Spirituality of SFS: A Way of Life

One must begin with the heart since it is the source of action. This heart must be enlightened by reason. It must also be a heart that remembers. A memory always on the alert is the third aspect of the pedagogy of Francis de Sales. With it, he expresses a biblical reality as well as an experience which is both human and Christian. This shouldn’t surprise us in a man who is so close to all people and “so imbued with Sacred Scripture that it is more than a guide which governs his thought; it has become the very substance of his thought” (Pope John Paul Il, Annecy, October 7, 1986).

A Biblical Reality

Attentiveness to the “memory” is a very biblical characteristic. There are numerous texts which speak of remembering and of causing to remember. A few examples will suffice here.

In the First Book of Kings (3:6-9) is found Solomon’s beautiful prayer asking for “discernment, the art of being attentive and of governing well.” Before making this request in prayer, Solomon had “remembered” the great favour God had shown his father David: “You have shown great favour to your servant, my father David… You have continued this great favour toward him, even today, seating a son of his on the throne.” Relying on God’s faithful love, the young Solomon asks for an “understanding and attentive heart.” He asks for this knowing full well that only someone with a heart attentive to God’s action in history and attentive to God’s loving presence today can “distinguish right from wrong” and “govern God’s people well.”

Deuteronomy frequently repeats, “Remember” and “Do not forget” especially in chapters 5 and 9.

Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today (6:6). This is an invitation to keep alive the words of the living God.

And take the example of the marvellous chapter 8 which makes the entire Exodus event live again. “Remember how for forty years now the Lord, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments… Be careful not to forget Yahweh your God… (And when you come into the Promised Land of abundance in food, houses and money), may this not make you boastful! Do not forget Yahweh, you God, who led you out of the land of Egypt, that country of enslavement. Do not allow yourself to say, “It was by my own strength, the force of my own hands, which brought this about.” Remember Yahweh your God; it was He who strengthened you… Remember; do not forget…” (9:7).

The Psalms are filled with remembrances of the marvels God wrought in the lives of His people and in each believer. For example, in Psalm 40, we read: “How numerous have you made, O Lord, my God, your wondrous deeds! And in your plans for us there is none to equal you; should I wish to declare or to tell them, they would be too many to recount.”

And in Psalms 44: “O God, our ears have heard, our fathers have declared to us, the deeds you did in their days, in days of old...”

On Mary the Gospels are circumspect, but they do tell us that she listened and remembered everything in prayer. After the shepherd’s visit, Mary “treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart” (Lk. 2:19). After the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the episode of Jesus in the Temple, “His mother kept all these things in memory” (Lk. 2:51).

Finally, about Jesus, the gospels have left us as testament these words which the Church repeats every day at Mass and which constitute the heart of her liturgy: Do this in memory of me (Lk. 22:19). The Church lives from this “memory.”

A Reality both Christian and Human

“Memory” is central to the Bible because it is an essential component in both the human being and the Christian being.

A human being without memory is severely handicapped. We know this if we have experienced or are experiencing “memory loss” due to illness or age, or if we know people who forget. These “losses of memory” are especially sad because people sense them; they result in a breakdown in the linkage between yesterday and today; they result in our incapacity to connect with what the speaker is saying or with his or her remembrance of people, places or times. Human life, in fact, is a succession of deeds, of events, and of encounters which are interrelated. A human being is daily constructed by integrating all these into a personal history. “Memory” permits this constructive integration and the location of the constants and the major directions of our personality because it puts us in contact with our roots while at the same time giving us a sense of direction. This discernment helps us to grow toward a more complete realization of ourselves and to live the gift of ourselves in a clearly defined direction.

A Christian without memory is similarly handicapped because the “memorial” plays an integrating role in being Christian. Daily Christians remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: “Remember that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead…” (2 Tim 2:8). To forget the historical reality of Jesus is to reduce to nothing the incarnation of God’s Son, or to view it merely symbolically; (“The Word became flesh”); or to fail to appreciate that God as Love has gone out of himself to enter human history to give it its true meaning.

With deep faith and great talent, Francis de Sales writes this in the Treatise: “He who dwelt in himself now dwells in us. He who lived from all ages in the bosom of the eternal Father later became mortal in the bosom of his Mother in time. He who lived eternally with his own divine life lived in time with a human life. He who from eternity had been only God shall be eternally forever man as well, so greatly has love for man ravished God, drawing him into ecstasy!” (Treatise on the Love of God, Book 10, Chapter 17).

This ecstasy or going-out on God’s part took place one day in time at Nazareth in Galilee, at the moment when Mary gave her “yes” to God’s messenger. There is no Christianity without reference to this “most momentous event of the ages” as someone has described it. And “the Church does not forget that she began on the day when the Word became flesh” (Liturgy of March 25, feast of the Annunciation).

