Spirituality of SFS: A Way of Life

We must begin with the heart, a heart enlightened and guided by reason, a heart which remembers. This presupposes a heart which is always available and an individual always “ready to learn.”

After insisting on the primacy of interiority, Francis de Sales affirms the necessity of our readiness to learn. “Yet event the heart, where we must begin, needs to be instructed as to how it should behave in its outward actions so that by these actions people will see” both a reflection of the Gospel and a “great wisdom and prudence” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 3, Chapter 23).

A readiness to learn

For Francis de Sales, learning, and thus a willingness to be taught, is necessary for both the human person and the Christian.

A human person, finite and limited by nature, cannot be fully actualized without being open to others more knowledgeable and loving. No one among us has a total knowledge of the universe and of history, of human cultures, of others or even of ourselves. We always need to be ready to learn more.

Every Christian, no matter what his or her vocation and mission in the church is, always needs to be a “disciple”. Jesus’ words to the little group following his, is true for all of us: Learn from me: be my disciple… (Mt. 11:29). No Christian can think of being an apostle without, at the same time, being a disciple. And no one can ever presume to have exhausted the richness of the person and work of Jesus Christ. To really know Jesus, we must place ourselves in, and remain in, his school. To be able to speak of him to others, we must be continually attentive to him ourselves.

The Christian life is a long journey which is never completed here below. We must “journey continually,” never stopping. We “must continually start over and over again without discouragement” because “the journey is never over,” never attained.

Because he was so conscious of this himself, Francis never ceased repeating that “there is no better way of living the spiritual life well than by always beginning over again and never thinking we have done enough” (Letter, AE XIV, 22).

What he said to the Sisters of the Visitation is applicable to every Christian individual and group: “No one must think of becoming perfect all at once.” Just like every other congregation, the Visitation is “not an assembly of perfect women who strive for and tend toward perfection; it is a school where one comes to learn” how to respond to Christ’s call. What is expected of each Sisters, as of every Christian, is to have “a firm and constant resolve to take those means necessary for attaining perfection” (Spiritual Conferences).

His conviction that the Christian must always be a disciple prompted Francis de Sales to accept every opportunity to preach, in his diocese and outside it; to write numerous letters; to give his warm and familiar “Conferences” to the Visitation Sisters of Annecy; to make a canonical visitation of his diocese; to convoke an annual synod of his priests; to write manuals for catechists and confessors; to commit his various teachings into two books, especially The Introduction to the Devout Life and the Treatise on the Love of God. The leaflets drafted during his missionary activities in the Chablais, designed to explain the faith to the Calvinists, were also the fruit of his desire to instruct. Later these leaflets were edited into his Controversies. Francis preferred to call them, more appropriately, “Meditations on the Church.”

Popes have acknowledged this special character of Francis de Sales as pastor, as well as his capacity to teach the Catholic faith and the way to holiness.

When Francis was appointed coadjutor bishop to Bishop de Granier, Pope Clement VIII asked him to be examined personally. This was done before a group of cardinals, bishops and theologians. So well did Francis answer the thirty-five difficult questions posed to him that the Pope approached him and, embracing him, quoted Proverbs to him, saying: “My son, drink from your own cistern, running water from your own well! May your water sources be widely dispersed” (Prov. 5:15-16). These highly significant words were pronounced at Rome, on March 22, 1599.

Two hundred and seventy-eight years later, on November 16, 1877, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the popularity of Francis’ spiritual works and the depth, clarity, and certainty of his theological works by naming him a “Doctor of the Church”, the first such in French language.

On January 23, 1923, Pope Pius XI, wanting to mark in an appropriate manner the tercentennial of the death of Francis de Sales (December 28, 1622), published the encyclical, Rerum Omnium, in which he wrote that “this eminent saint not only excelled in the practice of every virtue, but he formulated the principles and method of sanctification.”

Wishing in his turn to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of Francis, Paul VI, on January 29, 1967, wrote an apostolic letter in which he called Francis the “gem” and “flower of Savoy.” In him, “we have a master, the Doctor of divine love and of gospel gentleness.”

Thus, with Francis de Sales, it is possible to advance along the way of the Gospel because he offers us the means of living as disciples. He teaches us how to learn.

Learning from Jesus Christ

“He alone is the Master (Mt. 23:10); it is he who can tell every person: ‘Place yourself in my school’, because ‘I am gentle and humble of heart” (Mt. 11:29).

Once in this school, learning never ceases, because Jesus is the “Truth” and this Truth can never be exhausted by human research and discovery. In the school of Jesus, those who search find and those who find continue to search.

