Augst 31 through September 6, 2025
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(August 31, 2025: Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“Conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God.”
How do we find favor with God by humbling ourselves? For that matter, when we humble ourselves, what are we really doing?
First, humility challenges us to avoid two extremes in life: the temptations to either exalt ourselves or trash ourselves. Francis de Sales offered very concrete examples of how to do this.
“I don't want to play either the fool or the wise man, for if humility forbids me to play the sage, candor and sincerity forbid me to act the fool. Just as I would not parade knowledge even of what I actually know; so, by contrast, I would not pretend to be ignorant of it. Humility conceals and covers the other virtues in order to preserve them, but it also reveals them when charity so requires in order that we might enlarge, increase and perfect them.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 5)
On a deeper level, humility is about acknowledging both our littleness and God's greatness.
“Let us consider what God has done for us and what we have done against God, and as we reflect upon our sins one by one let us also consider God's graces one by one. There is no need to fear that the knowledge of God's gifts will make us proud if only we remember this truth: none of the good in us comes from ourselves alone.” (Ibid)
Finally, having a balanced view of ourselves, acknowledging our littleness and God's greatness, and being grateful for God's fidelity to us, lead us to live lives of generosity.
“Generous minds do not amuse themselves with the petty toys of rank, honor and titles. They have other things to do. Such things belong only to idle minds. Those who own pearls do not bother about shells, while those who aspire to virtue do not trouble themselves over honors.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 4)
Humbling ourselves is not about putting ourselves down. No, humbling ourselves is about taking our rightful place in life - beneficiaries of God's love for us and instruments of God's love in the lives of other people.
Humility is ultimately about coming to know our place in God’s plan of salvation and having the courage to take and embrace it. This true humility, in turn, should lead us to gently and respectfully encourage others in their quest to likewise know their place in God’s plan of salvation and to have the courage to take it.
What better way of finding favor with God than by pursuing this quest together!
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(September 1, 2025: Labor Day)
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“He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…”
The selection from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah that is cited in today’s Gospel lists signs associated with the coming of the Messiah – liberty to captives, sight to the blind and freeing the oppressed.
That requires a great deal of work!
Labor Day offers us a great opportunity to reflect upon the great work to which each of us is called – to continue the creating, healing and inspiring action of Jesus Christ in the lives of others in ways that fit the state and stage of life in which we find ourselves. Eucharistic Prayer IV from the former Sacramentary puts it this way:
“Father, we acknowledge your greatness: all your actions show your wisdom and love. You formed man in your own likeness and set him over the whole world to serve you, his creator, and to rule over all creatures…To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners, freedom, and to those in sorrow, joy…And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as his first gift to those who believe, to complete his work on earth…”
On this Labor Day how might we do something to help complete Christ’s work on earth in our relationships with one another?
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(September 2, 2025: Tuesday, Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Encourage one another and build one another up…”
In the beginning of Part III of his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Some virtues have almost general use and must not only produce their own acts but also communicate their qualities to the acts of all the other virtues. Occasions do not often present themselves for the exercise of fortitude, magnanimity and great generosity, but meekness, temperance, integrity and humility are virtues that must mark all our actions in life. We must always have on hand a good supply of these general virtues since we can use them almost constantly.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 1)
Using St. Paul’s words, there are lots of ways to encourage and build up other people. Gregory the Great did it by practicing the virtue of hospitality. Francis de Sales noted:
“Following Abraham’s example, St. Gregory the Great liked to entertain pilgrims and like Abraham he received the King of Glory in the form of a pilgrim.” (Ibid, page. 123)
Today what virtues might we employ in our attempts to encourage and build up others?
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(September 3, 2025: Gregory the Great, Pope & Doctor of the Church)
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“Just as in the whole world the Good News is bearing fruit and growing, so also among you…
Near the beginning of Part I 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 God commands Christians – the living plants of the Church – to bring forth the fruits of devotion, each according to one’s position and vocation. Devotion must be exercised in different ways by the gentleman, the laborer, the servant, the prince, the young girl and the married woman. Not only is this true but the practice of devotion must also be adapted to the strengths, activities and duties of each particular person.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 1)
We are the living plants of the Church. That being so, What kind of fruits can we produce in the lives of others in our attempts help grow the Good News of Jesus Christ in our own little corners of the world today?
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(September 4, 2025: Thursday, Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord…”
In a letter to Madame de la Flechere, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Don’t be examining yourself to see if what you are doing is a little or much, 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…” (Letters of Spiritual Direction, p. 161)
To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord – to follow Christ, to “Live + Jesus” – is a daunting task. But what makes it more doable – and enjoyable – is to walk the Lord’s ways calmly and peacefully, without fuss or anxiety.
Godspeed during your walk today!
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(September 5, 2025: Friday, Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation...”
The Incarnation is one of the greatest mysteries of the Christian faith: the Word became flesh – the invisible God become all-so-visible – in the person of Jesus Christ. (Creation is the other
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Just as God created ‘man in his image and likeness,’ so also he ordained for man a love in the image and likeness of the love due to his divinity. He says: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Why do we love God? ‘The reason we love God is God himself,’ says St. Bernard, as if to say that we love God because he is the most supreme and infinite goodness. Why do we love ourselves in charity? Surely, it is because we are God’s image and likeness. Since all men have this same dignity, we also love them as ourselves, that is, in their character is most holy and living images of the divinity.” (TLG, Book X, Chapter 11, pp. 170-171)
Insofar as we are sons and daughters of God – brothers and sisters of Jesus – temples of the Holy Spirit – we, too, are images of the invisible God. How do we make the invisible God visible?
By – and through – our love for ourselves and one another.
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(September 6, 2025: Saturday, Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time)
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“God has now reconciled you…”
In a letter to Sr. Anne-Marie Rosset, Assistant and Novice Mistress at Dijon, St. Jane de Chantal wrote:
“God knows the pain I feel in my heart over the misunderstanding that exists in your house. I ask the Lord to take it in hand. In the end, if a reconciliation doesn’t occur, you will have to find a way of sending away the sister who is the cause of it all. No good ever comes from the sisters wanting to control the superior; if they were humble and submissive, all would go well. Indeed, my very dear Sister, the one who governs there has done so very successfully elsewhere, and this ought to keep the sisters in peace. Help them to understand this as far as you can so that there may be humble and cordial submission in the house. Help the sister in question to unite herself to her superior and to be sincerely open with her. Oh, is this the behavior the way to honor the memory of him who so often recommended peace to us and union? What a dangerous temptation! May God, in His goodness, straighten this out! And we shall do what we can – with God’s help – to remedy the situation.” (LSD, p. 247)
Every family – every community – every organization or group – has its share of difficulties and divisions, and as this letter clearly shows, even cloistered, contemplative women. But note some of the ingredients that St. Jane identifies as critical in any attempts to bring about resolution and reconciliation. These include:
· Being humble
· Being submissive
· Being peaceful/peaceable
· Being understanding
· Being sincere
· Being open
And most important of all:
· Asking for God’s help
Is there anyone in your life with whom you need to be reconciled? While there are few - if any - guarantees in life, following the suggestions given above might go a long way in helping you to experience the peace and union that Jesus won for us at the price of his own life.
Why wait for tomorrow to pursue a path toward reconciliation that you could begin today…with God’s help?
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