by Claude Morel

SFS Publications, Bangalore (1991)

From the PREFACE: We are prone to pour out our worries and sorrows to God. In times of trials and difficulties we reach the limitations of our life, the inefficiencies of our own resources; we are impelled then to seek God's help. Are not our churches full r and do we not pray to God more earnestly and sincerely in times of war and calamities than in times of peace and joy?

The spirituality of St Francis de Sales has lost nothing of its lustre; it contains all ingredients for living a life of joy and confidence in the Lord. GAZE OF JOY AND CONFIDENCE is a timely contribution for modern man who thirsts for true peace and happiness. The spirit of joy and confidence emanating from our illustrious saint breathes all through these pages. When read meditatively, the reader will be enthused by the spirit of the saint: the spirit of gentleness, love and optimism — all that we need to make life worth living.

From the FOREWORD: St. Francis de Sales is a wonderful saint — ever ancient and ever new. It is perhaps difficult to follow his approach because of his outdated language, but his message remains today as always fresh and adapted to the modern world. These short meditations aim at making him loved and appreciated. They are meant to help you to enter into a deep communion with God in prayer, to accept lovingly all the events of life as an expression of his love and to be brave and faithful in living up to the demands of love in action.

In 1967, the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales decided to enter into a joint venture with other religious congregations in the publication of a missionary magazine called the PEUPLESDUMONDE. A supplement especially conceived to give news about our Congregation and to maintain our bond of unity with friends and benefactors of our missions in India, found a place in this magazine. Month after month the following notes on Salesian spirituality appeared in the pages of this supplement. The method followed is quite simple: a short quotation from St. Francis de Sales embellished with a brief commentary.

In his best known and easily accessible book called The Introduction to the Devout Life St. Francis de Sales writes: “Glycera, the flower girl, knew so well how to diversify the combination and arrangement of her flowers, as with the same flowers to make a great variety of nosegays”. These short meditations are now being offered to you in six "nosegays"; at times some flowers look alike. Like the bee "flitting about from one flower to another in springtime" you also can pass from one flower to another in the following pages peacefully and gracefully gathering the nectar of life.

The publication of these meditations is a modest contribution to the celebration of an anniversary: the 150 years of the foundation of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales. May you also come to imitate our holy patron in his simplicity and his optimism and to cast a gaze of joy and confidence on the events and the situations in life, a gaze radiated by a deep union with God. Your love and zeal for the Church will then be all the more reinvigorated.