Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 21, 2018)

In today’s Gospel, Jesus reveals that to be great is to be a servant. St. Francis de Sales stresses that we serve God best in our daily responsibilities of our state of life:

Firmly put in your mind that God desires you to be a servant just as you are. That is, you serve God best by trying to be patient, gentle and loving in the activities and responsibilities that your state in life requires. Once you are convinced of this, you must bring yourself to a tender affection for your state in life. Because God wills it, we must love everything about it and give it first place in our heart, recalling it often, thinking it over seriously, welcoming and enjoying the truth of it.

Cultivate your own garden as best you can. Direct your thoughts to being very good at being what you are and bear the crosses, little or great, that you find there by frequently asking God to help you. Do not consider the importance of the things you do. For of themselves they are insignificant. Consider only the dignity they have in being willed by God’s providence, and planned according to God’s wisdom. In a word, if they are pleasing to God and acknowledged being so, to whom should they be displeasing?

Little by little exercise your will to follow God’s will. God, who does nothing in vain, gives us strength and courage when we need them. Gradually the strong resistance you feel will become weaker and soon disappear altogether. Call to mind that trees bear fruit only because of the presence of the sun, some sooner, and some later. Not all of them yield equal harvests. We are very fortunate to be able to remain in the presence of God. So let us be content that God will make us bear our fruit sooner or later, or only occasionally, according to God’s good pleasure. Our openness to the will of God allows us to be faith-filled servants of God, who never fails to help us in our needs

(Adapted from W. Wright & J. Power, Eds., Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal…)

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 14, 2018)

In today’s Gospel Jesus challenges us to let go of everything to follow Jesus, who brings true wealth. St. Francis de Sales speaks similarly:

To let go of our external possessions means we have to abandon everything into Our Lord’s hands. Then, we must ask Our Lord for the true love He desires us to have for them. You can possess riches if you merely keep them in your home and not in your heart. You may take care to increase your wealth and resources provided it is done not only justly, but also honestly and charitably, and you use them for the honor and glory of God. We must love God first of all, and then after that, others.

To live Jesus we must also give to Our Lord our imaginary possessions, such as honor, esteem and fame, so that in all things we seek God’s glory. Our possessions are not our own. God has given them to us to cultivate and wants us to make them fruitful for the Kingdom on earth. Hence we must take good care of them and use them as God wills.

To be free from our possessions means to cut out all that is superfluous and not of God in our lives. Yet, no one prunes vines by hacking them with an axe but by cutting them very carefully with a pruning hook, one shoot at a time. We must do likewise with ourselves, and take one step at a time. We can’t arrive in a day where we aspire to be.

This holy pursuit of doing God’s will in our lives is a huge undertaking. Still it is not as great as the reward. A generous person can do anything with the help of the Creator. At every moment give the very heart of your heart to our Savior. You will see that as this divine Lover takes His place in your heart, the world with all its futile pursuits will leave you, and you will live joyously in the total and perfect liberty of spirit as a child of God.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales.)

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 7, 2018)

In today’s Gospel, Jesus reveals to us that God made marriage a holy committed relationship. St. Francis de Sales speaks similarly about marriage:

Marriage is equally holy in the rich and in the poor. The preservation of holy marriage is of the highest importance for the state since it is the origin and source of all that flows from the state. If only our Savior were invited to every marriage, as He was to the marriage at Cana. The wine of his consolation and blessing would never be lacking.

Married people ought to have that mutual love that the Holy Spirit in Scriptures so highly recommends to them. The first effect of this divine love is an indissoluble union of the hearts, affections, and love of the husband and wife. The second effect of this divine love is the inviolable fidelity of husband and wife to each other. The third fruit of marriage is the birth and nurturing of children. Marriage is the nursery of Christianity. It is a great honor to you who are married that God empowers you to cooperate in so noble a work of creation in giving birth to children and properly nurturing them.

