Spirituality Matters: February 21 - February 27

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(February 21, 2021: First Sunday of Lent)
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“Jesus was led into the desert…to be tempted by the devil…”

In a reflection entitled “Devils Big and Small”, Blessed Louis Brisson, OSFS observed:

“My children, we read in the Gospel (for the First Sunday of Lent) about the temptation of Our Lord in the desert. He willed to undergo temptations of various kinds - the temptation to sensuality and ease, the temptation to pride and the desire to be the master, and finally the temptation to amass riches.”

“Everyone experiences temptations of one kind or another. Whatever your temptation is, my children, you must stand firm and dismiss it courageously.”

“Sometimes it happens that temptation does not spring entirely from us. I know at times we have the temptation to do something that is forbidden, but this is not all our doing. The tempter, the devil, has a great part in it. Consider what we must do then. Following the example of Our Lord, we must say to the devil, ‘Be gone, Satan!’”

“When this big devil leaves, a little devil stays behind. This little devil seems less annoying and he is more easily accepted than the big devil. He is not so readily dismissed. We willingly listen to him because he does not suggest noticeably big things. He merely flatters the little, secret inclinations of our self-love.”

“Be very generous, my children. Send away this little personal devil as quickly as the big one. He is more dangerous because he is more suggestive and persistent. He does not appear so bad but take care. Do what Our Lord did. Say, ‘Be gone, Satan!’ Do not listen to big devils or little ones.”

So today, be it big or small, what is it that bedevils you of which you would like to be freed?

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(February 22, 2018: Chair of Peter, Apostle)
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“Who do you say that I am?”

On the web site of the Catholic News Agency, we find the following entry for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter:

“The Feast of the Chair of St. Peter celebrates the papacy and St. Peter as the first bishop of Rome. St. Peter's original name was Simon. He was married with children and was living and working in Capernaum as a fisherman when Jesus called him to be one of the Twelve Apostles. Jesus bestowed to Peter a special place among the Apostles. He was one of the three who were with Christ on special occasions, such as the Transfiguration of Christ and the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was the only Apostle to whom Christ appeared on the first day after the Resurrection. Peter, in turn, often spoke on behalf of the Apostles.”

“When Jesus asked the Apostles: ‘Who do men say that the Son of Man is?’ Simon replied: ‘Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God.’ And Jesus said: ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood have not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to you: That you are Peter [Cephas, a rock], and upon this rock [Cephas] I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven’. (Mt 16:13-20) In saying this Jesus made St. Peter the head of the entire community of believers and placed the spiritual guidance of the faithful in St. Peter’s hands.”

This post on the web site continues: “However, St. Peter was not without faults…”

Now there’s an understatement. No sooner does Jesus give Peter a big “shout out” for correctly identifying him as the Christ than Jesus publicly – and severely – reprimands Peter for disputing Jesus’ description of Himself as a suffering Messiah. Later, in their relationship, Peter rather lamely suggests erecting three tents while Jesus is transfigured on Mt. Tabor. Still later, Peter impetuously severs the ear of a slave belonging to the chief priests who came to arrest Jesus at Gethsemane. After protesting his love for Jesus at the Last Supper, Peter denied Jesus not once, not twice but three times. And, of course, while Jesus spent the last hours of his life hanging on the cross, Peter was nowhere to be found.

Jesus may have called Peter “rock”, but the Savior knew Peter also had cracks. While “Chair of Peter” speaks of stability, even Peter might be described as being “off his rocker” from time to time.

However, as imperfect as Peter was, God entrusted the keys of the kingdom to him. And as imperfect as we are, Jesus continues to entrust those same keys – however obvious or innocuous – to every one of us.

Today, as we celebrate the “Chair of Peter,” don’t forget that Jesus has likewise prepared a chair – a place, a role – for each and every one of us in continuing the work of God’s Kingdom.

Like Peter, do we have the courage to take our place in God’s plan of salvation?

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(February 23, 2021: Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr)
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 “In praying, do not babble like the pagans…”

 In the book Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal - Letters of Spiritual Direction, we read:

“The way in which St. Jane de Chantal was drawn by God was a contemplative type of prayer which she referred to as the prayer of ‘simple attentiveness’ or ‘simple entrustment to God’. This prayer consisted in a hidden and quiet waiting, an expectant attention to the presence of God. It was a virtually imageless and wordless type of prayer to which she had been drawn early in her own development.”

“It was this prayer which later became the inner charism of the Order of the Visitation and about which she wrote, ‘When the time comes to present ourselves before His divine Goodness to speak to Him face to face, which is what we call prayer, simply the presence of our spirit before His and His before ours forms prayer whether or not we have fine thoughts or feelings…He is touched with the prayer of a soul so simple, humble and surrendered to His will.’” (LSD, pp. 84 – 85)

 Prayer is not always about saying a lot to God or doing a lot for God. Sometimes, prayer is simply about being…with God.

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(February 24, 2021: Wednesday, First Week of Lent)
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“There is something greater here…”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“‘Woe to you, Corozain! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in you, they had have long ago done penance in sackcloth and ashes.’ Such is the word of Our Savior. Hear the, I beg you, Theotimus, how the inhabitants of Corozain and Bethsaida, instructed in the true religion, and having received favors so great that they would effectually have converted the pagans themselves, remained nevertheless obstinate, and never wished to avail themselves of those favors, and by an unparalleled rebellion rejected that holy light. In truth, ‘at the day of judgment the men of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba will rise up against the Jews, and will convict them as worthy of damnation: because, as to the Ninevites, though idolaters and barbarians, at the voice of Jonas they were converted and did penance; and as to the Queen of Sheba, she, though engaged in the affairs of a kingdom, yet having heard the renown of Solomon's wisdom, forsook all, to go and hear him. Yet the Jews, hearing with their own ears the heavenly wisdom of the true Solomon, the Savior of the world; seeing with their own eyes his miracles; touching with their own hands his virtues and benefits; they did not cease to harden their hearts and to resist the grace which was so freely and powerfully offered to them. See then again, Theotimus, how they who had less attractions are brought to penance, and those who had more remain obdurate: those who have less occasion to come, come to the school of wisdom, and those who have more, stay in their folly…” (TLG, Book II, Chapter 10, pp. 126 – 127)

Why is it that the people you would least expect are the ones who “get it” when it comes to the love of God? They may not be very sophisticated, and they might be slow to see the big picture, yet their hearts are touched and changed by their realization of the enormity of God’s love for them. They open their hearts to their own delight!

 By contrast, why it is that the people who should know better are frequently enough the very ones who don’t “get it”? They might be incredibly wise, and they may have a lot going for them, yet still they never manage to allow the love of God to get through to them. They harden their hearts at their own peril.

 Amid our day-to-day lives there is, indeed, “something greater here”.

 Do we get that?

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(February 25, 2018: Friday, First Week of Lent)
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 “Ask and it will be given to you…”

 In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“If a man prayer to God and perceives that he is praying, he is not perfectly attentive to his prayer. He diverts his attention from God to whom he prays to think of the prayer by which he prays. A man in fervent prayer does not know whether he prays or not, for he does not think of the prayer he makes but of God to whom he makes it.” (TLG, Part IX, Chapter 10, p. 122)

If Jesus invites us to ask for things in prayer, who are we to refuse him? However, we need to be open to the fact that God may not always give us what we want in ways that we want. God indeed answers our prayers, but not always in ways to our liking.

For his part, Francis de Sales asks us to focus on the purpose of our prayer. When it comes to prayer, he asks us to be less concerned about the things for which we ask and more focused upon the person to whom we bring our requests. After all, what could be better than any one thing that God might give us when compared with what God has already given us in the person of his Son?

Himself!

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(February 26, 2018: Friday, First Week of Lent)
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“You have heard it said…but I say to you.”

Think about it, there must be higher love

Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above

Without it life is wasted time

Look inside your heart, I’ll look inside mine.

Things look so bad everywhere

In this whole world what is fair?

We walk blind and we try to see

Falling behind in what could be.

Bring me a higher love, bring me a higher love

Bring me a higher love, where’s that higher love I keep thinking of?

- sung by Steve Winwood

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to a “higher” love. Jesus urges us to avoid practicing or pursuing spiritual minimalism, i.e., looking to do only the bare minimum of what is required or living life by the “good enough” method. Jesus clearly raises the bar when he tells his listeners that it is not just enough to avoid killing your neighbor, but you must also avoid growing angry with – or holding a grudge against – your neighbor. Indeed, you must be reconciled with your neighbor.

It is not enough to “do no harm”. We must be devoted to doing the good. Jesus’ “higher love” is really at the heart of Francis’ notion of “devotion

For his part, St. Francis de Sales also challenges us to avoid spiritual minimalism. It is not good enough to avoid lying; we must be truthful. It is not good enough to avoid gluttony; we must be disciplined. It is not good enough to avoid being parsimonious; we must be generous. It is not good enough to avoid injuring others; we must heal others.

And so today, we pray: God, help us to live by a higher standard – help us to practice a higher love.

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(February 27, 2021: Saturday, First Week of Lent)
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"Be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul..."

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Genuine, living devotion presupposes love of God, and hence it is simply true love of God. Yet it is not always love as such. Inasmuch as divine love adorns the soul it is called grace, which makes us pleasing to the Divine Majesty. Inasmuch as it strengthens us to do good, it is called charity. When it has reached a degree of perfection at which it not only makes us do good but also do this carefully, frequently and promptly, it is called devotion.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 30, p. 206)

 Indeed, “Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord”!

 Carefully, frequently and promptly!

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Spirituality Matters: February 14 - February 20

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(February 14, 2021: Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“They shall declare themselves unclean.  They shall dwell apart, making their abode outside the camp.”

“Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “Be cured.”

St. Francis de Sales wrote in his Introduction to the Devout Life: “There is scarcely anyone without some imperfections.” (Part 3, Chapter 22)

We have a good handle on the imperfections, vices, idiosyncrasies and even the sins of those with whom we work, we play, we neighbor and we live each day.

Most days we overlook them.  Some days we put up with them.  Other days, we might even make excuses for them.  Occasionally, we dwell on – maybe even magnify – them.

However, sometimes it is necessary to draw attention to things in other people that blemish their potential for happiness, health, and holiness.  Maybe, we need to take the risk to name the sins, the faults and the wounds in others that prevent them from being more of the person God calls them to be. And maybe, we need to reflect on those social, spiritual, psychological or relational sores of others that rob them of their full citizenship as sons and daughters of the living, loving and saving God.

The Scriptures contrast two very different methods for doing this process.  One approach draws attention to others’ sins in order to isolate them, ostracize them or distance them from the community.  The other approach – Jesus’ approach – is to draw them even more closely into the life of the community, to create a space in which the ‘unclean’ can experience healing, strength, and a new lease on life.

Ask yourself the question: When you do draw attention to the imperfections, the warts, the blemishes of others, why do you do it?  To distance yourself from them?  To embarrass them?  To humiliate them?  Or are you reaching out and/or reaching into the heart of others?  Is your goal to create a space of truth in which they can experience healing, forgiveness, reconciliation and strength?

While it may sometimes be necessary to pay attention to the imperfections, the sins or the blemishes of others, it is always necessary for us to be honest about our own sin and weakness.  We need to be clear and unambiguous about our own need for healing and forgiveness.  We need to be clear about our own need for friends who will not only tell us what we want to hear about ourselves, but who will also consistently have the courage to tell us what we need to know about ourselves.

Today, let us give thanks to God for those friends who do us this wonderful service!

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(February 15, 2021: Monday, Sixth Week in Ordinary Time)
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Why did Cain slaughter his brother, Abel?

It appears that Cain fell into the trap of comparing himself to his brother, Abel. Cain perceived Abel’s success as the  reason for his own failure. In so doing, Cain gave himself over to that ‘sin’ crouching at the door - the destructive animal of envy. Once Cain allowed it to gain the upper hand, envy’s jaundice distorted his perception of Abel. No longer a brother, Abel became a competitor with Cain for God’s affection and approval.

In the event, Cain’s envy proved disastrous for both brothers. Abel paid with his life, while Cain paid by losing the approval of the God that he was so desperate to please…at any price.

Envy is defined as “a painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage”. In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote: “Envy makes us sorry that our neighbor enjoys a greater good than ours, or a like good, even though he takes nothing away from ours. In such cases, envy is unreasonable and makes us think that our neighbor’s good is our ill…” (Book X, Chapter 12, p.174)

As accomplished as we are – as gifted as we are – as good as we are – we can always find somebody who seems to have more going for them than we do. Don’t fall into the trap of envy; don’t presume to build yourself up by tearing someone else down. Recall Francis de Sales’ great remedy for the temptation to resent another person’s good fortune(s): “Be who you are; be that well.”

In keeping up with our own progress we experience the freedom to truly become – and remain – one another’s keepers.

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(February 16, 2021: Tuesday, Sixth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“When did Noah build the ark, Gladys? Before the rain – before the rain.”

 - (Robert Redford, playing the role of Nathan

Muir in the film Spy Game, 2001.)

 The Book of Genesis describes a kind of divine boiling point - God has reached the end of his patience in the face of human wickedness and has decided to start over, but not before making allowance for a remnant of both man and beast alike that will survive the flood. God chooses Noah to build an ark that will preserve this remnant and – eventually – repopulate the earth. Noah, of course, is mocked by most of his contemporaries, right up until the day that the flood came.

 Francis de Sales placed a great premium on living in the present moment. He exhorted his contemporaries to live each day, each hour and each moment as it came. He counseled people against brooding over the past; he warned people about fretting over the future.

 Living in the present, however, is not the same as flying blind or living by the seat of your pants. There is great value in doing a little pre-planning in the spiritual life. In fact, Francis de Sales recommended that people begin each day with what we now call the “Preparation of the Day”. Francis wrote:

“Anticipate any tasks, transactions and occasions that you may meet this day. Prepare yourself to make the best use of the means that may come to you. Carefully prepare to avoid, resist and overcome whatever may be encountered that is opposed to your salvation.”

Figuratively speaking, there’s many arks in our lives that we plan to build that never get finished. There are other arks in our lives that we believe we need that never get used. There are still other arks that we clearly should have built – but never did – because we didn’t recognize the need until after the fact. All that said, there’s no harm in preparing for the future – be it short or long term – provided that it does not disable our ability to live in the only place in which we can possible plan for tomorrow.

Today!

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(February 17, 2021: Ash Wednesday)
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Lent is a time when each of us is challenged to recognize our need for conversion. We are invited to closely examine our relationship with God, ourselves and one another. Simply put, Lent asks us to name those sins, vices, weaknesses -- anything -- that may prevent us from growing in thought, word and deed in our God-given dignity.

A popular way of ritualizing this inner journey is to "give up" something for Lent. Some refrain from tobacco; others eschew alcohol; still others pass up all desserts. Some of us may give up something good during Lent; some of us may give up something bad during Lent, and still others may give up a combination of both.

Using traditional language, Lent is a time for fasting. Fasting, however, is only half of the story. Lent, in its fullest expression, is also a season for feasting!

In their book A Sense of Sexuality, (Doubleday 1989) Drs. Evelyn and James Whitehead remind us that "fasting, at its finest, is neither solely punishment nor denial. We fast not only to avoid evils but to recapture forgotten goods." Put another way, “the 'no' of fasting is fruitful only if we have some deeply valued 'yes' in our life." The arduous discipline of feasting complements our fasting; we need something for which to fast.

That's right. Feasting requires no less discipline than fasting. The discipline of feasting celebrates well and heartily the God-given blessings that we enjoy without engaging in selfishness and excess.

Lent, then, is as much a matter of “doing”’ as it is of "doing without". St. Francis de Sales wrote in his Introduction to the Devout Life:

“Both fasting and working mortify and discipline us. If the work you undertake contributes to the glory of God and to your own welfare, I much prefer that you should endure the discipline of working than that of fasting.”

He continued:

“One person may find it painful to fast, another to serve the sick, to visit prisoners, to hear confessions, to preach, to assist the needy, to pray, and to perform similar exercised. These latter pains have as much value as the former.”

Whether through fasting or feasting, turning away from sin or turning toward virtue, these forty days of Lent are about our “insides”: our heart, mind, thoughts, feelings, attitudes, hopes and fears. It is the journey of the soul and spirit. “As for myself,” says Francis de Sales, “it seems to me that we ought to begin with the interior.”

And so we pray: God give us the grace to make a new beginning with the first of these forty days....and with every day that will follow hereafter.

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(February 18, 2021: Thursday after Ash Wednesday)
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“If you are led astray and serve other gods…you will certainly perish…”

Other gods – idols – are defined as “an object of extreme devotion”. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales cautions us from going to extremes when it comes to fasting or any other form of devotion. Beginning with a quote from St. Jerome, he wrote:

“’Long, immoderate fasts displease me very much…I have learned by experience that when an ass’ foal grows tired, it tends to wander away,’ meaning that those who are weakened by excessive fasting easily turn to soft living. Stags run poorly in two situations – when they are too fat and when they are too lean. We are very exposed to temptation both when our bodies are too pampered and when they are too run down, for the one makes the body demanding in its softened state and the other desperate in affliction. Just as we cannot support the body when it is too fat, so, too, it cannot support us when it is too thin. Lack of moderation in fasting and other forms of austerity makes many people’s best years useless for the service of charity. After all, the more some people mistreat the body in the beginning, the more they tend to pamper it in the end. Wouldn’t people do better to have a program that is balanced and in keeping with the duties and tasks their state in life obliges them to do?” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 23, p. 185)

A word of advice: When it comes to fasting of the body, the mind, the soul or spirit, avoid the temptation of going to extremes.

Today and every day.

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(February 19, 2021: Friday after Ash Wednesday)
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“This is the fasting that I wish…”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Both fasting and labor mortify and subdue the flesh. If your work is necessary for you to contribute to God’s glory, I much prefer that you endure the pains of work rather than of fasting. Such is the mind of the Church, for it exempts those who are working in the service of God and our neighbor even from prescribed fasts. One mind finds it difficult to fast, another to take care of the sick, visit prisoners, hear confessions, preach, comfort the afflicted, pray and perform similar tasks. These last sufferings are of far greater value than the first. In addition to disciplining the body, they produce much more desirable fruits…” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 23, p. 186)

And what are these “more desirable fruits”? Isaiah names a few: “releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke, setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke, sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.”

Today, what is the kind of fasting that God may wish from us? The answer - in general, the sacrifice, discipline and self-mastery that come more from focusing on what we can try to do, rather than on what we can try to do without.

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(February 20, 2021: Saturday after Ash Wednesday)
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 "If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech…light shall rise for you in the darkness..."

 In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Your language should be restrained, frank, sincere, candid, unaffected and honest. Be on guard against equivocation, ambiguity or dissimulation. While it is not always advisable to say everything that is true, it is never permissible to speak against the truth. You must become accustomed never to tell a deliberate lie whether to excuse yourself or for some other purposes, remembering always that God is the ‘God of truth.’ As the sacred word tells us, the Holy Spirit does not dwell in a deceitful or slippery soul. No artifice comes close to being so good and desirable as plain dealing …” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 30, p. 206)

Whether in fasting from telling lies – or being committed to telling the truth – what steps can we take today to make the light rise a bit higher and brighter in the darkness for ourselves and others by the type of speech we choose to speak?

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Spirituality Matters: February 7 - February 13

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(February 7, 2021: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“Is not our life on earth drudgery?”

Let's face it. Try as we might to always look at the bright side of life, each and every one of us have times in our lives when we would answer Job's question with a resounding "yes."
The burdens of life are real.  Setbacks in life are painful.  Headaches - and heartaches - are a part of being human.   We need to be honest.  We need to name and address those areas of our lives in which we feel weighed down and burdened.  However, wallowing in or dwelling upon the negative can be far more dangerous and debilitating to our spiritual, emotional, psychological, social and mental health than the troubles themselves.
Francis de Sales observed that dwelling on the burdens of life “upsets the soul, arouses inordinate fears, creates disgust for prayer, stupefies and oppresses the brain, deprives the mind of prudence, resolution, judgment and courage, and destroys its strength.  In a word, such sorrow is like a severe winter that spoils all the beauty of the country and weakens all the animals.  It takes away all sweetness from the soul and renders it disabled.”
What is the best remedy for melancholy, for the temptation to focus only on what is wrong, what is broken and what is painful?  The combination of prayer, good works, and good friends:
Prayer – “Prayer is a sovereign remedy for it lifts up the soul to God who is our joy and consolation."
Good works – “By means of sorrow the evil one tries to make us weary of doing what is good, but if he sees that we won't give up on doing good, then he will stop troubling us.”
Good friends – “Humbly and sincerely reveal to another all the feelings, affections and suggestions that proceed from your sadness.  Try to talk to spiritual friends frequently and spend time with them as much as you possibly can during this period” of dryness.
St. Francis de Sales claimed “the evil one is pleased with sadness and melancholy because he himself is sad and melancholy and will be so for all eternity.  Hence, Satan desires that everyone should be like himself.” Hence, the expression “misery loves company”.

