Seventh Sunday of Easter May 12, 2024

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Seventh Sunday of Easter

May 12, 2024

In today’s Gospel we experience Jesus praying that His disciples may be made one, and “consecrated to the truth.” St. Francis de Sales notes:

How good and pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity! When two or three or more souls share with one another their sacred love and holy affections, and establish a single spirit, they experience true friendship. Friendships that are sacred, speak truthfully, and praise only virtue and God’s love.

For those of us who live in the world and desire to embrace true virtue it is necessary to unite together in holy friendship. The higher the virtue you share with each other, the more perfect your friendship will be. You encourage, assist, and lead one another to perform good deeds. People walking on level ground do not have to lend one another a hand. Yet, those who are on a rugged road hold on to one another in order to walk more safely. The only connection between them is that of sacred love, which St. Paul calls: “the bond of perfection.” This bond of love grows in time and takes on new power. It gives us ease and true liberty. Its force is gentle, yet so solid.

It is the presence of God’s love in us that leads to an authentic love of self, and subsequently, to love others the way God desires us to love them. We cherish all creatures for love of God. To love our neighbor in holiness is to love God in them. Thus, we must not neglect to nurture the friendships with our parents, kindred, neighbors and others. Yet, we live in a world where everyone is not of the same mind and heart. Hence we need particular friendships to support us in the many dangerous places we must pass through. True friendships are sacred because they come from God, lead to God, and will endure eternally in God. How good it is to unite our hearts here on earth, as we will do in eternity!

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

Sixth Sunday of Easter May 5, 2024

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 5, 2024

In today’s Gospel we experience Jesus telling us to remain in His love. By remaining in His love we will learn to love one another. St. Francis de Sales notes:

Love causes us to be like what we love. We are given a natural inclination to love God. Moreover, we are commanded to love God and the things of God above all other things. Alas, we are like the eagles that have greater power of sight than flight. While we see how worthy of love God’s goodness is, we have less strength of will for loving it.

Yet, this human heart of ours is capable of producing certain beginnings of love for God. But to advance to the true maturity of love, that is, to love God and all the things of God, we need divine love. Through God’s goodness our spirits are raised up and united with God’s love. Overflowing with divine love, we come back to share this pure love with others.

To love God without loving the neighbor is impossible. God has chosen us as children and thus we must show that we are truly God’s children by our loving one another dearly in all goodness of heart. Our Savior, in coming into the world, raised our nature higher than all the angels and has made us so like Himself, that we can say that we resemble God perfectly. In becoming human, Our Lord has taken on our likeness and has given us His. Oh, how earnestly we ought to summon up our courage to live according to what we are! Imitate as perfectly as possible Him, who came into this world to teach us what we need to do: to preserve in ourselves this divine resemblance.

It is this divine resemblance only that we are called to love and honor in our neighbor. Is this not a powerful motive to have for loving each other? All nations, which have a union of hearts that reflect the image of God, will surely be filled with joy.

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

April 28, 2024 Fifth Sunday of Easter

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Fifth Sunday of Easter

April 28, 2024

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us that He is the true vine and we the branches. Thus, we must remain in Him if we wish to bear much fruit. St. Francis de Sales states that we too must live Jesus to advance the kingdom of God in our hearts and in the world:

How happy you will be if amid the world you keep Jesus Christ in your heart! I beg Him to live and rule there eternally. Confidently and sincerely keep up this holy pursuit of living Jesus, for all true peace finds its source in His way of truth.

If Our Savior is to reign in our heart so that we may bear much fruit, then there are some things we must observe. The first thing in the morning is to prepare your heart to be at peace. Ask for God’s grace and offer to God all the good you will do during the day. In this way you will be prepared to bear with peace and serenity all the pain and suffering you will encounter during the day. Then take great care throughout the day to frequently call your heart back to that peace. At every moment give the very heart of your heart to our Savior. You will see that as this divine Lover makes a home in the center of your heart, the world with its emptiness and meaninglessness will leave.

