Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time October 30, 2022

Salesian Sunday Reflections

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 30, 2022

In today’s Gospel, we experience Jesus’ desire to enter the home of the lost even before they are penitent. Saint Francis de Sales notes:

Our Savior helps us to find His Heart full of pity and kind mercy toward us even when our hearts are most hardened. Like Zaccheus, we need only the desire to see who Jesus is. Our Redeemer constantly bestows His holy love upon us. He continually pardons our daily faults against Him. He rewards our slightest services with great favors. He continues to recreate humanity through His merciful love for the whole human family.

How does the greatness of God’s mercy shine forth? God’s mercy makes us embrace what is good. While we truly belong to God, God has no slaves, only friends who choose to love freely. Conversion, on our part, depends on our free response to God’s love. We are ready to respond wholeheartedly to God’s love when we begin to purify our affections and works by forming them according to the Gospel. If we let go of our willful pursuit of self-serving things, we delightfully find that our spirit is liberated. Then we are free to choose the true and good life that God desires for us in Christ.

This practice of letting go of all that is not of God in us is a continual life-long struggle. For certainly as long as we live, we shall have the need of renewing ourselves, and of beginning over. This restoration is needed inasmuch as our changeable nature easily grows cold and begins to fail. There is no clock so perfect that it does not need repair. Like the clock that needs to be oiled so that it will be less subject to rust, you need to anoint your heart with the sacraments of confession and the Eucharist to restore your strength and warm up your heart. In this way, you consecrate yourself again to God’s love. If we really take care of our hearts, each day we will renew them for God’s service. 

(Adapted from the writings of Saint Francis de Sales.)

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 23, 2022)

Salesian Sunday Reflections

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 23, 2022

Today’s readings remind us that God responds without delay to the cry of those who repent of their wrongdoing. Saint Francis de Sales notes:

“With unrivaled mercy, God opens the door of the penitent’s heart. This soul would have remained lost if God had not come to its assistance. To be truly sorry for not living up to the image of God in us, we must empty our hearts of all things in order to enable Our Lord to fill them with Himself. Alas, all the nooks and corners of our hearts are cluttered with thousands of things unworthy to be seen in the presence of Our Savior. It seems that we thus tie His hands in order to prevent Him from giving us the gifts and graces that He is ever ready to shower on us if He finds us prepared.”

Yet in repentance, the wonderful humility of our dear Savior enters our hearts. Humility of the heart makes us aware of God’s goodness that is worthy of supreme love. Humility of the heart also gives us knowledge of our inability to love perfectly, and thus the need for our Savior who will raise us up from our lowliness until He makes us one with His greatness.

The value of the virtue of penitence is that it leads us to wholeness. We must be like the archer who in discharging a large arrow draws the string of his bow lower, the higher he wants it to go. We aim at the highest, to be united to God. Thus we must lower ourselves by letting go of our self-sufficiency, and opening ourselves to God’s help. Let us pour out all our tribulations before our ever-caring Savior so as to submit our whole being completely to Him. When we give our consent to let God love us the way God desires to love us, God will receive us in mercy, as well as reinvigorate and restore us completely to our true spiritual health, that is, sacred love.

(Adapted from the writings of Saint Francis de Sales.)

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 16, 2022)

Salesian Sunday Reflections

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 16, 2022

Today’s readings encourage us to persevere in our faith in God’s goodness by being attentive to God’s Word. Saint Francis de Sales also stresses the value of perseverance:

“It is perseverance that wins us the crown. Yet it is the most difficult of all the virtues because of the weakness and inconstancy of the human spirit. One minute we desire to do one thing, but soon after we change our mind. We must keep constant watch over ourselves. The nectar of divine love cannot be distilled into a heart where the old self reigns. To grow in God’s love we have to work diligently at letting go of our self-centeredness and live according to reason, not according to worldly tendencies.