In the face of life's burdens and difficulties let's do our level best to deprive the evil one of our company and walk in the company of prayerful, positive and proactive people.

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(February 8, 2021: Jerome Emiliani)
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“They begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.”

 People continued to bring the sick – and themselves – to be healed by Jesus. The account in today’s selection from the Gospel of Mark provides an interesting detail: those coming to Jesus for help believed that if they merely touched his clothing, they would experience healing power.

Just a little bit of Jesus – even the smallest touch of Jesus – went a very long way.

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote: “Among sacred lovers there are some who so completely devote themselves to exercises of divine love that its holy fire devours and consumes their life…” (Book VII, Chapter 10, p. 41) Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of this love. His love for others was so intense that even the smallest sampling of it changed forever the lives of those he touched.

Today, can the same be said of our love?

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(February 9, 2021: Tuesday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth.”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed: “Remember that God is not only in the place where you are: God is present in a most particular manner in your heart and in the very center of your spirit.” (Part II, Chapter 2, p. 85)

Each of us is a dwelling place of the Lord. By extension, this reality makes each of us a lovely sight to behold in the eyes of God. Each of us is an expression of God’s wonderful name in all the earth, in our little corners of that earth.

Do we see and treat ourselves – and others – in keeping with that wonder?

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(February 10, 2021: Scholastica, Virgin)
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 “Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person, but the things that come out from within are what defile…”

 In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Physicians learn a great deal about a person’s health or sickness by looking at the tongue. In the same way, our words are a true indication of the state of our souls. ‘By your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned,’ says the Savior. ‘The mouth of the just man shall meditate on wisdom and his tongue shall speak of judgment.’”

“An evil word falling into a weak heart grows and spreads like a drop of oil on a piece of linen cloth. Sometimes it seizes the heart in such a way as to fill it with a thousand unclean thoughts and temptations. Just as bodily poison enters through the mouth, so what poisons the heart enters through the ear and the tongue that utters it is guilty of murder…” (IDL, p. 193; 195)

Do you want to check the state of your spiritual health? Then start the diagnosis by examining the words that come out of your mouth.

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(February 11, 2021: Our Lady of Lourdes)
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 "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps."

 We see a test of wills in today’s Gospel. A local woman is determined to wrest a miracle for her daughter from Jesus, but Jesus seems equally determined to deny her request. While Jesus appears committed to saying “no” to this woman’s plea, the woman appears equally determined to refuse to take “no” for an answer. Clearly, this scene has all the makings of a “Syrophoenician stand-off”.

In both cases, Jesus and the woman are persistent. They are both determined to persevere.

 In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Our Savior attaches to the great gift of perseverance the supreme gift of eternal glory, as He has said, ‘The one who shall persevere to the end shall be saved.’ This gift is simply the sum total and sequence by which we continue in God’s love up to the end, just as the education, raising and training of a child are simply the acts of care, help and assistance…Perseverance is the most desirable gift we can hope for in this life. It is in our power to persevere. Of course, I do not mean that our perseverance takes its origin from our power. On the contrary, I know that it springs from God’s mercy, whose most precious gift it is.” (Book 3, Chapter 4, p. 174)

Jesus credits the Syrophoenician woman’s persistence – her perseverance – for granting her request to heal her daughter.

Today, how determined are we in our attempts to bring our needs – and the needs of those we love – to the Lord?

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(February 12, 2021: Friday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time)
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 “People brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him.”

 Jesus was only too happy to grant their request to heal a deaf man with a speech impediment. As we see in the Gospel account today, however, Jesus did much more than simply lay his hand on him. He took him apart from the crowd. Jesus placed his finger in the man’s ears. Spitting, Jesus placed his finger on the man’s tongue.

 Jesus healed people in a variety of ways. Sometimes he simply said a word. Sometimes he gave a direct command. Sometimes he followed someone to their home. Sometimes he healed from far away. Sometimes he healed in public. And sometimes – as seen in today’s account from Mark’s Gospel – Jesus’ healing is private: intimately up-close and personal.

Ask yourself this question: how might you need Jesus to heal you today? Then, ask yourself another question: how might Jesus need you to heal someone else today?

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(February 13, 2021: Saturday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“My heart is moved with pity…”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Compassion, sympathy, commiseration or pity is simply an affection that makes us share the sufferings and sorrows of ones we love and draws the misery that they endure into our own hearts…” (Book V, Chapter 4, p. 243)

As we see clearly in today’s Gospel, Jesus’ compassion is more than affection; it is more than a feeling. While he clearly makes the neediness of others his own, Jesus does more than that - he does something about the neediness. Jesus satisfies the hunger. Jesus heals the pain. Jesus breaks the chains. Jesus confronts the injustice.

Every time Jesus’ compassionate heart is moved, something good happens to others.

Today, will the same be said for our hearts? Is our compassion more than just a feeling? Does our compassion lead to action?

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Spirituality Matters: January 31 - February 6

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(January 31, 2021: Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“I should like you to be free of all anxieties.”

Sure! Where do I sign up???

We can certainly appreciate Saint Paul's prayer this Sunday that we should “be free of all anxieties”. Don't we all wish that we could be free of all anxieties? The truth is that all of us worry and fret about things. In some cases, given the challenges that life can throw at us, we should worry if we did not worry!

Worry is a part of life. Worry challenges us to respond to something in our lives that needs attention, to respond to something that needs to be addressed or to respond to something that needs to be examined and, where possible, to be achieved, remedied or, at least, improved. Of course, we also know from experience that many of the things for which we hope also to rely upon the actions of others…including God.

The problem is that worry can turn into anxiety. While worry is usually focused upon specific issues, concerns, people or events, anxiety is a free-floating emotion that can cripple our ability to deal with the challenges of life. “Anxiety is the greatest evil that can befall the soul, sin excepted,” writes St. Francis de Sales. “Anxiety arises from an inordinate desire to be freed from the evil we experience or to acquire the good for which we hope. Yet, there is nothing which so aggravates the evil or impedes the good as anxiety.”

Francis de Sales suggests that we should monitor our anxiety levels:

“Consider whether your heart is under your control, or if it has escaped from your hands to entangle itself in some inordinate attachment of love, hatred, envy, avarice, fear, weariness or joy. If it has wandered, go after it and bring it back quite gently to the presence of God.”

 Of course, prevention is the best cure.

“When you experience the beginning of anxiety, entrust yourself to God. Decide to do nothing of what your desire urges you until the anxiety has passed away completely, unless it is something that cannot be postponed. In such a case you must restrain and control the course of your desire with a gentle and peaceful effort. Above all, act reasonably, not emotionally.”

Amid our worldly worries, may God preserve us from anxiety. May we center ourselves in the heart of a loving God as we embrace our daily ups, downs and everything in between. May God help us in our efforts to prevent moments of worry from becoming a way of life.

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(February 1, 2021: Monday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“The man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with Him, but Jesus would not permit him…”

The story in today’s Gospel is but one of many occasions in which people – after having encountering Jesus – expressed their desire to follow Him, only to have their request denied. Whether in the case of the man possessed by many demons or in the cases of so many other people whose lives were forever changed by an encounter with Jesus, his directive to “go home” must have been a real let-down.

Especially in the case of John the Baptist!

In a letter to St. Jane de Chantal (14 October 1604), Francis de Sales wrote:

“I have often wondered who is the most mortified of the saints I know, and after some reflection I have come to the conclusion that is was John the Baptist. He knew that our Savior came to earth in a place quite close by, perhaps only one- or two-days’ journey away. How his heart, touched with love of his Savior from the time he was in his mother’s womb must have longed to enjoy his presence. Yet he spends twenty-five years in the desert without coming to see Our Lord even once; and leaving the desert he stays to catechize without visiting him but waiting until Our Lord comes to seek him out. Then when he has baptized him, he does not follow him but remains behind to do his appointed task…The example of this great saint overwhelms me with its grandeur.” (Conference XIV, p. 259)

It is easy to forget that after their encounter in the River Jordan during which John baptized Jesus, John remained behind while Jesus moved on. Yet, who would deny that John was, nevertheless, a follower – a disciple – of the Lord? As it turns out, there is more than one way to follow Jesus. While some announce what the Lord has done for them in unfamiliar or faraway places, others announce what the Lord has done for them right in their own homes and neighborhoods.

Just this day, whether it is in a place half-a-world away or right in your own back yard, how can you “follow” Jesus by giving witness to others for all that the Lord has done for you?

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(February 2, 2021: Presentation of the Lord)
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"Since the children are people of blood and flesh, Jesus likewise has a full share in these..."

“God has signified to us in so many ways and by so many means that He wills all of us to be saved that no one can be ignorant of this fact. For this purpose, God made us ‘in his own image and likeness’ by creation, and by the Incarnation God has made himself in our image and likeness, after which he suffered death in order to ransom and save all mankind.” (Treatise on the Love of God, Book 8, Chapter 4)

We are probably somewhat familiar with the notion that through creation we are made in God’s image and likeness. In contrast, we are probably far less familiar with the notion that God - through the Incarnation - made Himself in our image and likeness. Familiar or not, both are true.

St. Francis de Sales was captivated by the notion that God loved us so much that He not only came among us, but he also became one of us! God took on our very nature! In the person of Jesus, God gained and experienced first-hand knowledge of what it means to sleep, to wake, to work, to rest, to dance, to cry, to mourn, to struggle, to succeed and to dream. In these actions Jesus not only redeems what it means to be human, but Jesus also celebrates what it means to be human - to be human as God dreams.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews likewise believed this truth. He writes that “Jesus had a full share” in blood and flesh...and “had to become like his brothers (and sisters) in every way.” In this way, Jesus could not only redeem us but also, he could understand us.

This truth is indeed a great mystery and a supreme expression of intimacy. God so loved us that he took on our nature…He made himself into our image and likeness – the truest and best nature as God intended from the beginning of time. In a manner of speaking, through the Incarnation God shows us how to be comfortable in our own skin. How? By showing us that God is comfortable in our skin in the person of his son, Jesus Christ!

Put simply, it is in God’s nature to meet us where – and how – we are. Today, how can we imitate God’s example through our willingness to meet others where and how they are?

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February 3, 2021: Wednesday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Strive for peace with everyone…”

In a letter of spiritual direction, Francis de Sales counseled:

“We must in all things and everywhere live peacefully. If trouble – whether inside of us, or around us – comes upon us, we must respond to it peacefully. If success or joy comes, we must receive it peacefully, without a proud or puffed-up heart. When we need to avoid sin or evil, we must do that peacefully, without upsetting ourselves; otherwise, we may fall as we run away and give time to our enemy to kill us. If there is peace that we need to bring about we must do that peacefully; otherwise, we might commit many faults in our hurry to be peacemakers. Even our repentance and contrition must be made peacefully…”

Do you get the point? While we must indeed strive for peace with everyone, we need to include – perhaps, even begin with – ourselves. After all, charity – while not limited to home – begins at home. Put another way, you cannot give what you have not got! As Francis de Sales put it, “Haven’t I told you before that we must be patient with everyone, primarily with ourselves?” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 107)

Let there be peace on earth…and let it begin with me…today!

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(February 4, 2021: Thursday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two…”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Do you seriously wish to travel the road to devotion? ‘A faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality, and those who fear the Lord find him.’ As you see, these divine words refer chiefly to immortality, and for this we above all else have this faithful friend who by advice and counsel guides our actions and thus protects us from the snares and deceits of the wicked one. For us, such a friend will be a treasure of wisdom in affliction, sorrow and failure. He will serve as a medicine to ease and comfort our hearts. He will guard us from evil and make our good still better. You must have a guide (or companion) on this holy road to devotion.” (IDL, Part I, Chapter 4, p. 46)

 When Jesus sent his followers out to preach the Good News, he did not send them out alone. Jesus used the “buddy system,” sending them out together, in pairs. In the mind of God being a disciple of Jesus has nothing to do with being a lone wolf.

 Today, what is the lesson for us? The road of life is sometimes lonely enough without trying to travel it alone. Just as in the case of the first disciples we, too, – disciples of Jesus – need to stick together.

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(February 5, 2021: Agatha, Virgin and Martyr)
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“Do not neglect hospitality…”

In the Spring 2002 edition of Vision Magazine, Christine D. Pohl wrote: “Offering welcome is basic to Christian identity and practice. For most of the church’s history, faithful believers located their acts of hospitality in a vibrant tradition in which needy strangers, Jesus, and angels were welcomed and through which people were transformed. But for many people today, understandings of hospitality have been reduced to Martha Stewart’s latest ideas for entertaining family and friends and to the services of the hotel and restaurant industry. As a result, even Christians miss the significance of hospitality and view it as a mildly pleasant activity if sufficient time is available.” (p. 34)

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales made the following observations regarding the practice of hospitality:

“Apart from cases of extreme necessity, hospitality is a counsel. To entertain strangers is its first degree. To go out on the highways and invite them in, as Abraham did, is a higher degree. It is still higher to live in dangerous places to rescue, help and serve passers-by.” (TLG, Part III, Chapter 3, p. 128)

When you consider that most – if not all – of the people to whom we extend hospitality are not strangers but people whom we actually know - or who are known at least by people we know) -  how do we really practice hospitality, at least as St. Francis de Sales defined it? Since we rarely entertain total strangers these days, where does that leave us in our efforts to “not neglect hospitality”? Pohl offers a very practical answer to this question:

“The most important practice of welcome is giving a person our full attention. It is impossible to overstate the significance of paying attention, listening to people’s stories, and taking time to talk with them. For those of us who feel that time is our scarcest resource, often this requires slowing ourselves down sufficiently to be present to the person. It means that we view individuals as human beings rather than as embodied needs or interruptions.” (p. 40)

 If we define hospitality as “giving a person our full attention”, it becomes obvious that life provides ample opportunities for us to welcome others: not only strangers, but especially the people we know all-too-well - those with whom we live and love every day. So, most days what is required to practice hospitality? We need less to be good caterers and more to be good listeners.

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(February 6, 2021: Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs)
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"His heart was moved…for they were like sheep without a shepherd..."

In today’s Gospel we hear that Jesus’ heart was moved by the sight of the crowd who “were like sheep without a shepherd.” In other words, the people were lost.

“Lost” is defined as:

·        not made use of, won, or claimed

·        no longer possessed or no longer known

·        ruined or destroyed physically or morally

·        taken away or beyond reach or attainment

·        unable to find the way

·        no longer visible

·        lacking assurance or self-confidence

·        helpless

·        not appreciated or understood

·        obscured or overlooked during a process or activity

·        hopelessly unattainable

It is safe to say that we all have the experience of being “lost” from time-to-time. Sometimes, we might experience being “lost” in any number of ways for long periods of time. Fortunately for us, one of the reasons that Jesus became one of us was to find the lost.

Consider yourself found!

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Spirityality Matters: January 24th - January 30th

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(January 24, 2021: Third Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“The world as we know it is passing away.”

Francis de Sales wrote:

“God preserves this great world amid constant change, wherein day turns into night, night into day, spring into summer, summer into autumn, autumn into winter and winter into spring. One day is never perfectly like another: some are cloudy, some rainy, some dry and some windy. Such variety gives great beauty to the universe.”

Every person and every generation need to come to grips with the fact that our lives are always changing. No matter how good things may have been in former times or how good they may be right now, there is always more yet to come. The security of “what is” needs to be open to the uncertainty of “what may come”.

Put another way, we need to constantly reform, refashion and renew our lives.

This change goes against our grain. It is so easy to cling to what we know. It is so easy to believe that we have learned all we need to learn. It is so easy to think that there aren’t any more ways in which we can grow. We are tempted to say that we know, have learned and have grown enough.

On the other hand, Jesus invites us to believe in the Good News, that is, to believe in the power of God’s constant, unchanging love that calls us to learn more about God, ourselves and one another. Jesus calls us to believe that the willingness to reform our lives (with the help of the Holy Spirit) can help us to experience in the changing circumstances, events and relationships of our daily lives more of the justice, the freedom, the reconciliation and the peace that will be unchanging in heaven.

So, be willing to change. Be willing to grow. Be willing to learn. Be willing to reform. Be willing to be transformed. Believe that the power of the Reign of God can help you to become more of the person that God calls you to be. Turn away more convincingly from what is evil. Embrace more deeply what is good. In words and example, challenge and encourage one another to do the same.

While the world as we know it is passing away, Jesus promises us that the best is yet to come. Together, you and I can make the best of what is yet to come a reality in our own day by recognizing the opportunities that God provides in each and every present moment for our reformation, our transformation and our growth.

Believe in this Good News! Pass it on to others! Today!

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(January 25, 2021: Conversion of Paul, Apostle)
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St. Francis de Sales had a special place in his heart for the person whose conversion we celebrate - Paul of Tarsus. Throughout his writings Francis not only refers to Paul by name but Francis also refers to Paul by two titles reserved solely for him: “The Apostle” and “The Great Apostle.”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales observed:

“The glorious St. Paul speaks thus. ‘The fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, long-suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, constancy and chastity.’ See how this divine Apostle enumerates these twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit but sets them down as only one fruit. He does not say, ‘The fruits of the Spirit are…,’ but rather ‘the fruit of the Spirit is…’ Charity is truly the sole fruit of the Holy Spirit, but this one fruit has an infinite number of excellent properties…He means that divine love gives us inward joy and consolation together with great peace of heart, which is preserved in adversity by patience. It makes us kind and gracious in helping our neighbor with a heartfelt goodness toward him. Such goodness is not whimsical; it is constant and persevering and gives us enduring courage by which we are rendered mild, pleasant and considerate to all others. We put up with their moods and imperfections. We keep perfect faith with them, as we thus testify to a simplicity accompanied with trust both in our words and in our actions. We live modestly and humbly, leaving aside all that is luxurious and in excess regarding food and drink, clothing, sleep, play, recreation and other such desires and pleasures. Above all, we discipline the inclinations and rebellions of the flesh by vigilant chastity. All this so to the end that our entire being may be given over to divine dilection both interiorly by joy, patience, long-suffering goodness and fidelity, but also exteriorly by kindness, mildness, modesty, constancy and chastity.” (Book 11, Chapter 19)

From what we see in the life of St. Paul, he obviously did more than merely speak of the fruit of the Spirit. He lived it. His life was transformed by it. He shared it as a gift with all those whose lives he touched. Like Francis de Sales, may we not only admire the example of “the glorious St. Paul,” but also let us imitate his example in our own lives. Let us do our level best to embody and share the gift of the Spirit which indeed has so many excellent properties.

Today!

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(January 26, 2021: Timothy and Titus, Bishops)
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“Whoever does the will of God is brother, and sister and mother to me.”

What is God’s will? In more than a few places throughout the Gospels, Jesus is quite clear when He says, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”.

What does it mean to be merciful? Jesus is extremely specific in Luke 6: 36 – 38: “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful. Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Pardon and you will be pardoned. Give and it shall be given to you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, will they pour into the folds of your garment. For the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”

To be sure (as we see in the reading from the Second Book of Samuel), making sacrifice – making offering – has its place in following the will of God. However, as the example of David clearly indicates, offering goods to God should also lead to our offering goods to others.

• Doing the will of God is not limited to what we can offer solely to God.

• Doing the will of God is also about making the sacrifices involved in not judging and not condemning.

• Doing the will of God is also about making the sacrifices required in pardoning and giving.

• Doing the will of God is also about making the sacrifices involved in doing our level best to recall throughout each day that “the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you”.

Thirty – sixty – one hundredfold!

Do you want to be known as “brother, sister and mother” to Jesus? Do you want to be recognized as a member of Jesus’ family?

Then, do the will of God by putting into to practice this maxim from St. Francis de Sales: “The measure of love is to love without measure.”

Today!

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(January 27, 2021: Wednesday, Third Week of Ordinary Time)
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“Do you not understand this parable?”

Notwithstanding Jesus’ explanation of the parable to his disciples in today’s Gospel (which, according to most Scripture scholars, is actually a reflection on the part of the early Church placed on the lips of Jesus), it is easy to misunderstand the parable if we see it as a classification of different types of people in whom the seeds of God’s life and love do and/or do not grow. We are mistaken if we believe that the parable offers us a spiritual template with which we can – as it were – pick classes of people out of a lineup.

To understand the parable, we need to recognize that all the scenarios that Jesus describes are at work within each and every one of us.

Consider this: on any given day, how deeply do we allow the seeds of God’s life and love to take root in us? On any given day, how many of those seeds get choked off by our worries, fears and anxieties? On any given day, how many of those seeds become overwhelmed by our selfish or self-serving pursuits? On any given day, how many of those seeds perish due to our inability and/or unwillingness to accept the adversity that sometimes comes with living a Gospel life? On any given, day how many of those seeds fail to germinate due to our shallowness?