This is a huge undertaking, but a generous person can do it with the help of the Creator. Yet it is impossible to have your soul so totally in hand right away. We must put up with others, but first with ourselves. Good heavens! What makes us think we can enter a state of interior rest without going through setbacks and struggles? If you ask God for patience, and strive to practice it faithfully, God will give it to you. But most of all do not lose heart. Be patient. Meanwhile, do all you can to develop a spirit of compassion. What matters most is that we do faithfully all the things we need to do to advance the kingdom of God in our hearts. Then we can bear much fruit in the world.

(Adapted from Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal…. J. Power & W. Wright, Ed; Spiritual Directory, L. Fiorelli, Ed.)

April 21, 2024 Fourth Sunday of Easter

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Fourth Sunday of Easter

April 21, 2024

In today’s Gospel we experience Jesus describing Himself as the Good Shepherd and what this means. St. Francis de Sales reminds us that we are all shepherds who must tend our sheep:

Our Good Shepherd gathers us all around Himself in order to keep us always under His most holy protection. But we too are shepherds and have a flock to attend. Our flock is our desires, feelings and emotions. We must keep watch over this spiritual flock, by learning from Jesus how to govern ourselves.

Since we easily mismanage ourselves, Our Good Shepherd wants us to give up such self-management except to consent and follow His Will. He desires what is best for our wholeness. Following in the footsteps of the Good Shepherd, we learn how to direct, to govern and put our desires, feelings and emotions in order, so that they conform to God’s goodness. What could be more pleasing to this Divine Shepherd than to bring to Him our loves so that He may purify them? Holy love is our first desire. True love is accomplished when we live no longer according to our own willful desires, but according to the inspirations and promptings of Our Savior.

Our Shepherd tenderly nourishes us with an incomprehensible love. He died in love, by love, and for love. To bring us life, He suffered death. What remains for us? We ought to consecrate every moment of our life to the divine love of our Savior’s death that opened us up to eternal life. That is, we must bring to fruition all our works, all our actions and all our thoughts so that God’s glory may shine through them. How happy we will be if we remain in the Shepherd’s presence, faithfully bringing His reign in our midst!

(Adapted from St. Francis de Sales, Sermons, L. Fiorelli, Ed.; St. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God).

April 14, 2018 Third Sunday of Easter

Salesian Sunday Reflection 

Third Sunday of Easter

April 14, 2018

In today’s Gospel we come to see how the Disciples’ faith is affirmed as they continue to experience Jesus’ presence among them. St. Francis de Sales tells us that God also continues to affirm our faith:

So loving is God’s hand as it handles our hearts! So skillful is God’s hand in bringing its strength to us without depriving us of freedom. God’s power gently gives us power as the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts the first rays of the divine light of faith.

These movements of the Spirit are the beginning of holy love. They are the first green buds that the soul, warmed by the Heavenly Sun, begins to put out in the springtime. Joyous, beautiful, and pleasing is this dawn of sacred love. Still it remains true that the dawn is not the day. These movements of divine love precede our act of faith. When God gives us faith, God enters into our being and speaks to us by way of inspiration.

Little by little our Lord strengthens the grace that comes to us from divine inspiration. So pleasantly does God propose to us what we must believe that we adhere to the light of truth with a gentle but powerful certitude: faith alone makes us love and believe in the truth of Christ’s love by diffusing a certitude in our mind. Faith is the best friend of our spirit. For step by step as it were, we are led back to God.

How gently Our Lord proceeds in hearts that consent to serve God throughout their life by keeping the Commandments. I believe that God would give us still more help if it were not because of our failure and the obstacles we place in the way. Therefore, let us be attentive to our progress in the love we owe to God, for then the love that God brings will never be wanting to us, and our faith in Christ will grow just as the Apostles’ faith did after the resurrection.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales, especially, Treatise on the Love of God.)

