*****
“He fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him…”
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed:
“Consider that a certain number of years ago you did not yet exist. God has drawn you out from nothingness so as to make you what you are now and has done so solely out of his own goodness. Consider the nature God has given you. It is the highest in this visible world, is capable of eternal life and able to be perfectly united with God’s Divine Majesty…God has placed you in this world not because God has any need of you but because God wishes to exercise his goodness in you by giving you his grace and glory. For this purpose God has given you intelligence to know him, memory to be mindful of him, will to love him, imagination to picture his benefits to yourself, eyes to see His wonderful works, and tongues to praise him, just to mention a few…Consider the corporeal benefits that God has bestowed on you: the body itself, all goods provided for its maintenance, health, comforts friend, supporters and other helps… By noting each and every particular blessing you will perceive how gentle and gracious God has been to you.” (IDL, Part I, Chapters 9- 11, pp. 53 -57)
How can we possibly even begin to give thanks for everything that God has given – and continues to give – to us? Francis de Sales offers a suggestion: just as God has been gentle and gracious to us, may we strive to be equally – or at least, approximately – as gentle and gracious to others on this Thanksgiving Day…and every day!
*****
“Consider the fig tree and all other trees…”
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales observed:
“The cross is the root of every grace received by us who are spiritual grafts attached to our Savior’s body. Having been so engrafted if we abide in him, then by means of the life of grace he communicates to us we shall certainly bear the fruit of glory prepared for us. But if we are mere inert sprigs or grafts on that tree - that is, if by resistance we break the progress and effects of His mercy - it will be no wonder if in the end we are wholly cut off and thrown into everlasting fire as useless branches.”
“God undoubtedly prepared paradise only for such as he foresaw would be his. Therefore, let us be his both by faith and by our works, and he will be ours by glory. It is in our power to be his, for although to belong to God is a gift from God, yet it is a gift that God denies to no one. God offers it to all people so as to give it to such as will sincerely consent to receive it. He gives us both his death and his life: his life so that we may be freed from eternal death, his life so that we can enjoy eternal life. Let us live in peace, then, and serve God so as to be his in this mortal life and still more so in life eternal.” (TLG, Part III, Book 5, pp. 178-179)
Francis de Sales insists that our future depends heavily upon our present. At any given moment we can think, feel and act in ways bring us closer to either (1) redemption, or (2) damnation. It all comes down to how deeply grafted we are onto the heart – and the cross – of Christ.
*****
“At once they followed him...”
In his book This Saint’s for You, Thomas J. Craughwell writes:
“Andrew and his brother Peter were sitting in their fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee, repairing their nets, when Christ called to them, saying, ‘Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.’ Although the brothers did leave their boat to follow the Lord, they never stopped catching fish: it was how they supported themselves and their families.”
“Time and time again the Gospels take us back to the Sea of Galilee: on one occasion, Jesus climbed into Peter and Andrew’s boat to preach to a crowd on the shore; on another, while the brothers and some of the other disciples were out fishing, they saw Jesus advancing toward them by walking on the water. After a long night of fishing and catching nothing, Christ urged the brothers to go out to the deepest part of the sea and lower their nets one more time. This time the catch was so great that the fishing nets broke, and Peter and Andrew had to signal to their fellow apostles and business partners James and John to come help them haul in the fish. And, when there was nothing for the crowd of five thousand to eat, it was Andrew who brought forward a boy who had five barley loaves and two fish, which Christ multiplied to feed the multitude…with much leftover to boot.”
“Tradition says that St. Andrew carried the Gospel to Greece. At the town of Patras, he was arrested and tied to an X-shaped cross. The legend claims that it took him three dies to die, and the entire time he hung on the cross St. Andrew preached to all who passed by.” (p. 179)
Andrew: once a fisherman, always a fisherman. A fisherman doesn’t get to pick the day, time, situations or circumstances in which he fishes. He simply fishes, come what may. A fisherman jumps at the chance to make a catch; he will drop whatever else he might be doing in pursuit of his livelihood. Such an avocation requires tenacity, patience, determination and a willingness to go with the flow. Perhaps that’s Jesus why Jesus called Andrew to become one of his apostles/disciples, because such qualities could come in quite handy when it came to preaching the Good News.
Jesus calls each of us - in our own unique ways - to be fishers of “men.” To what degree does Jesus see in us some of the same qualities that he saw in Andrew?
*****
“Stay awake!”
In a reflection upon the season of Advent, Blessed Louis Brisson, OSFS observed:
“Advent means coming. It is a time set aside to prepare for Christmas. These four weeks of Advent represent the four thousand years which preceded the coming of the Messiah. Throughout these many years the prophets announced the coming of Our Lord.”
