by Claude Morel, MSFS

To pray with St. Francis de Sales is to let ourselves be led to God and to our neighbour by a marvellous man, a man whose sanctity is both attractive and challenging. In the fifteen short chapters of this interesting book, Fr. Morel places before us the basic ideas of St. Francis de Sale’s spiritual teaching. St. Francis, he says, leads us to a holiness that is “both attractive and challenging.” So the author invites us “to make a retreat with St. Francis de Sales, to pray with him and under his guidance.” He points out that this great Doctor of God’s love “urges us to contemplate God who has made himself visible to us in Jesus Christ. His aim is to help us to grow in intimacy with God and to live constantly in his presence.” This is something which touches our heart today, given the fact that we are living in a world which constantly lowers our horizon, in an age of crass materialism.

The translation from the French text has been very well done by Fr. Ivo Carneiro MSFS. It presents the author's ideas forcefully in English idiom, making use of a rich and varied vocabulary.