope St. Gregory VII, he became the patron saint of Hungary.” (http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=409)

The path of life for Stephen tuned out to be a combination of  both forging a nation while defending the faith. What might the path of life include for us today? 

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August 3 through August 9, 2025

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(August 3, 2025: Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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“What profit comes to a person from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which one labored under the sun?” “One may be wealthy, but one's possessions do not guarantee one life.”

Is wealth an obstacle to living a righteous life? Do possessions prevent us from living a righteous life? Must we choose between the things that are of earth and the things that are of heaven?

Indeed, riches may be a temptation to forsake a God-centered life precisely because they may distract us from pursuing the things that really matter in life - the things that will last forever. However, the root of the problem may not be the wealth - the possessions - the success - themselves, but rather, inordinate anxiety and concern about them.

Anxiety about the accumulation and preservation of wealth ultimately prevents us from truly enjoying our blessings and successes in life. As today's Scriptures point out, anxiety about holding on to how much (or even, how little) we possess can lead to tragic consequences.

Francis de Sales wrote in his Introduction to the Devout Life:

“There is a difference between possessing poison and being poisoned. Pharmacists keep almost every kind of poison in stock for use on various occasions, yet they are not themselves poisoned because it is merely in their shops, not in their bodies. So, too, you can possess riches without being poisoned by them if you keep them in your home, purse or wallet, but not in your heart.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 14)

The man in the Gospel parable is not condemned because he had filled his barn with riches. No, he is condemned because he had allowed his heart to be consumed by riches. So consumed, in fact, that when he was considering how to dispose of his excessive good fortune, it never occurred to him that he might share it with others.

A word to the wealthy...and the wise: the best remedy for not being consumed with riches is to practice the virtue of generosity. After all, how can you be anxious about losing what you have if you are already too busy sharing it with - even giving it away to - others?

Therein lies the secret of true wealth...in the eyes of God, wealth that truly - and forever - enriches. What makes me rich is not a measure of what I possess. No, what makes me rich is what I am willing to share with othe

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(August 4, 2025: John Vianney, Priest)

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“The children of Israel lamented…”

The children of Israel were complaining – one might say even whining. Never mind that God (through the leadership of Moses) had liberated them from the Egyptians. The heady days of their new-found freedom had vanished, and the Israelites complained about the manna they were reduced eating in the desert. They longed for the good food that they had once enjoyed back in the good old days at the hands of the not-so-good Egyptians. Faced with such ingratitude, Moses, in turn, did his own share of complaining and whining to God about the complaining and whining Israelites.

Francis de Sales wrote in his Introduction to the Devout Life:

"Complain as little as possible about the difficulties you suffer. Complaining people commit a sin by doing so, since self-love always feels that the troubles they experience are worse than they actually are. The truly patient person neither complains of his hard lot nor desires to be pitied by others…If some just occasion requires a complaint to either correct an offense or to restore peace of mind, do not do so with irascible or fault-finding people. Instead of calming your mind the others will stir up worse difficulties and in place of pulling out the thorn that is hurting you they will simply drive it deeper into your foot. If you must complain, do it only with those who are even-tempered and who really love God." (IDL, Part III, Chapter 3, p. 130)

One can understand the Israelites’ frustration - they had been wandering in the desert a lot longer than anyone had expected. The conditions there were challenging (hot in daytime and cold at night) and the food was dreadful. However, the complaining not only solved nothing, but in fact, it simply made things worse.

Before you complain about something today, ask yourself these questions:

·        Is the difficulty that I am experiencing really as bad as I feel it is?

·        Will my complaint change things for the better or for the worse?

·        If my complaint is justified, will I complain to the right – or to the wrong – kinds of people?

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(August 5, 2025: Tuesday, Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Take courage, do not be afraid…”

In a letter to St. Jane de Chantal, Francis de Sales wrote:

“The Scriptures tell us that St. Peter, seeing that the storm was raging, grew afraid; and as soon as he was afraid he began to sink and drown, so he cried out: ‘O Lord, save me!’ And our Lord caught hold of his hand and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ Look at this holy apostle; he walks dry foot on the water, the waves and the winds could not make him sink, but fear of the wind and the waves will make him perish unless his master saves him. Fear is a greater evil than the evil itself.”(Stopp, Selected Letters, page 125, p. 198)

His advice to Saint Jane de Chantal is also great advice for us.  He recommended:

“Do not be afraid. You are walking on the sea, surrounded by wind and water, but you are with Jesus: so what is there to fear? If terror seizes you, cry out loudly: O Lord, save me. He will stretch forth his hand towards you; clasp it tight and go joyfully on your way. In short, don’t philosophize about your trouble; don’t argue with it, just go straight on, quite simply. If the whole world is topsy-turvy – if all around is darkness and smoke and din – God is still with us.” (Ibid)

In there anything in particular that is weighing heavily on your mind or heart? Are there any issues or concerns that are attempting to paralyze you? Is there anything about which you find yourself afraid?

Remember: God is with you! Take his hand, clasp it tight and go joyfully on your way, as bravely as you can!

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(August 6, 2025: Transfiguration of the Lord)

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“He was transfigured before them…”

Something remarkable happened on that mountain.

Consider the possibility that it was not Jesus who changed, but rather, it was Peter, James and John who were transformed. Imagine that this account from Mark’s Gospel documents the experience of Peter, James and John as if their eyes were opened and their vision widened, enabling them to see without impediment the virtually blinding light of Jesus’ love that flowed from every fiber of his being.

Indeed, every day of Jesus’ life something of that remarkable brilliance, that remarkable passion, and that remarkable glory was revealed to people of all ages, stages and states of life.  The shepherds and magi saw it; the elders in the temple saw it; the guests at a wedding saw it; a woman caught in adultery saw it; a boy possessed by demons saw it; a man born blind saw it; a good thief saw it.

If so many others could recognize it in a word, a glance, or a touch, why might Peter, James and John have required such extra effort in helping them to see Jesus’ glory?  Perhaps it was because they were so close to Jesus; perhaps it was because they were with him every day; perhaps it was because, on some level, they had somehow taken his glory for granted.

What about us?  Do we recognize that same divine glory present in us, present in others, present in creation, present in even the simplest and most ordinary, everyday experiences of justice, truth, healing, forgiveness, reconciliation and compassion?

Or do we take it for granted?

St. Francis de Sales saw the Transfiguration as a “glimpse of heaven.” How might our eyes, our minds and our hearts need to be transfigured and transformed in ways that enable us to catch this “glimpse of heaven” within us and around us? How might we need to see more clearly the glory of a God who always loves, redeems, heals, forgives, challenges, pursues., strengthens and inspires us?

Today, may we grow in our ability - through the quality of our lives - to make that “glimpse of heaven” more clearly visible and available to the eyes – and in the lives – of others.

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(August 7, 2025: Sixtus II, Pope and Companions, Martyrs)

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“Get thee behind me, Satan.”

Wow, how that must have stung! The command “Get behind me, Satan,” spoken to Peter by Jesus, is recorded in Matthew 16:23 and Mark 8:33. “Get behind me, Satan” seems harsh and out of character for Jesus, especially when addressing Peter, one of His most devout disciples. Why did Jesus say this? What was it Peter did to deserve such a rebuke? Without knowing it, Peter was speaking for Satan.

Jesus had just revealed to His disciples for the first time the plan: He was to go to Jerusalem to suffer, die, and be raised to life. Contrary to their expectations of Him, Jesus explained that He had not come to establish an earthly Messianic kingdom at that time. The disciples were not prepared for this new revelation of the Messiah’s purpose. Though Peter understood Jesus’ words, apparently, he simply could not reconcile his view of the conquering Messiah with the suffering and death Jesus of which Jesus spoke. So, Peter “began to rebuke Him” for having such a fatalistic mindset.

Peter might in fact have been “a Rock” on which Jesus would subsequently rely heavily, but at this moment, Peter was – however unwittingly – serving as a tool for the Tempter. Like Jesus’ adversary, Peter was not setting his mind on the things of God—His ways, His plans, and His purposes. Instead, his mind was set on the things of man, the things of the world and its earthly values. Jesus was saying that the way of the cross was God’s will, the plan of redemption for all the human family. Peter’s reaction was most likely shared by the other disciples although - as always - it was Peter who first gave voice to it. Peter was inadvertently being used by Satan in thinking he was protecting Jesus. Recall, Satan had purposely tempted Jesus in the wilderness to the run-up to His public ministry: Satan attempted to divert Jesus from the cross, from fulfilling the grand design of the Father and the Son. Without realizing it, Peter was doing the same thing. He had not yet grasped the counterintuitive truth of Jesus’ Messianic purpose.

Although Peter had just moments before declared Jesus as the Christ, seconds later he turned from God’s perspective and viewed the situation from a solely human perspective, which brought about the stern rebuke: “Get behind me, Satan!” Jesus went on to explain: “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men”.

At the time, Jesus’ stern reprimand did not make sense to Peter. However, Jesus’ indictment presents a profound message for us. We can easily see that Peter had the wrong perspective of God’s plan for Christ’s suffering and death. But we must also see how easily we can become an unwitting tool for Satan. This is especially true when we lose sight of God’s plan for us. This comes about when our focus is on our careers, our possessions, our security and our advantage rather than upon sacrifice and service and the proclaiming of God’s message. When Peter’s focus shifted to his own desires and plans, Jesus’ rebuke was a wake-up call for him. Jesus shocked Peter with the aim of getting him back on track. Perhaps we can learn from St. Peter to avoid the temptation ourselves to view life in a way contrary to the power and promise of true discipleship.

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(August 8, 2025: Dominic, Priest and Founder)

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“I remember the deeds of the Lord.”

Today we celebrate the life and legacy of St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers (popularly known as The Dominicans).

“Dominic sought to revive religious devotion among Catholics and bring the Cathar heretics (who taught that the physical world was evil) back to the fold. He emphasized preaching effectively and knowledgeably to ensure success in converting nonbelievers…Although the Dominicans succeeded in bringing many Cathars back to the Catholic faith, some lords and bishops felt the missionary effort was taking too long. They launched a war that, by the end of the thirteenth century, had nearly wiped out the Cathars.” (This Saint’s for You! p. 46)

Francis de Sales has more than a little bit to say on the topic of preaching. In an extended letter to Andre Fremyot (brother of Jane de Chantal), Archbishop of Bourges, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Say marvelous things, but if you do not say them well, they are nothing. Say only a little but say it well, and it is very much. How must we speak when we preach? We must be on guard against the haughtiness and long periodic sentences of the pedants, against their gestures, their airs and their movements. All such things are the plague of preaching. Preaching must be spontaneous, dignified, courageous, natural, sturdy, devout, serious and a little slow. But to make it such what must be done? In a word, it means to speak with affection and devotion, with simplicity and candor, and with confidence, and to be convinced of the doctrine we teach and of what we persuade. The supreme art is to have no art. Our words must be set aflame, not by shouts and unrestrained gestures, but by inward affection. They must issue from our heart rather than from our mouth. We must speak well, but heart speaks to heart, while the tongue speaks only to the ear.” (Preacher and Preaching, pp. 63 – 64) pp. 198-199)

To remember with affection and devotion the deeds of the Lord is not enough. As in the case of Dominic, how might our remembering be translated to speaking of the Lord’s deeds, not only in word, but in deed?

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(August 9, 2025: Edith Stein, a.k.a. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross)

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“ I love you, Lord, my strength.”

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - Virgin and Martyr – was born Edith Stein in 1891 in Breslau, Poland. She was the youngest child of a large Jewish family. An outstanding student and well versed in philosophy with a particular interest in phenomenology, she became interested in the Catholic Faith, and in 1922, she was baptized at the Cathedral Church in Cologne, Germany. Eleven years later Edith entered the Cologne Carmel. Because of the ramifications of politics in Nazi Germany, Edith, whose name in religion was Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, was sent to the Carmel at Echt, Holland. With the outbreak of World War II, the Nazis invaded and subsequently occupied Holland.  Life in the Lowlands under National Socialism was particularly brutal, especially for Jews. Following the Dutch episcopacy's public condemnation of Nazi racism in 1942, Teresa – along with her sister Rose, also a member of the Carmel – was arrested. She and her sister were transported east to the concentration camp at Auschwitz where Edith died in the gas chambers at the age of fifty-one. (http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=179)

In a conference to the Visitation Sisters on “Hope,” Francis de Sales counseled:

“If divine Providence does not permit afflictions or mortifications to come upon you, then do not desire them or ask for them. On the other hand, if divine Providence permits afflictions or mortifications to come upon you, you must not refuse them but accept them courageously, lovingly and calmly.” (Conference VI, P. 95)

When Edith Stein converted to Catholicism in the 1920’s, she wasn’t looking for trouble. When she joined the Carmelites in the 1930’s, she wasn’t looking for trouble. When National Socialism gained power in Germany in 1933 and began to menace some of the subgroups within its borders – especially Jews – Teresa Benedicta wasn’t looking for trouble. In fact, she and her sister transferred to a monastery in another country with the hope of staying clear of any controversies. But, on that fateful day in 1942, when trouble finally caught up with her in the form of men in SS uniforms, she accepted it “courageously, lovingly and calmly” in imitation of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on the night of his arrest and subsequent crucifixion.

Edith’s belief in God’s love for her gave her the strength to face the ultimate sacrifice: giving her life for the love of God and neighbor. How does our belief in God’s love for us measure up to hers?

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July 27 through August 2, 2025

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(July 27, 2025: Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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"I must see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them. I mean to find out."

Today's Scriptures show us that God's judgment is both righteous and compassionate.

The Book of Genesis describes God's outrage over the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah. However, before taking any action, God intends to personally determine whether or not the outcry has a basis in fact.

God's judgment is never rash.

St. Francis de Sales says in his Introduction to the Devout Life: "How offensive to God is rash judgment. It is a kind of spiritual jaundice that causes all things to appear evil to the eyes of those infected with it." (IDL, Part 3, Chapter 28)

Rash judgments have far less to do with the behaviors of our neighbor and a great deal more to do with the machinations and moods of our own hearts. Rash judgments are signs of the presence of arrogance, self-satisfaction, fear, bitterness, jealousy, hatred, envy, ambition and condescension within the person whose judgments are rash.

Rash judgments seldom deal with facts. Rash judgments are founded upon appearance, impression, hearsay and gossip. Rash judgments are made in an instant (hence the term "snap" judgments), based not on reason, but on emotion.

Rash judgments do not promote reconciliation and peace; rather, rash judgments produce division and injustice. Francis de Sales wrote: "Rash judgments draw a conclusion from an action in order to condemn the other person." (Ibid)

Finally, rash judgments seldom - if ever - result in compassionate action.

