January 25 through 31, 2026
* * * * *
(January 26, 2026: Third Sunday in Ordinary Time)
* * * * *
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.”
In her book entitled The Bond of Perfection, Wendy Wright makes the following observation about St. Francis de Sales:
“It is difficult to accurately characterize any person’s spiritual state over the course of a lifetime, but it is possible to make a few broad generalizations. The geography of Francis de Sales’ ongoing relationship with the divine and the vistas of self that he experienced in pursuing that relationship were, on the whole, like broad plateaus and open prairies. There is a certain sense of freedom and spaciousness, a view of wide horizons and the feel of light about him.” (p. 141)
In his own way, St. Francis de Sales was indeed a light to the people of his time. Through his writing, preaching and human touch, he was a light that widened peoples’ horizons, lightened their burdens and helped them to pursue of life of devotion precisely in the state and stage of life in which they lived each day. He was a light who scattered the gloom of ignorance, anxiety, fatalism and fear. He was a light who gave people the heart they needed to embrace life as it was…and to dream about life as it could be.
We recognize this man as a saint precisely because his own light reflects so clearly the light of Jesus Christ. Christ is the light who casts out darkness. Christ is the light who forgives sins. Christ is the light who strengthens drooping knees and sagging hearts. Christ is the light that scatters the gloom of sin and sadness. Christ is the light who ushers in a new era of happiness and joy, purpose and promise.
The selection from Matthew’s Gospel - as well as the life of St. Francis de Sales - give powerful testimony to the nature of this divine light of Christ: it is meant to be shared. Just as Christ called his apostles to share his light, just as Christ called Francis to share his light, so, too, Christ calls each and every one of us to be sources of that same light for one another. Each of us is called to scatter the gloom of discouragement and despair in the hearts of others. Each of us is called to relieve the burdens of others. Each of us is called to be a source of hope for others.
Make no mistake. There are burdens that come with being sources of Christ’s light in the lives of others. Our light must face the darker side of life: evil, sin, cynicism, hostility, suspicion, prejudice and fear, just to name a few. Our light must not only shine out on others, but it must also illuminate and purify our own minds, hearts, attitudes and actions. Our light requires that we really come to know ourselves…and truly come to know one another.
Jesus claims that this burden of being his light is, paradoxically, lighter than any other burden that we might choose to carry through life. (Matthew 11: 29 – 30) How is this so? Christ’s light raises us up! How blessed, how happy, how “light-hearted” are we when we seize opportunities each day to raise up - to lift up - one another!
* * * * *
(January 26, 2026: Timothy and Titus, Bishops)
* * * * *
“If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”
In a sermon given on February 8, 1614, Francis de Sales remarked:
“We have two selves, called by St. Paul the earth-born man and the heaven-born man. The latter is the source of our good deeds, the instinct by which we love God and look forward to the joys of heaven. There is no need to change that. It is the other self, the earth-born man, which we must renounce. This is the source of our instability, our preference for evil, our sinful desires – in a word, self-love. So, the earth-born self is what we are to renounce, in order to encourage the heaven-born self. In proportion as the lower side of our nature is disarmed, the life of the spirit is strengthened from day to day.”
“This demands two ongoing resolutions on our part. First, we must be prepared all our life long to find that we are never without some weaknesses which demand self-mastery and mortification: after all, the elimination of evil is a lifetime’s work. Second, we must also have the courage never to be surprised at the magnitude of our task, but continually work to perfect ourselves as faithfully as we can.” (Pulpit and Pew, pp. 209, 211)
To the extent that we cannot choose (so to speak) between the “earth-born” person within us or the “heaven-born” person within us, the households of our lives remain divided. By contrast, to the extent that we choose to devote ourselves to living on this earth as “heaven-born” people, then – in broad strokes – we can keep our spiritual house together and in good order.
Today – just today – how will you choose to live your life: earthbound or bound for heaven? Will your spiritual house be divided - or deepened - as a result?
* * * * *
(January 27, 2026: Tuesday, Third Week in Ordinary Time)
* * * * *
“Whoever does the will of God is brother, and sister and mother to me.”
What is God’s will? In more than a few places throughout the Gospels, Jesus is quite clear when He says, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”.
