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"Faith is confident assurance concerning those things for which we hope, and conviction about that which we do not see…Do not live in fear."
As followers of Jesus, we are called to live lives of faith. Each day, each hour, each moment of our lives should be faith-filled opportunities to grow in our love and knowledge of God, ourselves and one another.
Today's Scriptures beg the question: What, exactly, is faith?
St. Francis de Sales distinguished between faith that is living and faith that is dead:
"Examine your works and actions. It is when all signs of life cease that we consider a person to be dead. So it is with faith. While in winter, living trees may resemble dead ones, in their season they produce leaves, flowers and fruit. In the same way, while dead faith may appear to be living faith, only the latter bears the fruit of faith in all seasons. Living faith is excellent because, being united to love and vivified by love, it is strong, firm and constant."
People who are faith-filled, Francis de Sales would suggest, are living vigilant, strong, prudent and attentive lives. They adhere to the truth that God is love, that they are created, redeemed and inspired in love and that they are called to share this love with others. Faith-filled people are people of action, courage and perseverance, always moving forward, even toward things they do not see.
Compare this power and promise with the alternative: the decision to live in fear.
Today's Scriptures beg the question: What, exactly, is fear? It is “a state or condition marked by feelings of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger; a feeling of disquiet or apprehension.” (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language)
Those who live in fear do not trust the truth that God is love. They dare not believe that they are created and sustained in that love. They feel that they must not take the risk of sharing that love with others. People who live in fear are people of inaction, discouragement, and timidity. They long to turn back; they fear to look forward. People of fear are, in a very real sense, already dead.
Make no mistake - people of faith are not immune to fear. They fear their own infidelity; they fear their own weakness; they fear their own sin. Sometimes, they likewise fear the infidelity, weakness, and sin of others. But in the end, people of faith choose not to live in fear but to live in the truth of the person God is calling them to be, and the person that God is challenging them to be in the lives of their brothers and sisters.
People of faith are human beings who try their level best to be fully human. People of faith know that while fear is a part of life, there is more to life – much, much more - than fear!
Why not consider today – Are you a person of faith?
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“Heaven and earth are filled with your glory…”
However conscious of those words that we may or may not be, when we hear these words, “Heaven and earth are filled with your glory,” we might say to ourselves, “But, of course!” when it applies to heaven. But by contrast, when it applies to earth, many of us might simply whisper to ourselves, “If you say so.”
Whether we recognize it or not, God’s glory is not only found in heaven but also - to those who have eyes of faith - God’s glory abounds on earth, too.
In her book Earth Crammed with Heaven, Elizabeth Dreyer writes:
“For all the moving and high-flying ideas connected with the spiritual life, there is something down-to-earth and practical about it. God often meets us in a kind gesture in hard times, in a child’s joy, a word of wisdom from a Catherine of Siena or a Julian of Norwich, in a peaceful death – these are the simple but profound moments that reveal the truth and authenticity of one’s life with God. It is here – on this earth – that things come together as we experience the total fabric of our lives and discover that it is indeed “of a piece.”(p. 32)
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:
“When the entire universe was made, God’s meditation was changed, as it were, into contemplation. God looked at all the goodness in his works with one single glance and saw, as Moses says, ‘all the things he had made, and they were very good.’ The different parts, when considered separately by way of meditation were good, but when looked upon with a single glance - all of them being taken together by means of contemplation - they were found to be very good.” (TLG, Book VI, Chapter 5, p. 282)
Whether in heaven or on earth, God’s glory – as with beauty – is in the eye of the beholder. It’s already here, but perhaps, hidden in plain sight.
Can you see it?
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“Son of man, he then said to me, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth…”
Francis de Sales opened his preface to the Spiritual Directory by drawing on these same verses above from the book of the prophet Ezekiel. In addition, Francis included the following words below:
“This book will prove bitter to your interior, for it will lead to the perfect mortification of your self-love. It will, on the other hand, be sweeter than honey in your mouth, because there is no consolation equal to that of mortifying our self-love in order to let live and reign in us the love of him who dies for love of us. In this way, your bitterness will be transformed into the sweetness of perfect peace, and you will be filled with true happiness.
Mortification of our self-love, self-absorption, and self-centeredness? Sure, it’s tough. Yes, it can be distasteful. But how can this even come close to the sweetness that comes from becoming the people that God created us to be – images and likenesses of his only Son and our savior?
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“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
“A well-known legend has persisted from earliest times. As a deacon in Rome, Lawrence was charged with the responsibility for the material goods of the church and the distribution of alms to the poor. When Lawrence knew he would be arrested like the pope, he sought out the poor, widows, and orphans of Rome and gave them all the money he had on hand, selling even the sacred vessels to increase the sum. When the prefect of Rome heard of this, he imagined that the Christians must have considerable treasure. He sent for Lawrence and said, ‘You Christians say we are cruel to you, but that is not what I have in mind. I am told that your priests offer in gold, that the sacred blood is received in silver cups, that you have golden candlesticks at your evening services. Now, your doctrine says you must render to Caesar what is his. Bring these treasures—the emperor needs them to maintain his forces. God does not cause money to be counted: He brought none of it into the world with him—only words. Give me the money, therefore, and be rich in words.’”