Husbands and wives, advance more and more in the mutual love you owe to one another, take care that your love does not degenerate into jealousy of any kind. It often happens that just as a worm is bred in the ripest, most tender apple, so also jealousy grows in the most ardent and compelling love of husband and wife. Jealousy never gets in where friendship is based on true virtue in both persons. Love and fidelity joined together always produce intimacy and mutual trust. Why then do you not cherish each other with a completely holy, completely sacred, and completely divine love?

(Adapted from St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life .)

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 30, 2018)

Today’s readings call us to be totally committed and dedicated to God. St. Francis de Sales tells us that we do this by cultivating a life of holy love.

The supreme happiness of the world consists in loving many things as one’s own. Such affections easily spring up again and again in us. But we must make a clear distinction between inclinations and attachments. If our feelings come from inclinations, we should not be concerned. For instance, a thousand times a day I may feel enraged against someone who has slandered me. But if I turn to God and make an act of charity for the one who outraged me, there is nothing wrong, for it is not in my power to calm my natural feelings, especially when faced with a lion.

With our attachments it is a different story. What makes us so attached to what is ours is the exaggeration of our self-importance. While we may subdue our inordinate self-centeredness, it will never die as long as we live here on earth. Yet, if we wish to calm the feelings that dominate our actions that cause us regrets, we need to nurture holy love. To do this we must move from our inordinate self-centered loves to a love that seeks only God’s glory in all things. Holy love begins to grow in us as we begin to let go of all that does not lead us to God’s goodness. “Letting go” (holy detachment) is such a difficult virtue to acquire that in a monastery it takes ten years of cultivation. Yet the virtue is not as terrible as it sounds, for it gives us the liberty of spirit to love the world around us as God loves it. So let us follow reason and not our tendencies or dislikes of difficult virtues. While our attachments are very precious things, we must use them to love God, our one true Possession, to whom we dedicate and commit our lives.

(Adapted from Carneiro, Spiritual Conferences of St. Francis de Sales)

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 23, 2018)

Today’s Gospel challenges us to be child-like servants of God. Simplicity of heart marks a loving child, and is also a “little virtue” that St. Francis de Sales emphasizes:

Like an infant whose one desire is to be fed by its mother, our heart is simple when we have only one desire and that is to love God. We allow our Lord to carry us as we walk according to the desires of God and not our own preferences. A truly simple person spends time with the Lord. They are like the little child who desires only to rest in his mother’s arms because here is where he is nourished and cared for.

Simplicity requires that our interior self match our exterior self. Yet, we do not lack simplicity when we put on a smiling face while we feel upset. It is true you are agitated within when you are facing some difficulty. This is natural for our misery tends to follow an extreme course. Although we admit the feeling, we do not have to consent to it. Thus when we are troubled by something and smile, it means we accept our difficulty in a good, wholesome, simple way that helps us to flourish as a child of God.

Walk simply and you will walk confidently. If you are with someone who is moody, don’t be concerned about what to do. Simply be your cheerful self. Just now she is sad, but at some other time you will be like her. Help her and yourself to enjoy the time you have together. And at another time she will help you do the same. In this way you are a child-like servant of God to others. We come closer to God’s love the more we detach ourselves from things that hinder us from loving God and others. Simplicity places every event in God’s hands. Happy are they who no longer journey with their own feet, that is, according to their own thoughts, desires, preferences and inclinations, but according to those of their God! For in their simplicity of heart they will find God’s love and peace.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 16, 2018)

Today’s readings remind us that to follow the teachings of Jesus involves suffering. St. Francis de Sales has a very interesting understanding of suffering:

I don’t think we should ask for suffering, as did our Lord, for we aren’t able to handle it as He did. It is quite enough if we endure it patiently.