What does it mean to be merciful? Jesus is very specific in Luke 6: 36 – 38: “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful. Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Pardon and you will be pardoned. Give and it shall be given to you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, will they pour into the folds of your garment. For the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”
To be sure (as we see in the reading from the Second Book of Samuel), making sacrifice – making offering – has its place in following the will of God. However, as the example of David clearly indicates, offering goods to God should also lead to our offering goods to others.
· Doing the will of God is not limited to what we can offer solely to God.
· Doing the will of God is also about making the sacrifices involved in not judging and not condemning.
· Doing the will of God is also about making the sacrifices required in pardoning and giving.
· Doing the will of God is also about making the sacrifices involved in doing our level best to recall throughout each day that “the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you”. Thirty – sixty – one hundredfold!
Do you want to be known as “brother, sister and mother” to Jesus? Do you want to be recognized as a member of Jesus’ family?
Then, do the will of God by putting into to practice this maxim from St. Francis de Sales: “The measure of love is to love without measure.”
* * * * *
(January 28, 2026: Thomas Aquinas
Religious, priest and Doctor of the Church)
* * * * *
In a conference to the Sisters of the Visitation (“On Private Judgment”), Francis de Sales made reference to Saint Thomas Aquinas whose feast day we celebrate.
“The great St. Thomas, who had one of the loftiest minds possible, when he formed any opinion supported it with the weightiest arguments that he could bring forward. Nevertheless, if he encountered anyone who did not approve of what he had decided to be right, or had contradicted it, he neither disputed with them nor was offended by their action but took all in good part. He thereby showed that he had no love for his own opinion, even though he could not abandon it. He left the matter alone to be approved or disapproved by others as they pleased. Having done his duty, he troubled himself no more about the subject.” (Conference XIV, p. 259)
Thomas Aquinas is universally recognized as one of the brightest intellectual lights of his age (AD 1225 – 1274). But perhaps his greatest genius, to which St. Francis de Sales alludes, was his recognition that being bright doesn’t always mean being right. While there is little doubt that he could make an argument for his position on any particular topic, Thomas was grounded enough not to have to win every argument. His brilliance was only matched by his humility in allowing others to draw their own conclusions after having done his level best to state his case. As the saying goes, after giving it his best shot, Thomas would allow the chips to fall where they may.
Each of us is entitled to our opinion, which is a part of our humanity. However, we are all familiar with another part of our humanity that is the source of much conflict and distress - the need to always be right and the need for others to always agree with us.
Let’s do our level best this day to avoid the temptation to force other people to make our opinions their own. In the Salesian tradition it is better to devote our efforts to trying to win people over rather than trying to knock people down.
* * * * *
(January 29, 2026: Thursday, Third Week of Ordinary Time)
* * * * *
“The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.”
In his book The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholics, Matthew Kelly writes:’
“All the great figures that emerge in the Gospels are generous. Sure, you have the widow’s mite, an obvious act of generosity. But in every great Gospel figure you find generosity. Mary’s response to God when the angel appeared to her was an incredible act if faith, surrender and generosity. The Magi, traveling from afar with gifts for the infant Jesus, were generous. The centurion begging Jesus to cure his servant was generous. The first twelve’s leaving everything to follow Jesus was incredibly generous. And then there is Jesus himself. His first miracle at Cana was not a miracle of need; it was a miracle of abundance and generosity. Throughout his life he served people by teaching them, feeding them, healing them, providing spiritual leadership and comforting them. Finally, in his suffering and death of the cross, he laid down his life for us in the ultimate act of generosity. The Gospels are a story about the triumph of generosity.”
“Generosity is at the heart of the Christian life, just as it is at the heart of the Gospel. For it is often through our generosity that we are able to bring the love of God to life in others in very real and tangible ways. God is by his very nature generous. God wants to convince us of his generosity, and in turn wants us to live generous lives.” (pp. 110 – 111)
It isn’t high theology, but what Jesus is basically saying is, “What goes around comes around.” If we are generous to others, it will come back to us not later in heaven, but already here and now on earth, and not merely tit-for-tat. Jesus told us in yesterday’s Gospel that our generosity will come back to us thirty, sixty and a hundredfold. Likewise, if we are stingy toward others, that, too, will come back to us thirty, sixty and a hundredfold. Whether we realize it or not, how we choose to live our lives each and every day builds up over a lifetime a kind of spiritual compound interest.
How generously will you measure unto others today?
* * * * *
(January 30, 2026: Friday, Third Week in Ordinary Time)
* * * * *
“The land yields fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.”
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote: “Wherever we may be, we can and should aspire to a perfect life.”
Throughout his ministry, Francis de Sales repeatedly counseled people to make a stark – but sometimes all-too-subtle – distinction between perfection and perfectionism. It seems that the fault of many folks in Francis de Sales’ day was not that they weren’t trying to “aspire to a perfect life.” They were, in fact, trying too hard. They were overwhelmed with good intentions but underwhelmed by their results. Typical of this counsel is a letter from Francis de Sales to Madame Angelique Arnauld, in which he wrote:
“I do know you well and I know that your heart is steadfastly determined to live entirely for God; but I also know that your great natural activity harasses you with many restless impulses. O dear daughter, you must not imagine that the work we have undertaken to do in you can be done so quickly. Cherry trees bear their fruit quickly because they only bear cherries which keep but a short time; but the palm, the prince of trees, only begins bearing fruit a hundred years after it has been planted, it is said. A mediocre life can be achieved in a year, but the perfection for which we are striving – that, my dear daughter, takes quite a few years to establish itself…” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 274)
If a grain of wheat takes time to grow – if an ear of corn takes time to grow – so much the more time is required for us human beings to grow as we “aspire to a perfect life.”
Anything worth doing takes time. In our case, it requires a lifetime!
* * * * *
(January 31, 2026: John Bosco, religious, priest and founder)
* * * * *
In his pamphlet about the life of St. Francis de Sales entitled A True Nobleman, Philip J. Pascucci, SDB wrote:
“One of Don Bosco’s nine resolutions when he was ordained to the priesthood was: ‘The sweetness and charity of St. Francis de Sales will guide me in everything.’ Francis de Sales was by nature (his biographers tell us) sensitive, somewhat irritable and hot-tempered, but, by dint of patient striving, day after day from his early years, Francis succeeded in mastering his disposition to such an extent that he became known as the gentle, kind and meek saint. Don Bosco knew from his own experience and the experience of others that his followers would need an outstanding model of these virtues in the difficult work which they would have to accomplish among (troubled and troublesome) youth. The model he chose for his followers had to be Francis de Sales.” (Page 32)
Today, how might we follow the example of John Bosco in following the example of St. Francis de Sales? How might God be calling us this day to allow the “sweetness and charity” of St. Francis de Sales to guide us in what we think, how we feel, what we say and how we relate with, for and about one another, especially with those people whom we experience as troubled or troublesome?
OR
* * * * *
(January 31, 2026: Saturday, Third Week of Ordinary Time)
* * * * *
“Why are you terrified?”
It’s a great question that Jesus proposes to his disciples in today’s Gospel. For our part, we could probably list any number of things in our own lives that have scared, frightened or even terrified us in the past, that could scare, frighten or terrify us in the future or perhaps are scaring, frightening or terrifying us at this very moment. The fact of the matter is that every life comes with its share of things, situations and events that actually should terrify us!
In a letter to Angelique Arnauld, the Abbess of Port Royal, Francis de sales wrote:
“‘Oh, unhappy man that I am,’ said the great apostle, ‘who will deliver me from the body of this death?’ St. Paul felt as if an army, made up of his moods, aversions, habits and natural inclinations had conspired to bring about his spiritual death. Because they terrified him, he showed that he despised them. Because he despised them, he could not endure them without pain. His pain made him cry out this way and then answer his own cry by asserting that the grace of God through Jesus Christ will indeed defend him, but not from fear, or terror, or alarm nor from the fight; rather, from defeat and from being overcome.” (Letters of Spiritual Direction, pp. 172-173)
There are things in life that scare, frighten and terrify us for good reason. Jesus is not asking us to never experience these (or other) emotions when they come upon us with good reason; rather, Jesus is asking us to remember (as was the case with the disciples in today’s Gospel) that in the midst of whatever storms and surges that we may experience in life, we are never alone.
Jesus is always – and forever – with us.
* * * * *