“There are two advents of Our Lord. The first is His great advent when he came to this earth to save us. He willed to come to us little, humble and unknown. He was born poor to show us that poverty is no disgrace. He willed to be a working man to teach us to love work as He loved it.”
“The second advent of Our Lord is made in our hearts. Every time that we have a good thought, every time that we take the Good Lord with us, every time that we make an act of fidelity - every time that we tell God that we are all His - an advent takes place. Our Blessed Savior visits our souls.” (Cor ad Cor, p. 13)
As we prepare for Jesus’ first advent in four weeks, we should do our level best to “be vigilant at all times.” We should be on the lookout for the legions of Jesus’ second advents. On any given day many opportunities come our way to have good thoughts, to harbor good feelings, to develop good attitudes and to do goods things, especially with and toward other people.
When these opportunities come – and with them, Jesus himself – will we be ready to receive them? Will we be ready to make good use of them?
Come – O come – Emmanuel!
*****
“I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.”
On day two of our Advent journey toward the Solemnity of the Incarnation, listen to the words of Blessed Louis Brisson, OSFS:
“Man sinned and was driven from the earthly paradise. The merciful God promised a Savior, a Redeemer. But God did not tell us what kind of Redeemer he would send to save us. Most of the prophets, in announcing His coming, do not appear to have been concerned with the details. However, in His infinite mercy, God decided that the Redeemer should be none other than the Divine Word itself, His own Eternal Son. He would take our human nature and become one of us in order to make reparation for the offense committed against God, and also to serve as a model for us.” (Cor ad Cor, p. 13)
Clearly, since the fall of Adam and Eve, none of us is worthy to have God enter under our collective roofs. Driven out of Eden, our ancestors no longer felt at home with God. It is, therefore, all the more remarkable that in the fullness of time that God chose to make his home within each and every one of us by taking on our nature in the person of His Son, Jesus. We are no longer strangers or orphans; we have found our new home in Christ.
Today following Jesus’ example, how can each of us make more of a home within our minds, hearts and lives for others?
*****
“The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him…”
In today’s selection from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, we hear of the seven gifts associated with the presence and action of the Holy Spirit.
In a sermon preached during the last few years of his life to the Sisters of the Visitation, Francis de Sales offered the following prayer:
“God grant us his gift of fear, that we might serve him as his dutiful children; his gift of piety, that we might give him due reverence as our loving father; his gift of knowledge, that we may recognize the good we ought to do and the evil we should avoid; his gift of fortitude, that we may bravely overcome all the difficulties we shall meet in trying to be good; his gift of counsel, that we might discern and choose the best ways of living a life of devotion; his gift of understanding, that we may divine the beauty and value of faith’s mysteries and the Gospel principles; and finally, his gift of wisdom, that we may appreciate how lovable God is, that we may experience and thrill to the delight of that goodness of his which is more than our limited minds can fathom. O, the happiness that will be ours if we accept these precious gifts! (Pulpit and Pew, p. 158)
What are the signs associated with our making good use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Isaiah cites several:
· Not judging by appearance or hearsay
· Judging the poor with justice
· Deciding aright for the afflicted
Today, how might you make good use of the Holy Spirit’s gifts?
*****
“Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”
On day four of our countdown to Christmas, Blessed Louis Brisson, OSFS offers the following reflection:
“The purpose of the Incarnation is the complete remaking of man. It is the sanctification and penetration by God of his soul, his body, of all his actions and of his whole life. O happy fault! The soul then returns to its condition before the Fall; actually, the soul is made even more beautiful and wonderful than it was before the fall.”
“But who has grasped this completely? Who has furnished the means of realizing so admirable a task? Who is it who has found this great means? Who is it who has given the last word, the very last word that will have to be said on this question until the end of time? It is Our Holy Founder [Francis de Sales]. By his doctrine and direction he leads the soul to complete imitation of the Savior and to identification with Him. This is the aim of all his teachings. ”
“Is this Utopia? Is this a dream impossible to realize? No, not at all! What he desires of us he first demonstrated in his own life by the grace of God. Others, directed by him also, have also realized this dream. Others continue to do so still… (Cor ad Cor, p. 16)
Indeed, God has saved us in the person of His Son! God continues to remake us “even more beautiful and wonderful” than we could have been before ‘the fall’. One could even say that God is making each of us the beneficiary of the ‘ultimate makeover’.
How can we help to make God’s dream of a redeemed and renewed humanity in our little corners of the world? How can we imitate and identify with His Son today?