Upon opening the second session of Vatican Council II, Pope Paul VI wondered: “Where does our journey begin? What direction will we follow?… And what destination will we give to it? These three questions, all important in their very simplicity, have but one response… It is the Christ, the Christ who is our beginning, our way and our guide; it is the Christ who is our hope and our destination.”

There is an echo in these words of what Francis de Sales said to the Visitandine Sisters who were setting out from Annecy on a new foundation. Jesus was the Master, “the King,” in the home there were leaving; he would be the same in their new home. They needn’t worry about lacking anything because he would always be with them as long as they did not choose another master. He simply invited them to “remain as close to him as possible” and to hold themselves attentive to him: “Learn from him all that you must do; do nothing without his counsel because he is the faithful Friend who will lead, govern and care for you” (Spiritual Conferences, “On Foundations”).

To learn everything from Jesus is the true condition of Christian “Discipleship.” Francis gives expression to this “everything” in two fundamental attitudes which Jesus himself insists upon: gentleness and humility. Verse 29 of Matthews chapter 11 is, in fact, the only gospel passage where Jesus explicitly says: “Learn from me; place yourself in my school.” Francis never ceases repeating this passage, as in this letter of June 28, 1605, to Madame de Limojon: “Remember this principal lesson which has been left to us in three words so that we will never forget it and will be able to repeat it a hundred times a day: ‘Learn from me, he says, for I am gentle and humble of heart.’ That contains everything in summary fashion – to have our heart gentle toward our neighbour and humble before our God.”

There are numerous letters and sermons in which are found these “two dear and much-loved virtues which shone so brightly in the sacred Person of Our Lord” and which “he recommended so specially to us” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 3, chapter 8).

Learning from one another

Francis de Sales was very much aware of the mutual assistance people and groups can give to one another in their search for truth. He was personally aware of how much he owed to the Greek and Latin philosophers, and to theologians and spiritual masters. He was greatly influenced by the Benedictine Father, Geneebrard, and his commentary on the Song of Songs while he was a student at Paris. While he was at Pauda he chose a Jesuit, Possevin, for a spiritual director; this priest helped Francis to orientate his life definitively toward the priesthood. In his book The Spiritual Combat, the Italian Lorenzo Scupoli influenced Francis’ conception of “pure love”; to do in everything that which pleases God, submitting one’s heart and will to his “good pleasure.” Francis recommended this book to his friends and those he corresponded with.

These examples illustrate the fact that no one person can possess all the light and truth, and that we can better draw near the truth when we do so together the truth concerning God, as well as that concerning the human family in general and each person in particular.

This fact is expressed by Vatican II in its decree on religious liberty: “The search for truth must be carried out in a manner that is appropriate to the dignity of the human person and to his or her social nature, that is, by free enquiry with the help of teaching or instruction, communication and dialogue. It is by these means that people share with each other the truth they have discovered, or think they have discovered, in such a way that they help one another in the search for truth” (Dignitatis Humanae, 3).

Instruction, sharing, and dialogue constituted an integral part of Francis’ life. He spent hours reading and writing letters, preaching and engaging in friendly conversations; listening to visitors or to those complaining about this or that. It is said that on some days he spent as much as six or seven hours at a stretch listening to and reconciling those in some dispute with one another.

Thus, he invites us t receive from one another by listening to each other; and to give to one another by sharing what we have discovered. This can be done in our daily conversations and relational life; in the many kinds of encounters, gatherings and meetings that we experience; and through books, reviews and the multi-media. Opportunities are hardly lacking.

In order to be able to learn in these many ways, we must have within us a friendly attitude. Of course, no one can be a true friend to everybody. Profound friendship can only be maintained with a few people. But we can and this is the condition for learning develop friendly interior attitude toward every persons and each group.

Such an attitude does not, of course, exclude discernment; nor does it exclude the possibility of expressing disagreement or challenging some point. But, if we want to receive and to give, then we must cultivate an inner disposition of friendship, because friendship leads to and presupposes communication.

Fortunate are those who know how to listen with a well-disposed heart; they will learn much!

Fortunate are we if we believe that every other person is a word of God for us. We too will be for them such a word.

Mutually enriching exchanges experienced while living, continue even beyond death. Christian faith speaks of the “Communion of Saints” in order to give expression to this continuation of life after death and to these uninterrupted exchanges between us and those who have gone before us. We especially learn from the saints. In the Preface for Pastors is found the expression, “By their teaching You instruct us.” In fact, their whole lives instruct us who journey here below. No one ever wastes time learning from the saints. Francis de Sales was certainly convinced of this truth, and those who “learn from him” can also testify to it.

Learning from Nature

Everything in the created universe carries within itself a message for us men and women. It exhibits beauty, grandeur and majesty, while at the same time occasionally exhibiting great violence.

It speaks to us through the many facets of its violence and calm, its microcosm and macrocosm, its capacity for life as well as its capacity for destruction and death. Thus, it is possible for us to learn from creation.

The Bible invites us to place ourselves sin nature’s school. The psalms in particular often sing God’s glory on nature’s part.

Thus, Psalm 8 reads: “O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth!” The sky, moon and the stars; the flocks in the filed and the birds of the sky; the fish in the seas, and mankind all exist to sing the praises of God who make them.

Psalm 104 is a hymn to the Creator through a contemplation of creation: “O Lord my God, you are great indeed!”

And Psalm 148: “Praise the Lord from the heavens… praise him from the earth…!”

The last psalm of the psalter is a magnificent symphony to the living God.

Praise him with the blast of trumpet,

Praise him with lyre and harp.

Praise him with timbrel and dance,

Praise him with strings and pipe.

Praise him with sounding cymbals,

Praise him with clanging cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

These psalms and many other biblical texts as well, demonstrate that believers can find meaning throughout all creation: in the hurricane’s fury, in the storm’s violence, in the ocean’s rage, as well as in the evening’s breeze and the dawn’s calm.

There is no doubt that city-dwellers, who have nowadays become numerous indeed, are not as close to nature as the authors of the psalms were, as Jesus himself was, and Francis de Sales as well. Yet there is in every human being the need to have contact with earth, sea, mountains, light and wind. The emergence of ecological movements in many industrial countries is no doubt proof of this need.

Francis learned a great deal from creation. True, Savoy is a privileged region, with its lakes and mountains; its valleys, fields and pastures; its forests and rivers; its many plants and flowers; and the charm of its season. Having spent his youth and adult life there, Francis drew many of his comparisons and teachings from the region.

While contemplating the snowy mountain peaks blazing in the sun’s light, and the valleys hidden in shadow or engulfed in obscurity, one could well imagine two “levels” of he human soul. The lower part sometimes struggles against temptations and lives in the obscurity of faith. (It is in the dark and hidden valley). Yet, the higher, the superior part (the “fine point of the soul”) says “Yes!” to God in an act of confidence and of abandonment. (This is the bright mountain peak). What is important, says Francis, is that the higher part of our soul, our heart’s heart, adhere to the Loving God. Then, even if at the human level we experience disturbances and struggles, we will nevertheless remain in peace because we are in God’s light.

When he speaks of the humble and little virtues which flower at the foot of the Cross, Francis is thinking of violets and other unassuming and hidden flowers which push through the darkness of trees and shrubs.

When speaking of the four seasons of one’s soul, he is alluding to the seasons experienced in the country where he lived. “I can see that all the seasons of the year are found in your soul,” he wrote to Jane de Chantal. “You would like it if it could always be spring of summer. But, no… only in heaven will it always be spring in its beauty, fall in its joy, and summer in its love. There will be no winter there at all” (Letter of February 11, 1607, AE XIII, 263).

His diocesan pastoral visits inspired him to imitate those living I the mountainous regions who often risked their lives to rescue their cows who had fallen into a ravine. “Why am I so lax in the search for my (lost) sheep?… What a reproach to me is the cowherd who covers such treacherous terrain in search of a single cow!… That loving neighbour who risks his own life to rescue his friend from the abyss! Ought not those icy regions either freeze me with fear or inflame me with love?” (Letter, end of October, 1606, AE XIII, 224).

He also encountered simple villagers with their warm welcomes in the midst of so much ice and snow. They caused him to wonder and reflect on his own vocation. “I see marvels in those places. The valleys are filled with homes, and the mountains are covered with ice to their very base. The little widows and village women are like very fertile low-lying valleys, while bishops, so high up in God’s Church, are all iced over! Ah! Will there ever be a sun strong enough to melt the ice which makes me cold?” (Letter of July-August, 1606, AE XIII, 199).

No matter where we are, we too can glean many useful instructions from what we see and experience, either directly in nature or, failing that, through photos or television.

Learning from Science and Modern discoveries

To learn from today’s scientific world is, to say that we believe in man and his intelligence since we have been created to “God’s image and likeness to have stewardship over all the earth” (Gen. 1:27-28).

Francis de Sales demonstrated an interest in the arts from his youth. While a student at Paris, he learned all the arts taught then, including how to dance and fence. He continued this at Padua in Italy. There he even offered his body for scientific research during what he thought was a fatal illness. He knew that the medical students, lacking cadavers for their experiments, often disinterred them from local cemeteries. He wanted to forestall that. He did not die then, but his gesture shows how important he considered progress in medicine for the human family.