April 7, 2024 Second Sunday of Easter

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Second Sunday of Easter

April 7, 2024

In today’s Gospel the Disciples experience Jesus’ real presence after His Resurrection. He invites us also to believe in His real presence among us. St. Francis de Sales notes:

Through faith God leads us to penetrate, understand and love divine truths that are revealed. An act of faith on our part is choosing to love God and the things of God. When we allow the mysteries of divine revelation to speak to us, our faith is strengthened.

When temptations against faith and the Church arise, do as you do with other temptations. Don’t argue at all with them. Place yourself at Our Savior’s feet. Tell Him that you are His, and want His help, even if you are unable to speak. Temptations against faith are trials like any other, and you must calm yourself. I have seen few people make progress without experiencing trials. So be patient. After the squall, God sends the calm.

Faith is brought to life by holy love. Without a doubt as long as we are in this life, the imperceptible movement of God’s love in us makes us holy. It is the Holy Spirit who pours this divine love into our hearts. As soon as trees are transplanted, their roots spread and are thrust deeply into the earth that nourishes them. Only later, when we see the tree continue to grow, do we notice that their roots are spreading and being nourished by the earth. Similarly, by divine love, a heart can be transplanted from things that are not of God to things of God. If this heart earnestly prays, it will surely continue to reach out and attach itself to God’s goodness that nourishes it.

Vivified by holy love, a living faith serves God. As a faithful servant it does all that it knows and recognizes is pleasing to God. Let us be servants also of God’s love just as the Apostles and early Christians were. In this way we will give witness to Jesus’ presence among us, as a living community of faith, hope and holy love.

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

March 31, 2024 Easter Sunday

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Easter Sunday

March 31, 2024

Today we experience and celebrate Jesus’ conquering death. We also celebrate and welcome our newly baptized who now robe themselves in a new life in Jesus Christ. St. Francis de Sales speaks of the power of God’s love as we take off our old garments that led us away from God, and put on the new garment of Jesus Christ:

It is divine love that empowers us to take off the old garments of Adam and put on the new garment of Jesus Christ. It is holy love that causes us to live again in God. Divine love enters the soul to make it happily empty itself of all that is not of God.

Yes, we even must empty ourselves of all our affection for virtue that is agreeable, profitable and honorable to us, and suited to our self-centered loves. Now we clothe ourselves anew with various affections, perhaps the very ones we have given up, because they are agreeable to God, profitable to God’s honor, and destined for God’s glory. This means that we take on the affections suitable to the service of God’s love. Hence, we love our parents, country, home, friends, and things, as God desires us to love them.

God’s love, which is stronger than death, enables us to forsake all things that lead us away from loving divinely. Holy love, magnificent as the resurrection, graces us with glory and honor. Through God’s love, we gladly die to our false self so as to rise anew to our true self in Christ!

Alleluia!

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales, especially, Treatise on the Love of God.)

March 24, 2024 Passion/Palm Sunday

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Passion/Palm Sunday

March 24, 2024

In today’s readings we experience Jesus, as the suffering servant who brings God’s love to the human family. St. Francis de Sales reminds us that we are called to be like Jesus:

The most powerful reason for Jesus’ death is to fill the human spirit with God’s love. Out of death has come life, the wondrous paradox, which the world does not understand. Jesus not only died a cruel death to bring God’s love to us, but He also suffered fear, terror, abandonment, and inner depression such as never had and never shall have an equal. He did this so that we too may persevere in pursuing divine love.

Jesus’ human feelings left His entire heart exposed to sorrow and anguish. For this reason He cries out: “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Mount Calvary is the mount of lovers. All love that does not take its origins from the Savior’s passion is foolish and perilous. On Calvary, we can not have life without love. Nor can we have divine love without dying to our false loves. Christian wisdom consists in choosing rightly. Hence we ought to consecrate every moment of our lives to the eternal divine love of Our Savior’s death. This means we need to empty ourselves of all other loves that are destroying us so that we may be filled with God’s eternal love that gives life!