In a sermon he preached on Palm Sunday, 1622 in Annecy, Francis de Sales observed:

“In all creatures, no matter who they are, some imperfections can be found. The person who denies he has any imperfections is just as much a liar as the person who claims that he has no perfections at all. Every person, however holy, has some imperfections; every person, however wicked, has some good points. Made in God’s image and likeness, each person reflects something of God’s goodness; made from nothing, each person always carries with him some imperfection.” (Pulpit and Pew, p. 258)

There is nothing to be ashamed of in this situation – after all, it is simply the truth. Some of the seeds of God’s life and love are doing rather well within each of us, whereas other seeds of God’s life and love need some real attention and lots of tender loving care. Just because we have difficulty in making good use of all the seeds of God’s life and love within us on any given day doesn’t make us bad seeds!

Today, how can we become God’s “good soil” in our own lives and in the lives of others? What steps can we take to get a better yield from all the good seeds of divine life and love that God has planted so generously within and among us?

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(January 28, 2015: Thomas Aquinas – Religious, Priest and Doctor of the Church)
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In a Conference to the Sisters of the Visitation (“On Private Judgment”), Francis de Sales referred to Saint Thomas Aquinas whose feast day we celebrate.

“The great St. Thomas, who had one of the loftiest minds possible, when he formed any opinion supported it with the weightiest arguments that he could bring forward. Nevertheless, if he encountered anyone who did not approve of what he had decided to be right, or had contradicted it, he neither disputed with them nor was offended by their action, but took all in good part. He thereby showed that he had no love for his own opinion, even though he could not abandon it. He left the matter alone to be approved or disapproved by others as they pleased. Having done his duty, he troubled himself no more about the subject.” (Conference XIV, p. 259)

Thomas Aquinas is universally recognized as one of the brightest intellectual lights of his age (AD 1225 – 1274). But perhaps his greatest genius, to which St. Francis de Sales alludes, was his recognition that being bright does not always mean to be right. While there is little doubt that he could make an argument for his position on any topic, Thomas was grounded enough not to have to win every argument. His brilliance was only matched by his humility in allowing others to draw their own conclusions, only after having done his level best to state his case. As the saying goes, after giving it his best shot, Thomas would allow the chips to fall where they may.

Each of us is entitled to our opinion; that is a part of our humanity. However, we are all familiar with another part of our humanity that is the source of much conflict and distress - the need to always be right and the need for others to always agree with us. Let us do our level best this day to avoid the temptation to force other people to make our opinions their own. In the Salesian tradition it is better to devote our efforts to trying to win people over rather than trying to knock people down.

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(January 29, 2021: Friday, Third Week in Ordinary Time )
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“The land yields fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote: “Wherever we may be, we can and should aspire to a perfect life.”

Throughout his ministry, Francis de Sales repeatedly counseled people to make a stark – but sometimes all-too-subtle – distinction between perfection and perfectionism. It seems that the fault of many folks in Francis de Sales’ day was not that they were not trying to “aspire to a perfect life.” They were, in fact, trying too hard. They were overwhelmed with good intentions but underwhelmed by their results.

Typical of this counsel is a letter from Francis de Sales to Madame Angelique Arnauld, in which he wrote:

“I do know you well and I know that your heart is steadfastly determined to live entirely for God; but I also know that your great natural activity harasses you with many restless impulses. O dear daughter, you must not imagine that the work we have undertaken to do in you can be done so quickly. Cherry trees bear their fruit quickly because they only bear cherries which keep but a short time; but the palm, the prince of trees, only begins bearing fruit a hundred years after it has been planted, it is said. A mediocre life can be achieved in a year, but the perfection for which we are striving – that, my dear daughter, takes quite a few years to establish itself…” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 274)

If a grain of wheat takes time to grow – if an ear of corn takes time to grow – so much the more time is required for us human beings to grow as we “aspire to a perfect life.”

Anything worth doing takes time. In our case, it requires a lifetime!

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(January 30, 2021: Saturday, Third Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Why are you terrified?”

It is a great question that Jesus proposes to his disciples in today’s Gospel. For our part, we could probably list any number of things in our own lives that have scared, frightened or even terrified us in the past, that could scare, frighten or terrify us in the future or perhaps are scaring, frightening or terrifying us at this very moment. The fact of the matter is that every life comes with its share of things, situations and events that should terrify us!

In a letter to Angelique Arnauld, the Abbess of Port Royal, Francis de sales wrote:

“‘Oh, unhappy man that I am,’ said the great apostle, ‘who will deliver me from the body of this death?’ St. Paul felt as if an army, made up of his moods, aversions, habits and natural inclinations had conspired to bring about his spiritual death. Because they terrified him, he showed that he despised them. Because he despised them, he could not endure them without pain. His pain made him cry out this way and then answer his own cry by asserting that the grace of God through Jesus Christ will indeed defend him, but not from fear, or terror, or alarm nor from the fight; rather, from defeat and from being overcome.” (Letters of Spiritual Direction, pp. 172-173)

There are things in life that scare, frighten and terrify us for good reason. Jesus is not asking us to never experience these (or other) emotions when they come upon us with good reason; rather Jesus is asking us to remember (as was the case with the disciples in today’s Gospel) that in the midst of whatever storms and surges that we may experience in life, we are never alone!

Jesus is always – and forever – with us.

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Spirituality Matters: January 17th - January 23rd

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(January 17, 2021: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“What are you looking for?”

Are you looking for the best in life?

Are you looking for the worst in life?

Are you looking for meaning and purpose in life?

Are you looking to just get by in life?

Are you looking for a God who is always present to you?

Are you looking for a God found only in special places or once-in-a lifetime events?

Are you looking for peace?

Are you looking for division?

Are you looking for reconciliation?

Are you looking for alienation?

Are you looking for hope?

Are you looking for despair?

Are you looking for light?

Are you looking for darkness?

Are you looking for revenge?

Are you looking for redemption?

Why are these questions – and so many others like them – so important? Why? Because we tend to more easily or quickly see those things for which we are looking. We frequently fail to see or recognize those things for which we are not looking.

The Salesian tradition challenges us to look for our common dignity and destiny as sons and daughters of God.

• The Salesian tradition challenges us to look for our unique roles in God’s plan of salvation.

• The Salesian tradition challenges us to look for God in every event, circumstance and relationship of everyday life.

• The Salesian tradition challenges us to look for daily opportunities to serve one another in simple, practical and ordinary ways.

• The Salesian tradition challenges us to look for ways to make real here on earth something of the justice, truth, reconciliation, freedom and peace that are promised to us forever in heaven.

• The Salesian tradition challenges us to look for a God who calls us by name, who loves us, who cherishes us, who pursues us, who forgives us, who strengthens us…and who calls us to do the same for one another.

And so, at this point in your life, ask yourself - what are you, in fact, looking for?

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(January 18, 2021: Monday, Second Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, and your disciples do not fast?”

What distinguishes your run-of-the-mill comedian from a genuinely great comedian? Well, aside from having good material, the almost-universal answer is: “Timing”. Successful comedians are gifted with – or learned to develop – an incredible sense of timing.

The point that Jesus is trying to make in today’s Gospel is no laughing matter. In many cases, timing is everything. Fasting and feasting (among other things) are both good things. The challenge is to develop the sense to know the proper time to do one or the other. Recall the words found in the Book of Ecclesiastes 3, verse 1: “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven…”

In the Salesian tradition, developing this sense of timing goes together with the practice of virtue. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed:

“A great fault in many who undertake the exercise of some particular virtue is thinking they must practice it in every situation. Like certain great philosophers, they wish either always to weep or always to laugh. Still worse, they condemn and censure others who do not practice the same virtues they do. The apostle (St. Paul) says, ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep,’ and ‘charity is patient, is kind,’ generous, prudent, discreet and considerate.”

Jesus’ sense of timing - his knack for reading a situation, for recognizing his surroundings and for knowing what was called for with a particular person – enabled him to do the right thing at the right time in the right way. Unlike the one-size-fits-all” approach of the disciples of John and the Pharisees, Jesus shows us that the authentic practice of virtue must be “tailor-made”.

Indeed, “there is a time for every purpose under heaven”. What time is it now?

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(January 19, 2021: Tuesday, Second Week in Ordinary Time)
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“This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm…”

In an undated letter addressed to “A Gentleman” who apparently been struggling with a debilitating illness that had seriously challenged his confidence and faith in pretty much everything, Francis de Sales wrote:

“It is of great concern to me that everyone says that in addition to your physical illness, you are suffering from deep depression…Please tell me sir, what reason have you for remaining in this dark mood which is so harmful to you? I am afraid that your mind is still troubled by some fear of sudden death and the judgment of God. That is, alas, a unique kind of anguish! My own soul – which once endured it for six weeks – is in apposition to feel compassion for those who experience it.”

“So, sir, I must have a little heart to heart chat with you and tell you that anyone who has a true desire to serve our Lord and flee from sin should not torment himself with the thoughts of death or divine judgment: for while both the one and the other are to be feared, nevertheless, the fear must not be the terrible kind of natural fear which weakness and dampens the ardor and determination of the spirit, but rather a fear that is so full of confidence in the goodness of God that in the end grows calm…This is not the time to start questioning whether or not we are strong enough to entrust ourselves to God.”

“So, now, since you want to belong entirely to God, why be afraid of your weakness – upon which, in any case, you shouldn’t be relying in the first place? You do hope in God, don’t you? And will anyone who hopes in God ever be put to shame? No, sir, never!” (LSD, page 180)

In good times, in bad times, and in all the times in between, what is our hope and what is the anchor of our souls? Are our hope and anchor sure and firm? Well it is not a ‘what’ at all, but rather, a ‘who’.

Jesus Christ!

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(January 20, 2021: Fabian, Pope, Martyr; Sebastian, Martyr)
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“Grieved at their hardness of heart…”

Recall last week’s account of Jesus and the paralyzed man? Jesus healed a paralytic in two phases (first, by forgiving the man’s sins and second, by curing the man’s infirmity). As astonishing as that two-fold miracle may have been to those who witnessed it, perhaps the only thing even more astonishing was the intractability of the scribes who questioned Jesus’ authority for doing so. Those men of God appeared to have lost any sense of their need for God.

We see the same dynamic played out in today’s Gospel. Jesus is painfully aware that the Pharisees are looking for any excuse to discredit him, even if it requires demonizing an objectively good and righteous act! In another case of putting the cart before the horse, the Pharisees – this time through their cold, calculating silence – are placing the primacy of the Sabbath far ahead of the opportunity to restore someone’s health, in effect, to bring them back to life.

We are told at the end of the day that the Pharisees were undaunted in their pursuit of pettiness and parochialism, hardening their hearts to God’s providence at every opportunity. Fortunately for us, Jesus was even more undaunted in his pursuit of righteousness. Grieved as he might have been, Jesus never allowed others’ hardness of heart to harden his heart.

Today, as followers of Jesus, can the same be said of us?

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(January 21, 2021: Agnes, Virgin and Martyr)
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“Hearing what Jesus was doing, a large number of people came to him…”

As word of Jesus’ reputation for helping those in need spread, we are told in today’s Gospel that lots of folks from lots of places travelled lots of distances to see him, to behold his face, to hear his voice, to experience his healing power and know his love. In one of his Conferences to the Sisters of the Visitation, Francis de Sales remarked:

“It is very good for us to know and feel our misery and imperfection, but we must not allow that to discourage us; rather, our awareness of our miseries should make us raise our hearts to God by a holy confidence, the foundation of which ought to be in Him…The throne of God’s mercy is our misery; therefore, the greater our misery the greater should be our confidence in God.” (Living Jesus

, page 45)

Today’s Gospel challenges people in need not to avoid God but to pursue God. Awareness of our sinfulness should not drive us away from God but should draw us closer to God. Have confidence that God will help you. Have confidence that God will heal you. Have confidence that God will empower you.

Why? Because God loves you! How? In the person of his Son, Jesus.

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(January 22, 2021: Friday, Second Week in Ordinary Time)
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“He sent them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons…”

This scene from the third chapter of Mark’s Gospel is a major event in the relationship between Jesus and his Apostles/Disciples: he gives them the power to preach and to drive out demons! Their apprenticeship – as it were – is over.

Well, perhaps not completely over.

In Matthew’s Gospel (17: 10 – 21) and in Luke’s Gospel (9: 37 – 45) a man asks Jesus to save his son from a demon. The interesting detail here is that the man comes to Jesus only after some of Jesus’ own disciples (names unknown or, at least, unmentioned!) failed in their attempts to drive the demon out. While some of Jesus’ followers may have been appointed to drive out demons, having the power did not always guarantee success.

We might not think about it much, but by virtue of our creation (made as we are in God’s image and likeness) we are disciples of Jesus. We, too, are appointed to preach and to drive out demons. Oh, these demons may not resemble those described in the Scriptures, but they are nonetheless very real. They are evil spirits that plague countless people on any given day. These demons have many names, including hatred, resentment, anxiety, sadness, jealousy, despair, loneliness, frustration, anger, envy, cynicism and hopelessness. While we (like Jesus’ first disciples) may not always be successful, we are called to do our level best to drive out these demons (or, at least, reduce their effect) through our attempts to embody the spirits of confidence, hope, joy, contentment, solidarity, gratitude, reconciliation and love in our relationships with others.

Or, perhaps, by our efforts to drive out those same demons in ourselves!

(OR)

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(January 22, 2021: Day of Prayer - Legal Protection of Unborn Children)
*

In his popularization of Bishop Camus’s accounts of the life and legacy of St. Francis de Sales (in The Spirit of Love ) C.F. Kelley wrote:

“St. Francis de Sales would often say to me (Camus) how much better it would be to accommodate ourselves to others rather than to want to bend everyone to our own ways and opinions. The human mind is like pulp, which takes readily any color with which it is mixed. The great thing is to take care that it not be like the chameleon, which, one after the other takes every color except white.” (Select Salesian Subjects, p. 122, 0523)

St. Francis de Sales’ preferred approach for evangelizing was to meet people where they lived. As his Catholic Controversies clearly demonstrate, however, the “Gentleman Saint” had no hesitation in pointing out instances in which he believed people were objectively wrong. While seeking to accommodate others’ ways and opinions as a strategy for winning them over, attempts at persuasion can never be made at the expense of one’s own principles or core beliefs.

The debate regarding Roe vs. Wade and its impact in the United States shows no signs of waning. In addition, debate often denigrates into wholesale divisiveness, even ad hominem attacks. With this unfortunate state of affairs surrounding what is a life or death situation in mind, Jane de Chantal’s advice to a fellow Visitandine sister is especially relevant:

“I am convinced, and experience has taught me, that nothing so wins souls as gentleness and cordiality. Follow this method, for it is the spirit of our blessed Father. Curtness in words or actions only hardens hearts and depresses them, whereas gentleness encourages them and makes them receptive…” (LSD, page 247)

Discussions about how best to legally protect unborn children appear to produce little or no consensus. Arguments for and against “legislating morality” seem to have no end. In the meantime, there is nothing to be lost – and perhaps much to be gained – by continuing to pray that “liberty and justice for all” will, in fact, be just that - for all, including unborn children.

Today, may God help us to put that prayer into action with as much poignant purpose – and gentle persuasion – as we can.

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(January 23, 2021: Saturday, Second Week in Ordinary Time)
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“When his relatives heard of this, they set out to seize him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’”

In a perfect world, being true to yourself – being the person that God wants you to be – should be its own reward. But as even Jesus discovers in today’s Gospel, being true to yourself – being the person that God wants you to be – can bring with it some unwarranted and unwelcomed resistance and rejection.

Especially from family, friends and other loved ones!

Only three pages into his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales deals with this phenomenon head-on.

“The men who discouraged the Israelites from going into the Promised Land told them that it was a country that ‘devoured its inhabitants.’ In other words, they said that the air was so malignant it was impossible to live there for long and its natives such monsters that they ate men like locusts. It is in this manner that the world vilifies holy devotion as much as it can. It pictures devout persons are having discontented, gloomy, sullen faces and claims that devotion brings on depression and unbearable moods.” (IDL, Part I, Chapter 2)

In short, others may tell you that any attempt to live a holy life is just plain crazy! In St. Francis de Sales’ opinion, being the kind of person that God wants you to be is not only not crazy, but it is, on the contrary, the sanest decision you could ever make. He suggests:

“Devotion is true spiritual sugar for it removes discontent from the poor, anxiety from the rich, grief from the oppressed, pride from the exalted, melancholy from the solitary and exhausting from those in society. It serves with equal benefit as fire in winter and dew in summer. It knows how to enjoy prosperity and how to endure want. It makes honor and disgrace alike useful to us. It accepts pleasure and pain with a heart that is nearly always the same, and it fills us with a marvelous sweetness.” (Ibid)

Are you crazy to live a life of devotion? From Jesus’ perspective, you would be crazy not to do so!

*****

Spirituality Matters: January 10th - Janurary 16th

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(January 10, 2021: Baptism of the Lord)
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“I the Lord have called you for the victory of justice.” “Those of any nation who…act uprightly are acceptable to God.”

The account of Jesus’ baptism ends with the sound of a voice from heaven, saying “This is my beloved son.  My favor rests on him.”

Why does God’s favor rest upon Jesus?  Because Jesus is the Son of Justice.  Jesus measures by God’s standards in giving others their due.

Isaiah tells us that God has called us, like Christ, “for the victory of justice” and, in the Acts of the Apostles, to “act uprightly”.  In everyday terms, what does it mean to work for God’s justice by acting uprightly?

Consider the opposite of acting justly and uprightly:

“We condemn every little thing in our neighbor and excuse ourselves of important things. We want to sell very high but to buy at bargain prices. We demand that the right thing be done in another’s house, but that mercy and generosity be granted to ours. We like to have things that we say taken in good part, but we are tender and touchy about what others say.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 36).

At its heart, injustice is about living a double standard, measuring the world with two weights: one to weigh everything to one’s own advantage, and another to weigh everything to the disadvantage of others.

What makes our acts of injustice so difficult to identify is that they are seldom big. Rather, they are frequent and small, easy to overlook.  St. Francis de Sales writes:

“Self-love can lead us and direct us into countless small yet dangerous acts of injustice and iniquity. Because they are little, we are not on guard against them and because there are many of them they are sure to cause us – and others – great injury.”

Francis de Sales writes that just and upright people are, in short, reasonable people.  They do not live a double standard. They are people of integrity.   They follow the Golden Rule, treating others as they themselves would wish to be treated, not expecting of others that which they themselves refuse to practice.  Just and upright people measure the world using only one weight - the love of God.  “Be just and reasonable in your neighbor’s place and your neighbor in yours”, says St. Francis. “Live a generous, noble, courteous, royal, just and reasonable heart.”

 To the extent that we in this manner with one another each and every day, we grow as the “beloved sons and daughters of God”. God’s favor will rest on us, as we make real the promise of God’s justice to others.

*****
(January 11, 2021: Monday, First Week in Ordinary Time)
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“They left their nets and followed him...They left their father along with the hired men and followed him.”

The word left (used twice in today’s Gospel) is, of course, a form of the verb leave, defined as “(1) to go out of or away from; (2) to depart from permanently; quit: to leave a job; (3) to let remain or have remaining behind after going, disappearing, ceasing; (4) to allow to remain in the same place, condition, etc; (5) to let stay or be as specified”.

 Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, encounters with God almost always seem to involve people leaving something, somewhere or someone. Adam and Eve left Eden; Abraham and Sarah left their homeland; Noah left dry land and later left his boat; Moses and the Israelites left Egypt; Mary left in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth; the Magi left the East to follow a star; Mary, Joseph and Jesus left Bethlehem ahead of Herod’s rage, Matthew left his tax collecting post. And in today’s Gospel, Simon, Andrew, James and John left their nets, their livelihood, their families and their homes.

 Be that as it may, leaving – at least, as far as God is concerned – isn’t only about walking away from something, somewhere or someone. Leaving is also about drawing closer to something, somewhere or someone else. Specifically, loving God – and the things of God – frequently invites us to leave that which is comfortable and familiar in order that we might experience that which is challenging and new. By most standards that’s what growth – human growth – is all about - knowing when it’s time to leave – knowing when it’s time to move on – even when what, where or who might leave is good and sometimes, very, very good!

One of our greatest temptations in life is to stop moving, to stop growing, to stop changing, to stop learning and to stop developing. There was a time when psychologists seemed to suggest that human beings stopped growing somewhere in their twenties or thirties. Today, we know that human beings continue to grow right up until the day they die…or, at least, they are invited to do so. Leaving – as it turns out - is a part of living.

 Leaving is not about doing with less. Very often, leaving is about making room for more.

 What, where, how or who may God invite us to leave today in order that we might have more life - and more love – tomorrow?

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(January 12, 2021: Tuesday, First Week in Ordinary Time)
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“He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

In today’s Gospel we hear that the people of Capernaum where ‘astonished’ at the teaching of Jesus, for “he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. What distinguished the teaching of Jesus from the teaching of the scribes? How did Jesus’ “new teaching” manifest itself? Some of the elements include - but are certainly not limited to – the following differences:

1) Jesus taught important matters of the highest importance and which are necessary for salvation. By contrast the scribes taught trifling matters of rites and ceremonies which were passing away, such as the washing of hands and of cups.