Have courage. The teacher does not always demand that the pupil know the lesson without mistakes. It is enough that the pupil takes care to do their best to learn the lesson. Have you ever seen those who learn to ride a horse? They often fall off. Yet they do not think they are defeated. For it is one thing to be beaten sometimes, and quite another thing to be vanquished.

We do not always have to feel courageous and strong. It is enough to hope that God will give us the strength and courage when and where we need them. Surely Our Lord would never exhort the faithful to persevere if he were not ready to give them the power to do so. If we are faithful we will make great progress. Perseverance is the most desirable gift that we can hope for in this life. For this reason, we must continually ask for perseverance by using the means God gives us in order to obtain it: prayer, helping others, frequenting the sacraments, associating with good companions, and hearing and reading Holy Scripture.

We must be like those sailing on the sea. Always looking to the pole star, they make headway because they know they are going in the right direction. Let us follow this beautiful star and this divine compass fearlessly, for it is Our Lord who never fails us.”

(Adapted from the writings of Saint Francis de Sales.)

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 9, 2022)

Salesian Sunday Reflections

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 9, 2022

Today’s readings emphasize gratitude. Gratitude is so much at the heart of Salesian Spirituality that St. Francis de Sales even makes it a part of his method of meditation. The following are some contemporary Salesian prayers of thankfulness:

Thank you, God, for making haste slowly with my soul lest it stumble, for replacing my anxiety and preoccupation with care and solicitude, and for reminding me that only one thing is necessary, trust in you.

Thank you, God, for all the gifts of this day. In my impatience to do it my way, you alone know how many times today I have stumbled over you without ever recognizing you. Thank you for your patience with me. May I let you do your part.    

Thank you, God, for blessing my efforts, not caring whether they were great or small, done well or badly. It mattered only that I tried to do Your Will. That always is enough.

Thank you for responding to my anger with your gentleness, for answering my petty lies with your truth, for healing my wounds and those I have wounded.

Thank you for taking me by the hand this day. Thank you for a day filled with a thousand trivial trials and little opportunities, and for the strength I borrowed from you in those scattered moments when I recognized your presence and responded to it as best I could.

Thank you for planting, in all the corners of this day, tiny reminders of your presence, that is, gentle inspirations meant to blossom into love. Cultivate these inspirations in me all the days to come. Please don’t stop now!

Thank you for walking with me, chatting with me and leading me gently through the garden of your love. Thank you for placing me in this garden where alone I will find you.

(Adapted from John Kirvan, Set Your Heart Free, Ave Maria Press, 1997).

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 2, 2022)

Salesian Sunday Reflections

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 2, 2022

Today’s readings remind us that it is not enough to be a part of a believing community. For our faith to be alive we must share it through service. Saint Francis de Sales notes:

A living faith produces the fruit of good works in all seasons. When we are open to the truths of God’s word, we live according to God’s love and not nature. Thus, our faith in divine love raises us up to unite our spirit with God, and it brings us to love the image of God in our neighbor.

An attentive servant must show unconquerable faith in our Savior, especially in the midst of interior and exterior troubles. We must never lose courage in helping those who refuse God’s love but pray and help them as far as their misfortune permits. Let us use all possible remedies to prevent the birth, growth, and domination of evilness. In this let us imitate our Lord, who never ceases to exhort, promise, prohibit, command, and inspire us in order to turn our will away from evilness, without depriving our will of its liberty.

Yet, we must not look for the surpassingly perfect love in this life. Our progress in holy love is like the mythical bird called the phoenix. When newly hatched from ashes, it has little, tender feathers, and can only leap rather than fly. As it grows strong it soars freely in the air but not enough to remain long on the wing and often comes down to earth to rest. When it is perfectly renewed in spirit and strength, it remains on the mountaintop. In heaven, we shall indeed have a heart and spirit entirely free from contradictions and conflicts. As yet we have neither the spirit nor strength of the blessed.  It is enough for us to love with all our hearts, which means simply to love with a good heart and without reservation. Courage then! Let us rouse our faith again and give it life through using the gifts God gave us to perform good works with holy love since this is in our power.