So when injured by others, look often with your inward eyes on Christ Jesus, crucified, forsaken, and overwhelmed by every kind of anguish. Then think of the many people who are incomparably more afflicted than you are and say: “Are not my hardships roses in comparison with those, who without help, assistance, or relief live a continual death under the burden of afflictions infinitely greater than mine? When all things fail us, when our distress is at its height, say the final words of Jesus on the cross: “Into Your hands I commend My Spirit.”

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

March 17, 2024 Fifth Sunday of Lent

Salesian Sunday Reflection 

Fifth Sunday of Lent

March 17, 2024

In today’s Gospel (option for Cycle A), we experience the confident faith of Martha and Mary in Jesus as He brings back to life their brother Lazarus. St. Francis de Sales notes:

If our faith in the power of Our Savior has the confidence of Mary and Martha, it can bring life to us. It is in Him and from Him we expect all our help.

Our confession of faith is an act to willingly love God and all the things of God. Our hearts find God at the fountain of faith. When God gives us faith, God enters into us and speaks to our minds through inspirations. The first thing God does to our hearts is to arouse them to their own goodness. God sees us in our misery, and if we are willing, God rescues us from that misery. Faith is the best friend of our spirit. It has us love truth.

Faith prompts the beginning of love that the heart feels for the things of God. Faith sees that God is gentle with us, and constantly fills us with goodness. Faith sees that God’s eternal love arouses compassion rather than justice. God, by way of inspiration, leads us from love to love, as from dwelling to dwelling, until we are brought into most holy love. Divine love makes our faith come alive. Faith united to sacred love yields the fruit of good works. By His works, Jesus gives us every kind of proof of His love for us.

In raising Lazarus from the dead, our dear Master shows us that all His works are done through His goodness alone. He also made of Himself our food in the Eucharist. And did He not make the greatest possible act of love by dying on a cross, where He proved that love was stronger than death? Can we not confidently trust our faithful Servant and love the things that He loves? Our Savior’s watch over you is greater than your weaknesses. Live your faith joyously then, in holy love as Martha and Mary did. Like Lazarus, God will work wonders in you, and enliven your faith with eternal life.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales, especially, Treatise on the Love of God.)

March 10, 2024 Fourth Sunday of Lent

Salesian Sunday Reflection 

Fourth Sunday of Lent

March 10, 2024

In today’s Gospel (option from Cycle A) we experience Jesus healing a man born blind. It is God in Jesus Christ who gives us the eyes of faith to see more fully the mystery of divine love. St. Francis de Sales explains how God entices us to on-going conversion:

Only God can enlighten us and open our blind eyes. When God gives us faith, God enters us and incites our mind through inspirations. So pleasantly does God propose the mysteries of faith to us that, without doubt or opposition, we consent to them.

Faith, the best friend of our spirit, brings us to love the beauty of the truths of the mystery of God. When we are exposed to the rays of the noonday sun, we scarcely see its light before we quickly feel its heat. So it is with the light of faith. As soon as the light of faith casts its light on us, we feel the heat of heavenly love. Faith makes us know with certitude that God exists and that God is infinite goodness. When temptations against faith start raising questions, we have to answer with our heart, not reason. Reason admits its limitations. It tells us that while the mystery of God transcends our ability to reason, our faith in God is eminently reasonable. Like St. Augustine, let us affirm our faith by crying out, “Lord I do believe, but help me in my unbelief!”

Let us faithfully concentrate on nourishing God’s gift of on-going conversion with awe and confidence. Let us make God’s love effective in our lives by remaining steady and persevering in our good desires and holy resolutions. Without forcing or doing any violence to us, Jesus draws us to Himself by bonds of love and gentleness so that we begin to do all things through holy love. Then let us not be afraid of our Lord who wants to take full possession of our hearts. Rather, let us surrender ourselves lovingly into the hands of Our Savior, who desires to do great things in us, if we let Him open our eyes.