2) What Christ taught in word, he fulfilled in deed. He talked the talk and walked the walk. The scribes, by contrast (as Jesus observed) spoke bold words but exhibited few deeds.

3) Jesus taught with fervor and zeal, such that the words of Scripture could always be applied to him. The scribes could lay no such claims.

4) Jesus confirmed his teaching by miracles; the scribes could not.

5) The scribes were merely interpreters of the Law, whereas Christ was the embodiment of the Law and Prophets.

6) While the scribes sought their own glory and the praise of others, Jesus taught solely for the glory of God and for the salvation of others.

7) In his words and example – and by the hidden inspirations of his grace - Jesus illuminated the minds and inflamed the hearts of his hearers. By contrast, the scribes clouded the minds and discouraged the hearts of their hearers. (http://newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.com/2012/01/christ-taught-as-one-having-authority.html)

When other people encounter us – especially as it relates to matters of faith, life and love – to whom do we bear a greater resemblance: the scribes, or The Christ?

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(January 13, 2021: Wednesday, First Week in Ordinary Time)
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“He drove out many demons…”

M. Scott Peck, an American psychiatrist, wrote two books on the subject of ‘demons’ - People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil and Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption. Peck describes in some detail several cases involving his patients. In People of the Lie he provides identifying characteristics of an evil person, whom he classified as having a character disorder. In Glimpses of the Devil Peck goes into significant detail describing how he became interested in exorcism in order to debunk the myth of possession by evil spirits – only to be convinced otherwise after encountering two cases which did not fit into any category known to psychology or psychiatry. Peck concluded that possession was a rare phenomenon related to evil, and that possessed people are not actually evil; rather, they are doing battle with the forces of evil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon)

In today’s Gospel – and all throughout the Gospels – we are told that Jesus drove out “demons” as a part of his ministry of proclaiming the power and promise of the Good News. Whether or not you believe in demons – regardless of your thoughts regarding exorcisms – we all struggle with things that plague us, that exasperate us or that appear to “possess” us to the extent that they prevent us from being the people God wants and/or intends us to be. Despite our best efforts, these “demons” seem impervious to our feeble attempts at conquering, dispelling or exorcizing them. Perhaps therein lies the lesson - the greatest mistake we make in struggling with our own “demons” is to believe that we must do it alone; that we must battle with our “demons” all by ourselves.

However large, small, frequent or few they might be, are you willing to bring your “demons” to Jesus?

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(January 14, 2021: Thursday, First Week in Ordinary Time)
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“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts…”

In a letter to Sr. Anne-Marie Rossett (Assistant and Novice Mistress in Dijon), Jane de Chantal wrote:

“I am convinced, and experience has taught me, that nothing so wins souls as gentleness and cordiality. Follow this method, for it is the spirit of our blessed Father. Curtness in words or actions only hardens hearts and depresses them, whereas gentleness encourages them and makes them receptive…” (LSD, page 247)

We see this admonition from both the responsorial psalm and St. Jane de Chantal put vividly into action in today’s Gospel by none other than Jesus himself.

In the person of a man plagued with leprosy, Jesus hears the voice of His Father. Even though Jesus is almost inundated by people looking for a cure, Jesus’ heart is not hardened in the face of this person’s plight – he is not curt, cold standoffish or aloof. Quite the contrary! Jesus is cordial, inviting and welcoming. Jesus’ heart is moved with compassion for the man. Power is released in Jesus, He physically approaches and touches the man with leprosy and the leprosy is cured.

We all have days when we feel spent, overextended or burnt out. In times like these we are tempted to be less than responsive to the needs of others – sometimes, perhaps, we even feel so spent that we harden our hearts towards others and their needs.

As followers of Jesus, today let us ask for the grace to keep our hearts open, cordial and inviting - most especially when we ourselves might be feeling more than a bit overwhelmed by the needs of others - and so live as Jesus lived.

Generously!!!

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(January 15, 2021: Friday, First Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Do not forget the works of the Lord…”

Romanian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel once remarked: “When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity”.
Today’s Gospel offers us a powerful illustration of how the absence of gratitude can diminish one’s humanity.

When Jesus heals a paralytic in two phases (first, by forgiving the man’s sins and second by curing the man’s infirmity) there isn’t an ounce of gratitude to be found anywhere among the scribes, because the only thing they seem capable of mustering is resentment. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the scribes seem to be suffering more from something missing in their humanity and they come off in this story as being sorry excuses for human beings.

 Maybe the reason that the scribes failed to recognize a singular work of the Lord in the present (at the hands of Jesus) was due to the fact that they had managed to forget the collective works of the Lord in the past. Absorbed by their own sense of smug self-importance, the scribes appear to have lost their capacity for gratitude. These men of God no longer displayed any need for God.

 Do you feel as if something is missing from your humanity? Experiencing any resentment? “Do not forget the works of the Lord.” For that matter, do not forget the works of all the people in your life who have helped to make you who you are today.

And don’t forget to be grateful. Your humanity depends on it!

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(January 16, 2021: Saturday, First Week in Ordinary Time)
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 “I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners…”

As word of Jesus’ reputation for helping those in need spread through the region, we are told in today’s Gospel that lots of folks (including Levi, a customs official) from lots of places travelled lots of distances to see him, to behold his face, to hear his voice, to experience his healing power and to know his love.

In one of his Conferences to the Sisters of the Visitation, Francis de Sales remarked:

“It is very good for us to know and feel our misery and imperfection, but we must not allow that to discourage us; rather, our awareness of our miseries should make us raise our hearts to God by a holy confidence, the foundation of which ought to be in Him…The throne of God’s mercy is our misery; therefore, the greater our misery the greater should be our confidence in God.” (Living Jesus, page 45)

Today’s Gospel challenges sinners of all shapes and sizes not to avoid God but to pursue God. An awareness of our sinfulness or our neediness should not drive us away from God but should draw us closer to God. Have confidence that God will help you. Have confidence that God will heal you. Have confidence that God will empower you.

Why? Because God does love us! How? In the person of his Son, Jesus.

* * * * *

Spirituality Matters: January 3rd - January 9th

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(January 3, 2021: Epiphany of the Lord)
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“They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then, they opened their treasures....”

On the Feast of the Epiphany, Blessed Louis Brisson made the following observations:

“In the Orient, there was a tradition that a new star would appear as a sign of redemption. If one would follow that star it would lead to the awaited Messiah. Thus, the Magi of the Orient who knew of this tradition - and who were versed in the study of the stars - one night noticed the star that was the precursor of the Messiah. Three in number the Magi – along with a great troop of servants – set out to follow it. The star led them to Jerusalem but stopped and disappeared.”

“The king who reigned in Judea at the time was Herod. Hiding his astonishment and hate, he called the doctors of the Law who declared that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. Herod, then, took the Magi aside and said to them, ‘I did not know of the birth of the King, but when you have found Him, return to let me know so that I also might go and adore Him.’ When the Magi left Jerusalem, the star appeared anew and led them to Bethlehem. They approached the Child Jesus, adored Him and offered Him their presents.”

“My friends, each soul has its own little star, the star of its vocation, the star of the will of God which enlightens its life and shows it what God desires of it. Ask our Savior very fervently for the grace to be faithful to your star. In following it you will find Jesus with his love and graces as the Magi found Him in the manger.” (Cor ad Cor, p. 49)

Today, how can you do homage to the Child Jesus? The answer - By opening the most valuable treasure of all - the God-given star of love within your heart.

And by following it!

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(January 4, 2021: Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious)
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“We should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.”

In his book This Saint’s for You, Thomas Craughwell writes:

“For two hundred years American parochial schools have provided countless children with a solid education while teaching them how to be faithful Catholics and solid citizens. While parish schools aren’t as numerous as they once were – to say nothing of the legions of nuns that used to teach in them – the situation is not nearly as daunting as it was in Elizabeth Ann Seton’s day.”

“Mother Seton’s life coincides with the birth of the United States and the rise of the Catholic Church in America. She was born one year before the battles of Lexington and Concord, during an era when Catholicism was outlawed in every colony except Maryland. In British America, there were no bishops, no nuns, no Catholic schools and no seminaries. Only about twenty priests lived in the colonies, most living incognito and using aliases to avoid hard anti-clerical laws. For her part she grew up the daughter of a prominent, well-to-do Anglican family on Staten Island. During the revolution they walked a fine line between loyalty to the king and support for the rebels. Whatever her family’s true sympathies may have been, they were firmly in the American camp by the time George Washington was elected president: in fact, the then-fifteen-year-old Elizabeth danced at the first inaugural ball.”

“At the age on nineteen she married William Seton, a wealthy New York merchant. The couple had five children – three girls and two boys – and enjoyed a life of comfort and privilege. After eight years of marriage, William’s business went bankrupt: shortly thereafter, he contracted tuberculosis. To save William’s health, the Setons sailed for Italy, where William had business friends, the Filicchi family. He subsequently succumbed to his chronic illness. Elizabeth and her children remained as guests of the Filicchi’s for some time. Their hosts owned a private chapel that provided Elizabeth with her first exposure to the Catholic faith, about which two things impressed this widowed mother: the Filicchi’s reverence during Mass, and the comfort they appeared to receive from confession. Upon her return to New York, Elizabeth sought out the pastor of a local Catholic Church and asked to convert to Catholicism.”

“With few exceptions, Elizabeth’s Anglican family and friends turned their backs on her following her conversion. She struggled to support herself and her children until Bishop John Carroll invited her to open a Catholic school in the archdiocese of Baltimore. It was during this time that she began to consider joining a religious community. However, the European model of religious life – living a mostly cloistered life with only a few hours per day devoted to teaching girls who boarded at the convent – did not appeal to her. With so much work begging to be done for the Catholic Church in America, Elizabeth wanted to be much more active. With Bishop Carroll’s encouragement, she founded a new community of sisters dedicated to the work of Catholic education: The Sisters of Charity. They opened America’s first parish school in Emmitsburg, Maryland on February 22, 1810.”

“The system established by Mother Seton conveyed the faith from generation to generation; it eased the passage of Catholic immigrants into American society; it served as the seedbed for countless vocations to the priesthood and the religious life. Her teaching order offered a new model for religious women – sisters who were ‘in the world, but not of it.’ In the history of the Catholic Church in America, Mother Seton was – and continues to be – an indispensable woman.” (This Saint’s for You, pp. 99-100)

Elizabeth Ann Seton followed John’s admonition by founding a community of religious women who dedicated their lives to parochial education: teaching children – many of them immigrants – how to be faithful Catholics and solid citizens.  Her community taught future generations how to believe in Jesus and to love others, as Jesus commanded.

Today, how might we follow her example?

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(January 5, 2021: John Neumann, Bishop)
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“Beloved, let us love one another.”

Today, the Church remember the life and legacy of John Neumann. In his book This Saint’s for You, Thomas Craughwell writes:

“This ‘American’ saint was born in Bohemia in 1811. He was looking forward to being ordained in 1835 when the bishop decided there would be no more ordinations: Bohemia was overstocked with priests. John wrote to bishops all over Europe, but the story was the same everywhere: no one needed any more priests. But John did not give up. He had learned English by working in a factory with English-speaking workers, so he wrote to the bishops in America. Finally, Bishop John Dubois of New York agreed to ordain him, but John would have to leave his home forever and travel across the ocean to a new and rugged land. He was ordained the following year.”

In New York, John was one of 36 priests for 200,000 Catholics. John’s parish in western New York stretched from Lake Ontario to Pennsylvania. His church had no steeple or floor but that didn’t matter insofar as John spent most days traveling from village to village anyway, climbing mountains to visit the sick, staying in garrets and taverns to teach, and celebrating the Mass at kitchen tables. Because of the work and the isolation associated with his remote outpost, John longed for community. In 1840, with the permission of Dubois, he applied to join the Redemptorist Fathers, was accepted, and entered their novitiate at St. Philomena's in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was their first candidate in the New World. He took his vows as a member of the Congregation in Baltimore, Maryland, in January 1842. After six years of difficult but fruitful work, he was appointed as the Provincial Superior for the United States. Neumann became naturalized citizen on 10 February 1848. John was appointed bishop of Philadelphia in 1852. As bishop, he was the first to organize a diocesan Catholic school system: he increased the number of Catholic schools in his diocese from two to one hundred.”

“Neumann actively invited religious institutes to establish new houses within the diocese. In 1855, he supported the foundation of a congregation of religious sisters in the city, the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. He brought the School Sisters of Notre Dame from Germany to assist in religious instruction and staffing an orphanage. He also intervened to save the Oblate Sisters of Providence, a congregation for African American women, from dissolution. Neumann's efforts to expand the Catholic Church were not without opposition. The Know Nothings, an anti-Catholic political party representing descendants of earlier immigrants to North America, was at the height of its activities. They set fire to convents and schools. Discouraged, Neumann wrote to Rome asking to be replaced as bishop, but Pope Pius IX insisted that he continue.”

“John never lost his love and concern for the people—something that may have bothered the elite of Philadelphia. On one visit to a rural parish, the parish priest picked him up in a manure wagon. Seated on a plank stretched over the wagon’s contents, John joked, ‘Have you ever seen such an entourage for a bishop!’ The ability to learn languages that had brought John to America enabled him to learn enough Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch to hear confessions in, at least, six languages. When a wave of Irish immigration reached American shores, John learned Gaelic so well that one Irish woman remarked, ‘Isn’t it grand that we have an Irish bishop!’ John Neumann died of a stroke on January 5, 1860 at the age of 48.” (http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=70)

Notwithstanding his proficiency with languages, John Neumann is best remembered for mastering the one and only language that really matters – the language of love.

How might we imitate his example - just this day - through our efforts at loving others?

*****
(January 6, 2021: Andre Bessette)
*****

“Whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him…”

The life and legacy of Andre Bessette offers us a concrete example of what it looks like when someone “possesses the Son”:

“When Alfred Bessette came to the Holy Cross Brothers in 1870, he carried with him a note from his pastor saying, ‘I am sending you a saint’. The Brothers found that difficult to believe. Chronic stomach pains had made it impossible for Alfred to hold a job very long and since he was a boy he had wandered from shop to shop, farm to farm, in his native Canada and in the United States, staying only until his employers found out how little work he could do. The Holy Cross Brothers were teachers and, at 25, Alfred still did not know how to read and write. It seemed as if Alfred approached the religious order out of desperation, not for a vocation.”

“He may have had no place left to go, but he believed that was because this was the place he felt he should have been all along. The Holy Cross Brothers took him into the novitiate but soon found out what everybody else had learned - as hard as Alfred (now Brother Andre) wanted to work, he simply was not strong enough. They asked him to leave the order, but Andre, out of desperation, appealed to a visiting bishop who promised him that he would intercede on his behalf with the brothers so that Andre could stay and take his vows.”

“After his vows, Brother Andre was sent to Notre Dame College in Montreal (a school for boys aged seven to twelve) as a porter. His responsibilities were to answer the door, to welcome guests, find the people they were visiting, wake up those in the school, and deliver mail. Through kindness, caring, and devotion, Brother Andre helped many souls experience healing – in many documented cases, including physical healings.”

“As if that were not enough, in 1904 Bro. Andre received permission to construct a small chapel dedicated to St. Joseph, to whom he had a life-long devotion. By the 1930’s he had inaugurated the construction of a basilica on the highest point of the city on Montreal, but the Depression all-but-brought the project to a halt. At ninety-years old he told his co-workers to place a statue of St. Joseph in the unfinished, unroofed basilica. Brother Andre died soon after on January 6, 1937 and did not live to see the work on the basilica completed. But in Brother Andre's mind it never would be completed because he always saw more ways to express his devotion and to heal others. As long as he lived, the man who had trouble keeping work for himself had never stopped working for God.”

On December 19, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI promulgated a decree recognizing a second miracle at Blessed André's intercession. On October 17, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI formally declared Blessed Andre Bessette a saint. (http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=18)

To the extent that Brother Andre remained in God and God remained in him, he was empowered with the ability to capture the hearts of so many people who encountered him. 

Just today, how might we imitate his example just today in our interactions with one another?

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(January 7, 2021: Raymond of Penyafort, Priest)
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“For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. 

In today’s selection from the First Letter of John the word ‘remain(s)’ is used six times. The author challenges us to remain in Jesus in order that Jesus may remain in us. Among other things, ‘remain’ is defined as “to continue in the same state or condition, to continue to be in the same place, stay or stay behind”. At first glance this definition seems to suggest that remaining in Jesus is somehow static. It is about staying the same. It is about treading water. It is about running in place. The word ‘remain’ feels passive. The problem is that Jesus is anything but passive; Jesus is all about action.

 However, a second glance at the definition of ‘remain’ provides a different take: “to endure or persist.”

 To keep God’s commandments requires effort. To keep God’s commandments requires energy. To keep God’s commandments requires endurance. If you want to see an example of effort, energy and endurance, consider the life of Raymond Penyafort!

“Since Raymond lived to the age of one hundred, he had a chance to do many things. As a member of the Spanish nobility, he had the resources and the education to get a good start in life. By the time he was twenty, he was teaching philosophy. In his early thirties he earned a doctorate in both canon and civil law.”

“At the age of forty-one, he became a Dominican. Pope Gregory IX called him to Rome to work for him and to be his confessor. One of the things the pope asked him to do was to gather all the decrees of popes and councils that had been made in 80 years since a similar collection by Gratian. Raymond compiled five books called the Decretals. They were looked upon as one of the best organized collections of Church law until the 1917 codification of canon law.

Earlier, Raymond had written for confessors a book of cases. It was called Summa de Casibus Poenitentiae. More than simply a list of sins and penances, it discussed pertinent doctrines and laws of the Church that pertained to the problem or case brought to the confessor.”

“At the age of 60, Raymond was appointed archbishop of Tarragona, the capital of Aragon. He did not like the honor at all and ended up getting sick and resigning in two years. He did not get to enjoy his peace long, however, because when he was sixty-three, he was elected by his fellow Dominicans to be the head of the whole Order, the successor of St. Dominic. Raymond worked hard, visited on foot all the Dominicans, reorganized their constitutions, and managed to put through a provision that a master general be allowed to resign. When the new constitutions were accepted, Raymond, then sixty-five, resigned. Still, he would spend the next thirty-five years oppose heresy and working for the conversion of the Moors in Spain. Raymond finally ‘retired’ from his earthly ministry at the age of one hundred!” (http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1253)

In imitation of Raymond Penyafort, how can we “keep God’s commandments” just today? Together!

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(January 8, 2021: Christmas Season Weekday)
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“You have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God…”

In his book The Spirit of Love, C.F. Kelley wrote:

“If the divine humanism of St. Francis de Sales did not specialize in theology, to what, then, did it give attention? Indeed, if it must be said to have specialized in anything at all, then sure it was the praising of all the divine aspects of human nature. He taught that the abuse of human instincts is the only thing about which we need to be ashamed: we should not be ashamed of our humanity. Rather than speculate about God he preferred to glorify the divinity of man. Instead of thinking about original sin, he thought about redemption. Instead of thinking about punishment, he thought about eternal life. Instead of thinking about grace for the elect, he thought about grace for all. Instead of thinking about God in the head, he thought about God in the heart. Nevertheless, his divine humanism had its opponents: not only Calvinists and Lutherans, Naturalists, Idealists and philosophical skeptics, but others less extreme who emphasized the misery of fallen nature, or others who were afraid of holding man in high esteem for fear of inviting him to somehow dispense with God. Francis de Sales was devoid of this kind of fear. After all, how can someone fear something about which he is not thinking or at which he is not looking? Those who are in love with God and the things of God have raised themselves to where they no longer think or look. They simply love.” (Select Salesian Subjects, p. 115, 0496.)

 Note that John uses the present tense in addressing us. He tells us that we ‘have’ eternal life. Rather than presuming that eternal life is reserved solely for the next life, John suggests that eternal life is already available to us in this life. How might we access that eternal life here and now? As Francis de Sales suggests, eternal life has a great deal to do with how we think about this life. Eternal life has a great deal to do with what we think about – what we focus upon – in this life. Eternal life has a great deal to do with love, and little – or nothing - to do with fear.

How can we experience eternal life already? By loving God, by loving the things of God and – most importantly – by loving the people of God.

Beginning with ourselves!

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(January 9, 2021: Christmas Season Weekday)
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“We have this confidence in God, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

God is always open for business. God is never off the clock. God always hears our requests when they are in accordance with God’s will. We may not always recognize how, when, why or through whom God answers our prayers, but one thing is clear: God is on our side.

In a letter to Jane de Chantal, Francis de Sales once penned these words: “I am full of hope in God’s goodness…I am joyful and full of courage: is God not all ours?” And did this not shine through clearly in his life?

Have confidence in God; know that God hears you; know that God is on your side. Heed – and take confidence in – these additional words from Francis de Sales. “Go on joyfully and with your heart as open and widely trustful as possible; and if you cannot always be joyful at least be brave and confident.”

Amen!

Spirituality Matters: December 27 - January 2

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(December 27, 2020: Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph)
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The child grew and became strong…and the favor of God was upon him.

In his Dedicatory Prayer for his Treatise on the Love of God, St. Francis de Sales wrote that Jesus found “joy in so supreme a measure” living with Mary and Joseph. De Sales wondered at the many times Mary and Joseph bore in their arms “the love of heaven and earth”. He imagined Jesus speaking tenderly into Joseph’s ears, telling him that he was his great friend and beloved father.

What is at the root of the joy and tender love de Sales saw in the Holy Family? Today’s Scripture readings offer us an indication. Like Abraham, their father in faith, Mary and Joseph put their faith and trust in God. Because they believed in God’s loving care for them, they were able to keep their minds and hearts in “great peace and serenity, shown in their constancy amid the unexpected events which befell them”. (Conference 3) They were confident that God would provide for everything. They could be “calm in the midst of life’s annoyances”.

Being holy – being faithful – as family is a challenge. Relationships constantly provide us with opportunities to practice the “little virtues” - the virtues that contribute to living a more loving life throughout each day. Francis de Sales tells us: “The little, unattractive and hardly noticeable virtues which are required of us in our household, our place of work, among friends, with strangers, any time and all the time, these are the virtues for us.” (Introduction, Part III, Chapter 2).

Of course, the most important practice is that of love, which not only reconciles, but also purifies and, dare we say, even glorifies the best of human relationships. Love is only in relationship with one another that the practice of the little, everyday virtues flowers into love, not only helping to create a better life here on earth, but also providing a foretaste of the eternal life promised to us in heaven.

 Spending time in prayer with each member of the Holy Family might offer insight and grace as we struggle to meet this challenge each day. Spending time with Mary can help us learn how to put our trust in God’s love, which can enable us to say a loving ‘yes’, as Mary did, to whatever God has planned for us today.  Spending time with Joseph can help us to learn how to care for one another humbly and gently, and see our work as joining with our Creator in bettering our world. Spending time with Jesus can help us to learn how to grow, how to become strong and wise and how to trust that the favor of God is with us.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, show us - as imperfect as we are - how to become and remain holy families.

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(December 28, 2020: Holy Innocents)
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“A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation…”

In his book This Saint’s for You, Thomas Craughwell writes:

“Even in the Christmas story, there is a touch of tragedy: the massacre of the infant boys in Bethlehem. St. Matthew’s Gospel records that when the Magi stopped in Jerusalem to ask the whereabouts of the King of the Jews, Herod, the king of Judea, sent them to Bethlehem with instructions to return once they had found the Christ Child so that he, too, could pay homage. Warned by an angel that Herod was up to no good, the Magi returned home via a route that bypassed the city and its conniving king.”

“Once Herod realized the Magi were on to him, he sent troops to Bethlehem with orders to kill every boy aged two and younger. But the same angel warned Joseph to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt for safety. By the time Herod’s troops charged into the village, the Holy Family was long gone. No one knows how many babies were massacred that day.” (This Saint’s for You, pp. 134-135)

It is sometimes said that there is no such thing as a “secret” sin. By its very nature sin is a social animal. Every sin – however public or private – impacts not only the person who commits it but also other people – often, innocent people – as well. The Holy Innocents suffered because of one man’s sin. These children - collateral damage - died because of Herod’s personal envy, professional greed and narcissistic paranoia. As the poet Prudentius wrote:

All hail, ye infant martyr flowers

Cut off in life’s first dawning hours:

As rosebuds snapped in tempest strife,

When Herod sought your Savior’s life.

Today, what about us? Who are the “innocents” in our lives who are impacted by the personal or “private” sins we commit?

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(December 29, 2020: Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr)
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“This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: to walk just as he walked.”

In his book This Saint’s for You, Thomas Craughwell writes:

“Nothing in Thomas Becket’s early life suggested that he would become a defender of the liberty of the Church, to say nothing of becoming a martyr. He was a shrewd administrator with a special talent for making money. He proved to be the ideal royal servant: whatever King Henry II wanted done, Becket accomplished. When the old archbishop died, Henry took it upon himself to name the new archbishop rather than wait for the pope to do so: thinking he would be the perfect choice, Henry chose Becket. With one of his closest friends as archbishop of Canterbury, Henry believed that he could extend his royal authority over the Church in England.”

“Turned out, Henry was wrong.”

“Once Thomas was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury, he became a changed man. He did penance to make up for years of careless living. The man who had once refused to clothe one freezing beggar now gave lavishly to the poor. We don’t know if Henry noticed the change that had come over his friend, but when the king made his first move against the Church it became clear that Becket would not be the puppet archbishop for which Henry had hoped. In their first disagreement, Henry argued that priests who committed crimes were treated too leniently by Church courts and they should submit to the civil courts of England. Becket replied that laymen did not have jurisdiction over clergymen. Stung by Becket’s opposition, Henry brought a host of false charges against his one-time friend. He had Becket indicted for squandering royal funds and even accused the archbishop of treason. Death threats from the king’s men followed, prompting Becket to flee to France for fear of losing his life.”

“For the next six years Henry and Becket jockeyed for position, each trying to win the pope’s support. In the end a truce was worked out, allowing Becket to return home to Canterbury, although the central issue of the Church’s liberty remained unresolved. When Becket subsequently excommunicated bishops who had both supported Henry and also infringed on the prerogatives of the archbishop of Canterbury, Henry threw one of his infamous tantrums, ending by crying aloud, ‘Will no one relieve me of this troublesome priest?’ Four of the king’s knights – bitter enemies of Becket – set out at once for Canterbury where they confronted Becket in his own cathedral. When Becket refused to give in to all of Henry’s demands, the knights hacked the archbishop to death at the foot of the altar.”

“The shock of Becket’s murder reverberated across Europe. Henry submitted to public penance, letting the monks of Canterbury flog him as he knelt before his former-friend’s tomb. St. Thomas Becket quarreled with his king over the liberty of the Church, but throughout the entire ordeal it was the rights of the diocesan clergy that had hung in the balance…and for which Becket gave his life.” (This Saint’s for You, pp. 134-135)

How do we know that Thomas Becket was “in union” with Jesus? The archbishop of Canterbury walked “just as He walked”. Just as in the case of Jesus, Thomas stood his ground when threatened by the face of oppression. Just as in the case of Jesus, Thomas ultimately gave his life to protect – and promote – the freedom and liberty of others.

 Like Thomas Becket, how might God be calling us to walk in the ways of Jesus – today?

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(December 30, 2020: Octave of the Nativity of Our Lord – Sixth Day)
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“Do not love the world or the things of the world…”

In his preface to the Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Almost all those who have hitherto written about devotion have been concerned with instructing persons wholly withdrawn from the world or have at least taught a kind of devotion that leads to such complete retirement. My purpose is to instruct those who live in towns, within families or at court who by their state of life are obligated to live an ordinary life, at least as judged by outside appearances…A strong, resolute soul can live in the world without being infected by its moods, can find sweet springs of piety amid its salty waves and can fly through the flames of earthly lusts without burning the wings of its holy desires for a devout life. True, this is a difficult task – therefore, I wish that many souls would strive to accomplish it with greater ardor than has hitherto been shown.” (IDL, pp. 33-34.)

Scripture tells us not to love the world. Scripture tells us sometimes to even despise the world. Over the centuries, more than a few folks appear to have practiced these admonitions quite literally! However, the “Gentleman Saint” seems to offer us a subtle – and quite substantial – nuance to this notion.

 Genesis tells us that when God saw everything that He had made, God declared it to be ‘good’. The world is not our enemy, but our attachment to it can become one. The riches of this world are not our enemy, but our inordinate desire to cling to it can become one. The beauty of this world is not our enemy, but our temptation to worship it can become one. By almost any measure, living in the world per se isn’t the problem. No, the problem is our tendency to fall in love with the world and the things of this world while living in the world that becomes the source for some of life’s greatest temerity, trauma and tragedy.

 God wants us to live in the world – why on earth would God place us here if that were not so? That said, we are challenged to refrain from turning the riches and richness of our God-given world into a god itself. God gives us the world as the primary place in which we learn how to live a live of devotion, that is, doing our level best to avoid falling in love with the things of this world and reserving our love solely for what is was intended.

 For God! For ourselves! For one another!

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(December 31, 2020: Octave of the Nativity of Our Lord – Seventh Day)
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“Every lie is alien to the truth…”

 In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Your language should be restrained, frank, sincere, candid, unaffected and honest. Be on guard against equivocation, ambiguity or dissimulation. While it is not always advisable to say all that is true, it is never permissible to speak against the truth. Therefore, you must become accustomed to never tell a deliberate lie whether to excuse yourself or for some other purposes, remembering always that God is the ‘God of truth.’ If you happen to tell a lie inadvertently, correct it immediately by an explanation or making amends. An honest explanation always has more grace and force to excuse us that a lie has…Lying, double-dealing and dissimulation are always signs of a weak, mean mind.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 30, p. 206)

Jesus tells us that the truth will set us free. It is not enough, then, merely to refrain from telling lies – it is more imperative that we strive our level best to tell truths. And in the process, to become truthful – that is, truth-filled – people.

(And/OR)

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(December 31, 2020: New Year’s Eve)
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An Exhortation by St. Jane de Chantal: The Beginning of a New Year

We are about to bring another year to an end, a year like so many years which have come before it.

Time passes by.  The years come and go, and some day we, likewise, will pass and come to an end as well.  We must make a strong and absolute resolution that, if Our Lord should gift us with yet another full year, we will make better use of it than those years that have come – and gone – before.  Let us walk with a new step in God’s divine service to our neighbor and to our greater perfection.  Let us take great courage to labor in earnest.

Please take these words to heart.  What is the point of being gifted with a new year if not to recommit ourselves to the task at hand?  Otherwise, we should not be astonished to find ourselves in the same place at the conclusion of this year with little or nothing to show for it.  I desire that this not happen to you; rather, consider how you can make good use of every day that God is pleased to give you.

Let us embrace the responsibilities and challenges of life in the best way that we can; let us employ the time that God gives us with great care.  While we hope in God’s divine goodness, may we also remember to aspire to actually do what is good.

So, then, let us live this New Year in the name of our Lord.  Let us redouble our efforts at serving God and one another faithfully, especially in small and simple ways.  God only expects what we can do, but God clearly expects us to do what we can do. Therefore, let us be diligent in giving our best to God, leaving the rest in the hands of God’s infinite generosity.

(Based upon St. Jane de Chantal’s Exhortation for the last Saturday of 1629, On the Shortness of Life. Found in Conferences of St. Jane de Chantal.  Newman Bookshop: Westminster, Maryland.  1947. Pages 106 – 107)

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(January 1, 2020: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God)
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“Mary treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart.”

“Look at Mary in all the circumstances of her life. In her room at Nazareth she shows her modesty in that she is afraid, her candor in wanting to be instructed and in asking a question, her submission, her humility in calling herself a handmaid. Look at her in Bethlehem: she lives simply and in poverty, she listens to the shepherds as though they were learned doctors. Look at her in the company of the kings: she does not try to make any long speeches. Look at her at the time of her purification: she goes to the temple in order to conform to church customs. In going to Egypt and in returning she is simply obeying Joseph. She does not consider she is wasting time when she goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth as an act of loving courtesy. She looks for Our Lord not only in joy but also in tears. She has compassion on the poverty and confusion of those who invited her to the wedding, meeting their needs. She is at the foot of the cross, full of humility, lowliness, virtue, never drawing any attention to herself in the exercise of these qualities.” (Stopp, Selected Letters, page 159)

When Mary agreed to be the mother of Jesus, she got much more than she bargained for. Her ‘yes’ to God’s invitation to be the mother of the Messiah forever changed the course of her life. But as Francis de Sales observed, she constantly reaffirmed that ‘yes’ as she experienced God’s will for her son, God’s will for her husband and God’s will for her. In good times, bad times and all the times in between, she fully embraced the various circumstances in which she found herself.

We, too, are called to give birth to Jesus. While not a physical birthing, this call is no less challenging or demanding to us as it was for Mary.

As we see in the life of Mary, giving birth to Jesus is not a one-time event: it is a life-long process. Saying ‘yes’ to giving birth to Jesus is about being faithful to God’s will for us and others - one day, one hour, one moment at a time throughout our lives. Giving birth to Jesus is about fully and deeply embracing the responsibilities, events and circumstances of the state and stage of life in which we find ourselves. It is about rolling with the punches while remaining convinced of God’s love and care for us.

Mary is a powerful reminder that giving birth to Jesus brings more than its share of inconveniences, headaches and heartaches. However, Mary is likewise a powerful reminder of how one person’s fidelity to God’s will can change the world for the better.

Forever.

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(January 2, 2020: Basil and Gregory – Bishops, Doctors of the Church)
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“Remain in him...”

In his book This Saint’s for You, Thomas Craughwell writes:

“In Basil’s day most monks and nuns were hermits living in isolated corners of the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East. Arguing that people are ‘sociable beings, and not isolated or savage,’ he urged the hermits to form communities near towns and cities where ordinary Christians could profit from their prayers and, inspired by their example, deepen their own religious life. The monks and nuns could take in orphans and open schools, recruiting a new generation for the religious life. To this day in the Eastern Church, St. Basil’s guidelines for monks and nuns remain the standard.” (This Saint’s for You, p. 359)

In today’s selection from the First Letter of John the word ‘remain(s)’ is used six times. The author challenges us to remain in Jesus in order that Jesus may remain in us. Among other things, ‘remain’ is defined as “to continue in the same state or condition, to continue to be in the same place, stay or stay behind”. At first glance this definition seems to suggest that remaining in Jesus is somehow static. It is about staying the same. It is about treading water. It is about running in place. The word ‘remain’ feels passive. The problem is that Jesus is anything but passive; Jesus is all about action.

 However, a second glance at the definition of ‘remain’ provides a different take: “to endure or persist”.

 To remain in Jesus requires effort. To remain in Jesus requires energy. To remain in Jesus requires endurance. However, as St. Basil the Great would suggest, to “remain in him” is not limited to Jesus. As “sociable beings” we need something else in order to remain – that is, “to endure or persist” – with Jesus.

 We need to “endure and persist” as Church. We need to “endure and persist” as community. We need to “endure and persist” with one another. After all, we are the Body of Christ.

 Together!

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Spirituality Matters: December 13th - Decemter 19th

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(December 13, 2020: Third Sunday of Advent)
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“He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.”

In today’s Gospel we hear again a clear, certain and firm statement over and over again that he is not the Messiah and that he gives testimony to the light but he is not the light.

John the Baptist renounces the titles of Messiah, Elijah and the prophets. He defers to Christ. This theme is present in the servant song in the first reading from Isaiah which has richly influenced the Christology of the New Testament and the ministry of Jesus.

Francis de Sales considers John the Baptist to be one of the greatest saints because his life and mission were not to draw the attention of people to himself but to point to another. In his Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent, the Doctor of Love - in speaking of John the Baptist – states:

“He did not want to draw disciples to himself, but only to his Teacher, to whose school he now sends them so that they might be instructed personally by Him.” (The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales for Advent and Christmas, edited by Lewis S. Fiorelli OSFS)

Jane de Chantal also comments on the example of humility we find in John the Baptist.

“I would say that St. John never spoke in a more admirable manner than when he was asked who he was, for he always relied by a humble negative; and when he was obliged to answer positively, he said that he was only a voice, as much as to say that he was nothing; word in truth, well worthy of a prophet and of the great among them […].” (“Exhortation XV”, St. Jane Frances Frèmyot De Chantal: Her Exhortations, Conferences and Instructions, translated by Katherine Brègy)

In this holy season of Hope and Expectation, we can focus our attention on the model of John the Baptist who pointed the way to Christ. On our daily “earthly pilgrimage” to the fullness of the Kingdom, our lives and witness to Christ should not draw attention to ourselves, but lead others to come to know and to encounter Christ. Like John, we are His messengers and ambassadors.

Today, in a spirit of humility, may we recognize that God uses each of us as His instruments to proclaim the Good News to others.

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(December 14, 2020: John of the Cross, Priest/Doctor of the Church)
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“Teach me your ways, O Lord…”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis wrote:

“When commanded to go to Rages, young Tobias said to his father, ‘I do not know the way,’ to which his father replied, ‘Go, then, and find some man to lead you.’ I say the same thing to you. Do you seriously wish to travel the road to devotion? If so, look for a good person to guide and lead you. This is the most important of all words of advice. As the devout Teresa of Avila says, ‘Although you seek God’s will, you will never find it with as much certainty as on the path of that humble obedience so highly praised and practiced by all devout writers.’ The advice of the great St. Louis gave to his son was this: ‘Choose as your guide an able and experienced person who can safely teach you the things that you must do.’”

Francis de Sales strongly believed that we should not attempt to ‘go it alone’ in our efforts to learn the ways of the Lord. Whether in the form of a confessor, a spiritual director, a personal coach, a friend or perhaps a combination of these, we should seek out companions to accompany us along the road of life and avoid the temptation to be lone wolves. He continued:

“‘A faithful friend,’ Holy Scripture says, ‘is a strong defense, and those who find friends have found treasure. A faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality, and those who fear the Lord find one.’ For this reason, we must above all else have faithful friend who by advice and counsel guides our actions and thus protects us from the snares and deceits of the wicked one. For us such a person will be a treasure of wisdom in affliction, sorrow and failure. Such a person will serve as medicine to ease and comfort our hearts when afflicted by spiritual sickness. Such a person will guard us from evil and make our good even better.” (IDL, Part I, Chapter 4, pp. 45 – 46)

God provides us with many means of support in our attempts to learn the ways of the Lord. How often do we pause and thank our friends for helping us to be the people that God calls us be? How often do we thank our friends for keeping us on the straight and narrow? How often do we thank our friends for picking us up when we fall or for finding us when we stray?

How grateful are we for having companions as we learn the ways of the Lord?

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(December 15, 2020: Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent)
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“Which of the two did his father’s will?”

Talk is cheap. One incurs no cost at all when simply saying what one will do. It’s a different situation all together when it comes down to someone actually doing what they said that they would do.

There is something of both sons (from today’s Gospel) inside of each of us. It is easy to initially ‘yes’ somebody to death, only not to follow through in the end. By contrast, it is also easy to say ‘no’ to something, only to eventually come around and follow through in the end.

Let’s face it. Sometimes we do the right thing for all the wrong reasons. Sometimes we do the right thing only as a last resort. Sometimes we do the right thing because it is the only option we have left. Sometimes, we do what we know is right against our will.

How can you do the Father’s will today? By - however reluctantly or enthusiastically - doing it, rather than merely talking about it.

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(December 16, 2020: Wednesday, Third Week of Advent)
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“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed the deaf hear, the dead are raised…”

These words are Jesus’ answer to the question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Of course, Jesus’ words are not mere words. On the contrary, they describe the actions that Jesus is performing, the miracles he is working and the healings that he is affecting on a remarkable level.

How would we answer the question: “Does the love of God dwell within you, or should we look somewhere else?” Of course, the most powerful answer would not come in the form of words, but rather, the convincing answer would come from our actions: namely, from the practice of virtue. Francis de Sales wrote:

“Let us try sincerely, humbly and devoutly to acquire those little virtues whose conquest our Savior has set forth as the goal of our care and labor. Such are patience, meekness, self-mortification, humility, obedience, poverty, chastity, tenderness toward our neighbors, bearing with their imperfections, diligence and holy fervor.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 2, p. 127)

What kinds of simple, everyday signs might we perform today as signs that “the one who is to come” continues to come to us, every day?

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(December 17, 2020: Thursday, Third Week of Advent)
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“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ…”

“Genealogy (from Greek: γενεά, genea, “generation”; and λόγος, logos, “knowledge”) is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members. The results are often displayed in charts or written as narratives. The pursuit of family history tends to be shaped by several motivations, including the desire to carve out a place for one’s family in the larger historical picture, a sense of responsibility to preserve the past for future generations, and a sense of self-satisfaction in accurate storytelling.” (Wikipedia)

Today’s opening chapter from the Gospel of Matthew is Scripture’s version of Ancestry.com. Bridging the Old and New Testaments, it outlines the “genealogy of Jesus Christ.” As such, it carves out a place for Jesus within the larger picture of salvation history. As such, it strives to preserve names from past generations for future generations. As such, it tries to tell the story of Jesus’ predecessors as accurately as possible. As such, it attempts to provide as much information it can about the kinship and pedigree of those who came before Jesus.

Many of us assume that the “genealogy of Jesus Christ” ends with Jesus Christ. We assume that the story ends with the third set of fourteen generations. Nothing could be further from the truth! The “genealogy of Jesus Christ” isn’t limited to the names of his predecessors. It continues to this very day in the names of his followers. it continues in the present generation – in the lives of people like you and me.

How can we live up to our God-given pedigree today? How can we give convincing witness of our divine kinship today? How can we demonstrate that we are sons and daughters of God – brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ – today?