Francis de Sales wrote: "Whoever wants to be cured (of making rash judgments) must apply remedies, not to the eyes or intellect, but to the affections. If your affections are kind, your judgments will be likewise." (Ibid)

To be like God - to live like Jesus - to be instruments of the Holy Spirit - requires that our judgments of one another be righteous:

·        based in fact, not fiction

·        rooted in sense, not suspicion

·        focused on behavior, not bias

Divine judgment is always consumed with truth, committed to justice, and characterized by compassion.

Today consider how do our judgments stack up?

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(July 28, 2025: Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…”

Today’s Gospel helps us to keep things in perspective. Make no mistake – we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. We are charged with a tremendous duty - advancing the kingdom of God. The most effective means to accomplish this great calling is to pay attention to detail – that is, by doing little things with great love.

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales made the following exhortation:

“Put your hand to strong things, by training yourself in prayer and meditation, receiving the sacraments, bringing souls to love God, infusing good inspirations into their hearts and, in fine, by performing big, important works according to your vocation. But never forget…those little, humble virtues that grow like flowers at the foot of the cross: helping the poor, visiting the sick, taking care of your family, with all the responsibilities that accompany such things and with all the useful diligence which prompts you to not stand idle.”

“Great opportunities to serve God rarely present themselves, but little ones are frequent…you will profit greatly in God’s sight by doing all these things because God wishes you to do the.” (III, 35, pp. 214 – 215)

God gives us a rich abundance of means proper for our salvation. By a wondrous infusion of God’s grace into our minds, hearts, attitudes and actions the Spirit makes our works become God’s work. Our good works - like planting miniscule mustard seeds here or like scattering small seeds there - have vigor and virtue enough to produce a great good because they proceed from the Spirit of Jesus.

Many a day, we may feel that our attempts at growing in the ways of the kingdom of God are small and insignificant. However, if we all did just a little bit each and every day to build up that Kingdom, it would add up to become quite a lot!

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(July 29, 2029: Martha, Mary and Lazarus)

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“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died…”

Of this event of the life of Jesus, Scripture commentator William Barclay wrote: “Here is one of the most human interactions in all the Bible. Martha spoke with a reproach that she could not hold back: ‘If you had been here,’ she said, ‘my brother would not have died.’ It’s not a stretch to hear the reproach behind the words: ‘When you got the message about Lazarus, why didn’t you come at once? And now that you finally show up, you’re too late…’” But after all that, Martha somehow found the wherewithal to add, “But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”

Put yourself in Jesus’ place…and let that “greeting” sink in. (Pause) Tough enough to hear, but clearly compounded by the whispering around him of which I suspect he was painfully aware: “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man 
have done something so that this man would not have died?” We are told that Jesus became perturbed, deeply troubled…and wept.

We don’t know what delayed Jesus’ coming to heal his friend. But in the fullness of His humanity, Jesus couldn’t be in two places at once. And despite His best efforts, it wasn’t always possible for Jesus to simply drop whatever He was doing then-and-there when someone asked for His help somewhere else. A humbling experience, indeed.

To which we can all relate, especially when it comes to the people we love the most.

Rather than engage in shoulda, woulda, coulda, Jesus did not succumb to the feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment and self-recrimination. He regrouped; He recentered Himself and did His friend Lazarus and his sisters one better: He raised Lazarus from the dead.

From my perspective, the takeaway is that we need to remind ourselves from time to time that we are human, not superhuman. We can’t always do everything everywhere every time when others need us. But as Jesus clearly demonstrates in today’s Gospel, we must not allow our acceptance of what we can’t always do for one another get in the way of what more frequently than not we can do for one another.

St. Jane de Chantal says it rather simply and profoundly:

“God only expects what we can do, but what we can do God expects.”

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(July 30, 2025: Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church)

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“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure; like searching for fine pearls.”

A traditional way of explaining these images in today’s Gospel is to place the emphasis on us. This perspective considers this Gospel as a challenge to the hearer to ‘trade up’, that is, to give up those things we most value in order to obtain that which has the greatest value - the Kingdom of God.

A non-traditional way of explaining these images – and, apparently, the more accurate one – is to place the emphasis on God. It is God who is ‘trading up’ for something better; it is God who is – as it were – cashing in all his chips for something even more valuable. What is that “treasure”? What are those “fine pearls”? We are the treasure that God pursues at any price. We are the pearls that God will leave no stone unturned to possess.

God ‘traded up’ his only Son because He wanted to reclaim us. God ‘cashed in’ his only Son because He wanted to redeem us. God gave away everything He had in order to make us his own. In these acts God clearly displayed that it’s people, not things – like possessions, power or privilege – that God values the most

Ignatius of Loyola is a great example of what happens when somebody discovers – or uncovers – a pearl of great price and value! Before his conversion to Christianity, he was arrogant, vain about his appearance, defensive in matters of honor, and much more interested in attaining worldly glory than in growing in heavenly virtue. But following a long convalescence from a crippling battle wound that almost killed him, Ignatius traded up – he discovered that the Kingdom of God was vastly more important than any passing honor or achievement, and he acted accordingly.

We are God-given treasures! We are pearls bought at the highest of prices! Do we treat ourselves – and one another – accordingly?

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(July 31, 2025: Ignatius of Loyola, Priest)

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“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full, they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away.”

What should I hold onto in life? What should I let go of in life?  What’s good for me? What’s not good for me? These kinds of questions are the stuff of discernment. John Crossin, OSFS offers for our consideration three aspects of any discernment process, that is, any attempt to determine God’s will.

Mind you, discernment is not an exact science. While we can come to know God’s Will in broad strokes – and sometimes even in the particular – we can’t presume to know it all. And sometimes, we may even get it wrong.

Still, some of the things that can help us to know what to keep and what to give away in life include:

·        God’s Signified Will – This is the information we already have at our disposal from the Scriptures, Commandments, Counsels etc. These clearly communicate what God considers to be good, virtuous and life-giving values, attitudes and actions.

·        Feedback from Others – We should make good use of the wise counsel of friends, clergy, mentors, counselors and other people whom we trust. True friends will know when to tell us what we want to hear, and when to tell us what we need to hear.

·        Flexibility – Francis de Sales observed that while all the saints are recognized for their conformity to God’s will, no two saints followed God’s Will in exactly the same way. We need to remind ourselves that discernment is about what God wants us - not others - to do in any particular situation. Sometimes, this may require us to ‘think outside of the box’ - we need to be open to change.

Today, life being what it is, we may catch all kinds of things in the nets of our lives. Some things are always good for us; other things are always bad for us. However, there may be some things we catch that used to be good but no longer are. On the other hand, there may be other things once considered bad that may now actually be very good.

Decisions, decisions - What do I keep? I keep the things that promote the Kingdom of heaven! What do I throw away? I throw away the things that don’t!

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(August 1, 2025: Friday, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place, in his own house...”

It isn’t an accident that prophetic people are often most unappreciated by those closest to them. It isn’t by chance that prophetic voices encounter the most resistance from members of their own family, relatives or friends. It isn’t a surprise that prophetic movements are often far easier to export abroad than to practice at home. Recall the saying: “Familiarity breeds contempt.”

Strangers don’t see our foibles. Strangers don’t see our weaknesses. Strangers don’t experience our dark side. But as we know all-too-well, those who know us well do see those things…and much, much more.

We are all disciples of Jesus. We are all commissioned by virtue of our Baptism to preach in word (and especially in deed). So, what are we to do? Preach freely to strangers but remain silent when in the presence of those with whom we labor, live and love? No, that won’t do. When it comes to following Jesus, we know that there’s extra pressure when we are among our own. We realize that there is extra scrutiny in our own (glass!) house. We accept that there is greater expectation (and perhaps more skepticism) in our native place. So, how should would-be prophets deal with this reality?

The answer - make sure that you’re already making your best efforts to put into practice what you are pondering to preach.

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(August 2, 2025: Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in ordinary Time)

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“Therefore, when you sell any land to your neighbor or buy any from him, do not deal unfairly but stand in fear of your God. I, the LORD, am your God.”

Francis de Sales clearly understood and appreciated the spirit of today’s selection from the Book of Leviticus. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, he counseled:

“Be just and equitable in all your actions. Always put yourself in your neighbor’s place and your neighbor in yours, and then you will judge rightly. Imagine yourself the seller when you buy and the buyer when you sell, and then you will sell and buy justly. A person loses nothing by living generously, nobly, courteously and with a royal, just and reasonable heart. Resolve to examine your heart often to see if it is such toward your neighbor as you would have your neighbor’s heart to be toward you. This is the touchstone of true reason....” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 36, p. 217)

When it comes to the give and take of daily life, take fairly – and give generously!

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July 20 through July 26, 2025

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(July 20, 2025: Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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"You are anxious and worried about many things."

We are all-too familiar with this image from the Gospel according to Luke. All-too familiar because it is all-too-easy to see in this Gospel a putdown of action and activity as compared with prayer and contemplation.

We need to revisit this interpretation. We need to understand how this Gospel speaks about Martha and Mary. More importantly, we need to consider how this Gospel speaks to us.

Jesus does not criticize Martha for being busy about the details of hospitality. Rather, Jesus criticizes the fact that Martha is allowing her activity and expectations to make her anxious. Likewise, Mary is not exalted due to her inactivity, but rather because she is not burdened with anxiety. In short, Martha is upset and flustered, while Mary is calm and centered.

Both Martha and Mary bring something to the experience of hospitality. In Martha, we see the importance of tending to details when welcoming people into our homes. In Mary, we see the importance of welcoming people into our lives, into our hearts, into the core of who we are without allowing the details to overwhelm us.

Hospitality isn't a matter of choosing between activity and availability. It is a matter of incorporating – and of integrating – both.

Francis de Sales certainly knew this fact when he described the two great faces of love: the love of complacence, and the love of benevolence. Complacence is love that delights in simply being in the presence of the beloved; benevolence is love that delights in expressing this complacence by doing for the beloved.

Doing and being. Being and doing. This is the dance of hospitality. This is the dance of love…a dance that challenges us to be as free as possible from anxious self-absorption and self-preoccupation.

In order to be truly open, to be truly welcoming, to be truly hospitable, there needs to be something of Martha and Mary in all of us. We need to be equally at peace with all the details and demands that come with trying to do justice to both.

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(July 21, 2025: Monday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Fear not! Stand your ground…”

In a letter to St. Jane de Chantal, Francis de Sales wrote:

“The Scriptures tell us that St. Peter, seeing that the storm was raging, grew afraid; and as soon as he was afraid, he began to sink and drown, so he cried out: ‘O Lord, save me!’ And our Lord caught hold of his hand and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ Look at this holy apostle; he walks dry foot on the water, the waves and the winds could not make him sink, but fear of the wind and the waves will make him perish unless his master saves him. Fear is a greater evil than the evil itself.”(Stopp, Selected Letters, page 125, p. 198)

His advice to Saint Jane de Chantal is also great advice for us.  He recommended:

“Do not be afraid. You are walking on the sea, surrounded by wind and water, but you are with Jesus: so what is there to fear? If terror seizes you, cry out loudly: O Lord, save me. He will stretch forth his hand towards you; clasp it tight and go joyfully on your way. In short, don’t philosophize about your trouble; don’t argue with it, just go straight on, quite simply. If the whole world is topsy-turvy – if all around is darkness and smoke and din – God is still with us.” (Ibid)

Moses and the Israelites certainly had a great deal to fear as they were being pursued by Pharaoh’s chariots and charioteers. Frightened as they were, however, they came to a point where they stopped running and stood their ground, confident that the Lord was on their side. Likewise, there are moments in all of our lives in which God asks us to stop running from our fears – to stand our ground and to face our fears, confident that – whatever the outcome – God is on our side.

How might God challenge you to stand your ground in the face of fear - today?

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(July 22, 2025: Mary Magdalene, Patron of the Order of Preachers)

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“She saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus.”

In a letter to Marie Bourgeois Brulart, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Mary Magdalene is looking for Our Lord and it is he whom she holds. She is asking him, and it is he whom she asks. She could not see him as she had hoped to see him. This is why she did not recognize him as he actually was and continues to see him in another guise. She wanted to see him in his robes of glory and not in the lowly clothes of a gardener. But in the end she recognized him when he spoke to her by name: ‘Mary.’”

“You see, Our Lord meets you every day dressed as a gardener in any number of places and situations…Be of good cheer and let nothing dismay you.” (Selected Letters, Stopp, p. 136)

On any given day God may be, as it were, hidden in plain sight. However, it isn’t a case of God trying to hide from us! Rather, it is our desire to see God in ways that match our preferences, and that prevent us from seeing God as He really is, especially when it comes to recognizing how God is present in us and in one another!

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(July 23, 2025: Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit…”

In a letter to the Duc de Bellegarde, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Persevere in this great courage and determination which keeps you lifted high above temporal things. Keep your eyes fixed steadfastly on that blissful day of eternity towards which the course of years bears us on. As these pass they themselves pass by us stage after stage until we reach the end of the road. But in the meantime, in each passing moment there lies enclosed as in a tiny kernel the seed of all eternity, and in our humble little works of devotion there lies hidden the prize of everlasting glory…” (TLG, Book XI, Chapter 6, Chapter 29, p. 212)

Regardless of how large or small the yield of the seeds that God has planted deep within you, there is only one place in which you will find those seeds – today.

In each and every present moment!

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(July 24, 2025: Thursday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“To anyone who has, more will be given, and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away…”

William Barclay made the following observation about this Gospel passage:

“Many a person in childhood and schooldays had a smattering of Latin or French or of some other language, and in later life lose every word because he never made any attempt to develop or use them. Many a person had some skill in a craft or game and lost it because he neglected it. The diligent and hard-working person is in a position to be given more and more; the lazy person may well lose even what he has. Any gift can be developed; and since nothing in life stands still, if a gift is not developed, it is lost.”

“So it is with goodness. Every temptation we conquer makes us better able to conquer the next and every temptation to which we fall makes us less able to withstand the next attack. Every good thing we do, every act of self-discipline and of service, makes us better prepared for the next opportunity, and every time we fail to use such an opportunity, we make ourselves less able to seize the next when it comes. Life is always a process of gaining more or losing more. Jesus laid down the truth that the nearer a person lives to Him, the nearer to the Christian ideal that person will grow. By contrast, the more a person drifts away from Christ, the less he or she is able to grow in goodness; for weakness, like strength, is an increasing practice.” (Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2, p. 67)

St. Francis de Sales put it this way, if we are not moving forward in the practice of virtue, we are falling behind. So it is with a life of devotion: making the effort to do good produces its own reward by expanding our experience of life, whereas neglecting to do good is its own punishment by diminishing our experience of life.