This underscores the necessity for Christians to know the history of the Church from its foundation, and even in its foreshadowing in the history of the chosen people of the Old Testament. Without this, and lacking roots, Christians risk being surprised and frightened by what is seen today; they fail to see that the Church has already lived through difficult, even tragic, times as far as the human perspective is concerned. (The age of Francis de Sales was not a particularly calm or peaceful one). Or they risk wanting to build a Church on the fad of the moment, without any reference to the Church founded by Jesus Christ and his witness, through darkness and light, down to our own day.

Isn’t it very likely that extreme or short-sighted doctrines and positions have their source in a lack of awareness of Church’s history and an incapacity to integrate the life of today’s Church with this history?

Francis de Sales helps Christians to remember.

He invites Christians to remember

A man of the Bible, a theologian and spiritual guide, an expert in what it means to be human, Francis helps Christians to journey on the way of the Gospel, recalling their origins and who they are.

Let’s begin with what is most general and say that Francis de Sales encourages us to remember God’s graces in our lives, those gifts and loving glances he gives to us because of his love for us. In fact, by knowing our gifts, we can appreciate the giver. Humbly because thanksgiving can only rise up from a humble heart which recognizes its dependence we will be able to give God both thanks and glory.

“Many people neither want nor dare to think and reflect upon the particular favours God has shown them for fear they might become vain or self-satisfied in the process. In this they are greatly mistaken. Since the true means of attaining God’s love is to consider his favours to us, the more we know them the more we shall love him for them” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 3, Chapter 5).

Memory of gifts received, far from being in opposition to a spirit of humility, actually engenders it, because it helps each of us to accept ourselves as God’s gift and to discover that every good in us is a favour received from him:

There is no need to fear that knowledge of God’s gifts to us will make us proud provided that we recognize the truth that whatever is good in us is not from us… What good have we that we have not received?… A lively consideraaton of graces received renders us humble because knowledge engenders acknowledgement (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 3, Chapter 5).

For this reason, among the “fundamental meditations” proposed in The introduction to the Devout Life is the third one on “God’s favours to us.” This meditation ends with a prayer and a decision to live in harmony with the gifts we have received:

Marvel at God’s goodness. O, my God, you are good to me! O, he is so good! Lord, how rich is your heart in mercy and how generous in good will! O, my soul, let us recount for ever his many graces to us…

Thank God for the awareness he has now given you of your duty to thank him and of all the favours you have already been blessed with (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 11).

Along these same lines, at the end of the Introduction (Part 5, Chapter 2) is found an invitation to reflect on God’s prevenient love which can move our heart and awaken in it a loving response:

“Even while you slept, God was watching over you and your heart, thinking “thoughts of peace” and He meditated for you meditations filled with love.”

To remember our human and Christian dignity is part of this general remembrance of graces received from God.

Our human dignity, which is held in common with every other person, no matter who, is the fact that we are created “to God’s image and likeness” (gen. 1:26). “Consider the being which God has given you; it is the first being in the visible world, capable of living eternally and of being perfectly united to his divine majesty” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 9: Meditation on Creation).

Our Christian dignity is that we are “God’s children” by baptism (1 Jn. 3:1), “a new creation” in Christ in whom we believe (2 Cor. 5:17). Those who are baptized are “to put on the New Man who has been created according to God in justice and holiness born of truth” (Eph. 4:17-24). St. Paul frequently reminded members of the first Christian communities that “you have put on the new man… in the image of your Creator” (Col. 3:9-10).

Awareness and remembrance of this dignity makes us more perceptive, more able to discern and choose and take a position. “Seek to imitate God as his dear children… Discern… Denounce sterile works of darkness… Know how to see the Lord’s will…” (Eph. 5:1-20).

This awareness also makes us stronger in recognizing, promoting and defending the dignity of every human being and in all areas of life: for example, conception and abortion, sickness or old age and euthanasia, human integrity, torture or mutilation, work and unemployment…

It motivates all of us to be more active in our efforts on behalf of others and in our participation in the life of the church. In so far as the church is the “Body of Christ” she is built up and grows until she attains the “full stature” already realized in Christ. A member who is aware of his or her dignity and calling cannot remain passive without risk of being of no use to himself or herself and to the whole body (cf. Eph. 2:19-22; 3:14-19; 4:11-16).

This enables all of us to go beyond our limited horizons and narrow views of culture, class, caste, colour and country. For if we take seriously the new creation that we’ve become, our priority is no longer that we are American, African, Asian or European; or that we are this coloru or that we speak this language…, but that we are a son or a daughter of God. The novelty and strength of Christianity lies precisely there, but our weakness results when we don’t believe it enough or live it sufficiently.

Remembering our common and particular vocation is another way of being mindful of God’s blessings to us.