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(December 18, 2020: Friday, Third Week of Advent)
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“He shall govern your people with justice…”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales wrote:

“Be just and equitable in all your actions. Always put yourself in your neighbor’s place and your neighbor in yours, and then you will judge rightly. Imagine yourself the seller when you buy and the buyer when you sell and you will sell and buy justly…A man loses nothing by living generously, nobly and courteously with a royal, just and reasonable heart. Resolve to examine your heart often to see if it acts toward your neighbor as you would like your neighbor to act toward you were you in your neighbor’s place. This is the touchstone of true reason.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 36, p. 217)

How can we imitate the Lord who governs with justice? Let us start by examining how our thoughts, feelings and actions impact other people. Are we doing what is right, just and reasonable in our relationships with others?

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(December 19, 2017: Saturday, Third Week of Advent)
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“Now you will be speechless and unable to talk…because you did not believe my words.” Poor Zechariah!!! You can hardly blame him for having a follow-up question for Gabriel in the wake of the latter’s pronouncement that Zechariah and his wife will have a son, and not just any old son at that, but one who will embody the spirit and power of Elijah! All Zechariah wanted to know was how this is supposed to happen to a couple who are apparently advanced in years.

For raising the question, Gabriel renders Zechariah mute until his pronouncement comes to pass.

Meanwhile, earlier in the same Gospel – the same chapter of the same Gospel, for that matter – when Mary asks a question of Gabriel concerning his prediction that she will be the mother of the Messiah, Mary receives no rebuke.

Look at the parallels - the angel Gabriel appears to both Mary and Zechariah; both Mary and Zechariah are troubled by their respective annunciations; both ask for some clarification around the annunciation (i.e., “How will this happen?”); both receive additional information and assurances, but it is only Zechariah who seems to incur the angel’s displeasure, and he suffers accordingly. (Of course, all this changes later when Zechariah indicates that his son is to be named “John.”)

The difference seems to be indicated by Gabriel himself. He criticizes Zechariah not for questioning him, but for not believing him! In the case of Zechariah, it appears that his question was less a question and more a statement of disbelief, whereas Mary’s question was an expression of overwhelming wonderment and awe.

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“When God gives us faith, God enters into our soul and speaks to our mind. He does this not by way of discussion but by inspiration. So pleasantly does God propose to the intellect what it must believe that the will thereby receives such great complacence that it incites the intellect to the truth and acquiesce in it without any doubt or opposition whatsoever…” (TLG, Book II, Chapter 14, p. 138.)

In the end, things worked out well for both Mary and Zechariah: each acquiesced to the manifestation of God’s will in their lives, albeit at a different pace and with a different pattern! Each played pivotal roles in God’s plan of salvation. While both questions and disbelief can serve as means of increasing our faith in their own unique ways, perhaps Gabriel’s underlying message is simply this: don’t allow your legitimate questions to rob you of your faith and trust in God’s love for you…or your ability to say “yes” to that love with trust and with faith.

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Spirituality Matters: December 20 - December 26

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(December 20, 2020: Fourth Sunday of Advent)
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Mary said: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

In God Desires You: St. Francis de Sales on Living the Gospel, author Eunan McDonnell, SDB, tells us:

“…Jesus praises the poor in spirit. He encourages a childlike attitude towards God our Father and openness to receive in faith. What is required is a childlike simplicity that can speak the ‘yes’. This is Mary’s childlike response to the angel when she says, ‘Let what you have said be done to me’. In this manner she lives the maxim ‘ask for nothing, refuse nothing’. She is open to receive what God desires to give, his love.” (pgs. 130-131)

Simple words, but Mary’s childlike ‘yes’ is anything but simple. It calls upon Mary, and upon each one of us with Mary as our model, to trust beyond all measure in the love and mercy of our Father.  It invites each of us to know in our “heart of hearts” that God truly desires us and desires to fill us with abounding love.  In our willingness to be open to this desire “being filled”, it calls us to empty ourselves and to leave behind all that takes up space in our hearts, leaving open space for God’s presence.  McDonnell writes:

“What is required is true emptiness which is to be found in the anawim to which Mary belongs. A complete and utter dependence on God. An emptiness of heart that allows God to shower it with his abundance. Mary and those who imitate her emptiness, put up no barrier to the generosity of God who loves to give. Poor in spirit, she offers empty space which can be inhabited by God.” (Ibid)

In all of this utter dependence on God, we sense the living out of Advent, this time of waiting patiently with an openness to God’s word being “done to me”.  Francis de Sales says of Mary, she is “the morning star which brings us gracious news of the advent of the true sun”. (Oeuvres IX:5)

Mary lives out her advent. We wait with Mary.

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(December 21, 2020: Peter Canisius, Priest, Doctor of the Church)
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 “Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one and come!”

 Today’s selection from the Song of Songs – and the entire Song of Songs, for that matter - had a profound impact on St. Francis de Sales. In an article entitled The Interpretation of the Song of Songs in St. Francis de Sales - How a Saint Learned the Lessons of Love, the late Anthony J. Ceresko, OSFS wrote:

“St. Francis de Sales represents one of the more notable examples of those who discovered in the Song’s language and imagery the appropriate medium for reflecting on the experience of love. Reading his Treatise on the Love of God, for instance, we appreciate how well he learned “lessons of love” from the Sage of the Song. We marvel at how his gentle guidance led others to drink deeply of that love as well. Francis' introduction to the Song, indeed his introduction to theology, came in 1584, when he was barely seventeen years old. His father had sent him to Paris to complete his university studies in preparation for taking a doctorate in civil and canon law at Padua, in Italy. Although his father foresaw a career in politics and public service for him, Francis harbored in his heart the desire to serve the Church as a priest. He had persuaded his father to allow him to receive tonsure when he was twelve. And in Paris, in addition to his classes in the humanities, he also attended lectures in theology.”

“The first such course he followed was the series of lectures on the Song of Songs given in 1584 by the celebrated Benedictine, Gilbert Genebrard, professor of Hebrew at the Royal College. Both the lectures and Genebrard himself made a profound impression on the youthful student. Lajeunie notes, ‘Francis found both in the sacred text and in the commentary, inspiration for his whole life, the theme for his masterpiece [the Treatise on the Love of God], and the first and best source of his optimism.’ For Genebrard, the Canticle is ‘a dramatic love story composed in bucolic style.’ The effect of Genebrard's interpretation of the Song on Francis was immediate: ‘The history of the world and its salvation was therefore a love story. And the young student was carried away by the idea.’”

“Francis gives a clue to his life-long love affair with the Song in the more than seven hundred citations of the Song listed in the ‘Index’ to the twenty-seven volumes of his collected works. Further, the three verses of the Bible that Francis most often quotes also come from the Song: 1:3 (‘Draw me and I will run in the odor of your ointments’), 8:6 (‘Love is strong as death, jealousy as firm as hell’), and 1:1 (‘Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth, for better than wine are your breasts’). John K. Ryan, the author of a popular translation of the Treatise, comments: ‘All but a few books of both the Old and New Testament are quoted by him, and in most instances, not once but many times.... But the books he uses most are the Psalms and the Canticle of Canticles. Out of the 106 verses that make up the Canticle, 63 are quoted and some of them so often as to make a total of 179 references.” (http://web1.desales.edu/assets/salesian/PDF/Ceresko-Song.pdf)

Just a handful of days remain before we celebrate the Solemnity of Christmas - one of the greatest moments in the greatest love story of all - God’s love for us.

How can we prepare to receive the God who loves us so much?

(OR)

Why reinvent the wheel when you do not have to? Why start from scratch when it is not necessary?

 We might say the same thing of St. Francis de Sales himself as today we celebrate the life and legacy of St. Peter Canisius, SJ, a Dutchman and contemporary of the “Gentleman Saint” who became a prominent force as a missionary in Counter-Reformation Germany.

 In defending the Church’s teaching on Purgatory against the critique of John Calvin, Francis de Sales remarked:

“It is a beautiful thing - and one full of consolation - to see the perfect correspondence which the present Church has with the ancient, particularly in belief. Let us mention what makes to our purpose concerning Purgatory. All the ancient fathers believed in it and have testified that it was of the Apostolic faith. Here are the authors we have for it…It would have been easy for me to bring forward their testimonies, which are accurately collected in the books of our Catholics: of Canisius, in his Catechism; of Sanders On the Visible Monarchy; of Genebrand in his Chronology; of Bellarmine in his Controversy on Purgatory,; of Stapleton in his Promptuary. But particularly let those who would see at length and faithfully quoted the passages of the ancient Fathers, take up the work of Canisius…” (The Catholic Controversy, pp. 378 – 379)

What is the takeaway from today? Wisdom is not about knowing everything yourself. Lots of wisdom is about knowing where to find that which you need to know…from the work already done by others.

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(December 22, 2020: Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent)
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“He has looked upon his lowly servant…and has done great things for me: holy is his name.”

Mary’s great hymn – the Magnificat – is a testimony to her profound sense of humility. But her humility – her sense of being a “lowly servant” – should not be confused with self-deprecation. In truth, Mary’s humility has a lot less to do with her nothingness and a lot more to do with God’s ‘everything-ness’! Mary’s humility – her being overwhelmed by the generosity of God – empowers her to generously say ‘yes’ to God’s invitation to her to become the Mother of the Messiah.

In his Conference “On Generosity,” St. Francis de Sales wrote:

“Humility which does not produce generosity is undoubtedly false, for after it has said, ‘I can do nothing, I am only absolute nothingness,’ it almost immediately gives way to generosity of spirit which says, ‘There is nothing - and there can be nothing - that I am unable to do, so long as I put all my confidence in God who can do all things.’ Buoyed up by this confidence, it courageously undertakes to do all that is commanded.” (Living Jesus, pp. 152-153)

This humility – and its corresponding spirit of generosity – describes Mary to a tee.

Today, can the same be said of us?

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(December 23, 2020: John of Kanty, Priest)
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“Lift up your heads and see: your redemption is near at hand…”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“God displays in a marvelous manner the incomprehensible riches of his power in the vast array of things that we see in nature, but he causes the infinite treasures of his goodness to show forth in an even more magnificent way in the unparalleled variety that we see in grace. In a holy excess of mercy, God is not content in solely with granting to his people, that is, to the human race, a general or universal redemption whereby everyone can be saved. God has diversified redemption in many ways, so that while God’s generosity shines forth in all this variety, the variety itself, in turn, adds beauty to his generosity…” TLG, II, Chapter 6, p. 116)

What a powerful statement: God’s redemption is not generic. It is not “one-size-fits-all.” God redeems us personally; God redeems us individually; God redeems us by name. In the next-to-last chapter of his Treatise, Francis remarked:

“Consider how Jesus took on the task of redeeming us by his death, ‘even to death upon a cross.’ The Savior’s soul knew each of us by name and surname…” (XII, Ch. 121, p. 280)

So, when we say pray the words of the psalmist, “your” redemption means your redemption - not someone else’s, not the redemption of the person to your right or left and not the salvation of folks before or behind you: it is yours!!

So, lift up your head; lift up your heart! See your redemption near at hand…a redemption – a gift – that is crafted specifically for you….out of love for you, for the same God who redeems you by name created you by name.

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(December 24, 2020: Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent)
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“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people and set them free…”

On the subject of freedom – of liberty – Francis de Sales wrote:

“Our free will is never as free as when it is a slave to God’s will, just as it is never as servile as when it serves our own will. It never has so much life as when it dies to self, and never so much death as when it lives to itself. We have the liberty to do good and evil, but to choose evil is not to use but to abuse this liberty. Let us renounce such wretched liberty and subject forever our free will to the rule of heavenly love. Let us become slaves to dilection, whose serfs are happier than kings. If our souls should ever will to use their liberty against our resolutions to serve God eternally and without reserve, Oh, then, for love of God, let us sacrifice our free will and make it die to itself so that it may live in God! A man who out of self-love wishes to keep his freedom in this world shall lose it in the next world, and he who shall lose it in this world for the love of God shall keep it for that same love in the next world. He who keeps his liberty in this world shall find it a serf and a slave in the other world, whereas he who makes it serve the cross in this world shall have it free in the other world: for there, when he is absorbed in enjoyment of God’s goodness, his liberty will be converted into love and love into liberty, a liberty infinitely sweet. Without effort, without pain, and without any struggle we shall unchangingly and forever love the Creator and Savior of our souls.” (Treatise 12: 10, pp- 277-278)

One of the greatest gifts that God gives us is freedom. But in the Salesian tradition, freedom is not about merely having the power to do either good or bad; freedom is not simply the ability to do right or to do wrong. Salesian liberty – the gift of divine freedom – is the power to be our best selves; to be good people; to do good things…in imitation of the image and likeness of God’s Son and our Brother, Jesus Christ. Francis de Sales observed:

“The first thing we ask of God (in the Lord’s Prayer) is that God’s name be hallowed, that his kingdom may come and that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What else can this be but the spirit of liberty?”

How can we practice this heavenly freedom in our relationships with each other on this earth? Francis de sales noted:

“In all other things which are neither commanded nor forbidden, let each one abound in one’s own sense: that is, let each person enjoy and use one’s liberty, without judging or interfering with others who do not do as one does, or trying to persuade others that one’s ways are the best.” (Conferences I: p. 13)

Let us be who we are and be that in perfect freedom. Let us give others the freedom they need to do the same.

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(December 24, 2020: Vigil of the Nativity of the Lord)
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 “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ…”

 “Genealogy (from Greek: γενεά, genea, “generation”; and λόγος, logos, “knowledge”) is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members. The results are often displayed in charts or written as narratives. The pursuit of family history tends to be shaped by several motivations, including the desire to carve out a place for one’s family in the larger historical picture, a sense of responsibility to preserve the past for future generations, and a sense of self-satisfaction in accurate storytelling.” (Wikipedia)

 Tonight’s opening chapter from the Gospel of Matthew is Scripture’s version of Ancestry.com. Bridging the Old and New Testaments, it outlines the “genealogy of Jesus Christ”. As such, it carves out a place for Jesus within the larger picture of salvation history. As such, it strives to preserve names from past generations for future generations. As such, it tries to tell the story of Jesus’ predecessors as accurately as possible. As such, it attempts to provide as much information it can about the kinship and pedigree of those who came before Jesus.

 Many of us assume that the “genealogy of Jesus Christ” ends with Jesus Christ. We assume that the story ends with the third set of fourteen generations. Nothing could be further from the truth! The “genealogy of Jesus Christ” isn’t limited to the names of his predecessors. It continues to this very day in the names of his followers. It continues in the present generation – in the lives of people like you and me.

 How can we live up to our God-given pedigree today? How can we give convincing witness of our divine kinship today? How can we demonstrate that we are sons and daughters of God – brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ – today?

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(December 24/25, 2020: Nativity of the Lord - Mass at Midnight)
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In a Christmas sermon, Francis de Sales remarked:

“What else have we to say except that the mystery of Our Lord’s Nativity is also the mystery of the Visitation? Just as the most holy Virgin was to visit her cousin Elizabeth, we, too, must go very often to visit the Divine Babe lying in the manger. There we shall learn from the sovereign Pastor of shepherds to direct, to govern and to put our flocks in order in such a way that they will be pleasing to His goodness. But as the shepherds doubtless did not go to Him without bringing Him some little lambs, we must not go there empty-handed, either. We must bring Him something. What can we bring to this Divine Shepherd more pleasing than the little lamb which is our love, and which is the principal part of our spiritual flock? For love is the first. This special gift is the grace which helps us to attain what would otherwise be impossible for us: the joy and happiness of glory. Thus, in the darkness of the night Our Lord was born and appeared to us as an infant lying in a manger…” (Sermons for Advent and Christmas, p. 53)

What better gift can we bring to the manger than to place our love at the service of God and one another? Oh, come, let us adore and experience a foretaste of the joy and happiness of glory!

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(December 25, 2020: Nativity of the Lord)
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Regarding the great Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Blessed Louis Brisson wrote:

“We honor the three births of Our Lord. In the case of the first we recall the eternal birth of the Son of God in th3 bosom of His Father; in the second, we recall His temporal birth in the stable of Bethlehem; and in the thirds, we recall His mystical both in our hearts by means of Holy Communion and His grace. The consideration of the first birth should lead us to adore the Son of God on the throne of His glory, in the endless reaches of eternity, where equal to His Father He receives the adoration of the angels and seraphim. By contrast, in Bethlehem we adore him on the throne of poverty, which is a throne of love. He hides his grandeur because he wants us to draw near him without fear.”

“Having adored Him in Heaven – having adored Him in the crib – adore Him present within you. I ask you, cross your arms across your chest where the Savior dwells after Holy Communion and say to Him, ‘I adore You in my heart. I adore You within me. You are as truly in me as You are in Heaven; You are as truly in me as You are truly in the crib where You received the adoration of the poor shepherds. You are truly within me.’” (Cor ad Cor, Part III, Chapter 36, p. 217)

We recognize Jesus at the right hand of the Father. We recognize Jesus lying in a manger. Do we recognize that same Jesus within ourselves? Do we recognize that same Jesus in others?

 Merry Christmas!

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(December 26, 2020: Stephen, First Martyr)
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“Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”

In his book This Saint’s for You, Thomas Craughwell writes:

“One of the Church’s first seven deacons, Stephen was chosen and ordained by the apostles themselves to serve needy Christians and teach the faith. The Acts of the Apostles tells us that he was striking in appearance, with ‘the face of an angel…full of grace and fortitude.’ He came from a family of Jewish Greeks, and after his ordination he debated members of four of Jerusalem’s Greek synagogues. When they could not out-argue or silence this zealous young deacon, the Greek Jews hauled Stephen before the Sanhedrin (the Jews’ supreme tribunal), accusing him of blasphemy for ridiculing the Temple and the Law of Moses.”

“Asked to defend himself, Stephen launched into a long speech. He highlighted moments in Jewish history when the people of Israel had turned away from God, implying that – by not recognizing Jesus as the Messiah – they had been stubborn, proud and faithless once again. Then he exclaimed, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ It proved to be the last straw. With a roar of indignation, the men in the court rushed at Stephen, dragged him outside the city walls and stoned him to death.” (This Saint’s for You, p. 131)

 Stephen had the “grace and fortitude” he needed to commend his spirit to God in a single, once-in-a-lifetime act of courage by giving his life.

 Today, how can we make good use of the same “grace and fortitude” we need to commend our spirits to God in a series of ordinary, everyday acts of courage?

 With one another

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Spirituality Matters: December 6 - December 12

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(December 6, 2020: Second Sunday of Advent)
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“John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance…”

In a sermon given on the Second Sunday of Advent, Blessed Louis Brisson observed:

“The Gospel speaks to us of St. John the Baptist. He was baptizing in the Jordan and when the multitudes came to him and surrounded him, he cried out, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only his messenger. I come to prepare the way. It is He who will give you the baptism that comes from heaven.’ Hearing of the wonders of Our Lord, John sent to Him his disciples who asked Jesus, “Are you He who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ Our Lord answered, ‘Report to John what you have seen: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and blessed are those who are not scandalized in Me.’”

“When the disciples had departed, Jesus said to those around Him, ‘What did you go out into the desert to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Those who dress in this manner are in the palaces of kings. A prophet? Yes, I declare to you, a prophet and more than a prophet, for it is written of him, ‘I send before you my angel who will prepare the way for you.’ Thus, the people understood then that the words of John the Baptist and the words of Our Lord were in agreement.’”

“My children, we are in Advent. Jesus is going to come into our hearts. Let us cry out to Him in all truth every day, as St. John called out to Him by his desires, ‘Come Lord. Be our strength. Come not only into our hearts but also into the hearts of all whom we love and for whom we pray.” (Cor ad Cor, p. 21)

Amen.

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(December 7, 2020: Monday, Second Week of Advent)
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“Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak. Say to those whose hearts are frightened: be strong, fear not!”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus fulfills the prophet Isaiah’s words by his prophetic actions. First, Jesus forgives the sins of the paralyzed man; second, he heals the man’s paralysis.

The Season of Advent provides us with a wonderful opportunity to consider the ways – any ways – in which we might be suffering from any form of paralysis: spiritual, emotional, social - and perhaps - even physical. In what ways might our minds be feeble or week? In what ways might our hearts be frightened?

Whether on our own or with the help of others, let us approach the Lord in our neediness. Let us ask for His forgiveness. Let us ask for His strength. May He open our eyes, ears and hearts to the wonders of His power! May our tongues – and lives – give witness to His love!

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(December 8, 2020: Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
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“She became mother of all the living...”

This reading from the Book of Genesis ends with the statement: “The man called his wife Eve because she became the mother of all the living”.

Eve is the mother of us all. We all bear traces of her maternity: we are impacted by original sin. Eve’s “yes” to the serpent’s temptation continues to affect our lives even to this day.