Today, take an inventory of the gifts - and the life - that God has given you. What do you find - growth or decline?

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(July 25, 2025: James, Apostle and Martyr)

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“Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant…”

Francis de Sales once wrote:

“‘Borrow empty vessels, not a few,’ said Elisha to the poor widow, ‘and pour oil into them.’ (2 Kings 4: 3-4) To receive the grace of God into our hearts they must be emptied of our own pride…” (Living Jesus, p. 149)

It’s all-too-easy to fill our hearts – our precious earthen vessels – with all kinds of earthly treasures, things that – as good as they might be – aren’t really treasures at all - at least, not where God is concerned. The less space occupied in our hearts by things that merely pass for treasure, the more room we make available in our hearts for real, heavenly treasure that is truly precious: the love of God. Recall the words of St. Francis de Sales in a conference (On Cordiality) he gave to the Sisters of the Visitation:

“We must remember that love has its seat in the heart, and that we can never love our neighbor too much, nor exceed the limits of reason in this affection, provided that it dwells in the heart.” (Conference IV, p. 56)

The story of Zebedee’s sons illustrates the importance of being very careful about what we store in our hearts. Notwithstanding their intimate relationship with Jesus, they set their hearts on a treasure that was not in Jesus’ power to grant: places of honor in His Kingdom. He responds to this request (made on James and John’s behalf by their mother, no less, who apparently also had her heart set on honor for her sons as well) by challenging them to set their hearts not on the desire for honor but for opportunities to serve the needs of others…and so to have honor beyond their wildest dreams!

Jesus tells Zebedee’s sons that the chalice from which they will drink (the same chalice from which Jesus drank every day) is an invitation to experience the greatness that comes from being a servant. Francis de Sales wrote:

“To be a servant of God means to be charitable towards one’s neighbors, to have an unshakable determination in the superior part of one’s soul to obey the will of God, to trust in God with a very humble humility and simplicity, to lift oneself up as often as one falls, to endure through one’s own imperfections and to put up with the imperfections of others.” (Selected Letters, Stopp, p. 140

How ready and willing are we to drink from that same chalice today?

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(July 26, 2025: Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

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“Let them grow together until harvest…”

In the garden of our lives all of us can find both wheat and weeds. It’s really tempting to focus our energy and attention on identifying and removing the weeds, but we do this at the risk of unintentionally removing the wheat as well. Jesus suggests that it is far better to be comfortable with the fact that we have both wheat and weeds in our lives and to allow God to sort them out over time.

Francis de Sales clearly grasped the wisdom of Jesus’ advice. In a letter to Madame de la Flechere, he wrote:

“Don’t be examining yourself to see if what you are doing is little or great, good or bad, provided that it is not sinful and that, in all good faith, you are trying to do it for God. As much as possible do well what you have to do, and once it is done, think no more about it but turn your attention to what has to be done next. Walk very simply along the way our Lord shows you and don’t worry. We must hate our faults, but we should do so calmly and peacefully, without fuss or anxiety. We must be patient at the sight of these faults and learn from the humiliation that they bring about. Unless you do this, your imperfections, of which you are acutely conscious, will disturb you even more and thus grow stronger, for nothing is more favorable to the growth of these ‘weeds’ than our anxiety and overeagerness to get rid of them.” (Letters of Spiritual Direction, pp. 161-162)

Bottom line? God loves us just the way we are - weeds and all. Who are we to suggest that God will love us more without them?

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July 13 through July 19, 2025

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(July 13, 2025: Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

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"This command that I enjoin on you today...is already in your mouths and in your hearts; all that remains is for you to carry it out."

In the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones asks his mentor, Marcus Brody: "Do you believe, Marcus? Do you believe that the grail exists?" His older friend and mentor soberly and softly replies: "The search for the cup of Christ is the search for the divine in all of us."

The search for the divine is not about going to far away places. The search for the divine is not about looking up to the sky. The search for the divine is not about crossing great oceans. No, the search for the divine is about the greatest - and sometimes the most challenging - adventure of all: the search within ourselves. It is a journey to the heart, to the soul and to the core and the center of our being.

Francis de Sales certainly believed this truth. He wrote in his Introduction to the Devout Life: "God is in all things and in all places. There is no place or thing in their world in which God is not truly present." But this, says Francis de Sales, is not enough, for "God is not only in the place where you are; God is also present in a most particular manner in your heart, in the very center of your spirit." (Part II, Chapter 2)

Of course, the search for the divine in all of us is not limited to a journey to the heart. The search for - and recognition of - the divine in us must be pursued in the other great journey - reaching out and caring for one another.

Jesus makes this point powerfully in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Two people, who should have known better (especially given their intellectual training), walked past a neighbor in need - certainly no way of acknowledging the presence of the divine in another. Clearly, and perhaps more tragically, this action is indicative of their failure to acknowledge God's abiding presence within themselves.

The third man, by contrast, is "moved to compassion" at the plight of the other person in need. He can reach out to him because he first had the courage to see inside himself the presence of a God who loves and cares for him - the presence of a God who called him to do the same for others.

We know that God dwells everywhere, but most especially he dwells in our hearts. Francis de Sales challenges us: "Examine your heart often. Does your heart look upon your neighbor in the same way as you would like your neighbor's heart to look upon you?"

All that remains for us is "to carry it out," to extend our hearts - and in us, the heart of God - to our neighbors in need.

As in the case of so many things, easier said than done!!

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(July 14, 2025: Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin)

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“Whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink
because he is a disciple: Amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

In Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Little daily acts of charity, a headache, toothache or cold, the ill humor of a husband or wife, this contempt or that scorn, the loss of a pair of gloves, a ring or a handkerchief, the little inconveniences incurred by going to bed early and getting up early to pray or attend Mass, the little feelings of self-consciousness that comes with performing good deeds in public – in short, all such little things as these when accepted and embraced with love are highly pleasing to God’s mercy. For a single cup of water God has promised to his faithful people a sea of endless bliss. Since such opportunities present themselves constantly each day it will be a great means of storing up vast spiritual riches only if you use them well…Great opportunities to serve God rarely present themselves, whereas little ones are frequent.”(IDL, Part III, Chapter 35, pp. 214 - 215)

Jesus - as it were - throws cold water on the notion that serving God is limited to doing great things for others. As Francis de Sales clearly understood, the point that Jesus makes is that serving God, more often than not, is displayed in our willingness to do little things for one another with great love.

Francis de Sales tells us that we can store up vast spiritual riches by enriching the lives of others in simple, ordinary ways.

How might we store up such riches today?

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(July 15, 2025: Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church)

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“For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day.”

In Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Put your hand to strong things, by training yourself in prayer and meditation, receiving the Sacraments, bringing souls to love God, infusing good inspirations into their hearts and in fine, by performing big, important works according to your vocation. But never forget to practice those little, humble virtues that grow at the foot of the cross: helping the poor, visiting the sick and taking care of your family with all the tasks that go with such things and with all the useful diligence that will not allow you to be idle.” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 35, pp. 214 - 215)

The selection from today’s Gospel suggests why Jesus emphasized the importance of doing little things for other people as illustrated in yesterday’s Gospel selection. Jesus had firsthand experience of how some of his contemporaries were left cold and unconvinced by even some of the greatest deeds that he performed. Put another way, Jesus discovered that even the greatest of deeds are powerless in the presence of hardened hearts. Mind you, the selective stubbornness of some folks did not deter Jesus from doing great things, but Jesus doubtless enjoyed great success in his ministry by performing little deeds as well: visiting people in their homes, walking and talking with people and just simply being with other people.

There may be times in our lives when our love for God and others may require us to perform “important works” associated with the state and stage of life in which we find ourselves. Chances are, however, that the challenge to do big things won’t present it frequently. However, never forget that time-honored saying to which most – if not all – of us can relate.

Little things mean a lot.

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(July 16, 2025: Wednesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“The Lord is kind and merciful...”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“God acts in our works, and we co-operate in God’s action.  God leaves for our part all the merit and profit of our services and good works; we leave God all the honor and praise thereof, acknowledging that the growth, the progress, and the end of all the good we do depends on God’s mercy, finishing what God began.  O God, how merciful is God’s goodness to us in thus distributing his bounty!” (TLG, Book XI, Chapter 6, Chapter 29, p. 212)

Today’s responsorial psalm challenges us to remember, to recall and to reflect on all the ways that God has been kind, merciful and generous to us. Today’s responsorial psalm also provides us with a kind of examination of conscience concerning how kind, merciful and generous we are toward other people.

As we begin this new day, consider these questions:

·        How often do we remember how others have been of benefit to us?

·        How willing are we to pardon or forgive those who have injured us?

·        How ready are we to be sources of healing for other?

·        How kind and compassionate are we? 

·        How can we promote justice and the rights of the oppressed?

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(July 17, 2025: Thursday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart...”

In her book entitled Heart Speaks to Heart: The Salesian Tradition, Wendy M. Wright writes:

“The Jesus of gentleness and humility is not a sentimental figure. In the Salesian world of hearts these qualities belong to God’s own kingdom. If one looks carefully, one sees that the passage in Matthew 11 that issues its invitation is located in a scriptural discourse on the mystery of the kingdom of God. That mystery of the kingdom of God the Father, the passage continues, is revealed through the Son. ‘Come to Me,’ he declares, ‘and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble of heart.’ God’s-kingdom-realized is thus seen in this gentle, humble heart that confounds and overturns the values of the accepted order. It is not power over others, self-assertion or wealth that characterize God’s reign, but love of God and neighbor exercised through all the intimate, relational virtues like gentleness and humility…Discipleship is the lifelong opening of the heart to be transformed by and inhabited by Jesus’ own gentle heart…” (Pp. 33-34)

The meekness that Jesus embodies is not weakness; it is strength. The humility that Jesus embodies is not thinking less about oneself; it is thinking about oneself less. This meek Jesus is all about power; this humble Jesus is all about using His power to help others.

This passage in Scripture was Francis de Sales’ favorite. The “meek and humble” Jesus of Matthew’s Gospel transformed Francis’ life and the lives of so many others whose lives he touched. Not to put too fine a point on it, but this “meek and humble” Jesus transformed Francis into a saint.

Jesus wants to do the same for - and with - us; Jesus wants to make us saints. Are we meek and humble enough to accept His invitation?

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(July 18, 2019: Friday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

* * * * *

“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

In a conference to the Sisters of the Visitation, Francis de Sales observed:

“That saying, so celebrated among the ancients – ‘know thyself’ – even though it may be understood as applying to the knowledge of the greatness and excellence of the soul (so that it might not be debased or profaned by things unworthy of its nobility) it may also be taken as referring to the knowledge of our unworthiness, imperfection and misery. The greater our knowledge of ourselves, the more profound will be our confidence in the goodness and mercy of God, for between mercy and misery there is so close a connection that the one cannot be exercised without the other. If God had not created man, He would still indeed have been perfect in goodness, but He would not have been actually merciful, since mercy can only be exercised towards the miserable.” (Select Salesian Subjects, 022, pp. 46 - 47)

We see this dynamic at work in today’s Gospel, but not in quite the way that Francis de Sales intended. The Pharisees observe Jesus’ disciples feeding themselves by picking the heads of grain. Blinded their own self-perceived “greatness and excellence,” the Pharisees considered this activity to be work, something strictly forbidden on the sabbath. As we’ve seen in many other places throughout the Gospels, seeing Jesus’ disciples – or Jesus himself, for that matter – being merciful (that is, being generous) to others on the sabbath made the Pharisees miserable. If they had really known themselves - that is, their own unworthiness, imperfection and misery - the Pharisees would have approved and applauded Jesus for doing the right thing, regardless of when, where or with whom he did it. Instead, they seized on every opportunity they could to condemn Jesus for it.

Amazing, isn’t it, how someone doing what is right can bring out the worst in others? As we’ll see in tomorrow’s continuation of Chapter 12 of Matthew’s Gospel, the Pharisees’ misery rises ultimately to the level where they decide to put Jesus to death.

What about us? Have we ever seen somebody else doing something merciful and generous at a time or in a place or in a way with which we did not agree and attempted to discredit them? Put another way, who would we like others to see and experience in us – the merciful Jesus, or the miserable Pharisee?

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(July 19, 2025: Saturday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

* * * * *

“His mercy endures forever…”

Several times this week we have focused on the kindness, mercy and generosity of God. This is who God is. If God is nothing else, he is kind, caring, compassionate, merciful and generous to us. This would be enough, but as Francis de Sales reminds us in his Treatise on the Love of God, there is something particularly unique to the mercy and generosity of God. He wrote:

“‘I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I have drawn you, having pity and mercy on you. And I will build you again and again, O beloved of Israel.’ These are God’s words, and by them he promises that when the Savior comes into the world, he will establish a new kingdom in his Church…” (TLG, Book II, Chapter 9, pp. 123-124)

God’s love is everlasting. God’s mercy endures forever. There are no limits to how far God will go in showering us with his merciful, generous love. Put another way, God will do whatever it takes to convince us of his fidelity to us.

Even if it takes forever!

* * * * *

July 6 through July 12, 2025

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(July 6, 2025: Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

* * * * *

“For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision,
but only a new creation.”

On any given day, most of us spend the bulk of our time, talent and energy dealing with and trying to balance all the things in life that are the most pressing: keeping appointments, making deadlines, surviving the daily commute, driving to/from soccer games, paying bills, shopping for food, managing the household, monitoring homework, eating, sleeping, etc., etc., etc.

Where are we supposed to find the time to do “what really matters - to be created anew?”

Pursuing things in life that really matter does not mean that we turn our backs on those things that are most pressing - quite the contrary! Francis de Sales said: “Be careful and attentive to all the matters God has committed to your care: since God has entrusted them to you, God wishes that you have great care for them.” You know, things like keeping appointments, making deadlines, surviving the daily commute, driving to/from soccer games, paying bills, shopping for food, managing the household, monitoring homework, eating, sleeping, etc., etc., etc.

Keeping in mind the things that really matter means keeping in perspective all the things that keep us busy: “Do not be worried, that is, don't exert yourself over them with uneasiness, anxiety and forwardness,” observed Francis de Sales. “Don't be worried about them, for worry disturbs reason and good judgment and prevents us from doing well the very things about which we are worried in the first place.”

Living a happy, healthy and holy life isn't about having to choose between fulfilling our commitments and responsibilities or pursuing that which is most important. It is not an either/or proposition. In the Salesian tradition, it is only when we keep before our eyes what really matters – “that we be created anew” - that we can truly do justice to all the things that we find on our plates each day.