(Adapted from the writings of Saint Francis de Sales.)

Twenty-six Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 25, 2022)

Salesian Sunday Reflections

Twenty-six Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 25, 2022

Today’s readings remind us that we must continually be open to God’s love and persevere in the love we owe God. Saint Francis de Sales remarks:

Both the rich and the poor are called to render to God the service due to God. We see in today’s Gospel that Lazarus, though suffering, perseveres in loving God faithfully and dies happily. But the rich man clung so strongly to his wealth that he made it his god. 

Like the rich man, we can become obsessed with our possessions. As a result, we pray that God will do our will, instead of praying that we do God’s will. That is, we try to use God as a means to our own ends, which is an illusion. God alone is our true end. 

Avarice is not the only disordered inclination. There are others such as selfishness, anger, pride, or envy. Yet, if we are open to God’s love, neither our temperament nor our inclinations can hinder us from persevering in a holy way of life. However, as abundant as a water source may be, the water enters a garden in full flow only according to the size of the channel that brings the water into the garden. The Holy Spirit is like a fountain of living water that flows into our hearts so as to spread its grace therein, if we give our consent.  It is not grace that fails us but rather it is we who fail grace. God’s enlivening love is never wanting to us if we are willing to receive it. 

After his conversion, Saint Paul, who was naturally sharp, rude, and harsh, became fully open to God’s grace. Taking hold of Paul’s natural harshness, God’s love made him so much more resolute in the good he undertook, and invincible in all kinds of pains and labors. Is not God’s love higher than nature? Persevere, and with God’s help, you will arrange all your natural inclinations according to reason. Then you will become attentive to the love you owe God, and all your works will produce fruit that proceeds from God’s Spirit, the wellspring of our spirit.

(Adapted from the writings of Saint Francis de Sales)

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 18, 2022)

Salesian Sunday Reflections

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 18, 2022

Today’s Gospel tells us that while persons who focus on self-gratification are very shrewd in their friendships, Christians must focus on being trustworthy and serving One Master. Here are a few of Saint Francis de Sales’ thoughts on true friendship:

For a true friendship to come into and remain in existence it calls for close communication between friends. When we have high esteem for those we love, we open our hearts to their friendship in a way that their inclinations, good or bad, quickly enter into us. While a certain kind of bee seeks nothing but honey, unknowingly it sucks in the poisonous qualities of the plant it draws the honey from. Our Lord said to be good bankers and money changers. Don’t take in bad money along with the good. Hence, do not enter any compromise with a love opposed to the love of God.

Certainly, we must love our friends in spite of their faults. However, the true friendship requires us to share the good, not evil. Those who dig for gold in a stream sift out the sand and leave it on the banks. So also, those who share in good friendship ought to remove the sand of its imperfections and not let it get into their souls.

Genuine friendship resides in the heart, where God’s love holds first place. Thus, it is grounded in God’s love and is guaranteed to last eternally. It encourages, assists, and leads friends to perform good deeds. Persons walking on a rugged slippery road hold on to one another in order to walk more safely; so too with genuine friendship. It keeps us safe and assists us in many dangerous places we must cross. It does not watch its friends perish in evilness without helping and correcting them, for genuine living friendship survives only on true virtue. It is good, holy, and sacred. How good it is to love and cherish one another in this world as we shall do eternally in the next!

(Adapted from the writings of Saint Francis de Sales)

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 11, 2022)

Salesian Sunday Reflections

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 11, 2022

Today’s readings remind us of God’s loving desire to seek us out when we go astray. Here are some of Saint Francis de Sales’ thoughts on God’s loving mercy:

Wine that delights and strengthens the heart represents earthly joys and satisfactions. Yet more than all earthly pleasures, God’s love has an incomparable strength and power to restore and refresh the human heart. Only divine love is capable of giving the human heart perfect satisfaction and joy. Our Divine Lover is not content with proclaiming publicly an extreme desire to be loved. Our Savior goes from door to door, knocking and rapping, and crying: Return to me and live! I have loved you with an everlasting love.