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

March 3, 2024 Third Sunday of Lent

Salesian Sunday Reflection 

Third Sunday of Lent

March 3, 2024

Today’s Gospel speaks to the catechumens who are preparing for baptism. Jesus, reaching out to a woman rejected by society, offers her “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” St. Francis de Sales speaks often of how Jesus calls us out of slavery to sin into a life of holiness that leads to eternal happiness:

There are many who aspire to holiness, but few attain it because they do not walk as they ought—ardently, yet tranquilly; carefully, but confidently. That is to say, we must rely more on the Divine Goodness and Providence than on ourselves and our good works. We must be very faithful, but without anxiety or eagerness.

Yet God wants us to do all that lies in our power. That is, God wants us to use the ordinary means to attain holiness. We must use the means that are given to us according to our vocation, and then remain in peace concerning all the rest. If these should fail, God will never fail to assist us as long as we are open to the divine will. God, under whose guidance we have embarked, will always be attentive to provide us with whatever is necessary. Therefore, when human aid fails us, God’s special providence takes over and takes care of us. God would sooner work miracles than leave without assistance, either spiritual or temporal, those who trust entirely in Divine Providence.

We say that we do not know whether the will to please God that we now have will remain with us during our whole life. Alas! It is true, for there is nothing so weak and changeable as we are. But nevertheless, let us not be troubled. Let us rather frequently lay this good will before Our Lord. Let us place it in His hands and He will renew it as often as is necessary so that we may have enough for our whole mortal life. After this mortal life there will be no cause for fear, for we shall be in a safe place.

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

February 25, 2024 Second Sunday of Lent

Salesian Sunday Reflection 

February 25, 2024

In today’s Gospel, Peter, James and John experience Jesus being transfigured. St. Francis de Sales notes:

At the Transfiguration God went out of the way to show that Jesus was truly Savior. At that moment, nothing was so desirable for the Apostles as remaining in the presence of Jesus. I assure you that I never stop wishing you countless blessings from heaven, especially that of always being transfigured in Our Lord. Thanks to our Savior, we are climbing Mount Tabor since we are resolved to serve Him and love His divine goodness. We must encourage one another in holy hope. Let us leave our love for lowly things so we can continue faithfully to aspire to the happiness He has prepared for us.

Where could we give better witness to our fidelity to God than in the midst of things going wrong? There is a real temptation to become dissatisfied with the world and depressed about it when we have to be in it. Yet whether we are immersed in the busyness of worldly events or in solitude, we will encounter difficulties. To think that we can be holy without suffering is a delusion. Where there is more difficulty, there is more virtue. However, if you stumble, don’t be upset or ashamed. Instead let us cry out to our Lord and our Lady who will reach out a blessed helping hand to us.

Be like the honeybee. While you are carefully making the honey of holiness, at the same time make the wax of your worldly affairs. For if honey is sweet to the taste of our Lord, wax also honors Him since it is used to make the candles which give light to those around us. Be at peace and walk simply and faithfully along the path that God has marked out for you, and you will walk confidently. Our Savior, who is transfiguring you, has taken you by the hand, and set you on the way to His glory. Let Him be your Guide.

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

February 18, 2024 First Sunday of Lent

Salesian Sunday Reflection 

First Sunday of Lent

February 18, 2024 

In today’s Gospel we experience Jesus being tempted in the desert. St. Francis de Sales notes:

Jesus did not seek temptation. The Holy Spirit led Him into the desert to be tempted. If we encounter temptation in that place where the Spirit of God leads us, we must be firmly confident that God will strengthen us against these temptations no matter how strong they may be. Yet, no matter how holy and generous we may think ourselves to be, we must never trust in our own strength or courage, and go out and seek temptation, thinking we can confound it. Nonetheless, we must prepare ourselves to rise above temptation. Like Jesus, we must arm ourselves with the truth of God. This truth is nothing other than faith, which shields us from temptations. When we say, “I believe” in God the Almighty, we place our trust in God’s power, not in our own strength.

