Spirituality of SFS: A Way of Life

“This mystic (Francis de Sales) daily drew from his intimacy with the Lord an astonishing capacity for leading others into the life of perfection; he was capable of doing this because of his ability to understand the most diverse people” (Pope John Paul II, October 7, 1986).

Yes, indeed, Francis de Sales knew how to be accommodating and available to every person and to each group so as to better help them journey, one step at a time an according to God’s rhythm, toward their common goal.

Francis was accommodating

He wasn’t accommodating because of weakness or to encourage weakness; he didn’t place soft cushions under the elbows and knees of Christians, as some have accused him of doing. He didn’t act that way to be esteemed by others either. Such a concern for his own estimation in the eyes of others would be a form of demagogy, which is a weakness totally foreign to his person and to his way of acting. Finally, he didn’t act in this manner because he was afraid of showing the real ideal to be attained or the demands of the Christian life.

Francis was accommodating because of his realism and conviction, a conviction rooted in his faith. He knew through human experience and he firmly believed, that each person is unrepeatedly unique.

The universe reveals an immense variety of beings and worlds. The talents and “natural gifts” of people are incredibly diverse, as anyone can plainly see. Similarly, there is great variety in “spiritual gifts” as Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians: there are different spiritual gifts, different ministries, and different works (1 Cor. 12:4-6). Such diversity brings out each person’s unique character and spiritual journey.

Revelation 2:17 says that at the moment of our final encounter with God each of us will receive a white pebble on which will be written a name which only the one receiving it will know. This passage causes Francis to reflect on the unique being which each person is in God’s eyes. He concludes that if this uniqueness in being is revealed at the end of life, then it must be present from the beginning and all through one’s life. It must, therefore, be taken into account in each person’s journey toward the goal of eternal life and in each one’s response to the universal call to holiness.

All are called to holiness and each according to the gifts received. That is a certainty which Francis gave expression to many times and which continually bolstered his practice of spiritual direction. There is no assembly line creation for God, neither in the first creation, nor in the new creation issuing from his Son’s death and resurrection. “When he created, God commanded plants to bring forth fruits, each according to its kind” (Gen. 1:11-12). Similarly, he commands Christians, who are the living plants of his Church, to bring forth the fruits of devotion, each according to his or her position and vocation (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 1, Chapter 3). God’s holy people and the multitude of the elect are made up of individual men and women whom God knows as individuals, by name.

The immense influence of Francis de Sales “stems largely from the fact that every person felt respected by him in his or her unique situation” (John Paul II, Annecy, October 7, 1986).

To those who reproached him for dedicating so much time to people on the spiritual journey, he replied that to accompany others on their spiritual journey is part of the task of bishops and that “besides the ancient Fathers and Bishops of the Church were at least as affectionate toward all their people as we are, and yet this did not prevent them from manifesting a particular solicitude for a few souls who sought their assistance (Introduction to the Devout Life, Preface). Finally, “each person is a diocese!”

He points out the goal

To those with whom he journeys and leads along the way, Francis always points out the journey’s end or goal. The goal of every human life is nothing less than “divinization” or “deification” as the Eastern Churches love to describe it.

“We are created in God’s image and likeness. What does this mean but that we have the highest harmony with his divine Majesty?… Therefore, I must strive towards him and reach out for him so as to be united with and joined to his goodness, to which I belong and for which I exist” (Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, chapter 15).

Love’s plan, expressed by creation, reaches its highest point in the Incarnation of the Son of God. “He loved us with benevolent love, bestowing his own divinity upon us so that in some fashion we could become God” (Treatise on the Love of God, Book 10, chapter 17).

Thus, the goal and end of all our actions and of our entire life is to be united, through love, to him who made us through love and who, again through love, calls us to share in his life forever. Francis wrote and preached precisely because he wanted to lead people to the Christian perfection of love.

From the very beginning of their spiritual journey, he clearly points out where the journey, which they have undertaken, leads. He finds the origin for this principle in God himself as manifested at the moment of creation. “He intended to create [the world] for the Incarnation of his Son, the eternal Word. The end or goal of his work was thus its beginning, for Divine Wisdom has foreseen from all eternity that his Word would assume our nature in coming to earth.” He draws the conclusion from this that, before setting out, we must know where we are going and what we want: “Now in all that we do or plan, if we are wise, we keep its purpose or goal in mind for we should have one” (Sermon for Christmas Eve, 1622, three days before his death, AR X, 413).

He accompanies each person on the way

With the goal clearly indicated, Francis accompanies each person and each group on their journey to this goal.

The Christian life is, in fact, a journey following Christ. Responding to the call, “Come, follow me!”, Christians place their steps in his. From its very beginning, the Christian life has been seen as a sequela Christi, the act of following Christ, or as an “imitation of Jesus Christ.” The Church, in its earthly members, is called “The Church on Pilgrimage”, the “The Pilgrim Church.”