When we stray far from the path of God’s love, our Savior never forgets to show that His mercy is above all in His works. When our Lord sees a soul plunged into evil, He speeds to its aid. As we consent to God’s love that comes to rescue us from our misery, we are like old plants, once deadened by the winter but now growing green and vigorous. We again take on strength and life in the “wine” of heavenly love that cheers the human heart. God’s infinite mercy desires that all have life eternal and that none perish.

Yet, all of us have some false loves. These loves lead us away from our natural inclination to love God. If we follow this inclination faithfully, God’s divine mercy helps us to progress in holy love. So, let us pour out in God’s presence all our disordered loves and allow God to transform us entirely. Try to keep your will very firm in wanting to seek the good that God shows you, and our merciful Lord will help you progress in loving divinely. God always makes the cure far exceed the disease. Divine Providence often produces beautiful works of art from twisted pieces of wood.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 4, 2022)

Salesian Sunday Reflections

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 4, 2022 

Today’s Gospel reminds us that if we truly value being a disciple of Jesus, we must be single-minded and focus only on those things that will lead us to love of God and love of neighbor. Saint Francis de Sales notes that this may require us to reorient our loves.

A true lover has almost no pleasure aside from the loved object. Such is the case with our friendships that are good and excellent. They are wholly for God and in God. The love and friendship we have in God last eternally because they are grounded in a solid and permanent foundation of divine love.

In our desire to love God above all things, little by little we let go of all of our affections that are insignificant and worthless before God because they are not guaranteed to last eternally. Moreover, love of things and friendships that are not centered in God’s love leads us down an empty path. Yet, we cannot remain long deprived of every kind of affection. We must take up the affections fitting to the service of divine love. If we have divested ourselves of our old affection for parents, country, home, friends, and things, we must now take on a completely new affection for them. Now our affections for them will no longer be self-serving but rather serve God’s glory.

The kingfisher builds a solid and tight nest in a way that allows it to remain on top of the waves of the sea. In its nest, the bird is the master of the sea. Similarly, even though transitory things surround your heart, always keep your heart above or superior to them, so that you may be master of them. Your heart must be open to heaven alone. Once we let go of all things for God’s love, we are free to practice virtue according to the will of God, who desires to transform our self-centered loves into divine love. Let us no longer love our dear friends, relations, and things except in holy love and friendship that lasts eternally.

(Adapted from the writings of Saint Francis de Sales)

Twenty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time August 28, 2022

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Twenty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time

August 28, 2022

Today’s readings inform us that humility and generosity are eternal life-giving values. Here are a few of Saint Francis de Sales’ thoughts that permeate his writings on these virtues:

Humility is totally generous and makes us undertake with invincible courage all the tasks that we are called to do. When we are humble, we are exceedingly courageous because we place our total confidence in God, rather than ourselves. In turn, confidence in God gives birth to a generous spirit in us.

Our generous hearts may be full of doubts about our own capacity to do anything. Yet, we must not dwell on our doubts but go on doing what we know will be pleasing to God. When we carry out a task, our doubts arise because we value our reputation too highly. We wish to be masters who never make mistakes. Our dear imperfections that force us to acknowledge our deficiencies give us practice in humility, self-giving love, patience, and watchfulness. In the end, our trials amidst pain enlarge our hearts and increase our courage. God always rejoices in raising us up in our weaknesses.

We should not be troubled at finding ourselves always novices in the exercise of virtue. The whole of our life is destined to be an apprenticeship of learning how to love divinely. The obligation of serving God and making progress in God’s love always lasts until death. While God has ordered us to do all we can to acquire holy virtues, it is for us to cultivate our souls well. Therefore, we must faithfully attend to them. But as for plentiful crops and harvests, let us leave the care of that to our Lord. The laborer will never be blamed for not having a fine harvest unless he did not carefully till and sow his fields. Thus, let us patiently wait for our advance, and instead of disturbing ourselves because we have made so little progress in the past, let us diligently strive to do better in the future.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time August 21, 2022

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time

August 21, 2022

Today’s Gospel reminds us that to enter the kingdom of God, we will need the strength that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had to trust in God’s goodness. Here are a few of Saint Francis de Sales’ thoughts on developing the confidence to trust in God’s goodness:

Trust in God is the life of the soul. To develop trust in God we must learn to love God’s goodness. We can experience God’s goodness if we open up our hearts and allow God to enter. We must learn to speak to God and hear God speak to us in the depths of our hearts. It is here that we begin to acquire affection for the things of God.