As soon as you are conscious of being tempted, follow the example of children when they see a wolf or bear out in the country. They immediately run to the arms of their parents or call to them for help and protection. If the temptation continues, embrace the Holy Cross and look at our Lord. Then, turn your thoughts to some good constructive activity. Our temptations are like a chained dog. If we do not approach them they will do us no harm, even if they try to frighten us by barking at us.

Sometimes when we are faced with a temptation, in the beginning we feel wounded by some troubled emotion. Alas, we might think that it is almost impossible to serve God in holiness. Don’t trouble yourself with such an idle fear. Armed with the truth of God’s Word, God will strengthen us and give us the grace to persevere to do what is required for God’s glory and our own welfare and happiness.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales, especially L. Fiorelli, ed., Sermons of St. Francis de Sales for Lent).

February 11, 2024 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Salesian Sunday Reflection

 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

February 11, 2024

Today St. Paul tells us to “do everything for the glory of God.” St. Francis de Sales elaborates on this intention:

How do we “do all things in the name of God” so as to live well?” First, we must purify all our intentions as far as we can. We must make a firm purpose to use the day well for the intention of giving glory to God and not us. Anticipate what tasks, transactions and occasions for serving God you may meet today. What temptations will you be exposed to, such as anger, self-centered love, or some other irregularities? Carefully prepare yourself to avoid, resist, and overcome whatever might hinder you from authentically living Jesus.

To do all things well, first make a holy resolution to grow in the love Jesus exemplified. To prepare yourself to put this resolution into practice, ask our Savior to help you make the best use of the means available to you to grow in holy love, and serve Him. Admit that you alone can not carry out your decision to avoid evil and do the good that God desires of you. Hold your heart in your hands and offer it with your good desires to Our Savior. Ask Him to take your heart under His protection and strengthen it so to grow in His authentic love.

To do all for the glory of God, train yourself to pray. Receive the sacraments often. As you perform the important tasks of your vocation, never forget to practice humility, gentleness, patience, and simplicity, virtues that grow like flowers at the foot of the Cross.

As you care for your family with all the diligence required, bring these souls to love God by infusing good inspirations into their hearts. Great opportunities to serve God rarely present themselves but little ones are frequent. As you carry out your responsibilities so that they give glory to God, all your activities, even eating, drinking, sleeping, or recreation, will be done in the name of God, who leads you to authentic wholeness through Jesus Christ.

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

February 4, 2024 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Salesian Sunday Reflection

 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

February 4, 2024

Today’s Gospel tells us that in the midst of busyness, even Jesus saw a need to find a quiet place to pray. St. Francis de Sales also stresses the importance of practicing mental prayer in the midst of our worldly activities, and gives us a short simple method:

I especially counsel you to practice the prayer of the heart. Set aside some time each day, if possible, early in the morning, when your mind is less distracted and fresher after the night’s rest. Place yourself in God’s presence. Remember that God is present in a most particular way in your heart and in the very center of your spirit. Do not hurry along and say many things but try to speak from your heart. A single Our Father said with feeling has greater value than many said quickly and hurriedly. Don’t be concerned about finishing the vocal prayer you intended to say. By often turning your eyes on Jesus in meditation, your whole being will be filled with Him. You will learn His ways and form your actions after the pattern of His.

From your meditation gather a few thoughts that you liked best and are most adapted for your improvement. During the day frequently think of them. Make particular resolutions for your own correction. On that same day, we must try to carefully practice them and to seek occasions, small or great, to do so. Since prayer places our mind in the brilliance of God’s light and exposes our ability to make choices to the warmth of God’s heavenly love, nothing else so effectively purifies our mind of ignorance and our will of disordered affections. Meditation makes the plants of our good desires grow green and flourish and quenches the disordered passions in our hearts. By keeping close to our Savior in meditation and observing His words, actions and affections, we learn by His grace to speak, act, and will like Him.