Among Francis de Sales’ numerous texts concerning this journey, Book 3 of his Treatise on the Love of God stands out as a long meditation on the forward march in love. On this journey, the human person cannot stand still but must advance or fall back. So too for Christians: if we are looking to Christ, then we must want to be joined to him and, consequently, we must march or run after the One who “never stopped but continued his course of love and obedience, ‘even to death, death on a cross’.”

Francis also tells all of us who wish to be Christ’s disciples: “Go, then! God! Have no limits whatsoever except those which your life itself sets; as long as it lasts, run after this Saviour!”

What is remarkable is that Francis felt himself engaged in the journey of those he accompanied on their way of love. He is no professor who points out the way on a map while never leaving his chair. He is a friend, a traveling companion who says: “You want to follow Christ? You want to know where his road leads? Come, I will go with you; we’ll journey together.”

This is the sense of the prayer which opens in his Introduction to the Devout Life. Francis begins his dedicatory prayer by prostrating himself before the Lord Jesus, offering him the book, and then begging him to animate its words so that its readers will take from it the light they need to make progress. Finally, he prays for himself so that, “after showing others the way,” he may not himself be disqualified (cf. 1 Cor. 9:27), “but with them may I forever sing the word that I pronounce in faithful witness with all my heart: LIVE JESUS! LIVE JESUS! Yes, Lord Jesus, live and reign in our hearts for ages upon ages without end!”

It is in this same sense of common destiny and true companionship that he so often speaks of “we” and “us” in his letters and sermons. He places himself with his listeners and his readers. “I hope that God will assist us in this”; “Let us be at peace”; “To God; let us belong to God forever, just as he is ours eternally…”

He advances “little by little”, step by step

The following expressions occur frequently in his letters: “a bit at a time,” “little by little,” “grosso modo,” “in good faith,” “in all simplicity,” and so on. They suggest that Francis neither showed nor accelerated the journey. He followed the pace of others, neither uselessly hurrying them nor pushing them along; neither holding them back nor slowing them down.

He was especially fond of the patriarch Jacob whose frequent up-rootings, Genesis recounts (33:1-14). After encountering his brother Esau and exchanging a few friendly words, Jacob is invited by his brother to his clan which is marching up ahead. But Jacob declines Esau’s request, saying: “As my lord can see, the children are frail. Besides, I am encumbered with the flocks and herds, which now have sucklings; if overdriven a single day, the whole flock will die. Let my lord, then, go on ahead of me, while I proceed more slowly at the pace of the livestock before me and at the pace of the children.”

What does Francis learn from this Scripture passage? That spiritual guides measure their steps according to the pace set by those they are guiding. “Notice,” he says, “how this good patriarch willingly accommodates his pace, not only to that of the children, but to that of the flock as well” (Spiritual Conferences 9).

He realizes that the goal is not attained in a single day; therefore, he invites us to advance step by step, with courage and confidence.

To a group of people strongly impressed by the example of some of the saints and tempted to want to reach the heights immediately, he says: “Each one must march at his or her own pace (1 Cor. 7:20-24); those Saints did what they did, but you are to arrive at perfection little by little and not all at once as you desire” (Sermon for the First Sunday of Lent, February 16, 1614, AE IX, 26).

Evangelical perfection is like a battle to be won and the first objective in this battle is to master ourselves. “We must first master some particular point, and tomorrow some other, so that step by step we will master ourselves completely, and that will be no minor victory.”

At baptism, we were “clothed with Christ.” However, at the Gospel store there is no ready-to-wear clothing for sale. We must, with Christ, make the piece of clothing he offers us. “We must sew our perfection piece by piece, because it is never totally done” (AE XXI, 188).

Guided by the Spirit

By marching to the individual’s rhythm, Francis follows God’s pace in each heart and the rhythm of the Holy Spirit in each person’s life. According to Jane de Chantal, who knew him so well, Francis “was docile to God’s Spirit which was at work in him and quickly but gently formed a true picture of the souls he directed.” To those unprepared he said nothing, not wanting to “waste words when there was no one listening.” But on those in whom he discerned God’s Spirit at work, he lavished all “the teachings necessary for their salvation.”

Relying on her own experience and the testimony of others, Jane de Chantal adds his this: “I also noticed that he preferred to leave his directees with a great liberty of spirit, with himself content to follow the divine Spirit’s lead, directing them according to God’s lead and allowing them to act according to His divine inspirations rather than his own personal instructions” (St. Jane’s disposition at the 1^st canonization process, article 40, in Devos, SFS par les temoins de sa vie, Gardet, pp. 170-171).

He attached great importance to inspirations in the Christian life. He treated them in chapter 18, Part 2, of his Introduction to the Devout Life and in several chapters of the Treatise on the Love of God, particularly in Book 2 (chapters 9 – 13) and in Book 8 (chapters 10 – 13). In all his direction sessions and correspondence, he continually practiced discernment of spirits.