It seems we lack the strength and confidence to trust in God in times of trial. When we feel this way, we must say to Our Lord, ‘even though I feel no confidence in you, I know that you are my God, I place myself completely in your hands, and hope in your goodness.’ While this is difficult to say, it is not impossible. The more we recognize ourselves as lacking the strength to trust in God, the greater reason we have to confidently trust in God’s goodness and mercy. In your soul, you are bringing forth Jesus Christ. Until He is born in you, you cannot help suffering from your labor. Yet, God is as gentle and merciful when we are weak and imperfect as when we are strong and perfect.

When our strength and confidence to love the things of God increases, we let go of our lesser loves that are not of God. Seeking only the kingdom of God and desiring to witness our trust in God’s goodness to others become life-giving. When we trust in God, we will always reap the fruits of our confidence in God’s goodness. Like mariners, who arrive at the port they are bound for, look at the sky above them rather than down on the sea on which they sail, so you ought to look to God. God will work with you, in you, and for you. As a result, your confidence to trust in God’s goodness will be strengthened.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time August 14, 2022

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

August 14, 2022

Today’s readings remind us of some of the trials we must endure to be sharers in the Lord’s Kingdom. St. Francis de Sales tells us not to be afraid of trials. Our faith in the truth of God’s word will give us victory over our enemies:

All human good arises from persevering in the truth, rather than abandoning it. Our entire good consists in accepting the truth of God’s word, and persevering in it. We may have to suffer to be sharers in the Lord’s Kingdom. Yet, when we are armed with the shield of truth and of faith, we will courageously overcome our enemies because our strength is in God and not ourselves.

Fear is the first enemy that comes to us who are resolved to serve God. We think that holiness demands too much of us and we say, “O God, what perfection is needed to live a holy life? It is too high for me. I cannot attain it. I shall never be able to do it.” Let us not entertain the vain hope of wishing to be saints in three months! Think of how fainthearted Peter was at the Crucifixion. Let us keep clearly in mind that everyone is tempted. Let us fear neither the temptation nor the tempter. They will have no power whatsoever over us if we make use of the shield of faith and the armor of truth. It is our faith in the truth of God’s word that causes us to succeed in our firm and steadfast resolution to serve God as generously and as perfectly as possible in this life.

Do not fear that you are unable to accomplish what God has called you to do. You are armed with God’s truth. God’s Word will strengthen you to persevere and to do what is required for your greater welfare and happiness, providing you walk simply in faithful observance. How happy you are who are armed with the truth of God, for it will be your shield against the arrows of your enemies and will make you victorious!

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time August 7, 2022

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

August 7, 2022

Today’s readings call us to be faithful servants of Our Lord. This is a theme that weaves constantly throughout the writings of St. Francis de Sales.

Scripture tells us to hold fast to what we have. Yet, we are like coral, which in the sea is easily bent. Since we are still in the sea of this world, we are liable to be bent on every side—on one side by divine love, on the other side by empty but seeming goods.

Apparent goods, like little foxes, destroy our vineyard. On the other hand, divine love urges us to make our hearts fertile with good works. Thus, we must put our mind to the practice of holy love so those apparent goods will not influence us. God does not want to keep us from being attacked by false goods. Rather, God wills that we practice more fully sacred love through the resistance of these false goods. God desires that by combat we may gain victory and that by victory we may obtain triumph.