(St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to a Devout Life.)

January 28, 2024 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Salesian Sunday Reflection 

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

January 28, 2024

St. Paul tells us in today’s reading “to be free of anxiety.” St. Francis de Sales gives us some advice on how to cope with anxiety:

There is a real temptation to become dissatisfied with the world and distressed about it when we have of necessity to be in it. We imagine we would feel better if we were on another ship. That may be, but only if we change ourselves! Solitude has its assaults, the world its busyness. In either place we must be courageous since in either place divine help is available to those who trust in God and who humbly and gently beg for God’s caring assistance.

One of the sources of our anxieties is our self-centered love. Why are we surprised by our imperfections? We want nothing but consolation. When we experience our own misery and weaknesses, let us do three things and we will have peace. Let us have a pure intention of seeking in all things, the honor and glory of God. Let us do the little we can toward this end and leave to God the care of the rest.

These little attacks of anxiety and sadness that are brought on by the multiplicity of our responsibilities permit us to practice the dearest and best virtues that Jesus recommended to us: gentleness and trust in God. True virtue is not produced by outward idleness, anymore than healthy fish are raised in the stagnant waters of swamps.

To protect ourselves from surprise attacks of anxiety, where we become resentful and ready to flare up if anyone crosses us, we must often arouse in our hearts patience and courage. But when we do totter and fall, we must not be ashamed of being a little grimy and dusty. It is better to be covered with dust than with sores. If we place ourselves in God’s care and let the heavenly dew of God’s love heal us, all will be well.

January 21, 2024 Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Salesian Sunday Reflection 

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

January 21, 2024

In today’s Gospel we experience Jesus preaching “the kingdom of God is at hand,” as He invites several fishermen to come after Him. St. Francis de Sales notes:

God has many ways of calling men and women to service. God uses preaching more than any other form to convert individuals. Through the ministry of preaching God has touched the hearts of many people, and called them to special vocations. Preaching is like a divine seed cast into the ground of our hearts by the words of preachers.

God touches others while they are reading good books. Still others when they hear the holy words of the Gospel while being read. There are others who were disturbed by the misfortunes, troubles and sufferings that befell them in the world. Still, even if God is all-powerful and can do anything, God does not want to take away the gift of freedom given to us. Whenever God calls us to service, He wants us to come willingly and not out of force or compulsion.

Nonetheless, even if some people come to God’s service because they are disgusted with the world or because some sorrows and afflictions trouble them, they can still give themselves to God freely and willingly. Our sufficiency is from our Redeemer who taught us how to be fit ministers and capable of doing God’s will. One who abides in Christ partakes of His divine Spirit, who is in the midst of our hearts as a living fountain. Through the love the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts, the frail reeds of our actions are turned to gold. Our hearts, flooded with the love of the Holy Spirit, produce sacred actions that tend towards immortal glory and carry us to it.

(Adapted from the writings of St. Francis de Sales, especially his Spiritual Conferences, I. Carneiro, Ed. )

January 14, 2024 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Salesian Sunday Reflection 

January 14, 2024

This Sunday we begin the liturgical season of Ordinary Time. Our New Year’s resolutions have already gone the route of ordinariness. Yet St. Francis de Sales tells us that we are called to live an ordinary life in an extraordinary way. One element of this extraordinary way is our good desires to live a holy life. Francis notes:

What other flowers do we have in our heart but good desires? As soon as good desires appear, we need to prune away all the dead and useless obstacles that stop us from living a holy life. Bad habits come galloping on horseback as they enter our heart but leave slowly on foot. In this enterprise we must have courage and patience. After striving to be holy for awhile, we generally recognize that we are still subject to many imperfections. It is easy then to become dissatisfied, disturbed, and discouraged. Yet we must not let our heart give in to the temptation of giving up everything and going back to our old way of life.