As bishop, Francis’ efforts at establishing or consolidating schools and colleges are well-known. He is among the pioneers of technical or professional schools. He succeeded in founding the Academie florimontane which did not, however, flourish long. Lessons will be given there “in theology, politics, philosophic, rhetoric, cosmography, geometry and arithmetic. Literary style, especially that of French, will be treated there as well.” It was practically a university curriculum!

One must mention here especially the support Francis gave to Don Baranzano, a Piedmont native, who was ordained by Francis for the Barnabites. This young scholar upheld the world view of Copernicus and Galileo that the sun, not the earth, is the centre of our universe. Thus Francis was directly involved in the controversies between exegetes and scientists at the very time that Galileo’s trial was being prepared (1615-1623). He knew very well, as has already been seen, that knowledge from faith and knowledge from science could not contradict one another because “they are daughters of the same Father.”

When Don Baranzano was recalled to Turin, Francis came to his support by writing to his superior on September 23, 1617: “May I presume to tell your Paternity that it would be good to have him sent back to us because, since he has learned the French language and is very highly regarded here, he would, I believe, be very useful here.” The priest did in fact return the following October 30^th.

Fathere Lajeunie, in his Saint Francois de Sales, says about this episode that “it is nice to see Francis de Sales on the right side of the theological barricade here.”

In this century alone, the sciences have advanced remarkably in every area of life such as health, communications, transportation, information, energy… We have all benefited from this progress. We are also aware of the new and sometimes grave questions science poses for us, especially in the area of biology (life and death; contraception, abortion, euthanasia) and in the area of atomic and chemical weapons, and in the area of political torture and the use of psychiatric hospitals for punishment in some countries…

What would Francis say about all this? It seems to me that he would encourage in us a spirit of openness and of sound curiosity, while at the same time encouraging us to rely more heavily on spiritual discernment in our assessment of developments. Episcopal and papal declarations, as well as the work of specialists, can help us in that discernment.

Vatican II recognizes that “in our time we have obtained unparalleled victories, especially in the discovery and conquest of the material world. Yet we have always looked for, and found, truths of a higher order…” It is wisdom which gives us our dignity. And “our age, more than any of the past, needs such wisdom if all that we discover is to be ennobled through human effort” (Gaudium et Spes, 15).

Francis de Sales can easily be for us today a master and guide in wisdom according to Pope John Paul II in his remarks in Annecy on October 7, 1986: “May Salesian wisdom, in which are joined spiritual qualities and holiness with an inviting human wisdom, allow you to enlighten with truth the questions of our day.” (D.C., no. 1927, p. 997).

Several fundamental attitudes

In order to acquire and keep a disciple’s heart, several interior dispositions are necessary.

Attentiveness to persons and to things. This disposition presupposes interiority because if we live only superficially and on the surface, we can walk right by people and things without really seeing them and live through events without really discovering their meaning. Francis de Sales was attentive to each person. Vincent de Paul marveled at seeing Francis “totally give himself for long periods of time to all people, no matter how lowly their situation.”

Listening: this is necessary to understand, know, receive, appreciate and discern, and to expand our horizons. Such “listening” presuppose both exterior and inner silence. This silence must, of course, be adapted to each person’s life situation, but it is indispensable for everybody. Francis de Sales was a “reconciler” and he was able to be that in large part because he knew how to listen. Speaking of some who complain, he said that “you have to be patient so as to understand their irrationality so as, finally, to lead them gently to a reasonable position.”

Cooperation: this disposition is needed so that we will not only be the consumers but providers as well; and so that we will not live closed-in on ourselves or in competition with others, but will reach out to others, sharing ideas and tasks, sufferings and joys.

Open-mindedness: we need this disposition so that we will know how to discover the giftedness of others and how to encourage, appreciate, and make it valued by others. Open-mindedness will help us to rejoice in other’s talents and success rather than being envious or complaining of them. It will also help us to be an encouragement and support to those whose choices are not our own… “Remain large-hearted.”

Humility: this disposition is foundational for the entire Christian life. St. Paul gives us the key for living it: “Let all parties think humbly of others as superior to themselves” (Phi. 2:3-4). They truly are superior in one field or other. Following St. Paul, Francis de Sales returns continually to this theme: “to be true, humility must always be lowly, little and at everyone’s service. It is the foundation and base of the spiritual life” (sermon on the feast of the Visitation, 1618, AE IX, 163).