Good for us that another woman is likewise “the mother of all the living”. However, she is our mother in an entirely different way. Her “yes” affects us in an entirely different way. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Honor, venerate and respect with special love the holy and glorious Virgin Mary who, being the Mother of Jesus Christ our Brother, is also in truth our very mother. Let us then have recourse to her, and as her little children cast ourselves into her bosom with perfect confidence, at all times and on all occasions let us invoke her maternal love whilst striving to imitate her virtues…” (Living Jesus, p. 224)

So, we have – in truth – two mothers. One mother is famous for saying “yes” to the temptation of the evil one; the other mother is famous for saying “yes” to the invitation of the Holy One - both with lasting effects!

Which of our mothers will we imitate today?

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(December 9, 2020: Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin)
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“They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar as with eagles’ wings…”

Don’t bother looking around the room at other people’s hands or knees for weakness. We need to look no further than our own hands and knees or, for that matter, our own minds or hearts, our own spirits or psyches, to see the weakness to which the Prophet Isaiah refers in our first reading today.

This isn’t bad news. In fact, it’s very good news! The promise is that God will never “grow faint or weary” when it comes – as Jesus says in today’s Gospel – to giving us rest. Put another way, our weaknesses are not an obstacle to God’s transforming, empowering and inspiring love. In fact, our weaknesses are an entrée to that transforming, empowering and inspiring love. As the Preface for the Eucharistic Prayer for Martyrs reminds us, “God chooses the weak and makes them strong in bearing witness to him…”

Our ongoing need for divine comfort, healing and strength reminds us of Francis de Sales’ teaching on who should approach, celebrate and receive the Eucharist. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, he wrote:

“Two classes of people should communicate frequently: the strong lest they become weak, and the weak that they may become strong; the sick that they may be restored to health, and the healthy lest they fall sick. Tell them that for your part you are imperfect, weak and sick and need to communicate frequently with him who is your perfection and strength…” (Part II, Chapter 21)

Seen with the eyes of faith, all that may wear us down or make us weary should not be cause for shame. In fact, seen with the eyes of God, all that may wear us down and make us weary perfectly prepares us to be sustained, renewed and invigorated by the God who is always with us!

Today, let us learn from our meek and humble Jesus and as we find comfort and rest in him, let us offer that same comfort and rest as needed to one another.

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(December 10, 2020: Our Lady of Loreto)
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“The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness…”

Anger is defined as “a strong feeling of being upset or annoyed because of something wrong or bad; the feeling that makes someone want to hurt other people, to shout, etc.; the feeling of being angry”. (From the Middle English, affliction, anger, from Old Norse angr grief; akin to Old English enge narrow, Latin angere to strangle, Greek anchein.) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anger

Regardless of how we define it, we know anger when we see it. We know anger when we hear it and when we feel it. It is, after all, part of the experience of being human.

But as Scripture tells us, anger is also part of being divine. How many times do we hear references to God’s anger, God’s wrath and God’s fury? But note the qualification made in today’s responsorial psalm: God is slow to anger – almost as if to suggest that God only grows angry as a last resort. Even then, the same Scriptures tell us that God’s anger does not endure because divine anger always gives way to the even greater power of divine mercy, divine compassion and divine forgiveness.

What a contrast with human anger! How often are we quick to anger! How frequently is anger the first emotion for which we reach! How long we remain angry! How often our anger takes on a life of its own! In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales counseled:

“I say to you: this life is an earthly journey to the happy life to come. We must not be angry with one another along the way; rather, we must march on as a band of brothers and companions united in meekness, peace and love. I state absolutely and make no exception: do not be angry at all if that is at all possible. Do not accept any pretext whatever for opening your heart’s door to anger. St. James tells us positively and without reservation that ‘the anger of man does not work the justice of God.’” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 3, pp 146 – 147)

Just today, let us do our level best to live without anger. Should we become angry, let it be the last to arrive and the first to depart. If anger comes our way, may it give way to meekness, peace and love.

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(December 11, 2020: Damasus I, Pope)
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“You’re damned if you do; you’re damned if you don’t.”

That pretty much sums up the message in today’s Gospel selection from Matthew. John the Baptizer got criticized for his being aloof and austere; Jesus got criticized for being a down-to-earth man of the people.

As we know, there’s just no pleasing some people. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Does anyone fail to see that the world is an unjust judge, gracious and well-disposed to its own children but rigorous towards the children of God? We can never please the world unless we lose ourselves together with it. It is so demanding that it can’t be satisfied. ‘John came neither eating or drinking, says the Savior, and you say, ‘He has a devil.’ ‘The Son of Man came eating and drinking,’ and you say he is ‘a Samaritan.’ If we are ready to laugh, play cards or dance with the world in order to please it, it will be scandalized at us, and if we don’t, it will accuse us of hypocrisy or melancholy…” (IDL IV, Ch. 1, p. 236)

There’s an old saying germane to this experience: if you attempt to be all things to people, you end up becoming nothing to nobody. On any given day, follow the example of both John and Jesus: “Be who you are, and be that as best as you can”.

Come what may!

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(December 12, 2020: Our Lady of Guadalupe)
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“Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

In his book This Saint’s for You! Thomas Craughwell writes:

“On December 9, 1531, Juan Diego – a Nahua Indian who had recently converted to Christianity – was on his way to Mass when he heard singing on the summit of Tepeyac Hill. Curious to discover the source of the music, he followed a trail up the hill and at the summit met a young woman: dark-skinned, beautifully dressed and standing amid dazzling light. Speaking to Juan in Nahuatl (his own language), she introduced herself and instructed him to go to the bishop of Mexico City and tell him to build a church in her honor on the spot. Twice he attempted to persuade the bishop to do as Mary had asked; twice, the bishop turned him away. Juan wasn’t surprised that the bishop didn’t take him seriously: after all, he was a poor peasant. Juan urged Mary to ask someone with more status to deliver her message. Instead, Mary promised to give the bishop a sign that would prove to everyone for all time that what Juan Diego has reported was true. So, she commanded him to return to Tepeyac and gather flowers there. At the top of the hill he discovered gorgeous Castilian roses, growing six months out of season. He picked the flowers until his cloak was full. Them he carried them back to Marty, who took each rose in her hand before replacing it in Juan Diego’s cloak.”

“Tucking the edges of his cloak so that not a single rose would fall out, Juan hurried to the bishop’s palace where he was meeting with some of his chaplains and several servants. Juan entered the room and said, ‘You asked for a sign. Now look.’ He opened his cloak and the magnificent roses cascaded onto the floor. But more astonishing than the roses was the image on his cloak: a perfect portrait of the Virgin Marty as Juan had seen her, beautifully dressed and with the dark complexion of an Indian. The bishop became convinced and built a church on Tepeyac Hill and enshrined the miraculous image over the high altar.” (This Saint’s for You!, pp. 370 – 371)

We can all relate to Juan Diego. After all, haven’t each of us wondered from time to time in our lives how – or why – God has chosen us to be instruments of His will, sources of His hope and bearers of His Good News? Haven’t we ever suggested – perhaps not in so many words – that God would do better in selecting people with “more status” to give voice to God’s will for the people He loves and cherishes so much?

Juan Diego - however reluctantly – became convinced that what was spoken to him by the Lord (through His mother!) would be fulfilled. How much do we need to be convinced that what we speak on behalf of the Lord will be fulfilled?

And, yes, even through us!

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Spirituality Matters: November 29 - December 5

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(November 29, 2020: First Sunday of Advent)
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“Be watchful! Be alert!”

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, 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!

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(November 30, 2020: Monday, First Week of Advent)
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“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 does not 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?

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(December 1, 2020: Tuesday, First Week of Advent)
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“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?

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(December 2, 2020: Wednesday, First Week of Advent)
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“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd...”

Today’s Gospel offers us two things for our consideration. One is the virtue of compassion; the other is the anatomy of compassion. In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales observed:

“Compassion, sympathy, commiseration or pity is simply an affection that makes us share in the sufferings and sorrows of those we love. It draws the misery of others into our own heart. Hence it is called misericordia, that is, misery of heart.” (Living Jesus, p. 38)

The virtue of compassion is clearly displayed in Jesus. When he looks at those he loves – the people who had been with him for three days – “his heart is moved with pity” for they had had nothing to eat for all that time. Jesus experiences “misery of heart” when confronted with the neediness of the crowds.

The anatomy of compassion is also clearly manifested in Jesus. First, Jesus recognizes the needs of those he loves (they were hungry). Second, Jesus’ heart is moved by the needs of those he loves. Third, Jesus acts. Rather than simply stopping at being “moved with pity”, he does whatever it takes to meet the needs of those he loves.

By contrast, the disciples’ compassion appears to come up short. While they, too, recognize the needs of the crowds - and while their hearts similarly are moved by the neediness of the crowds - the disciples seem overwhelmed by the enormity of the needs and appear to be more interested in doing whatever it takes to send the crowds away to fend for themselves.

You have to wonder: for whom was this miracle of compassionate action performed? Was it done for the crowds who had been with Jesus just three days or was it done for the disciples who had been with Jesus long enough to know better than to doubt him?

How well does the anatomy of compassion work in us? How willing are we to recognize the needs of those we love? How willing are we to allow our hearts to be moved by the needs of those we love? How willing are we to try to do something – however extraordinary, however sublime – to meet the needs of those we love?

When it comes to imitating the compassion of Christ, two-out-of-three merely won’t do. We must also do something!!!

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(December 3, 2020: Francis Xavier, Religious/Priest/Missionary)
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“A strong city have we; he sets up walls and ramparts to protect us.

On this new day on our Advent journey, we listen to these words from Blessed Louis Brisson:

“Father Chevalier, my moral theology professor, used to say to us, ‘Do you believe that Our Lord became human merely to redeem the world? He became human that we might partake of His life, of His body, of His soul, of His divinity and of His happiness.’ And who is this Model, this life and this Happiness - The Word-Made-Flesh Himself!”

“The Savior, Jesus Christ – the One Whom we attempt to reproduce in ourselves and Who is living in us – accomplishes this divine redemption in us. He gives us the grace to do this. He is our Exemplar, our Model. He walks before us. We have only to put our feet in His footprints. Thus, we will bring about our complete redemption.” (Cor ad Cor, pp. 18, 19)

We have a “strong city” in the person of Jesus Christ! In Christ we find walls and ramparts in which we find not only protection, but also experience “His life, His body, His soul, His divinity and His happiness”.

Today, how might Jesus be inviting us to be a “strong city” in the lives of others? How might we become a source of support and protection for others and help them to experience the life and happiness rooted in a life in and with Jesus?

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(December 4, 2020: Friday of the First Week of Advent)
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“Those who err in spirit shall acquire understanding, and those who find fault shall receive instruction.

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“When some people see the defects of others, they feel a certain satisfaction; they preen themselves more with the hope of getting others to admire the contrary good qualities that they mistakenly believe that they possess. Such self-satisfaction may be so secret and imperceptible that a person must have sharp eyes to discover it. And even those infected by it do not recognize it when it is shown to them. To flatter and excuse themselves and soften their own remorse of conscience, others are quite willing to judge their fellow men and women to be guilty of the very vices to which they themselves are addicted or to vices equally great. They think that pointing out the faults of others will somehow make their own less noteworthy. Still other people make a habit of rash judgment because they like to play the philosopher and probe into the moods and morals of others as a means of displaying their presumed intelligence. Sad to say, even if they happen to occasionally be right their rashness and desire so far exceed their insight that they have difficulty turning away from them. To conclude, fear, ambition and other similar mental weaknesses often contribute to the birth of suspicion and rash judgment.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 28, pp. 197-198)

As we prepare once again to celebrate the birth of the Messiah, the season of Advent invites us to turn away from our erring ways and to refrain from the temptation to find faults in others. In addition, what better way to celebrate the birth of the Messiah than by changing the ways that we think about ourselves and others than by recognizing – and naming – what is good in ourselves and in others?

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(December 5, 2020: Saturday, First Week of Advent)
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“The Kingdom of heaven is at hand…”

One of the signs that Jesus associates with the Kingdom of heaven being at hand is the driving out demons.

The season of Advent provides each of us with a great opportunity to drive out from our own minds and hearts any number of demons which might plague us. These demons – while not necessarily limited to this list – could include:

·        Anxieties

·        Grudges

·        Bitterness

·        Resentment

·        Old Hurts

·        Unresolved conflicts

·        Unbridled anger

·        Perfectionism

·        Scrupulosity

·        Negativity

·        Ingratitude

·        Presumption

The Kingdom of heaven is at hand! Why not make more room in your life for the Word-Made-Flesh by driving out our demons through some heavy-duty spiritual house-cleaning between now and Christmas?

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Spirituality Matters: November 22 - November 28

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(November 22, 2020: Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe)
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“As for you, my sheep, says the Lord God, I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.”

St. Francis de Sales wrote:

“Consider that last sentence passed on to the wicked: ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his companions.’ Weigh well these heavy words. Depart, he says. It is a word of eternal abandonment that God utters to those unhappy souls and by it he banishes them forever from his face. He calls them cursed…Consider the contrary sentence passed on the good. Come, says the Judge. Ah, this is the sweet word of salvation by which God draws us to himself and receives us into the bosom of his goodness…O welcome blessing, which includes all blessings!” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part I, Chapter 14)

The parable in today's Gospel is noticeably clear that there will be a final judgment. What is also clear is that both the good and the evil failed to recognize how the seeds of this last judgment were planted in their everyday interactions with others. Re-read the text; both groups asked the question, “When did we see you…when did we welcome you…when did we visit you…when did we give you…?” Right up until the last day, both groups failed to grasp the intimate relationship between God’s judgment of us and our relationships to one another. Both groups failed to recognize the connection between the love of God and performing simple, ordinary acts of love for others.

This parable challenges us to recognize that the final judgment is not a one-time event in the eyes of God, but that in the eyes of the God - who judges justly - this judgment is an ongoing, daily event. God is extremely interested in judging how we use each moment of our lives, not simply the last one.

But while this parable speaks volumes about God's judgment, it also has a lot to say about our own judgment. In the end, the final judgment is heavily impacted by the kind of judgment we use in relating to one another, day in, day out, in the most unique, as well as the most ordinary, of life's events, circumstances, responsibilities and demands.

What do our affections, attitudes and actions toward others every day say about the final disposition of our souls? What does the way we live our lives on earth say about our lives in the hereafter?

You be the judge.

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(November 23, 2020: Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro, Religious/Priest)
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“On their lips no deceit has been found...”

The reading from the Book of Revelation describes a sea of people “who have been ransomed from the earth…as the first fruits of the human race for God and the Lamb”. These are “the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.” Of this ‘unblemished’ multitude it is said: “On their lips no deceit has been found”.

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“The Holy Spirit does not dwell in a deceitful or tricky soul. Lying, double-dealing and dissimulation are always signs of a weak, mean-spirited mind. By contrast, fidelity, simplicity and sincerity of speech are certainly a great ornament of a Christian life. David says: ‘I will take heed to my ways so that I do not sin with my tongue. Set a watch, O Lord, beside my mouth and a door about my lips.’” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 30, pp. 206-207)

Do you want to be one recognized as a person who follows the Lamb in heaven? You might want to start by paying more attention to the words that come out of your mouth on this earth!

Beginning today!

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(November 24, 2020: Andrew Dung-Lac & Companions, Martyrs)
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“When you hear of wars and insurrections do not be terrified…”

In this age of 24-7 news cycles, one could be forgiven for being ‘terrified’ from time to time. After all, we never seem to get a break. Whether around the corner or around the world, we are constantly exposed to a never-ending dose of unsettling news reports: stories of violence, accounts of revenge and descriptions of disasters. One could make the argument that you’d have to be crazy to be unconcerned or unaffected by reports of economic, social, political and/or military turmoil!

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed:

“With the single exception of sin, anxiety is the greatest evil than can happen to a soul. Just as sedition and internal disorders bring total ruin to a state and leave it helpless to resist a foreign invader, so also if our hearts are inwardly troubled and disturbed they lose both the strength necessary to maintain the virtues they had acquired and the means to resist the temptations of the enemy. He then uses his utmost to fish – as they say – in troubled waters.” (IDL, Part IV, Chapter 11, pp. 251-252)

Francis de Sales believed that people should be informed. We should be aware – and where applicable, concerned – about the things that are happening around us. More importantly, however, is the need to know what is happening inside of us. We need to know the state of our mind and heart. After all, sometimes the effects of the “wars and insurrections” that may surround us are nothing in comparison with the “wars and insurrections” that rage within us!

Trouble is a part of life. Don’t make it worse by allowing it to trouble you on the inside to the point where you can’t manage it on the outside - for your own sake, as well as for the sake of those who depend on you.

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(November 25, 2020: Catherine of Alexandria, Virgin and Martyr)
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“Great and wonderful are your works…”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“The soul that takes great pleasure in God’s goodness…desires that His name be always more and more blessed, exalted, praised, honored and adored. In this praise due to God the soul begins with its own heart...The soul imitates the great Psalmist who considered the marvels of God’s goodness, and then on the altar of his heart immolated a mystic victim: the utterances of his voice in hymns of psalms of admiration and blessings.” (Living Jesus, p. 286)

When’s the last time you considered the “great and wonderful” things that God does in your life and in the lives of others? How can you bless, exalt, praise, honor and adore God for his goodness today?

Not just in words, but also in deeds!

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(November 26, 2020: Thanksgiving Day)
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On this Thanksgiving Day, Francis de Sales offers for our reflection some extremely specific things for which we should be grateful:

“Consider that a certain number of years ago you were not yet in the world and that your present being was nothing. God has drawn you out of that nothingness to make you what you now are. Consider the nature that God has given you. It is the highest in this visible world. It is capable of eternal life and of being perfectly united to his Divine Majesty.”

“God has placed you in this world to exercise his goodness in you by giving you his grace and glory. For this purpose God has given you intellect to know him, memory to be mindful of him, will to love him, imagination to picture to yourself his benefits, eyes to see his wonderful works, tongues to praise him and so on with the other faculties.”

“Consider the corporeal benefits that God has bestowed on you: the body, goods provided for its maintenance, health, lawful comforts, friends, etc. Consider all thus in contrast to so many other persons perhaps more deserving than yourself who lack such blessings. Consider your spiritual favors! You are a child of the Church! From your childhood God has taught you to know him! How often he has given his sacraments to you! How often you have received his inspirations, interior lights and admonitions for your amendment! How often has he forgiven you your faults!”

“By noting each particular thing, you will recognize in some small way how gentle and gracious God has been to you…” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part I, Chapters 9 – 11)

Looking for “joy of heart”? Then try spending some time today counting your blessings. Try spending some time every day counting your blessings. Consider how “gentle and gracious God has been to you” and how God continues to be “gentle and gracious” to you today and every day.

And of course, family get togethers being what they are, Thanksgiving Day may provide many opportunities to be gentle and gracious to others!

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(November 27, 2020: Friday, Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Here God lives among his people…”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“God is not only in the place where you are, but God is also present in a most particular manner in your heart and in the very center of your spirit. He enlivens and animates it by his divine presence, for he is there as the heart of your heart and the spirit of your spirit. Just as the soul is diffused throughout the entire body and is therefore present in every part of the body but resides in a special manner in the heart, so also God is present in all things but always resides in a special manner in our spirit.” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 2, p. 85)

God dwells in a very particular way within the heart – within the spirit and soul – of each and every one of us. Using the words from the New Roman Missal, notwithstanding that we may be unworthy to have God enter “under our roof”, God is very much alive and at work in the very core of our being, enlivening us and animating us to meet the demands, challenges and invitations that come our way each and every day.

As we end another liturgical year, let us remember that of all the places in which we might look for God, the most accessible place – and the most enduring place – is to look within ourselves and to look within one another. Why is this important? Because Jesus himself tells us that while even earth and heaven will pass away, His word – dwelling is each of us and among all of us – will never pass away.

Insofar as we are unique expressions of God’s Incarnate Word, God lives within us and among us. How can our lives give testimony to that truth today?

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(November 28, 2020: Saturday, Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy and that the day catch you by surprise like a trap...”

The readings selected for these remaining days of the waning liturgical year emphasize the “end times”: the final judgment and the importance of being on the lookout for when that climactic moment will occur.

In a letter to the Duc de Bellegarde, St. Francis de Sales wrote:

“Persevere in this great courage and determination which keeps you lifted high above temporal things, making you pass over them like a happy halcyon bird lifted safely above the waves of the world which flood this age. Keep your eyes steadfastly fixed on that blissful day of eternity towards which the course of years bears us on; and as they pass, they themselves pass us stage by stage until we reach the end of the road. But meanwhile – in these passing moments – there lies enclosed as in a tiny kernel the seed of all eternity. In our humble little works of devotion there lies hidden the prize of everlasting glory; the little pains we take to serve God lead to the repose of a bliss that can never end.” (Selected Letters, Stopp, p. 236)

Be watchful! Be alert! Be on the lookout! However, don’t limit your vigilance to the last moment of your life; rather, expand your vigilance to include every moment of your life! In so doing, you might not only avoid having your last day catch you like a trap, but rather, you will be able transform every day into an opportunity!