“Lawrence replied that the church was indeed rich. ‘I will show you a valuable part. But give me time to set everything in order and make an inventory.’ After three days he gathered a great number of blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned, and widowed persons and put them in rows. When the prefect arrived, Lawrence simply said, ‘These are the treasure of the church.”
“The prefect was so angry he told Lawrence that he would indeed have his wish to die—but it would be by inches. He had a great gridiron prepared, with coals beneath it, and had Lawrence’s body placed on it. After the martyr had suffered the pain for a long time, the legend concludes, he made his famous cheerful remark, ‘It is well done. Turn me over!’”
(http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1103) When it comes to sowing bountifully, it doesn’t get much greater than martyrdom. And while most of us may never be called upon to make this ultimate expression of generosity, we can nevertheless sow bountifully each and every day by doing good things in simple, small, and ordinary ways…for and with one another.*****
“You live in the midst of a rebellious house...”
Maximilian Kolbe once wrote:
‘No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hetacombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we are ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?” (http://catholicfire.blogspot.com/2006/08/favorite-quotes-from-st-maximilian.html)
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Love of God and self-love are in our heart like Jacob and Esau in Rebecca’s womb: they have great antipathy and opposition to one another and continually struggle within our hearts…We must have courage, hoping in the words of our Lord, who promises even as he gives commands, and commands even as he promises victory for his love. He seems to say to the soul what he caused to be said to Rebecca: ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be divided out of your body, and one people shall overcome the other.’” (TLG, Book XI, Chapter 20, pp. 254-255)
We know about this struggle ourselves. Why do we do the evil that we shouldn’t? Why do we fail to do the good that we should? What will come of this struggle between good and evil in us? Recall the words of the Cherokee legend: An elderly Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil -- he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority, and ego. The other is good---he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too." They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied: "The one you feed."
Today, which wolf in your house will you feed?
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In the Introduction to the book, Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal: Letters of Spiritual Direction, we read:
“Jane de Chantal continued with her work of overseeing the large family of religious to whom she was the chief spiritual mother. She wrote ardent letters to superiors, novice mistresses, and novices which reflect her struggle to institute a way in which the authentic Salesian spirit might come to be observed everywhere.”
“In her letters of spiritual direction (where her concern was to stay close to the very Salesian spirit of beginning right where one is and with the facts at hand), Jane de Chantal continued to show herself as a masterful director of souls. She brought to this task her won particular life experience and temperament. The experience of motherhood was chief among those experiences. Since her youth, she had been engaged in the art of biological mothering, and since midlife, she had exercised her spiritual maternity. The correspondence she maintained with the superiors of the Visitation reflects the self-conscious cultivation of attitudes and skills she believed were congruent with maternal care. Superiors were enjoined to be true mothers, tolerant of their children’s weaknesses, encouraging their small steps, and never overly ambitious for their advancement until they themselves grew into the maturity of spiritual wisdom…This task of cultivating and disseminating this spirit of motherly direction occupied Jane de Chantal for many years. It was part of her long-term effort to ensure the survival – both institutional and spiritual – of the Salesian charism in its manifestation as the order of the Visitation.” (LSD, p. 32)
We are the beneficiaries of Jane de Chantal’s efforts to ensure the survival of the Salesian charism. How can we pick up where she left off - just today?
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“If a man is virtuous, he shall surely live…”
Practicing virtue – that is, developing the habit of doing what is good – is the ultimate expression of any authentic spirituality. In the Salesian tradition, it isn’t enough to do what is good, but one also has to do what is good in ways that fit the state and stage of life in which one finds oneself.
In her book Earth Crammed with Heaven, Elizabeth Dreyer wrote:
“Francis de Sales stands out as one who was firmly convinced that people in every walk of life are called to holiness. His life’s effort, truly innovative in his day, was to help people find God in their particular life calling. The nearness of God was not the exclusive domain of any one group in the church. ‘True devotion,’ he said, ‘adorns and beautifies any vocation or employment.’ He constantly opposed the tendency, frequently found among those who want to live a spiritual; life, to seek the virtues of another state in life while neglecting those proper to one’s vocation. The home is not a convent, and the virtues of the monastic life are not lived in the same way in family life…” (p. 46)
We will truly live to the extent that we practice virtue. We will truly live life to the full to the extent that we practice the virtues proper to the events, circumstances, and relationships that we experience day in and day out.
Just today, what virtues might God be calling us to practice?
