Walking with St.Francis de Sales

Compiled by K. HENRY JOSE MSFS

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November

Sickness or injury can deprive the body of vitality; deprive it of movement or feeling, only death can still the heart. So it is with charity: it may be so weak, so lacking in life, as to be scarcely evident; yet it is whole and entire in the highest part of the soul
Amid the choirs of men and angels, the blessed Virgin’s perfect voice; entrancing beyond all other voices, it gives greater praise to God than the whole creation.
Our longing to gaining God’s love causes us to meditate; love, when gained, leads to contemplation. Love renders the charm of what we love so pleasing, our minds never tire of reflecting on it.
When human spirit fails then Holy Spirit fills.
If love is the milk of life, devotion is the cream thereof; if it is a fruitful plant, devotion is the blossom; if it is a precious stone, devotion is its brightness; if it is a precious balm, devotion is its perfume, even that sweet odour which delights men and causes the angels to rejoice.
The devotion which is true hinders nothing, but on the contrary it perfects everything; and that which runs counter to the rightful vocation of any one is, you may be sure, a spurious devotion.
Our love for God starts with the knowledge that faith gives of his goodness, a goodness we go on experience and enjoy through love. Love whets our appetite, but appetite increases our love. Just as we see waves, lashed by the wind, roaring and surging ever higher, each striving to outdo the next; so, our taste for what is good enhances our love for it, and our love stimulates our taste.
The cross is the royal road by which we enter the temple of Sanctity. He who seeks an entrance elsewhere will never find the smallest part of it. Love your cross well; it is all of gold if you look at it with eyes of love.
The loving Saviour of our souls measures and adjusts all the events of this world to the advantage of those who- without reserve- give themselves to His divine Love.
When you are physically or mentally occupied while fulfilling the duties of your state in life, renew as far as possible, again and again, your “Yes” to the will of God.
If only God would seal my heart, so that nothing could ever enter there but His divine Love, and that nothing could open it but charity!
The fire of holy love which Moses saw on the mountain flamed up amid the thorns. So does the practice of sacred love maintain itself more happily amid tribulations.
When our lute is out of tune, we need neither break its strings nor cast it aside: we must rather listen attentively till we ascertain where the fault lies and thus make that particular string tighter or more slack according to the need.
The virtues which grow in the midst of prosperities are usually weak and without much backbone; but those which take birth amid afflictions are hardy and vigorous, just as it is said the best vines grow amid stones.
Mount Calvary is the mount of lovers. All love which does not take its origin (source) from the Passion of the Saviour is foolish and dangerous. Unhappy is death without the love of the Saviour. Unhappy is love without the death of the Saviour. Love and death are eternally blend¬ed together in the Passion of the Saviour.
Good things are willingly accepted by everyone, but to accept evil belongs only to perfect love. Love of misfortune is not lovable except out of respect we have for the hand of God that gives it.
Love stirs us to contemplation and contemplation prompts us to love. As a consequence, ecstasy and rapture depend on love. For it is love that leads the intellect to contemplate and the will to union.
Gratifying love draws God into our hearts. Benevolent love pours our heart into God.
In meditation we tell over to ourselves, as it were, each of God’s several perfections which we see in any given mystery; but in contemplation we add them all together and view them as one.
Let us be who we are and be that well, in order to bring honour to the master craftsman whose handiwork we are.
We all have a vocation. We believe that God has called us to this state in life to fill a special need that no one else can accomplish.
To advance well, we must apply ourselves to make good way in the road nearest to us, and do the first day’s journey.
Eternal God, when you sprinkle the perfume of your presence on our hearts - a presence more ravishing to the senses than delicious wine, sweeter than honey dripping from its comb -then all the powers of our souls begin to experience a blissful stillness.
Dead faith resembles a dry tree that has no living substance at all. In springtime when other trees bud forth leaves and flowers, this one brings forth nothing, because it does not have sap. Similarly, dead faith may indeed appear to be living faith, but with this important difference: it bears neither the flowers nor the fruit of good works. Thus, we know by the works which charity performs whether faith is dead or dying.
A good way of staying in God’s presence is if we are, and ever wish to be, entirely at his disposal.
Love is bitter-sweet that is certain. It can never be perfectly sweet in this world; it is never perfect here, nor can it be gratified to its fullest extent. For all that it is extremely pleasurable; its bitterness tones down its sweetness, while its sweetness takes the edge off its bitterness
Consider Jacob’s ladder, for it is the true picture of the devout life. The two sides between which we climb upward and to which the rungs are fastened represent prayer, which calls down God’s love, and the sacraments which confer it. The rungs are the various degrees of charity by which we advance from virtue to virtue, either descending by deeds of help and support for our neighbour or by contemplation ascending to a loving union with God.
Let us not forget the maxims of the saints, who teach us to advance a little further each day on the road to perfection. This thought should encourage us not to be surprised or to feel miserable whenever we have something to correct. Each day we must begin again with renewed courage.
Even though we commit many faults through human weakness, we should not become upset. While detesting the fact that we have offended God, we can still experience a certain joy in humility and a kind of delight in our miseries. In the midst of all the occupations of each day, see to it that you do not become too absorbed in material things. Keep a tight grasp of Christ’s hand. Whenever you find yourself with more than you can handle, do not panic, but look to Christ.
The indifferent heart is like a ball of wax in God’s hands, ready to receive all the impressions of his eternal good pleasure. It does not place its love in the things God wills but in the will of God who wills them. Indifference must be practised in things that concern natural life, such as health, sickness, beauty, ugliness, weakness, and strength; in things that concern civil life, such as honours, rank, and wealth; in the various aspects of the spiritual

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