On the other hand, there are those who think themselves perfect before they have scarcely begun. They try to fly without wings and are in great peril of a relapse on being too soon out of the physician’s care. The work of growing holy ought not to end until God calls us to our eternal home. We must not be disturbed by our imperfections. Unless we see them, how can we transform them? Our victory does not consist in being unconscious of them but in recognizing them. We are always victorious if we continue to struggle to overcome them. We are never conquered unless we lose courage. Imperfections and venial sin cannot deprive us of spiritual life. Thus, we must have a good opinion of those we see practicing virtues imperfectly, since we know that the saints themselves have often practiced them in this manner.

(St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to a Devout Life).

January 7, 2024 Epiphany of the Lord

Salesian Sunday Reflection

Epiphany of the Lord

January 7, 2024

Today we experience the infant Jesus being visited by Magi, who carried news of God’s presence in Jesus back to their foreign lands. St. Francis de Sales notes:

The Magi from the East came to find pleasure, not in the city of Jerusalem, but in a small cave where they found God humanized in the Child lying in a manger. Like the Magi, let us come close to the divine crib and listen to our Savior as he speaks to us. Let us follow the many inspirations and affections that arouse us to God’s love.

Some people think that a certain art is needed to grow in holy love. There is no art to loving God. We need only to practice pleasing God in the simplicity of our heart, without trouble or anxiety. Holy simplicity leaves the result of its actions to Divine Providence. The single and only aim of simplicity is the pure love of God. Simplicity, contrary to deceit, requires that our interior self and our exterior actions be in conformity with one another.

We are called to labor faithfully in the exercise of divine love, without shame, sadness or anxiety. Embarked then, in the exercise of our daily tasks, carried along by the wind of our simple and loving confidence in God, we shall make the greatest progress. Without stirring from our place then, we shall draw nearer and nearer to home, as do those who sail the high seas with favorable winds. Every event and variety of accident that may happen will be received calmly and peacefully. Even though our journey through life is full of dangers, let us be confident in following the Star of Bethlehem, who desires to fill us with His love. In this way, we’ll be like the Magi who confidently followed the Star of Bethlehem, Who leads us to eternal glory.

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

January 7, 2024 Baptism of the Lord

Salesian Sunday Reflection 

Baptism of the Lord

January 7, 2024

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. The Baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his ministry. St. Francis de Sales notes that from time to time we need to reenergize the resolution we made in baptism to be children of God.

The first Christians celebrated the anniversary of their Baptism, the day that they dedicated themselves to becoming children of God. We also ought to renew our commitment to the service of the Divine Goodness. In celebrating our baptismal vows, we strengthen our fervor, renew our promises and reaffirm our good resolutions.

A good lute player has the habit of testing the strings of his instrument to see if they need tightening or loosening to sound harmonious. Likewise, it is necessary for us to examine our affections that are not in balance, and our neglected resolutions. We need to see what we must do to recover what, by our weakness or negligence, we have lost. We must not be surprised at this because it seems that even the sun needs to start its course anew once a year to repair in spring the losses the earth suffered in winter. Just by renewing our commitment we can start to repair our faults.

We can also regain lost time by fervor and diligence in totally uniting ourselves again to Our Lord. During our journey on this earth, Our Lord leads us by the hand, causing us to walk in virtue, or He carries us in the arms of His Divine Providence. His goodness is willing to lead us and to carry us, but He also wants us to take our little steps alone, doing on our part all that we can, helped by His holy love. Happy are the souls, who travel through life doing what they can in the practice of virtue and good works, and still holding on to the hand of our Lord! They are the children who sing the canticle of the glory of God because they dedicate themselves to the service of Divine Goodness as Jesus did at his baptism.

(Adapted from L. Fiorelli, ed., Sermons of St. Francis de Sales, V. 2)