The most important thing for Jesus was to proclaim the power and the promise of the Good News of salvation, redemption,  life and love. However, as today's Gospel clearly demonstrates, pursuing the things that really matter can generate more than a few “to-do” lists for us, just as it did for Jesus and his disciples.

And so then, throughout each day try to keep in mind and heart the things that really matter. Stay grounded in God's desire for you to be created anew. Keep before your eyes the image of the gentle, humble Christ who walks with you throughout every moment of each day. Recall God's invitation to you to embody the Good News in ways appropriate for the stage and circumstances of life in which you find yourself.

But don't take too much time. After all, we've got a lot of stuff – some new and others – all-too-familiar - on our plates today!

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(July 7, 2025: Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

* * * * *

“Truly the Lord is in this spot, although I did not know it...”

In Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“God is in all things and in all places. There is no place in this world where God is not truly present. Just as wherever birds fly, they always encounter the air, so also wherever we go or wherever we are we find God present.”(IDL, Part II, Chapter 2, p. 84)

Do we always find God wherever we go or wherever we are? Not according to Francis de Sales, when he added this comment to the above:

“Everyone knows this truth but not everyone manages to bring it home to themselves.”(IDL, Part II, Chapter 2, p. 84) In other words, we know it intellectually, but we don’t translate that knowledge into practice. The result is that we frequently forget that God is always ‘in the spot’ in which we find ourselves. Even worse, we sometimes draw the conclusion that not only is God not present, but we believe that He has forgotten about us altogether.

Of course, we all know from our own experiences that often when we do recognize God’s presence in a person, a place or a situation, it is only after the fact – it is only in hindsight that we recognize how God was truly – and actively – present in this or that spot, moment or circumstance.

One might say that God frequently is hidden ‘in plain sight.’ What steps might we take this day to improve our ability to see, hear, feel and sense the presence of a God who is always with us?

Including at this very moment!

* * * * *

(July 8, 2025: Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

* * * * *

"At the sight of the crowds his heart was moved…”

In commenting upon the Beatitude, “Blessed are those who mourn…” William Barclay wrote: “It is first of all to be noted about this beatitude that the Greek word for to mourn – used here – is the strongest word for mourning in the Greek language. It is the mourning that is used for mourning for the dead, for the passionate lament for one who was loved…it is defined as the kind of grief that takes such a hold on a man that it cannot be hidden. It is not only the sorrow which brings an ache to the heart; it is the sorrow which brings the unrestrained tear to the eyes…” (The Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1, p. 93)

In the case of Jesus, it is this sorrow that moves his heart and releases miraculous power!

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales cites one of two virtues associated with mourning or sadness: “Compassion.” (IDL, Part IV, Chapter 12, p. 253) At the sight of the man with a dead daughter and the woman with a chronic illness in yesterday’s Gospel, Jesus’ heart was deeply moved: the woman was cured, and the girl was raised. In today’s Gospel Jesus’ heart was deeply moved as He taught in synagogues, proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom and cured every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved. Feeling overwhelmed by the sheer size and scale of the neediness that He himself was encountering in others, Jesus asked His disciples to pray that God send more laborers for His harvest. In tomorrow’s Gospel, Jesus’ heart will move Him to go a step further with this request: He himself will commission his disciples to be those very laborers.

Whenever Jesus’ heart was moved by the sight of others’ needs, power was released in Him: the people were taught, the sick were healed, the possessed were freed, the lost were found and the dead were raised. These actions are the heart of compassion, because it’s not enough merely to feel sorry for someone else’s plight. Compassion requires that we do something to address another’s plight. Compassion is more than just feeling; compassion is more about doing.

Are we willing to take our rightful place as laborers for God’s harvest today?

At the sight of other people’s needs, will our hearts – like the heart of Jesus himself – be moved to meet their needs?

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(July 9, 2025: Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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"Let your mercy be on us...”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“God acts in our works, and we co-operate in God’s action.  God leaves for our part all the merit and profit of our services and good works; we leave God all the honor and praise thereof, acknowledging that the growth, the progress, and the end of all the good we do depends on God’s mercy, finishing what God began.  O God, how merciful is God’s goodness to us in thus distributing his bounty!”(TLG, Book XI, Chapter 6, Chapter 29, p. 212)

When we pray using the words from today’s responsorial psalm, we are not engaging in wishful thinking. We aren’t asking for something that has not yet occurred. God’s mercy is on us! God’s generosity rains down upon us! God’s love is always with and within us.

Today, how can we be instruments of that same divine mercy, generosity and love in the lives of others?

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(July 10, 2025: Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

What could be more humbling than to consider all the good that God has done for us, is doing for us and will do for us? Well, perhaps even more humbling is the realization that God’s goodness, mercy and generosity come without cost or condition. Insofar as we are created from nothing, we have done nothing to deserve God’s overwhelming blessings, gifts and love. They are unconditionally free gifts!

In a conference to the Sisters of the Visitation on the virtue of generosity, Francis de Sales remarked:

“We must indeed keep ourselves humble because of our imperfections, but this humility must be the foundation of a great generosity. Humility without generosity is only a deception and a cowardice of the heart that makes us think that we are good for nothing and that others should never think of using us in anything great. On the other hand, generosity without humility is only presumption. We may indeed say, ‘It is true I have no virtue, still less the necessary gifts to be used in such and such an endeavor,’ but after that humble acknowledgement we must put our full confidence in God as to believe that He will not fail to give His gifts to us when it is necessary to have them, and when He wants us to make use of us, provided only that we forget ourselves in praising faithfully His Divine majesty and helping our neighbor to do the same so as to increase His glory as much as lies in our power. ” (Living Jesus, p. 152)

On one level it is true to say that we are “nothing”, creatures that we are. But because of the God who has created us, each and every one of us is – in God’s eyes – marvelous to behold. What a humbling, empowering gift!

What better way today to say “thank you” for such gift than to freely and generously share who we are and what we have with one another?

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(July 11, 2025: Benedict, Abbot)

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“Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say…”

In a letter to Jane de Chantal in 1606, Francis de Sales wrote:

“I cannot think of anything else to say to you about your apprehension of your particular troubles, nor of the fear of being unable to bear it. Did I not tell you the first time I spoke to you about your soul that you pay too much attention to what afflicts or frightens you? You must do so only in great moderation! People frequently reflect too much about their troubles and this entangles thoughts and fears and desires to the point that the soul is constricted and cannot be itself. Don’t be afraid of what God has in store for you – love God very much for He wants to do you a great deal of good. Carry on quite simply in the shelter of your resolutions and reject anticipations of your troubles as simply a cruel temptation…Fear is a greater evil than the evil itself, but if terror should seize you cry out loudly to God. He will stretch forth his hand towards you – grab it tightly and go joyfully on your way.” (Selected Letters, Stopp, pp. 124 -125)

Francis de Sales recommends that we begin every new day with what he calls a “preparation of the day”. Consider all the things you may need to accomplish today. Think about the people and situations that you may encounter today. When you finished, does anything, place or person you may face today make you worry, anxious or fearful?

Take hold of God’s hand and do your best to go joyfully through your day!

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(July 12, 2025: Saturday, Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Do not be afraid……”

In the same letter that we considered yesterday, Francis de Sales wrote to Jane de Chantal concerning the issues of worry, anxiety and fear. We read:

“Don’t philosophize about your trouble – don’t argue with it. Quite simply, continue to walk straight on. God would not allow you to be lost while you live according to your resolutions so as not to lose him. If the whole world turns topsy-turvy, if all around is darkness and smoke and din, yet God is still with us. So, if we know that God lives in the darkness and on Mount Sinai which is full of smoke and surrounded with the roar of thunder and lightning, shall not all be well with us as long as we remain close to him? So, live wholly in God, and do not fear. Jesus in his goodness is all ours; let us be all his. Let us cling to him with courage!” (Selected Letters, Stopp, pp. 124 -125)

This exhortation is very challenging! After all, who of us can say that they have never been afraid, worried or anxious? Doesn’t even the Book of Proverbs (9:10) claim that “fear (of the Lord) is the beginning of wisdom?” Some things should scare us!

Let’s look at it this way. While we may have our share of fears in life, it is critical that we try our level best to avoid becoming people who are fearful and become people who are joyful!

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June 29 through July 5, 2025

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(June 29, 2019: Solemnity of Peter and Paul, Apostles)

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“I have completed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.”

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul – Apostles.

Of Saint Peter, Francis de Sales wrote:

“St. Peter was chosen to be the chief of the Apostles, although he was subject to so many imperfections that he even committed some after he had received the Holy Spirit, because, notwithstanding these defects, he was always full of courage, never allowing himself to be dismayed by his shortcomings.” (Conferences, Number IV, Page 63)

Francis expounds upon this duality of Peter’s nature in his Treatise on the Love of God.

“Who would not marvel at the heart of St. Peter, so bold among armed soldiers that out of all of his master’s company he alone takes his sword in hand and strikes out with it? Yet a little afterwards among ordinary people he is so cowardly that at the mere word of a servant girl he denies and detests his master.” (TLG, Book X, Chapter 9, p, 167)

Now let us turn our attention to some of what Francis de Sales said about St. Paul.

“He fights for all people, he pours forth prayers for all people, he is passionately jealous in behalf of all people, and he is on fire for all people. Yes, he even dared more than this for ‘those according to the flesh,’ so that, if I dare to say so, he desires by charity that they may be put in his place with Jesus Christ. O perfection of courage and unbelievable spirit!” (Treatise, Book X, Chapter 16, pp. 188 – 189)

Of course, as in the case of Peter, Paul, too, has his shortcomings. In a letter of encouragement to a sister of the Visitation, Francis wrote:

“Do not be ashamed…any more than St. Paul who confessed that there were two men in him, one rebellious to God and the other obedient to God.” (Stopp, Selected Letters, page 224.)

“I competed well; I have finished the race.” Paul wrote these words, but they could also be said of Peter. But note well – they both finished well. By contrast, look at their earlier track records. Peter was called “Satan” by Jesus and Peter denied Him three times. While Paul, he began his public life by persecuting the early Church as Saul. Neither man’s resumes were particularly impressive!

When it comes to being an apostle, a disciple or follower of Jesus Christ, perhaps this is the most important thing to remember – as imperfect as we are, where we’ve been isn’t nearly as important as where we are going with the grace of God and the support of one another.

All’s well that ends well!

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(June 30, 2025: Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“The Lord is kind and merciful…”

In the wake of Jesus' crucifixion and death, the apostles were locked away together in fear. They were afraid that they might suffer the same fate as their teacher.

Despite their anxious seclusion, Jesus breaks into their lives: not merely into the physical space in which they were taking refuge; Jesus also breaks into the core of their minds and hearts. Jesus attempts to calm their fears; he challenges them to be at peace; he does this in a rather confrontational and mysterious manner: by showing them the wounds in his hands and side.

The experience of resurrection did not remove the scars of Jesus' woundedness, the lasting marks of pain, disappointment, misunderstanding, rejection, humiliation, abandonment, suffering and death. Notwithstanding these wounds, however, Christ's resurrection powerfully demonstrated that pain, sadness, suffering and injustice did not, ultimately, enjoy the last word. While suffering is clearly a part of life, there is much more to life than suffering.

St. Francis de Sales wrote:

"We must often recall that our Lord has saved us by his suffering and endurance, and that we must work out our salvation by sufferings and afflictions, enduring with all possible forbearance the injuries, denials and discomforts we meet." (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 3)

All of us bear the wounds of failure, deception, betrayal, disappointment and loss. Our hearts, our minds, our memories - our souls - bear the scars to prove it. Like the Apostles, we, too, are tempted to withdraw from others, to lock ourselves away in some secluded emotional or spiritual corner, living in fear of what other pain or disappointments may come our way. Of course, in withdrawing from life, we figuratively - in some cases, even literally - die.

Jesus clearly demonstrates in his own life that our wounds do not necessarily need to overwhelm or disable us. While these wounds may be permanent, they need not rob us of the power and promise of recovery, of renewal - of resurrection - unless we despair, unless we allow ourselves to be defeated by the nails of negativity.

The wounds of our past continue to leave their mark in our present: they don't necessarily determine the course of our future. Turn to the love of Jesus who knows what it means to be wounded and who shows us how to move through and beyond them. St. Francis de Sales wrote: “Look often on Christ, crucified, naked, blasphemed, slandered, forsaken, and overwhelmed by every kind of weariness, sadness, sorrow and labor.” Jesus triumphed over and through the wounds of his humanity: so, too, with God's help, can we.

To be sure, life can be tough. But as we see in the life of Jesus, however, there is something in life even stronger than ‘tough:” love, and mercy.

What could be more merciful – more generous – than that?

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(July 1, 2019: Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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"Why are you terrified?”

Given the fact that the disciples were caught out in open water in a violent storm would be plenty of reason to be terrified, regardless of whether Jesus was with them or not. In the event, the disciples’ terror quickly subsided, when they witnessed the calming power of Jesus.

In a letter to Madame Gasparde de Ballon, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Regarding your fears, they are the work of the enemy who sees that you are quite determined to live in Our Lord without any reserves and exceptions. The evil one will make every sort of effort to upset you and make the way of holy devotion seem hard for you. What you must do to counteract this is to open your heart and often repeat your protestation never to give in, always to keep faith, to love the challenges of God’s service more than the sweetness of the world’s service and to say that you will never leave God’s side. Be very careful not to give up on prayer, for that would be playing into the hand of your adversary. Instead, continue to go steadfastly with this holy exercise and wait for Our Lord to speak to you, for one day he will say words of peace and consolation to you. Then you will know that your trouble will have been well spent and your patience and trust useful…Say often: ‘May Jesus reign!’” (Selected Letters, Stopp, pp. 225 - 226)

We all have things in life that should concern, scare - and even - terrify us. Jesus isn’t asking us to never be fearful or even terrified; rather, Jesus asks us to trust him precisely in times of timidity and terror.

No matter how daunting the storms of life may be, don’t allow them to shake your faith in God’s love for you and fidelity to you. Regardless of how your boat may get rocked during the course of your life, Jesus will never – never – abandon you. He will either calm the storms for you or ride them out with you.

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(July 2, 2025: Wednesday, Thirteenth in Ordinary Time)

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“They came out and entered the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea where they drowned…”

In his commentary on this selection from the Gospel of Matthew, William Barclay observed:

“We could never compare the value of a herd of swine with the value of a person’s immortal soul. It is unlikely that we refuse to eat bacon for breakfast or pork for dinner. Our sympathy with pigs does not extend far enough to prevent our eating them. Are we then to complain is Jesus restored sanity to two men’s minds at the cost of a herd of pigs? This is not to say that we encourage or even condone cruelty to animals. It is simply to say that we must preserve a sense of proportion in life.”

“Th supreme tragedy of this story lies in its conclusion. Those who were herding the pigs ran back to the town and told what had happened. The result was that the people of the town asked Jesus to leave their territory at once.”

“Here is human selfishness at its worst. It did not matter to these people that two men had been given back heir reason. All that mattered to them was that their pigs had perished. It is so often the case that that people say in effect, ‘I don’t care what happens to anyone else, so long as my profits and my comfort and my ease are preserved.’”

Barclay concludes:

“”We may be amazed at the callousness of these people, but we must have a care that we, too, do not resent any helping of others which may reduce our own privileges.”

As one wag once put it, “I am all for change, provided that I can keep doing things the way I’ve always done them.” Therein lies the rub: Jesus did not come to sustain the status quo. Jesus came as a game changer.

How willing are we willing to roll with the changes that come with living the Gospel – and the ways – of Jesus Christ?

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(July 3, 2025: Thomas, Apostle)

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"Unless I see the mark of the nails…I will not believe.”

In Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Do not say that so-and-so is a drunkard even though you have seen him intoxicated, or that so-and-so is an adulterer even if you saw him in his sin, or that so-and-so is incestuous because he has been guilty of a certain depraved deed. A single act is not enough to justify the name of vice...To deserve the name of a vice or a virtue, there must be some advance in an act and it must be habitual. Hence it is untrue to say that so-and-so is bad-tempered or a thief simply because we once saw him in a fit of anger or guilty of theft…We must not draw conclusions from yesterday to today, nor from today to yesterday, and still less to tomorrow.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 29, p. 202)

So why is it, then, that we continue to refer to the Apostle whose life and legacy we celebrate today as “Doubting Thomas”? Nearly two thousand years have passed, since he declared to his peers what it would take for him to believe that Jesus was risen. Why should we vilify Thomas for being honest? Why should we beat up on Thomas for speaking from his heart?

Jesus certainly didn’t!

Jesus didn’t scold Thomas for his declaration. Jesus didn’t refuse Thomas’ request. Quite the contrary! Jesus showed him his hands and his side, saying, in effect: “Do you want to see my wounds? Here they are! Do you want to touch my hands and side? Please do! If that’s what it’s going to take to convince you that I’m real, Thomas, then by all means please do it!” It was then that Thomas believed that the person, who was standing in front of him, was the same Jesus with whom he walked for three years. It was the same Jesus who had spent his ministry meeting people, where they were, who now offered the same courtesy to Thomas.

In the closing scene from the film Red Dragon, Dr. Hannibal Lector’s character opined: “Our scars have the power to remind us that the past was real.” Perhaps, Thomas intuited that only the scars left by Jesus’ humiliation, passion and death could convince him that Jesus had conquered death! Perhaps, this is what prompted Thomas’ request. Perhaps, that’s why Thomas had the courage to speak his truth despite the giddy euphoria of the other Apostles who had previously seen Jesus. Can you really blame Thomas for not taking their word for it?

Come to think of it, it is remarkable that the experience of resurrection did not remove the wounds of Jesus: the lasting marks of pain, disappointment, misunderstanding, rejection, humiliation, abandonment, suffering and death. Notwithstanding these wounds, however, Christ's resurrection powerfully demonstrated that pain, sadness, suffering and injustice -- as real as they were -- did not, ultimately, wield the last word. While suffering was clearly a part of Jesus’ life, there was so much more to his life than suffering.

Maybe it’s time for us to retire the moniker “Doubting Thomas” and replace it with “Honest Thomas” from this day forward! Maybe it’s also time for us to simply accept the fact that there are some things about Jesus that we can know only through our own wounds and the wounds of others.

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(July 4, 2025: Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

In today’s Gospel, we are considering two related – but remarkably different – notions of what it means to be God-like. We are considering two related – but remarkably different – models for growing in holiness.

The tension between mercy and sacrifice is not something invented by Jesus, but it is as old as the Hebrew community itself. Actually, it is as old as the human family itself (Cain and Abel – Abraham and Isaac). But Jesus does make this issue front and center in his ongoing struggle with the Scribes and Pharisees.

Under the paradigm of SACRIFICE, holiness is all about proving my fidelity to God. It is all about showing God that I love God enough to go without food for a day, to slaughter a bull, to walk so many miles in my bare feet or to donate $5 million to my church’s capital campaign. Mind you, none of these things are wrong per se, but when holiness is understood almost exclusively as sacrifice, the danger is that it may ultimately lead to loving God to the exclusion of loving my neighbor.

The ancient Israelite prophets frequently criticized their people for somehow attempting to pit the love of God against the love of neighbor. In the prophet Isaiah, we hear:

“The multitude of your sacrifices – what are they to me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have more than enough burnt offerings, or rams and the fat of fattened animals. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.” (1: 11 – 17)

By contrast, the MERCY paradigm of holiness emphasizes the need to integrate the two components of Jesus’ Great Commandment exemplified in the words of 1 John 4:12:

“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and love is made complete in us.”

Not to put too fine a point on it, but loving God and loving neighbor can never be separated. They are indeed two indispensable sides of the very same coin. The goal of holiness that we pursue in praying, fasting, singing songs of praise, donating blood making meals for the homeless and every other act of piety and mercy is not to prove anything to God but to give God complete influence over our hearts.

Sacrifice can be extremely beneficial when it is a means for submitting ourselves more completely to God’s mercy and not a substitute for it. For example, fasting can teach us to be aware of our own hungers and our need for God to feed us as a remedy for the pride of self-sufficiency. However, if God indeed desires mercy over sacrifice, the commands that God gives us are not intended to be tests of our loyalty to God but rather a pathway for allowing His reign of mercy to reign in our hearts - a reign expressed through our exercise of mercy toward one another.

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(July 5, 2025: Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed:

“If you can stand fasting, you will do well to fast on certain days in addition to those prescribed by the Church. Besides the usual effects of fasting, namely, elevating our spirits, keeping the body in submission, practicing virtue and gaining greater reward in heaven, it is valuable for restraining gluttony and keeping our sensual appetites and body subject to the law of the spirit.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 23, p. 185)

From a Salesian perspective, there is a place for fasting in the spiritual life. However, fasting is not the only method for “elevating our spirits, keeping the body in submission, practicing virtue and gaining greater reward in heaven.” So is work!

Francis continued:

“Both fasting and labor mortify and subdue the flesh. If your work is necessary for you to contribute to God’s glory, I prefer that you endure the pains of work rather than that of fasting. Such is the mind of the Church…One man finds it difficult to fast, while another is called to care for the sick, visit prisoners, hear confessions, preach, comfort the afflicted, pray and perform similar tasks. These latter disciplines are of greater value than the first: besides subduing the body, they produce much more desirable fruits.” (Ibid, pp. 185 – 186)

Why didn’t Jesus’ disciples fast? It seems they were too busy contributing to God’s glory by serving the needs of others.

There are two ways of contributing to God’s glory: fasting (doing without) and laboring (doing).

Which way will you pursue today?

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June 22 through June 28, 2025

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(June 22, 2025: Body and Blood of Christ)

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“Give them food yourselves.” 

The disciples seemed to be a practical group of men, perhaps like most ministers of the Church, including most of us, for that matter. If today’s account in the Gospel had occurred in a contemporary parish, they may have worded their question along these lines: “Did anyone requisition a room for all these people to meet and eat?  What about the health department or fire marshal? Who’s going to pay for this?  Who’s running this show? Are we going to get sued?”

Fortunately for us, Jesus wasn’t concerned about any of these details.  In fact, in the face of the daunting task of feeding at least 5,000 men (not counting women and children), Jesus essentially said, “Do it yourselves.”

His only organizational instruction was to have the people sit down in groups of fifty.  And to their credit, they did as they were told.  And there is the rub, that is, they did as they were told without any evidence of a solution that made sense.  Obviously, their faith in Jesus prevailed.  They believed that if Jesus recognized a need, Jesus would – and could – do whatever it takes to meet that need.

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Your chief aim in Holy Communion should be to advance, strengthen and comfort yourself in the love of God, receiving for love’s sake what love alone can give.  There is nothing in which the love of Christ is set forth more tenderly or more touchingly than in the Sacrament by which He, so to say, annihilates Himself for us and takes upon Himself the form of bread in order to feed us, and unites Himself closely to the bodies and souls of the faithful.”

So, too, with us today, each time when we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, Jesus is with us and within us.  But how does knowing that Jesus is truly present to us - and in us - help us when we are faced with situations for which there seem to be no easy solutions? Sometimes all we can do at the time is to try to take stock of what we do have rather than what we don’t have and decide how to make the best use of what we have, leaving the rest to Jesus.

A biblical commentary on this Gospel passage suggested that the crowd was so moved by love that each shared what he had brought.  It is similar to a contemporary challenge, which goes something like this: “If everybody does what they can, we can do anything!”

In this holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, we are challenged to reflect on St. Augustine’s maxim, “become what we receive.”  We become the Body of Christ.  When faced with overwhelming situations with little or no evidence of resolution or solutions in sight, we remember that Christ is present in us and with us, knowing that we are not alone even when we feel that we are alone.  So, we should have no fear to bring to the table whatever it is we possess when we’re faced with seemingly overwhelming challenges- and leave the rest to God.

Perhaps, if more of us took this message to heart, each of us would be genuinely empowered by the Body and Blood of Christ to the best we can and to do whatever needs to be done in fulfilling God’s will to feed and nourish one another.

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(June 23, 2025: Monday, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“The measure with which you measure will be measured back to you…”

In his commentary on today’s selection from the Gospel of Matthew, William Barclay wrote:

“Many a time the Rabbis warned people against judging others. ‘He who judges his neighbor favorably,’ they argued, ‘will be judged favorably by God. They decreed that there were six great works which brought a person credit in this world and profit in the world to come – namely, study, visiting the sick, hospitality, devotion in prayer, educating children in the Law and thinking the best of other people. The Jews believed that kindliness in judgment was nothing other than a sacred duty.” (Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1, p. 119-120)

“There is hardly anyone who has not been guilty of gross misjudgment; there is hardly anyone who has not been the victim of someone else’s misjudgment. And yet, the fact is that there is hardly any commandment of Jesus which is more consistently broken and neglected than temptations to judge other people.” (Ibid)

There are three great reasons why we should not judge other people:

1.     We never know all of the facts or everything about the person.

2.     We are rarely impartial in our judgment.

3.     Not one of us is so perfect as to presume to judge any other person.

If these reasons aren’t enough to curb our tendency to judge other people, then heed Jesus’ warning: “The measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”

In that case, if we can’t refrain from judging others, it might be in our best interest to judge people in the most positive light, that is, to presume the best in others.

With the hope that God – in his mercy – will look for and see the best in us.

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(June 24, 2025: Nativity of John the Baptist)

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“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.”

Francis de Sales wrote:

“I have often wondered who is the most mortified of the saints that I know, and after some reflection I have come to the conclusion that it was St. John the Baptist.  He went into the desert when he was five years old and knew that our Savior came to earth in a place quite close by, perhaps only one or two days’ journey.  How his heart, touched with love of his Savior from the time he was in his mother’s womb, must have longed to enjoy Christ’s presence.  Yet, he spends twenty-five years in the desert without coming to see our Lord even once; and leaving the desert he catechized without visiting him but waiting until our Lord comes to seek him out. Then, after he has baptized Jesus, he does not follow him but stays behind to do his appointed task.  How truly mortified was John’s spirit!  To be so near his Savior and not see him, to have Him so close and not enjoy His presence! Is this not a completely detached spirit, detached even from God himself so as to do God’s will, and to serve God, as it were to leave God for God, and not to cling to God in order to love him better?  The example of this great saint overwhelms me with its grandeur.” (Stopp, Selected Letters, Page 74)

“How truly mortified was John the Baptist’s spirit.” What does Francis de Sales mean? The American Heritage Dictionary defines mortify as to discipline by self-denial or self-inflicted privation.  John did, indeed, discipline himself and denied himself many things in order to be faithful to his understanding of the person God wanted him to be - a light to the nations, a light to highlight the coming of Jesus, even when this meant that John would “follow” Jesus by – in fact – staying behind!

Think about it! According to St. Francis de Sales, John spends twenty-five years in the desert preparing to announce Christ’s coming.  Despite growing up in the same general area, John meets Christ only once – when he baptized him at the Jordan River – only to remain behind as Jesus recruited others to be his apostles and disciples!  John never sees his cousin again.

John was faithful to the role God wanted him to play in the plan of salvation: He played that role supremely well. Listen to what Jesus himself said: “I tell you the truth: among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” (Matthew 11: 11) However, Jesus continues, “Anyone who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” John shows us that being faithful to God’s will often requires that we deprive ourselves of the desire to “have it all” and to dedicate ourselves to discerning – and embracing – what it is that God wants us to do…and not to do.

* * * * *

(June 25, 2025: Wednesday, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“By their fruits you will know them…”

Imagine yourself walking through a lush forest in which you encounter a variety of fruit-bearing plants. What would you expect to find along the boughs of an apple tree? Why, apples, of course! What would you expect to find hanging from the branches of a peach tree? Peaches, no doubt! What would you expect to find near the top of a banana tree? Clearly, you’d look for bananas! You approach grape vines. What would you expect to find throughout them? You’d hope to see grapes!

In the opening chapters of his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“When he created things God commanded plants to bring forth their fruits, each one according to its kind. In like manner he commands Christians, the living plants of his Church, to bring forth the fruits of devotion, each one according to his position and vocation.” (IDL, Part I, Chapter 3)

Insofar as we are “living plants of the Church,” what kind of fruit(s) should we be producing? He offers some ideas in a letter he wrote four hundred years ago to Mademoiselle de Soulfour:

“Let us practice those ordinary virtues suited to our littleness…patience, forbearance toward our neighbor, service to others, humility, gentleness of heart, affability, tolerance of our own imperfections and similar little virtues…” (LSD, p. 98)

How would other people describe us by the fruits that they discover growing in and from us today?

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(June 26, 2025: Thursday, Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven…”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“You must be ready to suffer many great afflictions for our Lord, even martyrdom itself. However, as long as divine Providence does not send you great, piercing afflictions…bear patiently the slight inconveniences, the little inconveniences and the inconsequential losses that daily come to you…All such little trials when accepted and embraced with love are highly pleasing to God’s mercy.” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 35, pp. 213-214)

When it comes to entering the Kingdom of God, talk is cheap. As we see clearly in the example of Abram, Sarai, and so many others in the selections from the Book of Genesis that we have been hearing this week, there’s a lot less lips service involved with following God’s will and a great deal more hearing – to say nothing of doing it!

How far are we willing to go this day in attempting to follow the will of God – by doing it?

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(June 27, 2025: Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus)

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“The love of God has been poured into our hearts…”

In a letter (undated) to the Sisters of the Visitation, Jane de Chantal wrote:

 “You are, I hope, always striving more earnestly to rid yourself of all that is displeasing to your sovereign spouse and to acquire those virtues which please him. Oh, my dearest sisters, how deeply is this wish engraved in my heart! Show a childlike trust and gentleness toward one another…So courage, dear ones. May all of you together – and each one in particular – work at this and never grow slack. May you all live in harmony with one heart and mind in God…If you imitate Him in all your little trials and make His divine will rule in you, He will fill it with every blessing…I urge you to this once again, for the love of our Savior and by his Precious blood, and with the deep affection of my heart which is all yours in Jesus. (Wright, Heart Speaks to Heart: The Salesian Tradition, p. 95)

God gives us the courage to accept St. Jane’s exhortation and make it our own! God gives us the grace we need to live in harmony with one heart and mind! God gives us the patience to acquire the virtues that please God and serve others.

Today, may God fill us with every blessing - and help us to be a blessing to each other – as He did so clearly through the Sacred Heart of his Son! Just as the love of God has been poured into our hearts through Christ, so may we be willing to share that same love with the hearts of one another.

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(June 28, 2025: Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

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“He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales observed the following about Mary, the Mother of Jesus:

“Just as the charity of this mother excels in perfection compared with all the saints in heaven, so also, she practiced it more excellently in this mortal life. For her there was no change or delay in her progress of love but by a perpetual advance she rose from love to love…Her love, like a true Solomon, reigned peaceably in her heart and performed all its acts at will. He virginity of heart and body was of greater dignity and more honorable than that of the angels. Hence her spirit was neither divide nor separated and was, as St. Paul says, ‘concerned about the things of the Lord and how she might please God.’ In fine, since maternal love is the most urgent, the most active and the most ardent of all forms of love, how much must it have worked in the heart of such a Mother and for the heart of such a Son?” (TLG, Book III, Chapter 8, p. 183)

The most urgent, active and ardent Immaculate Heart of Mary was completely and totally consumed about the things of the Lord and with serving God. To what extent can the same be said of our hearts just this day?

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June 8 through June 14, 2025

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(June 8, 2025: Pentecost Sunday)

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“Each of us hears them speaking in our own tongue about the marvels that God has accomplished.”

Despite the fact that they were speaking to many people of many languages, from many places and from many cultures, the apostles were, nonetheless, understood by all of their listeners as they proclaimed the marvels that God had accomplished.

How was this possible?

Enflamed by the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostles were speaking the language of the heart. They were speaking with enthusiasm. They were speaking with gratitude. They were speaking with praise and thanksgiving. They were speaking from their core. They were speaking from their soul. In short, they were speaking the universal language – the language of the heart, which is the language of love.

We are most human - we are most divine - when we speak the language of the heart, when we speak the language of love, when we speak and listen from the soul, when we are grounded in the Word Made Flesh. St. Francis de Sales wrote in his Treatise on the Love of God:

“The Holy Spirit almost always uses words that express union and conjunction when wishing to express a perfect love. ‘And the multitude of believers,’ says St. Luke, ‘had but one heart and one soul.’  Our Savior prayed to his Father for all the faithful to the end that they all ‘might be one.’ St. Paul warns us to be ‘careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’ These unities of heart, soul and spirit signify the perfection of love which joins many souls into one.” (Treatise, Book One, Chapter 9)

Communicating is often easier said than done. We misunderstand one another. We presume to know what others are thinking or feeling. We use the same words for which we have different meanings. We have different ways of saying the same thing. We hear, but we fail to listen. We so infrequently use the language of the soul.

St. Francis de Sales tells us that the Holy Spirit comes to inflame the hearts of believers. When we speak and listen from hearts enflamed with joy, truth and gratitude, conflict gives way to understanding, confusion gives way to clarity, estrangement gives way to intimacy, hurt gives way to healing, frustration gives way to forgiveness, violence gives way to peace, sin gives way to salvation, and division gives way to unity.

How might you need to speak – and to hear - the language of love today?

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(June 9, 2025: Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church)

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“Who told you that you were naked?”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales does not equate happiness with self-centeredness, self-absorption or self-obsession. However, Francis does equate happiness with what he calls self-possession. The Gentleman Saint writes:

“It is man’s great happiness to possess his own soul, and the more perfect our patience the more completely do we possess our souls.”

What happiness it is to know and accept yourself for who you are in the sight of God! What delight it is to be comfortable – without being complacent – in your own skin! What joy it is to be essentially at home – to be at peace – with the person that God made you to be! Why, it’s the next best thing to Paradise.

Tragically enough, the ability to be at home with ourselves became the first – and the most fundamental – casualty of The Fall. No sooner had Adam and Eve eaten from the fruit of the tree of knowledge than their natural state – their nakedness, their transparency – became a reproach. They were embarrassed – they were ashamed – of who they were. Literally, they were no longer comfortable in their own skin. Suddenly sullied by self-alienation and self-loathing, Paradise was lost…and life became a burden.

As we know all-too-well, so much of the misery, sin and sadness that plagues the human family to this very day comes from either (1) the inability to be who we really are, or (2) the fruitless attempt to become someone we’re not.

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales exclaimed:

“God has signified to us in so many ways and by so many means that he wills all of us to be saved that no one should be ignorant of this fact. For this purpose, through Creation God made us ‘in his own image and likeness’, whereas through the Incarnation God has made himself in our image and likeness.”

The redemptive grace of the Incarnation makes it possible for us to experience once again the happiness that comes from possessing our own souls. The restorative power of the Incarnation makes it possible for us to experience once again the joy of being essentially at home with who we are in the sight of God. Wounded as we are by sin, our practice of devotion – our quest to possess our own souls – no longer comes effortlessly as it originally did in Paradise. It requires perpetual practice; it demands tremendous patience That said, God not only promises us the joy and peace born of this heavenly self-acceptance; God also shows us how to achieve it on this earth in the person of his Son.

Jesus embodies the power of self-possession. Jesus exhibits the joy of self-acceptance. Jesus exudes the peace of self-direction. Who better than Jesus shows us what it looks like to be comfortable in one’s own skin? Who better than Jesus demonstrates what it looks like to invite - and to empower - others to do the same?

Not unlike what he did with our first parents, The Evil One hits us where it hurts. Sometimes Satan tempts us to believe that we can’t possibly be happy by being who we are. Other times, Satan tempts us to believe that we’d be happier if we were someone else – perhaps anybody else – other than who we are. In very deep, dark places within our minds and hearts, each and every one of us is tempted to ask this question:

Sinner as I am, weak as I am, wounded as I am and imperfect as I am, why should I believe that God wants me to be comfortable – at home - in my own skin?

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(June 10, 2025: Tuesday of the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time)

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“You are salt for the earth…you are light of the world…”

In his commentary on today’s selection from the Gospel of Matthew, William Barclay wrote:

“In the time of Jesus salt was connected in people’s minds with three special qualities:

(1) Salt was connected with purity. No doubt its glistening whiteness made such a connection easy to make. The Romans believed that salt was the purest of all things because it came from the purest of all things: the sun and the sea. So then, if Christians are to be salt of the earth, they must be an example of purity.”

“(2) Salt was the most common (and most readily available) of all preservatives. It was used to prevent good things from going bad. So then, if Christians are to be salt for the earth, they must be a remedy for corruption.”

“(3) The greatest and most obvious quality of salt is that it lends flavor to things. Food without salt is a sadly insipid and perhaps even sickening thing. So then, if Christians are to be salt for the earth, they must add flavor to life.” (The Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1, p. 119-120)

We are created to be salt for the earth. We are meant to be pure, that is, to be unadulterated, to be genuine, and to be real. We are meant to be a remedy for anything in danger of decay or disrepair in life. We are meant to add flavor, gusto and zest to life.

How can we be sources of this divine, life-giving salt in the lives of those whom we encounter today?

Look at the day ahead. What trials – large or little – might be headed your way today? How do you plan to deal with them?

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(June 11, 2025: Barnabas, Apostle)

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“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets...”

Throughout the Gospels Jesus was repeatedly criticized by the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes for not “doing it by the book”. That is, he was accused of abolishing the Law and the prophets by not living by the letter of the Law. In today’s Gospel Jesus responds to that charge by saying not only does He have no intention of abolishing the Law, but also, he plans to go one step further – to fulfill the Law.

And how does Jesus fulfill the Law and the Prophets? He does so by being himself, that is, by performing the works of God in accordance with the will of God, and not by the whims of man – a life described by St. Paul as a life lived in “the Spirit.”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“The Holy Spirit dwells in us if we are living members of Jesus Christ, who said to his disciples, ‘He who abides in me, and I in him bears much fruit.’ This is because one who abides in him partakes of his divine Spirit, who is the midst of a person’s heart as a living fountain springs up and flashes its waters into everlasting life...Thus, like a little grain of mustard seed, our works are in now ay comparable in greatness to the tree of glory they produce. Still, they have the vigor and virtue to produce it because they proceed from the Holy Spirit. By a wondrous infusion of his grace into our hearts he makes our works become his and yet at the same time they remain our own, since we are members of a head of which he is the Spirit…” (TLG, Book XI, Chapter 7, pp. 211-212)

So, it turns out that the reason that Jesus did not abolish the Law – even the smallest parts of it – is that he embodied the Law, that is, the Law of the Spirit which supersedes (“fulfills”) the letter of the Law. While we, the followers of Jesus, may need to know how to do it “by the book,” the life of Jesus clearly suggests that there is something much more important than the letter of the law – the law of the Spirit, which leads to life.

Today, how can we do our part in fulfilling Jesus’ law of love through our love for one another?

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(June 12, 2025: Thursday of the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time)

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“Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus raises the bar when it comes to considering just what it takes in order to “enter into the Kingdom of God. Jesus calls his disciples to a higher love! When it comes to judgment, it’s no longer enough for them to say, “Well, we never killed anybody.” Now, they must also be able to say, “We did not grow angry with somebody else; we did not hold another person in contempt; we didn’t hold a grudge against anybody!” In other words, Jesus calls his disciples to live a higher love!

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales describes what this higher love – “devotion” – looks like:

“Inasmuch as divine love adorns the soul, it is called grace, which makes us pleasing to his Divine Majesty. Inasmuch as it strengthens us to do good, it is called charity. When it has reached a degree of perfection at which it not only makes us do what is good but also enables us to do what is good carefully, frequently and promptly, it is called devotion. Ostriches never fly; hens fly in a clumsy fashion near the ground and only once in a while, while eagles, doves and swallows fly aloft, swiftly and frequently. In like manner sinners in no way fly up towards God but make their way here upon the earth and for the earth. Good people who have not yet attained devotion fly toward God by their good works but do so infrequently, slowly and awkwardly. Devout souls ascend to Him more frequently, promptly and with lofty heights.” (IDL, Part I, Chapter 1, p. 40)

Today, how might we rise to Jesus’ challenge to live a higher love? How might our souls “ascend to Him more frequently, promptly and with lofty heights” with our feet planted firmly on this earth?

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(June 13, 2025: Anthony of Padua, Priest/Doctor of the Church)

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“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out…if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off…”

In his commentary on today’s selection from the Gospel of Matthew, William Barclay wrote:

“The words of Jesus are not to be taken literally. However, what Jesus is saying is that anything that may entice us to sin is to be ruthlessly rooted out of our lives. If there are habits that tempt us to sin - if there are associations that can increase the likelihood of wrongdoing - if there are pleasures that could lead to our ruin - then such things must be surgically excised from our lives.”

Drawing from wisdom gleaned from countless spiritual classics, Barclay offers a two-pronged approach to rooting out from our minds, hearts and attitudes anything that can serve as a stumbling block in our efforts to imitate the life of Jesus:

“First, do something! One way to defeat negative thoughts or influences is through Christian action. Fill your life so full with Christian labor and service that you have little or no time left for negative thoughts or feelings. One effective cure for evil thoughts or attitudes is being fully engaged in good action.”

Second, fill your mind with good thoughts and your heart with good feelings. “There is a famous scene in Peter Pan in which Peter in the children’s bedroom – they have seen him fly, and they wish to fly, too. They have tried to fly from the floor, and they have tried it from the beds, both resulting in failure. ‘How do you do it?’ John asks Peter. ‘You just think lovely, wonderful thoughts and they will lift you up in the air.’” The other effective remedy for evil thoughts or feelings is to choose to think or feel something else. (The Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1, pp. 148-150)

Are there negative thoughts, feelings or attitudes that are holding you back from being more like Jesus? While you might be tempted to simply rip them out, it is perhaps more advisable – and far more Salesian – to replace them with good thoughts, feelings and attitudes, and to allow such life-giving transplants to lead to more God-like actions.

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(June 14, 2025: Saturday of the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time)

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“Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the Evil One.”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales counseled:

“Your language should be restrained, frank, sincere, candid, unaffected and honest. Be on guard against equivocation, ambiguity and dissimulation: such things are dangerous…As the sacred word tells us, the Holy Spirit does not dwell in a deceitful or tricky soul. No artifice is nearly as good or desirable as honest, plain dealing. While worldly prudence and carnal artifice belong to the children of this world, the children of God walk a straight path and their hearts are without guile. ” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 30, p. 206)

We are children of God. May our efforts - just this day - to both speak the truth and to also walk in the truth enable us to talk the talk – and to and walk the walk - of Jesus Christ!

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June 15 through June 21, 2025

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(June 15, 2025: Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity)

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“I was beside God as his craftsman; I was God's delight day by day.”

God is revealed to us as a creating and loving Father, a nourishing and redeeming Son, and an inspiring and challenging Spirit. It is in the image and likeness of the Trinity that we are created; it is in the image and likeness of the Trinity that we are called to live with one another on this earth; it is in the image and likeness of the Trinity that we are destined for the glory of heaven.

Trinity speaks of creative fullness; Trinity speaks of healing abundance; Trinity speaks of inspiring generosity.

The Holy Spirit, the Wisdom of God, is the source of the gifts that we need to experience and embody this Triune God in our daily lives. St. Francis de Sales wrote in his Treatise on the Love of God:

“We need temperance to restrain the rebellious inclinations of sensuality; justice, to do what is right in relation to God, our neighbor and ourselves; fortitude, in order that we might remain faithful in doing what is good and in avoiding what is evil; prudence, to discover the most proper ways for us to pursue what is good and to practice virtue; knowledge, that we might know the true good to which we must aspire, as well as true evil, that we must reject; understanding, to penetrate well into the first and chief foundations or principles of the beauty and excellence of virtue, and; at the very end, wisdom, to contemplate the divine nature, the first source of all that is good.” (TLG, Book 11, Chapter 15)

Do these virtues sound familiar? They should be! We know them as the "seven gifts" of the Holy Spirit.

The love that comes from this triune God, a love that is part and parcel of who we are, contains all of these gifts. Francis de Sales described this love as…

“a splendid lily that has six petals whiter than snow, and in its center are the beautiful little golden hammers of wisdom that drive into our hearts the loving taste and flavor of the goodness of the Father, our Creator, the mercy of the Son, our Redeemer, and the sweetness of the Holy Spirit, our Sanctifier.” (Ibid)

As mysterious as the Trinity may be, two things are crystal clear: (1) we are called to embody God's creative fullness, God's healing abundance, and God's inspiring generosity, and (2) we have been given the gifts to make that call a reality.

Today, we pray: Triune God – Father, Son, Spirit – help us to clearly - and convincingly - reflect your image in our own minds, hearts, attitudes and actions. Give us the grace to be your delight day by day in the lives of one another.

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(June 16, 2025: Monday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.”

In a letter to the Duc de Bellegarde, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Keep your eyes steadfastly fixed on that blissful day of eternity towards which the course of years bears us on; and these as they pass, themselves pass by us stage by stage until we reach the end of the road. But in the meantime, in each passing moment there lies enclosed as in a tiny kernel the seed of all eternity; and in our humble little works of devotion there lies hidden the prize of everlasting glory, and the little pains we take to serve God lead to the repose of a bliss that can never end.” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 236)

Seen through the lens of Salesian spirituality, St. Paul’s exhortation makes absolute sense. The seed “of all eternity” isn’t found in the past; it isn’t found in the future. It is found only in each and every present moment as it comes!

Just this day.

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(June 17, 2025: Tuesday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”

It’s safe to say that we all have enemies. We all have people in our lives that we do not like. We all have people in our lives whose company we avoid. We all have people in our lives that rub us the wrong way. We all have people in our lives that push our buttons. We all have people in our lives that drive us crazy.

In a conference to the Sisters of the Visitation, Francis de Sales observed:

“Antipathies are certain inclinations which excite in us a certain repugnance toward those about whom we entertain these feelings…If I feel a repugnance to conversing with a person whom I know to be most excellent – and from whom I mighty learn much that would do me good – I must not succumb to the antipathy which prompts me to avoid his company. On the contrary, I must discipline myself to listen to the voice of reason telling me rather to seek his company or at least, if I am already in it, to remain there in quiet, peaceful mind…People who are of a harsh, severe disposition will dislike those who are gentle and mild. They will regard such gentleness as extreme weakness, though indeed it is a quality most universally beloved. What remedy is there for these antipathies, since no one, however perfect, can be exempt from them? The only remedy for this evil – as indeed for all other kinds of temptation – is simply to turn away from it and think no more about it…We should never try to justify our reasons for our antipathies, let alone wishing to nourish them. If you have simply a natural, instinctive dislike for anyone, I beseech you to pay no attention to it; turn away your thoughts from it and so trick your mind. When, however, you find these antipathies going too far you must fight against them and overcome them, for reason will never permit us to foster antipathies and evil inclinations for fear of offending God.” (Conference XVI, pp. 298 - 301)

Francis knows the human heart very well. He acknowledges that “this instinctive tendency to love some more than others is natural.” (Ibid) Likes and dislikes are part-and-parcel of life. That said, Jesus commands us to love our enemies. Jesus commands us to love those whom we dislike. Jesus commands us to love those who get on our nerves.

Like it or not…and beginning today!

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(June 18, 2025: Wednesday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Take care not to perform righteous deeds…that others might see them.”

In a letter to Madame de la Flechere, Francis de Sales observed:

“Humility is the virtue of virtues, but a humility that is generous and peaceable. Preserve a spirit of holy joy which – modestly spreading over your words and actions – gives consolation to the good people who see you, that thus they may glorify God, which is your only aim.” (Living Jesus, p. 150)

Jesus calls us to “perform righteous deeds.” He calls us to live a life of virtue. That said, Jesus cautions us against doing so to win the applause, praise or adulation of others.

Let’s try our level best this day to do the right thing for others. Let’s try our level best to do it for the right reason: to the praise and glory of God!

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(June 19, 2025: Thursday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Thy will be done…”

In a sermon on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Francis de Sales preached:

“People who, like Martha, are desirous and anxious to do something for Our Lord believe they are very devout and believe that this eagerness is a virtue. However, this is no so, as He Himself would have us understand. Only one thing is required, that is, to have God and possess Him. If I seek only Him, what does it matter to me if I have to do one thing or another? If I desire only His will, what will it matter to me if I have to do one thing or another? If I desire only His will, what will it matter to me whether I am sent to Spain or to Ireland? If I seek only His cross, why should I be troubled if I am sent to the Indies, or to old countries or to new countries, since I am certain that I shall find it everywhere?” (Living Jesus p. 436)

These are not mere pious platitudes coming from the mouth of the Gentleman Saint. His life is filled with illustrations of how Francis de Sales practiced what he preached. In reflecting upon an offer he received to become a coadjutor to Cardinal de Retz in Paris, he wrote to Madame Angelique Arnauld:

“I am and shall be and ever want to be at the mercy of God’s divine providence. I want to hold no rank except that of a servant and a follower…I am again invited to go to Paris under advantageous conditions. I said that I would neither go there nor stay here unless to follow the will of God. This country (Savoy) is my home according to my natural birth; according to my spiritual birth, my home is the Church. I shall willingly go or stay wherever I can best serve the latter without attaching myself to the former.” (Ibid, p. 438)

In a Conference to the Sisters of the Visitation, Francis de Sales once quipped: “While all the saints have saved their souls (by following God’s will) they have done so in very different ways…” (Conference XIX, p. 365) All of us are called to follow the will of God, but no two of us will do that in exactly the same way. All of us are called to put ourselves as the disposal of God’s plans, but God’s plan may take each of us in a variety of different directions. Of course, the one constant in the midst of life’s twists and turns is the God whose will we try to accomplish!

How might God ask us to follow His will today?

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(June 20, 2025: Friday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time)

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“Store up treasures in heaven…”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life (in a chapter entitled, “We must be Faithful to both Great and Little Tasks”), Francis de Sales wrote:

 “The Sacred Spouse implies that He is pleased to accept the great deeds of devout persons, that their least and lowest deeds are also acceptable to Him, and that to serve Him as He wishes we must have great care to serve Him well in both great, lofty matters and in small, unimportant things. With love we can capture His heart by the one just as well as by the other…For a single cup of water God has promised to his faithful a sea of endless bliss. Since such opportunities present themselves from moment to moment it will be a great means of storing up vast spiritual riches if only you use them well.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 35, pp. 213-214)

Do you want to store up treasures in heaven? Do good things for God – be they little or great – as often as you can on this earth.

Each and every day!

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(June 21, 2025: Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious)

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“Do not worry about your life…”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life (in a chapter entitled, “We must be Faithful to both Great and Little Tasks”), Francis de Sales wrote:

 “The Sacred Spouse implies that He is pleased to accept the great deeds of devout persons, that their least and lowest deeds are also acceptable to Him, and that to serve Him as He wishes we must have great care to serve Him well in both great, lofty matters and in small, unimportant things. With love we can capture His heart by the one just as well as by the other…For a single cup of water God has promised to his faithful a sea of endless bliss. Since such opportunities present themselves from moment to moment it will be a great means of storing up vast spiritual riches if only you use them well.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 35, pp. 213-214)

Don’t worry about whether or not you are making great progress in the spiritual life. Don’t worry about not measuring up! Don’t worry about not being perfect! Just simply – with trust and confidence - do good things for God – be they little or great – as often as you can on this earth.

In the process you will slowly – but surely - store up treasures not only in heaven, but also right here, right now on this earth.

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June 1 through June 7, 2025

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(June 1, 2025: Ascension of the Lord - Where Observed)

* * * * * 

“Why are you standing there looking at the sky?”

Well, the day in question finally arrived. Jesus was taken up into heaven and returned to the Father. After standing there in silence for what must have seemed like an eternity, one of the eleven eventually broke the quiet by asking the question: “Now what?”

The rest – as they say – is history.

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“After Jesus had shown himself for a little while to the disciples, he ascended up to heaven, and at length a cloud surrounded him, took him and hid him from their eyes. Jesus Christ, then, is hidden in heaven in God. Jesus Christ is our love, and our love is the life of the soul. Therefore our ‘life is hidden in God with Christ Jesus, and when Christ who is’ our love and therefore our spiritual life ‘shall reappear’ in the Day of Judgment, we shall also appear ‘with him in glory.’” (TLG, Book VII, Chapter 6, p. 32)

In his Catholic Controversies (p.286) Francis de Sales outlines the activity of the Apostles – especially Peter and Paul – following the Ascension. Simply put, it would appear that once the dust of the Ascension settled, Jesus’ disciples got to work.

This same work continues for us today. Our task in the wake of the Ascension is to make the “hidden” Christ “reappear” through the quality of our love for others. 

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(June 1, 2025: Seventh Sunday of Easter – Where Observed)

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“I bring with me the recompense I will give to each according to his deeds…”

Today's selection from the Book of Revelation reminds us of the end for which we are created - eternal life with Christ, the Alpha and the Omega. The reading also reminds us that the end for which we are created will include the end of life, as we know it - an end that includes being rewarded, as our conduct on earth deserves.

Notwithstanding God's compassion, God's love, God's forgiveness and God's mercy, each of us will experience this end - and its accompanying judgment - personally.

Still, the Salesian tradition challenges us to recognize the deeper reality of the "end" - or purpose - for which we are created, for which we live: namely, to love. Love not only prepares us for death. Love makes it possible for us to live truly here on earth.

Echoing the words of St. Paul, St. Francis de Sales wrote in his Treatise on the Love of God:

"Love has a perfection which contains the virtue of all perfections and the perfection of all the virtues. Hence, love is patient, is kind, and is not envious, but generous. Love is not pretentious, but prudent. Love is not puffed up with pride but is humble. Love is not ambitious or disdainful, but amiable and affable. Love is not eager to exact all that belongs to it but is generous and helpful. Love is not provoked but is peaceful. Love thinks no evil but is gentle. Love does not rejoice over wickedness but rejoices with truth. Love suffers all things, believes all things that pertain to all that is good without obstinacy, contention or distrust. Love hopes for all good things for others without ever losing hope of salvation. Love endures all things, awaiting without anxiety the good promised." (Treatise on the Love of God, Book Eleven, Chapter 8). In conclusion, "love is that fine gold, tried by fire, that contains the price of all things, can do all things, and does all things."

This kind of life - this kind of love - truly is our end. It is the purpose for which we are born, live, and long. It is the purpose for which God will one day call us home to himself forever.

Truly, such a life - such a love - is, indeed, its own reward. Why wait until heaven to experience it? Why not begin today?

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(June 2, 2025: Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter)

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“Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything…”

It’s probably safe to say that the Apostles were – as a group – pretty unsophisticated men. Insofar as many of them were tradesmen, they were men who would have put a high premium on keeping things plain and simple. If you had something to say to them, their preference would be that you give it straight to them, without a great deal of images or elaborations. Put another way, these were men for whom ‘less’ would clearly be ‘more.’ So, we can understand their appreciation in today’s Gospel selection for Jesus’ willingness to simply say what they needed to hear in a manner in which they could hear – and understand – it!

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Your language should be restrained, frank, sincere, candid, unaffected and honest. Be on guard against equivocation, ambiguity or dissimulation. While it is not always advisable to say everything that is true, it is never permissible to speak against the truth. Therefore, you must become accustomed never to tell a deliberate lie whether to excuse yourself or for some other purpose, remembering always that God is the ‘God of truth’…Although we may sometime discreetly and prudently hide and disguise the truth by an equivocal statement, this must never be done except when the matter is important and God’s glory and service clearly require it. In any other such case such tricks are dangerous. As the sacred word tells us, the Holy Spirit does not dwell in a deceitful or slippery soul. No artifice is as good and desirable as plain dealing.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 30, p. 206)

When it comes to preaching – to say nothing of living – the Good News of Jesus Christ, you don’t have to convince other people that you “know everything” in order to be effective. Just give it to people straight, in unembellished and unvarnished words – and ways – that they can understand.

And live!

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(June 3, 2025: Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs)

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“This is eternal life: that they should know you, the only true God and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ…”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“‘Life is in the will of God,’ says the Psalmist, not only because our temporal life depends on the divine will but also because our spiritual life consists in its fulfillment, by which God lives and reigns in us and makes us live and subsist in God….Ah, Lord God, we are in this world not to do our own will but that of your goodness, which has placed us here. It was written of you, O Savior of my soul, that you did the will of your eternal Father. Ah, who will give my soul the grace to have no will but the will of God!” (TLG, Book VIII, Chapter 7, p. 73)

To know God is to know God’s will. To love God is to love God’s will. To know and do God’s will is to experience eternal life. Nowhere do we see this love demonstrated more clearly and convincingly than in Jesus’ knowledge, love and obedience to his Father’s will throughout his entire earthly ministry. Note the impact: not only did following the Father’s will not diminish Jesus, but it also empowered Him to be faithful to and effective in his purpose for living - that “we might have life and have life to the full”. (John 10:10)

If eternal life is found by knowing and loving God – and, by extension, by knowing, loving and living God’s will in our lives – then the eternal life that Jesus offers us is not limited to the next life; it is available here and now in this life.

Let us pray. God, not our will, but your will be done in us, in order that we might know something already on this earth of the eternal life you offer us in the One whom you sent in order that we might know and love you…Jesus Christ!

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(June 4, 2025: Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter)

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“Savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock…So be vigilant…”

There are a number of variations of a Cherokee parable known as “The Two Wolves.” It goes something like this:

An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life. The old man said, “A fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego. The other wolf is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too, as these two wolves struggle for supremacy.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old chief sat in silence for a few moments and then simply replied, “The one you feed.”

It is tempting to look for the “savage wolves” about which Jesus warns in other people, especially in the case of those with whom we find ourselves embroiled in misunderstanding, conflict and perhaps even hostility. However, it might be a good idea also to look inside of ourselves for any signs that such “savage wolves” might be living within us. And for what should we be vigilant?

Today be on the watch for any feeling, thought, opinion or perspective that would pervert the truth of who we are in our relationship with God, ourselves and one another.

