LIVE Jesus! is the summation of Salesian spirituality.
LIVE Jesus! is the “Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Apoc. 22:13) of everything that St. Francis de Sales wrote.
In the beginning of the Introduction to the Devout Life, his first book on the Christian Life, he cries out to all Christians: “Live Jesus! Live Jesus! Yes, Lord Jesus, live and reign in our hearts for ever and ever. Amen.”
At the end of The Treatise on the Love of God, his last book on the Christian Life, he tells us that we should sing eternally: “Live Jesus! I love Jesus. Live Jesus whom I love. I love Jesus who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.”
Live Jesus! is the very heart of the doctrine of St. Francis de Sales. He says so himself. “I have desired above all things to engrave and inscribe this holy and sacred word upon your heart: LIVE Jesus!
This the last quotation is the heart of the most important passage in the writings of St. Francis de Sales. We will give this entire passage (The Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 23) and examine the great message which it contains.
“Those who treat of husbandry and rural matters tells us that, if some word be written upon an almond that is quite sound, and if it be put back in its covering, which is carefully folded and wrapped around about it and then placed in the soil, all the fruits of the tree which grow from it will have the same word written and engraved upon it. For my part, Philothea, I have never been able to approve of the method of those who, to reform a man, begin with the exterior, with the deportment, with the clothes, with the hair.
“On the contrary, it seems to me that we must begin with the interior. Be converted to me, says God, with all thy heart. My son, give me thy heart. The divine Spouse in his invitation to the soul says, Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm.
“Yes, truly, for whosoever has Jesus Christ in his heart has him soon afterwards in all his exterior actions.
“For this cause, dear Philothea, I have desired above all things to engrave and inscribe upon your heart this holy and sacred world LIVE Jesus! since I am confident that thereafter your life which comes from your heart, as an almond from its kernel, will have all its actions, which are its fruits, stamped and engraved with this same word of salvation. And that, as this sweet Jesus will live in your heart, He will live also in all your actions and will appear in your eyes, in your mouth, in your hands, yes, even in your hair. And you will be able to say reverently, in imitation of St. Paul, I live now not I, but Christ lives in me.”
This is a key passage in the writings of St. Francis de Sales. It opens up before us the object and method of this great saint in the direction of souls.
The object of Salesian direction is the total consecration of our poor humanity, interior and exterior, to the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ.
The method of Salesian direction is to create first of all a great love for Jesus in the soul, and then allow Jesus to remake the whole man from within.
Live Jesus! is the summation of all Christian spirituality.
Live Jesus! is not only the summation of the doctrine of St. Francis de Sales but it is also, in all truth, the summation of all Christian spirituality. In the introduction to his masterpiece, In Christ Jesus, Father Plus, S.J., has this to say, “In Christo Jesu, In Christ Jesus. this occurs with greater frequency than any other formula in the New Testament: one hundred and sixty-four times in St. Paul, and twenty-four times in St. John. In the whole of Christian dogma there is no more expressive formula, and none less understood, more particularly in its deeper aspects.”
The same is true of the LIVE Jesus! of St. Francis de Sales, for he meant by this expression what St. Paul and St. John meant by theirs. This ardent expression punctuates all his writings, his formal works, his letters, his sermons. Like the In Christ Jesus of the Apostles, it is the most expressive formula of Christian spirituality. But, unfortunately, like the scriptural expression, it is not very well understood, especially in its deepest aspects.
Live Jesus! is not merely a pious expression for the great de Sales, but the summation of the entire Divine Plan of our salvation and sanctification. What is this Divine Plan of our salvation and sanctification? Guided by this great Doctor of the Church, let us sound the depths of the Divine Plan for mankind.
The Divine Plan for fallen human nature is to constitute Jesus the Head of all the redeemed, so that in him and with him and through him we may attain to union with the Most Holy Trinity, and thus realize the holiness that God requires of us.
For, what was the purpose of the Incarnation?
Some will answer that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became man to redeem us, that is, to satisfy the justice of God, to wipe away sin. This is the truth. But, it is not the whole truth.
St. Francis de Sales constantly reminds us that God became man to make us part of Himself, that is, to give us a share in His Life, in His Happiness, in His Virtues, in His Qualities, in His States. These are not two distinct truths in reality, but one.
Jesus redeemed us by making us part of Himself.
After the Fall, Adam and Eve and all their progeny were "children of wrath." Jesus alone was the Child of delight, the beloved Son in Whom the Father was well pleased. So, to redeem us, in other words, to make us pleasing to the Father, Jesus made us a part of Himself. He incorporated us into Himself. In truth, the Father is only pleased with us when we are a part of Jesus and live His Life. Tin's is the deep meaning of the Incarnation and Redemption.
This is the deep meaning of the Christian Life.
We are a part of Jesus.
We are little twigs of this great Mystical Vine.
We are little cells of this great Mystical Body.
We are the extension of Jesus in time and space.
From this, we can see the sublimity of the Christian Life.
From this, we can see the obligation of the Christian Life.
We must continue the life of Christ on earth.
We must think as He thought. We must speak as He spoke. We must live as He lived. This is what St. Francis de Sales means by live jesus! Live jesus! Means to live in jesus. Live jesus! means to live as jesus.
Live Jesus! Is the summation of a truly Christian life.
To live jesus, that is, to continue the Life of Christ on earth, you must:
1. Preserve the Life of Christ, Sanctifying Grace, in your soul by shunning all that displeases Jesus.
2. Increase the Life of Christ in your soul by uniting yourself to Jesus in all your actions.
Jesus must become the life of your soul and the center of all your activity.
St. Francis de Sales says, "The Savior does not call Himself for nothing the bread which has come down from heaven, for as bread should be eaten with all kinds of meat, so ought the Savior be meditated upon, considered and sought after in all our prayers and actions."
To aid you in this, the great work of your life, we now introduce you to the Spiritual Directory of St. Francis de Sales.
The spiritual directory is the great means that St. Francis de sales gives to souls to advance in the way of Our Lord.
Father Brisson, the Founder of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and the greatest Apostle of the Spiritual Directory, has said these telling things about it:
In following exactly the Directory, we live the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ on earth. It is a simple and absolute conformity with the Divine Model, interior and exterior.
What do we do when we take the thought of the Directory? We take Jesus Christ with us we take His thought and His love. We allow Him to act in us.
The Directory is the Law of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the summation of all religion and sanctity.
The Spiritual Directory is St. Francis de Sales’ masterpiece. He drew the outlines of this great work for himself while a young student at Paris and Padua. He perfected it during his years as a priest and bishop. It was the Directory that sanctified St. Francis de Sales. It was the Directory that sanctified those generous souls who placed themselves under his guidance. It is the Directory that continues to sanctify many, many souls today both in religion and in the world.
The Spiritual Directory is not a prayer-book. It is a rule of life. You will not fully understand and appreciate it merely by reading it and meditating on it. You must live it to appreciate its worth. It might be well to read it through slowly when you first receive it. But, after that you must go back and meditate on each Article and put it into practice a little at a time.
Father Brisson said, “Take a magnet weighing a hundred kilograms. When it is already supporting its own weight, add some iron filings, each grain, one by one. Keep adding them. If you do so gently, the weight that you add will be twice, three times, five or six times heavier than the magnet. Why? Because you went about it gently, little by little, grain by grain. Now, your will is not strong, perhaps, but put yourself to this task with all your heart, then add to your fidelity, little by little, grain by grain, and you will do great things. Go about this work gently, but go about it with all your heart.”
Yes, go about the work of the Directory gently, but go about it with all your heart your reward will be more and more intimacy with our Blessed Saviour.
God be blessed!