There are always some false goods such as wealth and honor that arouse avarice in our eyes. If we keep our faith attentive to God’s Word, it can distinguish between true goods that we must seek and false goods that we must reject. Our vigilant faith will raise alarm at any false good, however attractive it might appear. Divine love will immediately reject the false, for our faith can make us see true eternal things.

Let us all belong to God in the midst of so much busyness brought on by the diversity of worldly things. Where could we give better witness to our fidelity than in the midst of things going wrong? Difficulties give us an opportunity to practice virtue and trust in God who desires to help us if we but ask for assistance. How happy we shall be if we travel through life and leave the arms of Our Lord only to walk and do what we can in the practice of virtue and good works, always holding to the hand of Our Savior!

(Adapted from the writings of Saint Francis de Sales)

Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time July 31, 2022

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 31, 2022 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us of how unhealthy it is to make our material successes and pleasures the first priority in our life. St. Francis de Sales tells us how to redirect these loves in a way that makes us “rich in what matters to God.”

We never seem to have enough to satiate our desires. Yet we know that the riches and goods of the world are powerful allurements that can dissipate our heart if we have an inordinate attachment to them. Moreover, the care needed to preserve and increase our material possessions can deplete our energy. Yet, I would like to instill in your heart both wealth and poverty together. Take care to increase your wealth and resources, but in a manner that is just, proper and charitable. You ought to have greater and finer care than worldly people do to make your property profitable and fruitful.

Nothing makes us so prosperous in this world as giving alms to the poor. God will repay us, not only in the next world, but even in this one. Our possessions are not our own. They are a gift from God, who desires that we cultivate and make them fruitful and profitable for the reign of God among us.

When we labor for a worldly good out of God’s peaceful love, the care in our labor is calm, amiable, and agreeable. This easy and gentle way leads us to divine love. Divine love never says enough is sufficient. Holy love desires to have the courage always to progress on the way of true happiness. You can possess material riches without being poisoned by them if you merely keep them in your home and purse, and not in your heart.  In this way, we live a poverty of spirit in the midst of riches. So rather than be captive to earthly goods, let your human spirit that is bound for heaven migrate to the goodness of God, who enlightens and makes whole the human heart that is open to divine love. 

(Adapted from the writing of Saint Francis de Sales)

Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time July 24, 2022

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 24, 2022 

Today’s readings entreat us to ask daily for our true needs from God who desires to fulfill them. Here are a few of the many thoughts of St. Francis de Sales on prayer:

Our good Master shows us very clearly in the Our Father that we must first ask that God be acknowledged and adored by all. Then we ask for what is most necessary for us, that God’s Kingdom come. The Kingdom is the beginning and end for which we live. We desire to be inhabitants of heaven. Next, we ask that God’s will be done. After these requests, Our Lord makes it very clear that we must ask for our daily bread every day.

In prayer God comes into the garden of our soul and plants divine love. In time, as we cultivate in prayer what God has planted in our hearts, we gain confidence in our growing friendship with God. So close does our friendship flower that we even ask God to give us what we desire. So, as well as praising God in prayer, we also ask God for all that is good. We can ask God for anything with the condition that what we ask for is in accord with God’s will and is for God’s greater glory.

In prayer God gives us all the good thoughts we need to become whole. Prayer shows us how to perform all our actions well. Every action of those who reverence God is a continual prayer. Those who give alms, visit the sick, and practice other good works, are praying. They are voices praising God with their good actions.

The end of prayer is to desire only God. Our Savior desires to plant in us an abundance of graces and blessings and even His heart, completely enflamed and burning with an incomparable love toward us. Let us pour out in His presence all our desires so that He may transform us entirely into Himself. How can we not open our heart in prayer to allow the Holy Spirit to flood it with divine love?