However, do not limit your patience to great deeds of courage. The truly patient and true servant of God bears up equally under the little as well as the great events in life. To be despised, criticized and accused by our friends and relatives is the test of virtue. The sting of a bee is much more painful than that of a fly. So likewise the wrongs and attacks we suffer from those we love are far harder to bear than those we suffer from others. Yet it often happens that two good and well-intentioned persons, because of conflicting ideas, stir up great persecutions and attacks on one another.

If an evil happens to you choose a remedy agreeable to God. If you are falsely accused of something, you have a duty to respond with the truth. If the accusation continues after you have given a legitimate explanation, don’t try to make them accept your explanation. Gently stir up your courage. Arm yourself with the patience we ought to have toward ourselves. Often raise your heart to God so you may be on guard against a surprise attack. Yet we need to always watch out for our bad-tempered self that is good at thinking up things. But don’t be upset if this touchy self causes you to totter and stumble. Within us, the Spirit of Jesus is transforming us so that we seek in all things the honor and glory of God.

While we work to bring forth Christ in us, we must let go of our inordinate self-sufficiency that causes us to suffer. Yet we will experience peace if we remain resigned to God’s Will, remembering that God desires most our fidelity.

(Adapted from St. F. de Sales, Introd. to a Devout Life, Ryan, ed.; Letters of Spiritual Direction, Power & Wright, eds)

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 9, 2018)

In today’s Gospel, we experience God in Jesus who, through healing the deaf man, brings hope of a New World to the whole human family. St. Francis de Sales remarks:

Hope, like an arrow, darts up to the gate of Heaven, but it cannot enter there because it is a virtue wholly of earth. Hope is possible because God places in our hearts the desire for eternal life and then assures us that we can attain it. God places hope in our heart through the many promises made in the Scriptures. God’s assurance that we can achieve a life of eternal joy infinitely strengthens our desires and calms our heart. This calm is the root of the virtue of hope. Assured by faith that we can enjoy the promises God made to us, we wait in hope as we grow in God’s love with one another.

While our hopes and expectations bring joy to our heart, they also may bring sadness to fervent souls. Not finding ourselves the saints we hoped to be, we are often discouraged in the pursuit of virtue that leads to holiness. Have patience, lay aside that anxious care of yourself, and have no fear that anything will be wanting to you.

We need not hurry so fast. However, we must use the means that are given to us according to our vocation, and then remain in peace. We need to walk ardently, yet tranquilly, carefully but confidently. That is to say, we must have more confidence in Divine Providence than in our own work. When all human aid fails us, God takes over and cares for us. We have God, who is our All. Let us trust in God who will make us holy in time. For God, under whose guidance we have embarked, will always be attentive in providing us with whatever is necessary for our perfection. Let us begin to live well, according to our vocation: patiently, gently, and simply. For no one who hoped and trusted in God’s Goodness and Providence has ever been disappointed.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 2, 2018)

Today’s readings beg us to live the commandments, the word of God, in a way that allows us to be wise and have a pure heart before God. St. Francis de Sales speaks of God’s commandments in light of living and loving God’s will:

There are some matters in which it is clear what God’s will is, such as the commandments or the duties of one’s vocation. To live according to God’s will is to love. The just are not truly just unless they have holy love, which forms a pure heart.

True love always strives to please those in whom it has found pleasure. God’s word becomes most pleasing when ordained by love. By often taking delight in what God commands, we become what God desires us to be, and our will is transformed into that of the divine will. The greater the pleasure we take in God’s will for us, the more perfect is our transformation in holy love, the true source of divine wisdom. Happy the soul who no longer journeys with its own feet but according to the desire of its God!

To arouse in us a holy, salutary love of God’s commandments, we must contemplate their wondrous beauty. Like the visible sun that touches all things with its life-giving warmth, and gives them the vigor needed to produce their proper effects, so God’s goodness enlivens all hearts to love God’s word. To love the divine commandments, God gives us means that are not merely sufficient. Rather, God gives us a rich abundance of ways to fulfill this divine desire implanted in our hearts.

The commandments are worthy of love because they give goodness to those who lack it and increase goodness in those who have it. There is no toil in what we love, or if there is any, it is a beloved toil. Thus, while the divine law imposes a necessity to obey God’s will it also converts this necessity into holy love, and all difficulty into delight.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 26, 2018)

Today is the Feast of Christ the King. St. Francis de Sales stated that it was divine inspiration that the word “king” was inscribed on Jesus’ cross. He adds:

Our Lord came as a shepherd and as King of Shepherds. Shepherds represent those who make a commitment to lead a holy life. In this sense we are all shepherds, and Our Lord desires to favor those like Himself. As a good shepherd and lovable pastor of our souls that are his sheep, Jesus came to teach us what we ought to do so that we might be made whole through Him. He came to recreate what was lost, and no one has ever been betrayed by Him.

Jesus as a king was called to be Savior, and He desired that others should share in the glory of being leaders, especially his blessed Mother. Jesus made God’s goodness abound more than evilness. He overcame death, disease, toil, and abuse of our sensory desires. Jesus’ work is truly salutary when it touches our miseries and makes them worthy of love. When we possess God’s love, we are empowered to share in our Savior’s work.

God desired to save the Hebrew people through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the other prophets. We are shown more fully God’s delight and care for the world by the sending of our Savior Jesus. We plant vines because of their fruit. Yet leaves and buds precede the fruit. Similarly, while Our Savior was first in God’s eternal plan of creation, the vine (the universe) was first planted. For this reason Jesus is called the “first-born of all creatures.” Like leaves or blossoms, the many generations that precede Jesus prepare the way for Him. How happy we are when we choose Jesus as our leader, who gives us unparalleled peace and calm if we follow Him. Our Savior shows us that God’s majesty will not be overcome by evil, but will overcome evil by good: the work of a true King.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales, especially Sermons, L. Fiorelli, Ed.)

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 19, 2016)

Today’s readings tell us what we need to remain spiritually healthy on our journey through life: live wisely, address one another in spiritual song, try to understand the will of the Lord, be filled with the Spirit, praise God, give thanks, and feed on the eternal life-giving Bread of Christ. St. Francis de Sales notes that this advice aids us in living God’s Will for us:

Even the heart, where we wish to begin, must be instructed as to how it should model its outward conduct and bearing so that other people can see not only holy love but also great wisdom and prudence. Since God has stamped in us an infinite desire for truth and goodness, our soul wisely sees that nothing in this world gives it perfect contentment until it rests in the things of God.

While God’s overflowing love only gives, our frailty has need of God’s divine abundance. God takes great pleasure in giving us graces that lead to eternal life. Our hearts, no matter how frail and weak, are preserved from the corruption of sin when nourished by the incorruptible flesh and blood of the Son of God. Therefore, whoever turns to the sacrament of the Eucharist builds up their soul’s health.

Our Lord loves with a most tender love those who are so happy as to abandon themselves wholly to His care. They let themselves be governed by His divine Providence. They believe that God sends them only events and things that profit their spiritual well being. God wills that we live a life of truth and goodness and that we be saved. Therefore, when your distress is at its height, very gently put your heart into the hands of our Savior, who will help you be healthier. Let us then give our entire will to God who wisely instructs and enlightens our heart so that we as well as others come to know and live the will of God.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 12, 2018)

In today’s first reading, St. Paul begs us to exchange our life of anger and malice for a life of kindness, compassion and forgiveness that mark us as the children of God. St. Francis de Sales tells us how to move from anger to kindness or gentleness:

One of the best exercises in gentleness that we can perform is with ourselves. To allow gentleness to reign in our hearts we must not fret over our own faults. While reason requires that we be displeased and sorry when we commit a fault, we must not keep our hearts drenched in bitterness and spitefulness that spring from our self-centered love, which is disturbed at seeing that it is imperfect. This constrains our ability to love.

All angry people think their anger just. Believe me a father’s gentle, loving rebuke has far greater power to correct a child than rage and passion. So too when we have committed some fault, if we rebuke our heart with more compassion for it than passion against it, repentance will penetrate more effectively. If we fall into anger let us say: “Alas my poor heart, here we are, fallen into the pit we were so firmly resolved to avoid! Well, we must get up again and leave it forever.” With great courage, confidence and trust in God’s mercy return to the path of virtue. When your mind is tranquil, build up a stock of gentleness. Speak all your words and do all your actions in the mildest way you can. Remain in peace. No one is so holy as not to be subject to imperfections.

However, we are called to practice the freedom of the children of God who know they are loved. They freely choose to follow the known will of their heavenly Father who nourishes them with the Bread of Life, his Son Jesus. We must walk on then, as brothers and sisters united in gentleness, compassion and forgiveness. God always loves us even in our weakest moments. We, too, must do likewise, first with ourselves than others.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 5, 2018)

In today’s Gospel we experience Jesus confronting the crowd with the purity of their intention in following Him. While the crowd seeks perishable food, He desires that they seek Him, the ‘Bread of Life’, ‘food that endures for eternal life’. St. Francis de Sales tells us how we can prepare ourselves to have the ‘Bread of Life’ come into our lives:

The greatest intimate union that Our Savior is able to share with us is His divine life. To prepare ourselves for this union we must first clear our memory of our worldly concerns, and all that is not lasting. After we make the decision to put aside our worldly-mindedness, we must adorn our memory with all the gifts that God has given us: creation, divine providence and redemption.

Next, we must purify our will by getting rid of our disordered affections, even for good things. We need to look at what and on whom we are fixing too ardently our affections. Little by little we must order these affections so that we can say to Our Lord with David: “You are the God of my heart and my eternal lot.” The excessive love and affection for children, parents, friends, possessions, and material things become obstacles for the Holy Spirit, who desires to flood our hearts with divine love that is not perishable.

Our Savior comes to us, so that we may be all in him. You have only to be thankful for the simplicity of faith that God has given you. Ask God to continue to give you this very precious and desirable gift. Nourish yourself the whole day long with holy thoughts on the infinite goodness of our God. Rest in the providence of God, for God will never fail to supply what is necessary for your wellbeing. Praise God in this life, and you will glorify God with all the blessed in Heaven.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 29, 2018)

Today St. Paul urges us to love one another with humility, gentleness and patience. St. Francis de Sales refers to these virtues as the “little virtues”:

Let us try to acquire those little virtues such as patience, humility and gentleness toward our neighbor. Know that patience is the one virtue that gives greatest assurance of our reaching holiness. While we must have patience with others, we must also have it with ourselves. Patience helps us to possess our own soul so that we may do the will of God, the source of our greatest happiness. Those who want to aspire to the pure love of God need to be more patient with themselves than with others.

Patience with ourselves leads to humility. Deep interior humility begins with recognizing the multitude of blessings God has bestowed on us. We will enjoy and rejoice in them because we possess them, but we will glorify God because God alone is the author of them. We must use our gifts and talents in the service of God and our neighbors. Those who are humble are all the more courageous because they place their whole trust in God. Turn to our Lord who has given His life for you. Humility perfects us with respect to God and gentleness with respect to our neighbor.

Little by little bring your quick mind around to being patient, gentle, humble, and affable in the midst of pettiness, childishness and the imperfections of others who are weak. These little virtues, ones to be exercised in our daily life, in our household, our place of work, with friends and with strangers, any time and all the time—these are the virtues for us. God, who is infinitely kind, is satisfied with the small achievements of our heart. When we nurture our heart with virtue and good projects that allow us to serve God and our neighbor, our heart performs marvels.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales.)

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 22, 2018)

Today’s readings remind us that our God is a God of compassion. St. Francis de Sales frequently stresses God’s loving care for us especially in adversity:

Our God is the God of the human heart. When our heart is in danger God alone can save and protect it. Just as God is the maker of all things, so also God takes care of all things, and sustains and embraces the whole of creation. Consequently, God wishes to make all things good and beautiful. Especially then, let us believe that God watches over our affairs, even in adversity. We do not always know the reason for our trials but we must admit that in our own affairs, we are sometimes the source of our afflictions.

While we must be careful and attentive to matters that God has committed to our care, we must not be anxious, uneasy or rash about them. Worry disturbs reason and good judgment, and prevents us from doing well the very things we are worried about. Gentle rains make open fields fruitful in grain, but floods ruin fields and meadows.

Thus, undertake all your affairs with a calm mind and do them in order one after the other. If you try to do them all at once or without order, your spirit will be so overcharged and depressed that it will likely sink under the burden without achieving anything. In all your affairs strive quietly to cooperate with God’s plan for you.

God gives us a rich abundance of means proper for our salvation. By a wondrous infusion of God’s grace into our hearts, the Spirit makes our works become God’s work. Our good works like a little grain of mustard seed have vigor and virtue to produce a great good because they proceed from the Spirit of Jesus. You may be sure that if you have firm trust in God’s compassionate love and care for you, the success that comes to your work will always be that which is most useful for you and the believing community.

(Adapted from St. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God, Introduction to a Devout Life).

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 15, 2018)

In today’s Gospel we experience Jesus giving authority to carry out His work to the Apostles, and how their faith in Him leads to good works. St. Francis de Sales notes:

A living faith produces many great and good works. However, we see that strong and healthy persons must often be stirred up to put their strength and skill to proper use. The hand must lead them to their work. While a soul that is heavily burdened has the power to believe and hope in God’s love, it does not have the strength to see clearly if it does. Its distress has such a hold on it. Yet, our Savior never lets us go out on the road alone. The Spirit of Jesus is always with us, urging us on and appealing to our hearts and driving them forward so as to use well the holy love He places in us.

A tender mother leads along her little child, helps him and holds him up as long as she sees a need for it. Now she lets him take a few steps by himself in places that are very level and not too difficult. Then she takes him by the hand and holds him steady. At times she takes him up in her arms and carries him. It is also the way that our Savior takes constant care to lead forward His children. He enables them to walk before Him. He holds their hand in difficulties. Therefore when all things fail us, when our distress is at its height, our abandonment into the hands of our Savior cannot fail us. He will carry us along in hardships that He sees as being unbearable to us, if we let Him.

In many ways, God’s care preserves those who have faith in the teachings of Jesus. Our entire good consists not only in accepting the truth of God’s word, but also in persevering in it. Hence, we ought to have great courage and trust that God will assist us in all that we do for God’s glory. Let us rouse our faith. Give it life in believing fully in God’s love and care for us. Then all our works will bear fruit like those of the Apostles.

(St. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God; Sermons of St. Francis de Sales, L. Fiorelli, Ed.).

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 8, 2018)

In today’s Gospel we see Jesus experiencing rejection and being amazed at the lack of faith people have in Him. St. Francis de Sales speaks of faith as consenting to God’s love:

There is often a long period between our first awakening from unbelief and the final resolution we make to believe fully in God’s love and care for us. There are many difficulties that occur between the first movement of faith in the God of Jesus Christ and our full consent to believe. St. Augustine delayed for some time before consenting fully to the teachings of Jesus Christ. But St. Ambrose said to him: “If you do not believe, pray in order that you may believe.”

During this period we pray like St. Augustine who cried out: “Lord, I do believe, but help me in my unbelief.” That is to say, “While I am no longer in the dark night of unfaithfulness, for the beams of your faith light up the horizon of my soul, I still do not believe as I ought. The knowledge that comes to me through faith is still weak and mingles with unbelief.”

God continually draws our hearts until we find the teachings of Jesus pleasing. Till we reach this stage, God’s goodness never fails to reach us through inspirations. However, we are free to consent to God’s loving appeals or reject them. Mighty rivers, coming upon open plains, spread out and take up ever more space. Similarly, if we do not reject God’s holy love, it goes on expanding with continual increase in us until we are entirely converted. Holy love guides us through our journey of forgiveness. It consoles us, animates and strengthens us in our difficulties. Hence faith includes a first start of love that the heart feels for the things of God. Let us not reject this gift of faith.

(Adapted from St. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God.)

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 1, 2018)

Today’s readings remind us of God’s desire for human wholeness as God forms us, not for death, but for eternal life through faith in Christ. Through this life-giving faith, God calls us to share the abundance of our gifts with those in need. Francis speaks similarly:

God’s desire that we be made whole has been shown to us in so many ways. God shows us that we are made for eternal happiness: first by creation and then by Jesus’ coming. In becoming human, He has taken on our likeness and given us His. Is it any wonder that this beloved Lover of us wants us to love one another as He has loved us?

Nothing urges on a man’s heart so much as love. Our Lord suffered death with so much love in order that the whole human family may become divine. The self-giving love of Jesus presses down on us in a special way. He desires that we live in Him. To God’s glory then we must bring home all our works, actions, thoughts and affections.

God wills for all humans to be eternally happy. Our will must correspond to God’s will. Thus we must will our own wholeness just as God wills it. To the extent that God gives us the means to make ourselves whole, we must accept all the graces God has prepared for us and offers to us. How earnestly we ought to summon up our courage to live according to what we are. We ought to imitate as perfectly as possible Him who came into this world to teach us what we need to do to preserve in ourselves this beauty and divine resemblance which He has so completely repaired and embellished in us! It is this divine resemblance that we ought to recognize and help to preserve in our neighbor who is also God’s child. Let us walk then in the way of love as God’s most dear children.

(L. Fiorelli, ed. Sermons; St. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God).

Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24, 2018)

Today we celebrate the Birth of John the Baptist. He was noted for his zeal in preparing the way of the Lord. Here are some thoughts of St. Francis de Sales on the value of zeal:

True zeal makes use of anger to help it correct an evil. At the same time, true zeal always honors and respects the dignity of the person being corrected. It never turns the hatred of evil into hatred of the evildoer. Nor does zeal turn charity into raging cruelty.

Anger is used by grace to put into effect the work we are called to do. Yet, if anger makes itself master, it overthrows the authority of reason, and it constricts zeal tempered by holy love. Like a fire that in an instant consumes a solid building, excessive anger destroys the zeal coming from a very good soul. Properly used anger is an aid given by our nature to move us to reason, as well as reflect and make good judgments.

Great saints, who have regulated their emotions through prayer and practicing virtue, can also direct their anger at will and put it out or draw it back as seems good to them. Such was St. John the Baptist who through his zeal suffered a martyrdom of love of God. For the most of us, however, our horse is not so well disciplined that we can make it gallop or come to a stop at will. Thus, we must take care not to needlessly stir up anger within ourselves.

In seeking to develop our spiritual well being, we must not love anything too much, not even virtues, which we can sometimes lose by our misplaced zeal. All God wants is our heart. Zeal is simply ardent love. Yet zeal can be a good or evil love. Since zeal is ardent, impetuous love, it requires prudent direction. True zeal is a child of charity and thus is patient, kind, without hatred and rejoices in the truth. Let us calm our impetuous ardor for truth and goodness by inflaming our zeal with sacred love.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (June 17, 2018)

Today’s readings help us to keep things in perspective. Make no mistake – we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. While we are charged with a tremendous duty - advancing the kingdom of God - the most effective means to accomplishing this great calling is to pay attention to detail – that is, buy 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.

As it turns out, little things do really mean a lot in the eyes of God. In fact, they mean everything!

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (June 10, 2018)

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?