Without inspirations we remain spiritually underdeveloped. “Without them our souls would live lazy, insipid and useless lives.” Our interior would be like nature in winter where everything is asleep, benumbed and seems utterly dead. But with the spring sunshine, everything bounced back to life: leaves and flowers appear, birds sing again, animal gambol about, and people go out in the fresh air. Similarly, inspirations enlighten our understanding, awaken and enliven our will, and give us the strength to want to do and actually do what is good.”

But what are inspirations actually?

They are God’s “movements” in us. They are a sign of his love for us and are like friendly messages which he sends to us. What is their purpose? To awaken us, to encourage us to live more and more fully according to the Source of our life and the End of our actions, God who is Love.

By inspirations we mean all those interior attractions, movements, acts of self-reproach and sorrow, lights and insights that God works in us, predisposing our hearts by his blessings (Ps. 20), and by his fatherly care and love so as to awaken, nudge, urge and attract us to holy virtues, heavenly love, and good resolutions – in short, to everything that hastens us on our way to our eternal happiness (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 2, Chapter 18).

Inspirations are the signs which God gives to all those who are journeying and are en route to the eternal life which awaits them.

The means that God uses to inspire us are infinite. They can be: “the sight of nature,” some meeting, or event, even and apparently insignificant one, some joy or pain, some book, or something we hear on the radio or see on television and so on. However, among all Christians, “the usual means is preaching”: God’s Word heard in Church is the ordinary channel by which his voice reaches us.

Francis de Sales suggests that an inspiration is like a good temptation, with the three steps leading us to a good or virtuous act similar to the three steps which we follow in the commission of a sinful act: the suggestion, our pleasure in the suggestion, our consent. So long as we don’t give our consent to an inspiration, it remains without effect. Similarly, there is never sin without consent to the temptation.

What counts, then, is not that we notice an inspiration but that we consent to it. For only our consent allows God to realize the “marriage” which he “desires to have” with us, the covenant he wants to make with the human family. From this comes Francis’ urgent invitation to us: “Consent, but with a full, loving and persevering consent” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 2, Chapter 18). This is one of the keys to our spiritual advancement. “If we would only receive heavenly inspirations according to the full extent of their power, in how short a time would we make progress in holiness!” (Treatise on the Love of God, Book 2, Chapter 11)

But before we give our “yes” to an inspiration, we must discern, “testing it to see whether it is true or false.” To discern well, we must reflect, pray, seek the counsel of some spiritual guide or some “wise person” as Tobit said to his son Tobias in Scripture (Tobit 4:18). Francis gives sure guidelines, similar to those of other spiritual masters such as Ignatius of Loyola and Theresa of Avila. He reduces them to three principal ones. “To sum up, the three best and surest signs of true inspirations are: perseverance, in contrast to inconstancy and lack of seriousness; peace and gentleness of heart, in contrast to restlessness and anxiety; humble obedience, in contrast to obstinacy and bizarre behaviour” (Treatise on the Love of God, Book 8, Chapter 13).

There is in Father Henri Chaumont, the founder, at the end of the 19^th century, of the Societies of St. Francis de Sales, the same attention to the life of the Holy Spirit in each person. For him, spiritual direction consists in collaborating with the Holy Spirit. “The Holy spirit is the director. The priest is his servant; he must keep up with the soul’s state; he must discern whether the Holy Spirit has something to say to it and whether the soul follows His inspiration. We must allow the Holy Spirit complete freedom here” (Laveille, H. Chaumont, p. 554).

In good faith

Our journey under the Spirit’s guidance must be made simply, “in good faith”, without too much self-analysis, without wasting time navel-gazing and asking ourselves countless useless questions. We don’t know exactly where we are on the journey and it isn’t necessary to know that. Our director and others may at times be able to know how far along we are. But as for us, it is important to continue advancing along and not bother with measuring our performance and keeping spiritual statistics. This is what, for example, Francis wrote to Madame Le Flechere on January 20, 1609: “My God, my dear daughter, don’t ever ask yourself if what you’ve done is little or great, good or bad, provided that there is no question of sin involved and that, in all good faith, you want to do it for God. In so far as it lies in your power to do so, do whatever you do as perfectly as possible, but when it is done, no longer think about it. Think, rather, of what now needs to be done. Go along quite simply in the Lord’s way and don’t worry” (AE XIV, 120; English translation of this and some other letters of Francis and Jane de Chantal are found in Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal: Letters of Spiritual Direction, Paulist Press, 1988).

Simplicity, honesty and liberty of spirit – these are the dispositions needed to advance in the way of the Gospel. “The children of God walk a straight path and their heart is without guile” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 3, Chapter 30).