(Adapted from the Writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time July 17, 2022

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 17, 2022 

Today’s readings exhort us to listen to the Word of God. St. Francis de Sales has much to say about actively listening to the Word of God. Here are a few of his thoughts:

Martha was anxious and upset about many things while Mary had no care but to listen to Jesus’ words. Our Lord reproved Martha because she was anxious, not because of her care for His needs. She had mixed motives. On the one hand, she desired to serve Our Lord. On the other hand, in busying herself with many tasks, she was anxious to appear as the perfect hostess. Since Jesus wanted Martha to listen to Him as Mary did, one dish well prepared would have sufficed to meet His needs.

Our Lord makes it very clear that we must not only hear His words but also listen to them with the intention of making them profitable to ourselves. To profit from the word of God, we must let ourselves be moved by it in the depths of our heart. It is by listening to God’s word with the heart that we receive good inspirations. The heart comes alive and ever gains new strength and vigor.

However, it is difficult to listen to the Word of God with our hearts when our hearts are filled with anxiety. God is full of care for His creatures, but with peace and tranquility. Yet, our care tends to be anxious. Birds stay caught in nets because they flutter wildly. So it is when we desire to escape an anxiety. Resolve to do nothing that your desire insists on until your mind has regained peace. Gently put yourself in God’s hands. Try calmly to moderate your desire according to reason. Our life consists in the today, this present moment in which we are living. Use with care all that is given you. Be free of all other care and leave the rest to Our Lord, who takes tender care of us and will surely provide sufficiently for your needs when you listen to His words and inspirations.

(Adapted from L. Fiorelli, ed. Sermons of St. Francis de Sales)

Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time July 10, 2022

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 10, 2022 

Today we are reminded that Jesus is the manifestation of God who desires our love so much that we are commanded to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. St. Francis de Sales notes:

God has planted in the human heart a special natural inclination to love good in general. Likewise, implanted in us is a desire to love God’s goodness that is better and more lovable than all things. So ardent is God’s desire for our love that we are commanded to love God with all our strength. Thus, we have no pretext to turn away from loving God’s infinite goodness that enlivens all souls. When commandments are ordained by love, they give goodness to those who lack it and increase goodness in those who have it. God’s law of love takes away our weariness, as it refreshes and restores our hearts. There is no toil in doing what we love, or if there is any, it is beloved toil.

Eagles have strong hearts and great power of flight, yet they have greater powers of sight than of flight. Hence, they extend their vision much more quickly and much farther than their wings. Likewise, our reason knows that God’s goodness is lovable above all things. However, our minds have far more light to see how worthy of love God is than strength of will to love God’s goodness. Consequently, our natural desire to grow in divine love becomes constricted when our selfish desires and feelings stir us up.

Thus, our human heart produces certain beginnings of love for God’s goodness in the most natural way. Yet, to advance as far as loving God above all things belongs only to hearts animated and assisted by divine grace. Still, if we faithfully co-operate with our natural inclination to love God above all things, the gentleness of God’s divine mercy always gives us an abundance of help so as to become divinely loving.

(Adapted from the writing of St. Francis de Sales)

Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time July 3, 2022

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 3, 2022

 Today’s first readings focus on our need to focus on the providence of God as well as to embrace the cross (our commitments) of Jesus if we wish to partake of our new creation in Christ. Here are a few thoughts of St. Francis on the value of simplicity in becoming Christ-like:

 Simplicity is nothing else but a pure and simple act of charity. This act of simple charity has only one aim and one desire: to love God. Simplicity is a virtue. Truly simple persons spend their time with the Lord. Learn from the dove to love God in the simplicity of your heart. Doves have only one single partner for whom they do everything. They are quite certain of their love and happy to be in each other’s company. That is, obtain in yourselves an increase of divine love through the simplicity of your heart.

 Simplicity removes from our hearts all the worry and anxiety that we have searching to know the art of loving God. The only way we can experience and grow in the love of God is to start doing the things that please God. Simplicity includes all the means prescribed to each person, according to one’s particular vocation, to acquire God’s love.