Our common vocation is the universal call to share God’s own life, our summons to holiness. St. Paul begins several of his letters by recalling this marvelous destiny. For example, in his letter to the Colossians he writes: Joyfully you give thanks to the Father for having made you worthy to share the lot of the saints in light. He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved Son… (1:12-14).

Among spiritual masters, Francis de Sales is one of those who have best appreciated this vocation to holiness of all the baptized and of every person who welcomes God as both origin and end of life. His meditation on “the end for which we have been created” begins in this way: “God has not placed you in this world because of any need on his part… but solely to be able to show you his goodness by giving you both grace and glory,” that is, his life in us in this world (grace) and his live in us for all eternity (glory). “For this end, he has given you intelligence so that you might know him, memory that you might remember him, will that you might love him, imagination that you might consider his many benefits and blessings, eyes that you might see his marvelous works, a tongue that you might praise him, and so forth regarding your other faculties.”

And this meditation ends with an invitation to “thank God who has given you so excellent a finality” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 10).

Our particular vocation: each person receives a particular call from the Lord to live and serve him as a lay person, a deacon or a priest, a religious, a missionary. This is what is called a “personal vocation” within the Body of Christ. These principal “states of life” and “ministries” can be experienced along with other personal callings such as to live a particular spirituality, or to choose a particular apostolate, or to choose a particular apostolate, and so on. The Spirit’s gifts are varied.

To remember our own vocation makes us marvel at God’s love and strengthens us to give a daily answer to the call because remembering the graces received, urges us to be more faithful in the present and stimulates us for the future.

Paul writes to Timothy: “For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God bestowed on you when my hands were laid on you” (2 Tim. 1:6).

The confident hope that Paul has for his Philippians is rooted in his remembrance of God’s faithful love for them. “I give thanks to my God every time I think of you… He who has begun the good work in you will carry it through to completion, right up to the day of Christ Jesus” (1:3-6 and 3:7-16).

By meditating on the grace by which God has called us to his service, we will better appreciate, along with Francis de Sales, that we have been called “be the gentle attractions of the Holy Spirit” and that “the ropes with which God drew our little ship to this saving port were ropes of love and charity” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 5, Chapter 2).

What conclusion can we draw from all this? “We need to simply conclude by giving thanks and by uttering a fervent prayer to profit well from all this. Let us then retire with humility and great confidence in God” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 5, Chapter 2).

Remembering all the graces received will help us through the moments of difficulty, darkness and dryness. In fact, if we recall that God has been with us in every circumstance of our past life, that he has always been present and has shown us his love at each stage of our journey, then we will also believe that he is with us just as really today as he was yesterday. And we believe that he will be with us still tomorrow. For he cannot change or deny himself (2 Tim. 2:13). His name is “He is, He was, He will come again”, and Jesus Christ, his Son, is his “Faithful Witness” (Acts 1:4-5).

Remembrance of past lights permits us to move forward in the present darkness, and those past lights assure us that light will not be lacking in our future. Remembrance of the “consolation” of better days of our past life will enable us to live through our present “desolation” and to courageously meet whatever tomorrow brings.

Following Paul in Philippians 3:12-14, Francis de Sales relies on his past to move forward with total confidence.

“Don’t worry about tomorrow,” he wrote to a superior of the Grenoble Visitation. “As for your journey, God who has led you thus far will lead you to its end” (AE XIX, 255).

His advice to “Philothea” is always timely. He knows that life is constantly changing and that the human person, as “an abridgement of the world,” is never in the same state. Therefore he teaches us to live a balanced life based on our confidence in God who never changes. This gives constancy and continuity to our life:

There is a great lesson for us in all this. We must try to keep our heart steady, unshakably balanced during such great uneven events. Even though everything may be turning topsy-turvy all around us, we must remain unchanging and continually looking, striving, and aspiring toward God… Unwavering in the high point of our heart, our spirit, our higher will, which is our compass, we must unceasingly look and tend toward the love of God, our Creator, our Saviour, and our sole and sovereign good… (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 4, Chapter 13).

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Thus, “remembrance” does not result in our living nostalgically in the past but encourages us to live authentically in the present and, in this way, to prepare for the future. For the future is prepared for and unfolds within the fidelity of the present moment.

The Church’s daily profession of faith always includes the past, the present and the future: “We proclaim you death, Lord Jesus; we celebrate your resurrection: we await your return in glory;” “Glory to you who were dead; glory to you who live; come, Lord Jesus!”

In his own way, Francis de Sales connects the three temporal modalities of the Mystery of Christ with those of human existence. Since that day when we decided to serve God forever, that decision has animated our present action. And we will be ready to continue tomorrow as well:

Let us have a strong general resolve to want to serve God with our whole heart and for all our life; beyond that let us be unconcerned about tomorrow. Let us simply think about doing well today; when tomorrow comes, it will be called “today” and then we will deal with it” (Letter of July 22, 1603, AE XII, 205).