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(June 5, 2025: Boniface, Bishop and Martyr)

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“Take courage…”

In a letter to Soeur de Soulfour, Francis de Sales offered this advice:

“Be like a little child who, while it knows that its mother is holding its sleeve, walks boldly and runs all around without being distressed at a stumble or fall; after all, it is as yet unsteady on its legs. In the same way, as long as you realize that God is holding on to you by your will and resolution to serve him go on boldly and do not be upset by your setbacks and falls. Continue on joyfully and with your heart as open and widely trustful as possible. If you cannot always be joyful, at least be brave and confident.” (Stopp, Selected Letters, pp. 45-46)

Be brave; be confident; be courageous.

Being courageous is not about being foolhardy. Being courageous (as we learn from the Italian word, coragio) is about being a person of heart. We all have issues in life; we all have difficulties in life; we all have setbacks in life; we all have heartaches in life. Often times what distinguishes triumph from tragedy in our attempts to deal with life’s challenges is whether we end up encouraged or discouraged, that is, whether we manage to maintain our hearts or whether we lose our hearts.

Today consider the stumbles and falls that you have experienced in life. How have they left you? Encouraged or discouraged? Are you managing to keep your heart or are you losing it?

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(June 6, 2025: Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter)

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“Do you love me…?”

In a sermon preached at the Visitation monastery at Annecy on the seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost in 1618, Francis de Sales observed:

“God wants our love for Him to be a love of choice. He wants us to love Him with a love that chooses Him out from all others. He wants the love which we have for others to be just a faint reflection of the supreme love which we have for Him and to allow His love to reign supreme in our hearts.”

“Some foolish people claim that such a commandment to be impossible in this life. Such people make a big mistake! Our Lord would never have given this commandment without also giving us the power to set about doing it. Other people will say that we cannot love God with our whole heart, soul mind and strength; we must share some of our love with our families and friends. Had our Lord commanded us to love Him as the blessed do in heaven, there might be some point to their objection insofar as the love of the angels and the saints never changes; it is never interrupted. As for us, there are many things vying for our time and attention. Yet for all that, our love for God can be strong and unchanging even though we cannot always be actively showing it.”(Pulpit and Pew, pp. 222 - 223)

Francis de Sales concludes his sermon by asking this question: “How can you be sure that you love God?” He lists three “infallible signs:”

1.     “If you love God, you will seek His presence; you will yearn to be close to Him. You will seek Him, not for your own pleasure, but to please Him.”

2.     “The love of too many things dissipates our love and lessens its perfection. We are to love other things besides God but always put Him first. Be forever ready to forego whomever and/or whatever else we may love as God’s pleasure may require.”

3.     “You are to love one another with a love similar to the love that God has for us – a love that is loyal and unchanging; a love that does not rely on outward appearances; a love that is not impatient of faults and imperfections; a love that is ever ready to lend a helping hand to further our neighbor’s good…all the ways in which God, in his goodness, shows his love for us.”

Do you love God? Jesus told Peter how he should show it! Today how will you demonstrate your love for God?

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(June7, 2025: Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter)

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“Who is the one who will betray you…?”

Well, the obvious answer is Judas. We know that he betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Later he regretted his betrayal and hanged himself.

Then again, Peter betrayed Jesus by denying that he even knew him - not once, not twice but three times. He regretted it almost immediately and went on to become “the rock” on which Jesus would build his Church. How about James and John? Didn’t they betray Jesus – in a way – by asking for places of honor at his left and at his right? In subsequent years they gave their lives for their faith.

It might make a great deal more sense – and require a lot less time – to ask this question: who is the one who has not betrayed Jesus? The answer would produce a much shorter list. After all, each of us betrays Jesus when we are focused upon our own benefit at the expense of others. Each of us betrays Jesus when we turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to the needs of others. Each of us betrays Jesus when we decide that we are not up to the challenges that come with being his disciples.

Each of us betrays Jesus when we sin.

Thanks be to God that Jesus doesn’t hold grudges. Thanks be to God that Jesus doesn’t settle old scores. Thanks be to God that Jesus doesn’t hold on to old hurts or betrayals. Imperfect as we are, Jesus continues to say to us, day in and day out: “Follow me”.

Thanks be to God!

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May 25 through May 31, 2025

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(May 25, 20125: Sixth Sunday of Easter)

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"My peace is my gift to you...but not as the world gives peace."

Jesus makes a distinction in today's Gospel between the "peace as the world offers it" and the peace that comes from him.

Just what does Jesus mean?

The American Heritage Dictionary on the English Language may provide us with some clues. It defines peace as: 1. the absence of war or hostilities. 2. an agreement or treaty to end hostilities. 3. freedom from quarrels or disagreements; harmonious relations. 4. public security and order. 5. inner contentment; serenity.

The vision of peace that the world offers - appropriately enough - tells us that in order to experience true inner contentment we must first establish a world in which there is no war, no hostility, no quarrels, no disagreements, no public disorder or chaos. Tempting as this vision is to pursue, history - the world's and our own - painfully illustrates how truly fleeting and fallacious is this promise of peace…at least, this way of going about it.

By contrast, the peace that Jesus promises starts from within. It's about having a sense of integrity. It's about having a sense of purpose. It's about having a sense of meaning. It's about having a sense of mission. Ultimately, it's about having a clear and unambiguous sense of self, a self that is only fully understood and actualized in the context of one's relationship with God, oneself and others.

This is the kind of peace that the world cannot give.

Ironically, it is Jesus' promise of inner peace that offers the greatest hope for world peace. Only when we have first set aside our own personal hostilities, can we truly work for a world free of war. Only when we have first set aside our own need to be always right, can we strive for a world in which disagreements are not the last word. Only when we have first established some order and direction in our own lives, can we hope to achieve the same on a greater scale. Only when we experience the power and possibility that comes from knowing - and embracing - who we really are in the sight of God, can we become sources of that same power and possibility in the lives of others.

God's peace is not measured by the absence of conflict. God's peace is a function of how dedicated each one of us is to first knowing who we are so that we can see more clearly what the world can be and what steps we must take - together - to make that ideal, however fleeting or fragile, a reality.

Do you want world peace? Then think globally. But, like Jesus, act locally. As the last line of a well-known hymn challenges, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”

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(May 26, 2025: Philip Neri, Priest)

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“I have told you this so that you may not fall away…”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives his disciples a ‘heads up.’ Notwithstanding the imminent arrival of the Paraclete, whom Jesus will send from the Father, there will still be tough – and trying – times ahead for them. Jesus wants them to be prepared so that when the tough – and trying – times come they won’t fall away, that is, they don’t give up.

In a letter to a nun (dated August 20, 1607) Francis de Sales wrote:

“To be a servant of God means to be charitable towards one’s neighbors, have an unshakeable determination in the superior part of one’s soul to obey the will of God, trusting in God with a very humble humility and simplicity, and to lift oneself up as often as one falls, endure oneself with all one’s abjections and quietly put up with others in their imperfections.” (Selected Letters, Stopp, p. 140)

Francis de Sales’ advice to a nun over four hundred years ago is just as relevant today as it was then. Following Jesus – being a servant of God and a temple of the Holy Spirit – will always bring its share of challenges, trials and tribulations. We sometimes fall – we sometimes fail – in the face of these same challenges, trials and tribulations. However, falling down is not the same as falling away - unless, of course, you choose to stay down after falling down.

If you fall – if you fail – in your attempts to “Live + Jesus” just this day, will you say down, or will you get back up?

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(May 28, 2019: Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter)

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"Where are you going…?”

Where are you going?
Where are you going?
Can you take me with you?
For my hand is cold
And needs warmth
Where are you going?

                             - “By My Side” (Godspell, 1971)

For some time now Jesus has been telling his disciples that he will be leaving them in order that the Advocate (a.k.a. the Paraclete) can come to them. As we see in today’s Gospel, Jesus is trying to convince them that it will be better for them if he goes. By all accounts, the disciples are having a hard time believing - or accepting – his reassurances.

Put yourself in their position. Jesus keeps talking about going back to the Father while they’d prefer to ask the question: “Where are you going?” They’d prefer to ask the question: “Can’t you stay?” Either way, they are struggling with the fear of losing Jesus; they are struggling with the prospect of being left alone to fend for themselves.

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“After Jesus had shown himself for a little while to the disciples, he ascended up to heaven, and at length a cloud surrounded him, took him and hid him from their eyes. Jesus Christ, then, is hidden in heaven in God. Jesus Christ is our love, and our love is the life of the soul. Therefore our ‘life is hidden in God with Christ Jesus, and when Christ who is’ our love and therefore our spiritual life ‘shall reappear’ in the Day of Judgment, we shall also appear ‘with him in glory.’” (TLG, Book VII, Chapter 6, p. 32)

For our purposes, let’s hear the question “Where are you going?” in a slightly different way. Just suppose that now it is Jesus who is asking the question of us! Jesus asks us “Where are you going?” today. Where will our steps, conversations and interactions take us today? At the end of the day will we have drawn any closer to the “Day of Judgment” when we shall “appear with him in glory”?

Regardless, we know one thing for sure: no matter where we go, Jesus doesn’t want us to walk alone. He asks us to take Him with us.

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(May 28, 2025: Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter)

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“The Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth…”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Your language should be restrained, frank, sincere, candid, unaffected and honest. Be on guard against equivocation, ambiguity or dissimulation. While it is not always advisable to say all that is true, it is never permissible to speak against the truth. Therefore, you must become accustomed never to tell a deliberate lie whether to excuse yourself or for some other purpose, remembering always that God is the ‘God of truth.’ If you happen to tell a lie inadvertently, correct it immediately by an explanation or making amends. An honest explanation has more grace and force to excuse us than a lie has…As the Sacred Word tells us, the Holy Spirit does not dwell in a deceitful or tricky soul.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 30, p. 206)

Jesus promises that the “Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth.” How do we know, then, that the Spirit dwells in us? How do other people know that the Spirit dwells in us? We do when we do our level best to tell the truth, when we do our level best to speak the truth, when we do our level best to be truthful, truth-filled people.

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(May 29, 2025: Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter)

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“He stayed with them and worked…”

This snippet from the Acts of the Apostles reveals something noteworthy about the person of Paul. It seems that when he wasn’t working at preaching in the synagogue he was working to earn his keep, at least, as we are told, until Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia. Put another way, notwithstanding the important work that Paul was doing in Corinth, he did not take Pontus’ and Priscilla’s hospitality for granted; he did what he could to support himself, or at least, to make himself less of a burden.

That action on Paul’s part may have provided just as powerful a message – if not more so – than the preaching he did in the synagogue.

It brings to mind the famous saying of St. Francis of Assisi (for whom St. Francis de Sales was named): “Preach always, and when necessary, use words.”

Today consider - what impact does our preaching – whether in words or in actions – have upon others?

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(May 29, 2025: Ascension of the Lord - Where Observed)

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“Why are you standing there looking at the sky?”

Well, the day in question finally arrived. Jesus was taken up into heaven and returned to the Father. After standing there in silence for what must have seemed like an eternity, one of the eleven eventually broke the quiet by asking the question: “Now what?”

The rest – as they say – is history.

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“After Jesus had shown himself for a little while to the disciples, he ascended up to heaven, and at length a cloud surrounded him, took him and hid him from their eyes. Jesus Christ, then, is hidden in heaven in God. Jesus Christ is our love, and our love is the life of the soul. Therefore our ‘life is hidden in God with Christ Jesus, and when Christ who is’ our love and therefore our spiritual life ‘shall reappear’ in the Day of Judgment, we shall also appear ‘with him in glory.’” (TLG, Book VII, Chapter 6, p. 32)

In his Catholic Controversies (p.286) Francis de Sales outlines the activity of the Apostles – especially Peter and Paul – following the Ascension. Simply put, it would appear that once the dust of the Ascension settled, Jesus’ disciples got to work.

This same work continues for us today. Our task in the wake of the Ascension is to make the “hidden” Christ “reappear” through the quality of our love for others.

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(May 30, 2025: Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter)

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“You will grieve but your grief will become joy…”

These words spoken by Jesus in today’s Gospel have a familiar ring to those acquainted with the Salesian tradition. They sound like a remarkably simple – but powerful – summarization of St. Francis de Sales’ teaching on what he called “spirit of liberty”:

“The first sign (of this spirit of liberty) is that the heart enjoying this liberty is not at all attached to consolations and accepts afflictions with all the meekness possible to the flesh. I am not saying that the soul does not love consolation and long for it, but without clinging to it. The second sign is that the man enjoying this spirit does not set his heart on spiritual exercises: if illness or some other emergency prevents them, he is on no way upset. I am not saying that he does not love them but that he is not attached to them. Thirdly, he does not lose his joy, because no loss or lack can sadden one whose heart is perfectly free. I am not saying that it is impossible for him to lose his joy, but it will not be for long.”  (Stopp, Selected Letters, pp. 70 - 71)

What’s the bottom line? Into everyone’s life a little rain must fall. Into everyone’s picnic ants will sometimes intrude. Into everyone’s success some setbacks will eventually surface. But for those who are freed by the spirit of liberty, any grief associated with these (and any other hard knocks in life) will – eventually – turn into joy.

Over and over again!

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(May 31, 2025: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

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“Anticipate one another in showing honor. Do not grow slack in zeal…”

No sooner had Mary received the announcement from the Angel Gabriel that she would be the mother of the Messiah than she “set out and traveled to the hill country in haste” where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. (Recall that in the context of the Annunciation, Mary had learned that her cousin was pregnant.) As if Mary didn’t have enough on her plate already, she dropped whatever she was doing in order to aid Elizabeth for “about three months”. Mary didn’t wait for the request; Mary anticipated the need.

One of the hallmarks of the Salesian tradition (and as embodied in the Sisters of the Visitation, founded by Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal) is this notion of “anticipating the need of our neighbor”. This quality invites us to be “on the lookout” for opportunities to do good for others. Simple things like:

• holding open a door for another

• offering to help carry someone’s groceries

• assisting someone who may have dropped something on the floor

• checking in on someone who’s under the weather

• being the first to greet someone or to call someone by name

• asking how someone is doing today.

These are ordinary, everyday ways of honoring others by simply acknowledging their presence and by recognizing that they exist.

Here is where Paul’s admonition in his Letter to the Romans comes into play. Insofar as each day is loaded with countless opportunities to honor people by anticipating their needs – by “looking out” for their interests – such efforts could understandably become wearisome over time. In the Salesian tradition, we need to approach each new day as yet another God-given gift: the invitation to offer to do good things for others rather than waiting for others to ask us to do good things for them.

Mary embodied the virtue of anticipating the need of another in her decision to offer her cousin Elizabeth assistance without waiting to be asked. In so honoring her cousin, she brought honor to herself.

Today, how might we honor Mary by following her example through our willingness to anticipate the needs of one another?

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