 Simplicity is opposed to all kinds of subtlety, cheating, and duplicity, which are ways we deceive our neighbors. Simplicity requires that our interior disposition matches our exterior behavior. This does not imply that we ought to necessarily reveal exteriorly all our interior feelings. God’s love requires that we admit our agitated feelings so that we are able, with God’s love, to transform them so that they serve God’s good and wholesome purpose.  This is to say that by cooperating with God’s grace through the use of reason and our free will, all of our destructive feelings become transformed through virtuous acts of doing God’s will.

 On the one hand, we are told to take great care of our perfection and progress, and on the other hand not to think about it. The misery of the human spirit is that it never follows the middle course, but usually runs to extremes. It is these extremes that we must avoid. In the end, true simplicity seeks our well-being in letting ourselves be led and directed absolutely by God’s Spirit. (Ibid)

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time June 26, 2022

Salesian Sunday Reflection

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

June 26, 2022

In today’s Gospel we experience Jesus rebuking his disciples who want to imitate the violent zeal that Elijah used to combat evil. St. Francis de Sales notes:

Some people think that in order to have great zeal or fervor you need to have great anger. Our Lord’s zeal appeared principally in his death on the cross to destroy death and the sins of the whole human family. He made John and James understand that his spirit and his zeal are gentle, mild, and gracious. He made use of indignation or wrath very rarely when he had no further hope of being able to help in any other way. Yet, it is not in every man’s power to know how to be angry when he ought and, as he ought. The following story from a 6th Century monk illustrates this point.

Once a pagan influenced a Christian to return to idolatry. Carpus, a holy man angered by this turn of events, prayed that the two men be destroyed. Our Savior appeared to Carpus. Our Lord then showed Carpus the kingdom of heaven and the earth below, where the two evil men were trembling and fainting with fear of falling off the edge of a precipice. Carpus took pleasure in seeing them destroy themselves. Our Lord, to the contrary, stretched out his hand to help them, and lovingly said to Carpus, “I am ready to suffer once more in order to save humanity.”

Zeal to eradicate evil justly aroused Carpus’ anger. But once aroused, his anger left reason and zeal behind. Anger transgressed all limits of holy love, and consequently of zeal. His anger turned hatred of sin into hatred of the sinner, and gentlest charity into raging cruelty. Holy zeal is especially a quality of divine love that makes so many of God’s servants watch, labor, and die amid those flames of zeal. Whereas false zeal is troubled, choleric, arrogant and unstable, true zeal is ardor or fervor without hatred, and is mild, gracious, diligent, and untiring. Happy are those who know how to control their zeal with the love of Jesus Christ, who urges us to love others as He does.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)

Body and Blood of Christ June 19, 2022

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Body and Blood of Christ

June 19, 2022

Today we celebrate the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Here are some thoughts of St. Francis de Sales on the Eucharist.

After the resurrection, Jesus entered into the room where the Apostles gathered, although the doors were locked. H wanted to assure them that He was still alive and present to them. Similarly, Jesus gives us His body and blood under the form of bread and wine to assure us of His real presence among us.

The height of God’s self-giving love for us is the Eucharist. Christ instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist so that the whole human family might be intimately united with Him. United in Christ, this sacrament also calls us and helps us to unite with one another in that spiritual union that Our Savior desires us to have. This union unites many different members and forms them into one body. Thus, this sacrament is also called Communion as it represents to us the common union of holy love that we ought to have together.

In the Eucharist, the perpetual feast of divine grace, we have a pledge of infinite happiness. When we frequently and devoutly receive the Eucharist, we build up our spiritual health so that we may effectively avoid evil. It strengthens our hearts and makes us God-like in this world. Very tender fruits such as strawberries are subject to decay. Yet, they can be easily preserved for a whole year with sugar or honey. How much more so are our frail and weak human hearts preserved from evil in receiving the Eucharist.

Both the perfect and imperfect ought to receive the Eucharist often. The perfect, as they are predisposed to It. The imperfect, so that they may become perfect. We are all loved with the same love by Our Lord who embraces us all in this Sacrament. Let us grow in the gentle and strengthening bonds of holy love through receiving the Eucharist.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales)