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SALESIAN LITERATURE

Consoling-Thoughts of SFS

Many sick and wounded souls have found a heavenly consolation in these sweet and affecting pages. "The very title of the book," it says, "pleases, and should secure a large number of readers. Father Huguet has given us, in this little work, the quintessence of everything that our amiable saint wrote most sweet and consoling, especially in his letters, in which that heart so good and tender, which God had formed to comfort the afflicted, is entirely revealed. The book is of the greatest assistance to the simple faithful and to directors and confessors charged with comforting discouraged and troubled souls. The author read, with pen in hand, the works of the holy Bishop of Geneva; and, after noting the different passages which referred to the same subject, he arranged them in such order as to form a single chapter. A page is thus sometimes collected from seven or eight places in the saint's writings. Yet such is the connection of ideas that we scarcely perceive the labour, and everything seems to flow as from one fountain-head. As to the graceful, artless style of St. Francis de Sales, the author has lightly retouched it in some places, changing a few antiquated expressions that would be little intelligible nowadays. Without altering anything in substance, he has considered it a duty to suppress certain details and comparisons, whose want of simplicity, a common fault at present, might cloy the work. Everywhere we have the good shepherd, who, after the example of his Divine Master, instructs, cheers, and consoles, by the help of parables and similitudes, in the great art of using which perhaps he never had an equal.

Table of Contents

Preface To The Sixth French Edition

Introduction

BOOK I: CONSOLING THOUGHTS ON GOD AND PROVIDENCE

In Consoling Thoughts on God and Providence, St. Francis de Sales, beloved Doctor of the Church, speaks of how God wants only good for us, and why we should have great confidence in His merciful love. This treasure of spirituality beautifully explains God's love for the sinner, how great His joy is upon the return of just one lost sheep, and how God's mercy extends even towards the damned. St. Francis encourages us to conform ourselves to God's will, and teaches us to abandon ourselves to the Lord who so desires our hearts. Readers of Consoling Thoughts on God and Providence will experience firsthand why St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) is known to history as the Gentle Saint. St. Francis was Bishop of Geneva and a tireless preacher, who yet made time to correspond with numerous souls who wrote him for his insight and guidance. His Consoling Thoughts are compiled from these letters as well as from his other spiritual works.

1. The Inclination God Has To Do Us Good

2. The Eternal Love Of God For Us

3. Confidence In God Founded On The Consideration Of Our Own Misery

4. God Has Given Us Everything With His Divine Son

5. The Love Of Jesus In His Incarnation

6. The Love Of Jesus In His Passion

7. Abundance Of Our Redemption

8. Our Lord Practiced All The Most Excellent Kinds Of Love

9. God Looks Upon Us Lovingly, Notwithstanding Our Weakness

10. How Much Our Sweet Saviour Loved Everyone Of Us Personally

11. Love Of Jesus For Sinners

12. How Much The Mercy Of God Appears In The Conversions Of St. Paul And David

13. How Great Is The Mercy Of God On The Return Of The Sinner

14. How Full Of Mercy God Is, Even Towards The Damned

15. The Excellence Of Abandonment To God

16. Conformity To The Will Of God

17. Practice Of Conformity To The Will Of God

18. God Is Our Father1173

19. We Should Serve God Our Father For Love

20. How Jealous God Is Of Our Heart

21. An Admirable Model Of Perfect Abandonment

22. It Is Good To Abandon Oneself To Providence

23. Fear And Hope

24. A Will Perfectly Resigned

25. The Love Of Submission, By Which Our Will Is United To The Good Pleasure Of God

BOOK II CONSOLING THOUGHTS ON TRIALS OF AN INTERIOR LIFE

In Consoling Thoughts on Trials of an Interior Life St. Francis de Sales, beloved Doctor of the Church, gives us treasured insight from the master of spiritual direction. How can the soul persevere in piety in the midst of affliction? How should we conduct ourselves when suffering interior trials? How can we profit from our own faults? St. Francis de Sales explains all this and more. In this masterful collection, St. Francis speaks to every soul on the riches to be gained from suffering trials and temptations, the advantages we can draw from our own defects, and how to choose and carry the best crosses. Also included are uplifting passages on suffering sadness, or what we would now call depression. Readers of Consoling Thoughts on Trials of an Interior Life will experience firsthand why St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) is known to history as the Gentle Saint. St. Francis was Bishop of Geneva and a tireless preacher, who yet made time to correspond with numerous souls who wrote him for his insight and guidance. His Consoling Thoughts are compiled from these letters as well as from his other spiritual works.

1. Maxims For Perseverance In Piety In The Midst Of Afflictions

2. Whence Our Miseries Come

3. Conduct To Be Observed In Interior Trials

4. Perplexity Of The Heart Which Loves Without Knowing Whether It Is Loved

5. Means To Preserve Peace Of Soul In Time Of Trial

6. To Attain Perfection We Must Patiently Endure Our Imperfection

7. We Must Labor At Our Perfection Without Uneasiness

8. Indifference About Our Advancement In Virtue

9. We Should Draw Profit From Our Faults

10. Advantages Which We Should Draw From Our Defects

11. Trials In Prayer

12. Consolation In Temptation

13. Diffidence And Confidence

14. Remedy For Temptations Against Purity

15. Mode Of Combating Temptations Against Faith

16. Temptations Of Blasphemy And Infidelity

17. Manner Of Behaving In The Temptations Of Self-Love

18. The Just Man Falls And Rises Without Perceiving It

19. A Good Sadness And A Bad Sadness

20. How Contrary Sadness Is To Divine Love

21. Remedies For A Bad Sadness

22. Consolations In Sufferings

23. The Cross Of The Good Thief

24. The Crosses Of Providence Are The Most Agreeable To God

25. The Best Crosses

26. The Wood Of The True Cross

27. Calumnies

BOOK III CONSOLING THOUGHTS ON SICKNESS AND DEATH

In Consoling Thoughts on Sickness and Death, St. Francis de Sales, the beloved Doctor of the Church, teaches how to grow closer to God through suffering well the most bitter trials. The bed of sickness is an altar of sacrifice, writes the saint in this treasure of spirituality. He explains what prayers are suitable for the sick, how to persevere in patience, and even how to overcome an excessive fear of death. Most importantly, St. Francis de Sales teaches about abandonment to God's will in both life and death, drawing from his memories of the deaths of his own mother and sister. Readers of Consoling Thoughts on Sickness and Death will experience firsthand why St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) is known to history as the Gentle Saint. St. Francis was Bishop of Geneva and a tireless preacher, who yet made time to correspond with numerous souls who wrote him for his insight and guidance. His Consoling Thoughts are compiled from these letters as well as from his other spiritual works.

1. The Time Of Sickness

2. Spiritual Advancement In Sickness

3. Prayers Suitable To The Sick

4. The Book Of The Afflicted

5. The Sick Who Cannot Pray

6. Advice To Convalescents

7. Neither To Desire Nor To Refuse Comfort In Sickness

8. Patience In Sickness

9. Patience In Painful Operations

10. Perseverance In Patience

11. Excessive Fear Of Death

12. Remedies Against Excessive Fear Of Death

13. God Does Not Abandon Us At The Hour Of Death

14. God Will Never Destroy A Soul Submissive To His Will

15. Sentiments At The Sight Of Death

16. How Much God Loves The Saints, Notwithstanding Their Defects And Imperfections

17. The Sweet And Happy Death Of The Predestined

18. Death Of The Saint’s Young Sister, Jeanne De Sales, In The Arms Of Madame De Chantal

19. Death Of The Countess De Sales, Mother Of The Saint1238

20. The Rapidity Of Time

21. We Should Abandon Ourselves To God In Life And In Death

BOOK IV CONSOLING THOUGHTS ON ETERNITY

In Consoling Thoughts on Eternity, St. Francis de Sales, the beloved Doctor of the Church, speaks to us of the Christian manner in which we should mourn those whom we have lost. Taken mostly from the letters of the saint, this masterful work gives us the consolation he offered to parents on the deaths of their sons, to a lady on the death of her father, a wife on the death of her husband, and others mourning their loved ones. Throughout he gives reason to hope, and explains how much the thought of Heaven should console us, and how agreeable it will be to parents and friends to meet again and converse together in Heaven. Readers of Consoling Thoughts on Eternity will experience firsthand why St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) is known to history as the Gentle Saint. St. Francis was Bishop of Geneva and a tireless preacher, who yet made time to correspond with numerous souls who wrote him for his insight and guidance. His Consoling Thoughts are compiled from these letters as well as from his other spiritual works.

1. The Christian Manner In Which We Should Mourn Over Those Whom We Have Lost

2. To A Poor Mother, On The Death Of Her Child In Infancy

3. To A Father, On The Death Of His Son

4. To A Mother, On The Death Of Her Son Killed In War

5. To A Lady, On The Death Of Her Father

6. To A Lady, On The Death Of Her Husband

7. On The Death Of A Brother

8. On The Death Of A Father

9. How Much The Thought Of Heaven Ought To Console Us

10. How Agreeable It Will Be To Parents And Friends To Meet Again And Converse Together In heaven

11. We Should Hope To Go To Heaven

ADIEU OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES TO THE PIOUS READER

SUPPLEMENT

1. We Should Not Despair Of The Salvation Of Any Sinner

2. Sentiments Of St. Francis De Sales On The Number Of The Elect

3. The Souls In Purgatory

4. Motives On Account Of Which Imperfect Christians Ought Not To Fear Their Passage To Eternity, And May Evendesire It

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