Grow in your knowledge and love of God, your neighbor and yourself now – and forever.

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Spirituality Matters: November 15th - November 21st

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(November 15, 2020: Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
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“Well done. You are an industrious and reliable servant. Since you were dependable in a small matter, I will put you in charge of larger affairs. Come, share your master’s joy.”

“Judgment Day”. The term has as a sense of finality to it, doesn’t it? Well, it should!

St. Francis de Sales wrote: “Consider the majesty with which the sovereign Judge will appear, surrounded by all the angels and saints. Before him will be borne his cross, shining more brilliantly than the sun, the standard of mercy to the good and of punishment to the wicked. By his awful command, which will be swiftly carried out, this sovereign Judge will separate the good from the bad, placing the one at his right hand and the other at his left. It will be an everlasting separation and after it these two groups will never again be together. When this separation has been made and all consciences laid bare we will clearly see the malice of the wicked and the contempt they have shown for God, and we will also see the repentance of the good and the effect of the graces they received from God. Nothing will lie hidden.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part I, Chapter 14)

In the next life, nothing will be hidden. In this life, one thing should never be hidden: our God-given gifts, abilities, talents, skills and graces.

Today's Gospel issues a stern and stark warning: we must not return unused the gifts (no matter how great or small) that God gives us.

To be sure, to invest these gifts in the lives of others requires our willingness to take risks. There are few guarantees in life. We cannot be certain on any given day how well we will use our gifts, to say nothing of whether or not our gifts will be appreciated, honored, accepted or welcomed by others. Still, we must endeavor to take prudent care of and make good use of our God-given time, talents and treasure in this effort, but the risks that we take in generously sharing ourselves with others should not be rash or reckless.

But as risky as naming, embracing and investing our gifts might be, we must never allow the anxieties of an uncertain world to tempt us to do the unthinkable - to bury our talents. To act as if we possessed nothing with which to give honor to God or to meet the needs of others is far worse than any mistake we might generally make on any given day in using our abilities.

Of course, we will make mistakes in our attempts to make good use of our God-given graces. But there is no greater mistake than to live our lives as if we had no gifts to use in the service of God or others by burying them: obscuring them from the light of day.

When in doubt, keep those gifts out: for you, for God and for others – to see and to share. And, in the process, share your Master’s joy…today!

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(November 16, 2020: Margaret of Scotland; Gertrude)
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“I know your works, your labor and your endurance…and that you have not grown weary.”

In his day, some of Francis de Sales’ contemporaries criticized his approach to living the Gospel. They claimed that Francis was suggesting that following Jesus was somehow easy. For his part, the Bishop of Geneva countered by saying that he was not trying to convince people that Gospel living was easy at all. Quite the contrary, what he was trying to do was to convince people that Gospel living was available – and possible – for everyone, but specifically in ways that fit the state and stage of life in which they found themselves.

When it comes to living the Gospel – when it comes to “Living + Jesus” – Salesian spirituality starts from within. Salesian spirituality focuses on the ordinary. Salesian spirituality focuses on the everyday. Salesian spirituality focuses on how to make the hard work relative to living the Gospel doable. Thus, living the Gospel is not meant to be hard. However, as with anything worthwhile, living the Gospel is hard work and it is a life-long work. And again, as with anything worthwhile, living the Gospel is not a sprint. On the contrary, it is a marathon.

Fr. Brisson understood both issues. He was all-too-aware of the hard – but doable – work associated with living a God-like life being a life-long enterprise. Likewise, he was more than conscious of some people’s skepticism of the Salesian method of living a God-like life. In a conference he gave on the topic of “Teaching Religion”, Fr. Brisson remarked:

“The regions converted or formed by this method are those that have remained the most fervently Christian; one can see that the faith is deeply rooted there and that it is a living faith. The bishop of Orleans used to say that if one wanted to find real exactitude, refinement of manners and consolations of the faith, one had to go to Savoy. He said all these magnificent things about Savoy, and who is it that has made Savoy what it is? Isn’t it partly St. Francis de Sales? It is sometimes said that the doctrine of St. Francis de Sales is a rose-scented spirituality: yes, but it is a rose-scented spirituality which produces soldiers, lions, people who endure and you overcome every trial…Never has the world had such a need for the Gospel today. This is the task we must accomplish.” (The Oblate Preacher, translated by James P. Finnegan, OSFS, pp. 73-74)

Do you want to make progress in living the Gospel? Do you want to have the endurance required to follow Christ? Do you want to work at “Living + Jesus” in ways that do not claim to be easy but that will not leave you weary?

Then, follow the example of the Gentle-man-Saint, beginning today!

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(November 17, 2020: Elizabeth of Hungary, Wife, Mother, Widow and Religious)
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“Because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth…”

In the fall of 1992, an all-day symposium on the Holocaust was held in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania. During a Q&A that followed a program that morning, an attendee asked the presenter if he would agree that the epitome of evil was “hatred”. Without skipping a beat, the presenter responded by saying that, in his experience, the epitome of evil was not hatred; rather, the epitome of evil was ‘indifference’.

The Holocaust did not need an entire nation – or all its citizens – to be consumed with hatred for the Jews and/or other groups of so-called Untermensch to be successful. As it turned out, the only thing that was required was for enough good people to be indifferent; that is, all it took was enough folks who were neither hot nor cold about the plight of other human beings.

Perhaps this illustration from one of the darkest periods in recent human history helps us to understand why “The Lord” declares in today’s selection from the Book of Revelation that he reserves his greatest distaste for people who are lukewarm: who are indifferent.

Look at the example of Zacchaeus in today’s Gospel. His reaction to hearing that Jesus was approaching was anything but lukewarm! Zacchaeus goes out of his way – being short, he climbs a tree – hoping to catch even a glimpse of him. To his surprise, not only does Jesus see Zacchaeus, but he invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house…and, by extension, into his life. Delighted “with joy”, Zacchaeus acknowledged that there were times in his past when he was cold to the needs of others when he defrauded them. Subsequently, he declared that he will now become hot regarding others’ needs by repaying fourfold anyone whom he might have defrauded.

Our reflection provides a framework within which to meditate upon two statements: one from Martin Luther and the other from St. Francis de Sales. Luther once wrote, “If God’s mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary, sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.” For his part, Francis de Sales described devotion as not merely doing what is good, but doing what is good “carefully, readily and frequently.”

For good or for ill, how will you live your life today: in a hot, a cold or a lukewarm manner? What kind of taste will you leave in the mouths of others, to say nothing of the taste you will leave in the mouth of God?

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(November 18, 2020: Rose Philippine Duchesne, Religious and Founder)
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“To everyone who has, more will be given.”

Everyone who has…what? Perhaps it is the courage to say ‘yes.’ Perhaps it is the courage to take the risks that come with that ‘yes’.

In today’s Gospel two of the three servants took a risk when they invested that which their master had entrusted to them. As a result, they were able to make a return on their master’s investment with salutatory results. By contrast, the third servant – afraid that he might lose what his master had entrusted to him – played it safe by simply sitting on what he had received - with dire results.

We are confronted with God’s impatience regarding inaction brought about by fear - fear of failure and perhaps sometimes even fear of success. Better to have risked everything and lost than to have never risked whatever it is your received. Better to love and have lost rather than never having loved at all.

Consider what God has entrusted to you. Consider what God has invested in you. How can you make a return to God today for his generosity to you?

Trust in God. Take a risk. Learn to love.

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(November 19, 2020: Thursday, Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time)
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“If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.”

Have you ever noticed throughout many of the stories in Scripture how often people recognized God-given opportunities to do something good only after the fact? While hindsight it better than having no sight at all, there are certain limitations that come with recognizing how God has been active in one’s life only after subsequent reflection. This pattern gets played out time and time again in numerous accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. People frequently did not recognize what Jesus had done for them – or who Jesus had been with them – until after the fact.

It is safe to say that this occurrence is a pretty common human experience. In a scene from the movie Field of Dreams (1989), Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham (played by Burt Lancaster) observes:

“You know, we just don't recognize life's most significant moments while they're happening. Back then I thought, ‘Well, there'll be other days.’ I didn't realize that that was the only day.”

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed:

“Blind men do not see a prince who is present among them, and therefore they do not show him the respect they owe him until only after being informed oh his presence. However, because they do not actually see him, they easily forget his presence, and having forgotten it, they still more easily lose the respect and reverence owed to him.” (IDL, Part Two, Chapter 2, p. 84)

The aim of the Spiritual Directory – the goal of the Direction of Intention – is to help us to acquire foresight when it comes to recognizing the activity and presence of God in our lives. Through our efforts to anticipate the variety of ways in which God may choose to reveal himself, may we recognize God’s divine activity and presence as it actually occurs in each and every present moment – whether significant or insignificant – and not only after the fact.

And so, be on the lookout for how God may invite you to be instruments of His peace today!

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(November 20, 2020: Friday, Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time)
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“My house shall be a house of prayer…”

This quote from today’s Gospel goes much deeper than talking about a building. This quote has little or nothing to do with why we should be quiet in church. From a Salesian point of view, this quote goes to the heart of what it means to be human.

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:

“God is not only in the place where you are, but God is also present in a most particular manner in your heart and in the very center of your spirit. He enlivens and animates it by his divine presence, for he is there as the heart of your heart and the spirit of your spirit. Just as the soul is diffused throughout the entire body and is therefore present in every part of the body but resides in a special manner in the heart, so also God is present in all things but always resides in a special manner in our spirit.”(IDL, Part II, Chapter 2, p. 85)

God dwells in a very particular way within the heart – within the spirit and soul – of every one of us. In effect, then, as we hear in the First Letter of Peter, we are called to live “like living stones, letting ourselves be built into a spiritual house … acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”. (2:4-5) Using the words from the New Roman Missal, notwithstanding that we may be unworthy to have God enter “under our roof”, God is very much alive and at work in the very core of our being, enlivening us and animating us to meet the demands, challenges and invitations that come our way each and every day.

Each us, then, is a house of prayer. Each of us is a manifestation and expression of the God in whose image and likeness we are created. And insofar as prayer is a dialogue, our fundamental vocation is to be engaged in conversation with God as we try our level best to bring out the best in our little corners of the world.

How can we be that house of God today in the lives of one another?

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(November 21, 2020: Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
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“He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

In his commentary on this passage from the Gospel of Luke, William Barclay makes the following observations:

“The Sadducees came with this question about who would be the husband of the woman in heaven who was married to seven different men. They regarded such a question as the kind of thing that made belief in the resurrection of the body ridiculous. Jesus gave them an answer which has a permanent valid truth in it. He said that we must not think of heaven in terms of earth. Life there will be quite different because we will be quite different. It would save a mass of misdirected ingenuity – and not a little heartbreak – if we ceased to speculate on what heaven is like and left such things to the love of God.” (pp. 250-251)

But Barclay’s commentary is not limited only to the message of Jesus. He also draws attention to the method of Jesus, using arguments to which ordinary people could relate. “Jesus used arguments that the people with whom he was speaking could understand. He talked to them in their own language. He met them on their own ground, and that is precisely why the common person heard him gladly.”

Fr. Brisson believed that the first step in any worthwhile endeavor – be it preaching, teaching or evangelizing – is to meet people where they are, just as Jesus did.

How might we imitate the message – and method – of Jesus in our own interactions with others just this day?

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Spirituality Matters: November 1st - November 7th

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(November 1, 2020: All Saints)
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“He began to teach them...”

In her book entitled Saint Francis de Sales and the Protestants (in which she examines his missionary activity in the Chablais, one of the most seminal periods in the life of the “Gentleman Saint”), author Ruth Kleinman wrote:

“Saintliness is hard to practice, but it is even more difficult to describe.” A notable exception to this dictum are the words we hear proclaimed today in the Gospel of Matthew on this Solemnity of All Saints.

Jesus describes saintliness simply and succinctly. It is about living a life of Beatitude:

·        Saintly are those who mourn, i.e., those who refuse to harden their hearts when faced with the needs of others.

·        Saintly are those who show mercy, i.e., those who are willing to forgo old hurts and to forgive others from their hearts.

·        Saintly are those who are poor in spirit, i.e., those who experience everything as a gift and who demonstrate their gratitude through their willingness to share what they have (regardless of how ordinary or extraordinary) with others.

·        Saintly are the pure of heart, i.e., those who avoid artificiality and pretense and who have the courage to be their true, authentic selves.

·        Saintly are the meek, i.e., those who know that power isn’t demonstrated by taking from others but about giving to others. It’s not about doing to others but about doing for/with others.

·        Saintly are the peacemakers, i.e., those who bring people together rather than drive them apart.

·        Saintly are those who hunger and thirst for what is right, i.e., those for whom doing good comes with the same frequency and urgency as the need to eat and drink.

·        Saintly are those persecuted for doing what is right, i.e., those who are willing to stand up for what is right regardless of the cost(s) incurred.

And as it turns out, not only is saintliness not hard to describe, but it isn’t nearly as hard to practice as we might think. In a sermon on Our Lady, Francis de Sales observed:

“There is no need of putting ourselves to the trouble of trying to find out what are the desires of God, for they are all expressed in His commandments and in the counsels of Our Lord Himself gave us in the Sermon on the Mount when He said: ‘How blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the lowly, and the other Beatitudes.’ These are all the desires of God upon which we ought to walk, following these as perfectly as we can.” (Select Salesian Subjects, #0170, p. 37)

Saintliness? To be sure, it is hard work. But with the grace of God – and the support of one another – it is doable!

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(November 2, 2020: Commemoration of All the faithful Departed)
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“The souls of the just are in the hands of God...”

In one of his pamphlets that was later published in a broader collection entitled The Catholic Controversy, Francis de Sales wrote:

“We maintain that we may pray for the faithful departed, and that the prayers and good works of the living greatly relieve them and are profitable to them for this reason: that all those who die in the grace of God – and consequently, in the number of the elect – do not go to Paradise at the very first moment, but many go to Purgatory…from which our prayers and good works can help and serve to deliver them.”

“We agree the blood of Our Redeemer is the true purgatory of souls, for in it are cleansed all the souls of the world. Tribulations also are a purgatory, by which our souls are rendered pure, as gold refined in the furnace. It is well known that Baptism in which our sins are washed away can be called a purgatory, as everything can be that serves to purge away our offenses. But in this context we take Purgatory for a place in which after this life the souls which leave this world before they have been perfectly cleansed from the stains they have contracted. And if one would know why this place is called simply Purgatory more than are the other means of purgation above-named, the answer will be, that it is because in that place nothing takes place but the purgation of the stains which remain at the time of departure out of this world, whereas in Baptism, Penance, tribulations and the rest, not only is the soul purged from its imperfections, but it is further enriched with many graces and perfections. And agreeing as to the blood of Our Lord, we fully acknowledge the virtue thereof, that we protest by all our prayers that the purgation of souls – whether in this world or in the other – is made solely by its application.” (CC, pp. 353-354)

Notwithstanding the effects of our prayers and good works on behalf of our dearly departed, Francis de Sales reminds us that at the end of the day it is the life and death of Jesus Christ that purifies our souls, whether in this life or in the next. To that end, whether it’s the just or the unjust, whether it’s in this world or the next, we are all in the hands of God.

Here’s hoping that we pray for our faithful departed. Here’s hoping that our faithful departed pray for us. All of us could stand to do with a little purgation of one kind or another from time to time!

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(November 3, 2020: Tuesday, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus…”

What does it mean to have the ‘attitude’ of Christ? In his great ‘hymn’ to the Philippians, Paul notes that Jesus did not cling to his divinity nor to his power. However, Jesus’ self-emptying is not self-deprecation, because Jesus viewed his divine power as something which – by its very nature – is meant to be placed at the service of others. His self-emptying is the ultimate expression of divine – and, for that matter, human – generosity!

This ‘attitude’ of Christ lies at the very heart of the Beatitude that Jesus taught (and lived): “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” Blessed – happy – are those who realize that whatever they possess – whoever they are – is designed, deemed and destined, to be shared with others.

The saint whose life we honor tomorrow - Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, certainly embodied the attitude of Christ. “He allotted most of his income to charity, forbade himself all luxury and imposed severe penances upon himself. He sacrificed wealth, high honors, esteem and influence to become poor. During the plague and famine of 1576, he tried to feed 60,000 to 70,000 people daily. To do this he borrowed large sums of money that required years to repay. Whereas the civil authorities fled at the height of the plague, he stayed in the city, where he ministered to the sick and the dying, helping those in want….” (http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1189)

Francis de Sales (a contemporary of Borromeo and, as it turned out, a great fan of the archbishop of Milan) certainly understood the necessity of having the attitude of Christ. “Our possessions are not our own”, he wrote in the Introduction to the Devout Life. “God has given them to us to cultivate and God wants us to make them fruitful and profitable.” How do we make our possessions – our power – “fruitful and profitable?” The Gentleman Saint is quite clear: “Make yourself a servant of the poor.” (IDL, Part Three, Chapter 15, pp. 164-165)

Do you want to have the ‘attitude’ of Christ? Be generous! Put what you have – and who you are – at the service of others.

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(November 4, 2020: Charles Borromeo, Bishop)
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“For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work…”

Am I good or am I evil? Your answer to this question is no mere theoretical or abstract discussion. In the Salesian tradition, at least, the question – and its answer – make all the difference between life and death. If you believe that you are good, odds are that you will think, feel, believe and behave in ways that lead to life. By the same token, if you believe that you are evil, well – not surprisingly – you will in all likelihood think, feel, believe and behave in a manner that lead to death.

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed:

“Consider that a certain number of years ago you were not yet in the world and that your present being was truly nothing. The world had already existed for a long time, but of us there was as yet nothing. God has subsequently drawn you out of nothingness to make you what you are and God has done so solely out of his own goodness. Consider the nature God has given to you. It is the highest in this visible world. It is capable of eternal life and of being perfectly united to his Divine majesty.” (IDL, Part One, Chapter 9, p. 53)

During the 1970’s it was quite popular to say, “God doesn’t make junk”. While not exactly high theology, it does get to the heart of the Salesian understanding of human nature. To paraphrase the words of St. Paul, we humans – all of us – are more than capable of serving God’s goodness. As members of the Salesian family, we likewise know that being good and having good are not the same things as doing good. We all fail to live up to our God-given goodness. We all fail to put our goodness into action. We all fall short when it comes to recognizing and sharing our goodness with others.

In other words, as good as we may be, we sometimes do bad things.

Remind yourself throughout this day that God has made you a good person – after all, you are made in God’s very own image and likeness. In like manner remind yourself throughout the day to ask for the grace you need to be instrument’s of God’s good purpose in the lives of other.

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(November 5, 2020: Thursday, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time)
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“There will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents...”

Whence comes all this rejoicing over repentant sinners? In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“God’s favor floats over all life’s difficulties and finds joy in turning all miseries to the greater profit of those who love him. From toil he makes patience spring forth, contempt of this world from inevitable death, and from concupiscence a thousand victories. Just as the rainbow touches the thorn of aspalathus and makes it smell sweeter than the lily, so our Savior’s redemption touches our miseries and makes them more beneficial and worthy of love than original innocence could ever have been. The angels, says our Savior, have ‘more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just who have no need of repentance.’ So, too, the state of redemption is a hundred times better than that of innocence. Truly, by the watering of our Savior’s blood – made with the hyssop of the cross – have been restored to a white incomparably better than that possessed by the snows of innocence. Like Naaman, we come out of the stream of salvation more pure and clean than if we had never had leprosy.” (TLG, Book II Chapter 6, pp. 116 – 177)

“Redemption is a hundred times better than innocence.” Given the fact that all of us suffer from the leprosy of sin in any number of ways, not only should the power of repentance make for rejoicing among the angels in heaven, but also this repentance should produce even greater rejoicing among us here on earth!

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(November 6, 2020: Friday, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Our citizenship is in heaven…”

In a letter addressed to Jane de Chantal, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Be devoted to St. Louis and admire his great constancy. He became king when he was twelve years old, had nine children, was constantly waging war either against the rebels of enemies of the faith, and reigned as king for over forty years. He made two journeys overseas. In the course of both of these crusades he lost his army, and on the last journey he died of the plague after he had spent much time visiting, helping and serving those who were plague-stricken in his army. He bandaged their sores and cured them, and then died joyfully and with fortitude…I give you this saint for your special patron.” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 75)

Francis de Sales clearly held this devout king on very high esteem. Louis IX clearly and convincingly demonstrated how being a citizen of heaven requires Christians to tend to the things of earth. While he may have had a great many things on his plate as the ruler of a realm, Louis’ earthly duties and responsibilities were not an obstacle to living a Christian life. Rather, these very duties provided opportunities and occasions in which he practiced the Christian life and pursued a life of virtue. This was a man who was dedicated to fulfilling his earthly vocation in a heavenly way.

Of course, it is no surprise that Francis de Sales should admire such a noble, generous and down-to-earth saint that Louis IX. After all, Francis de Sales is likewise recognized for his very down-to-earth way of being a heavenly man. Of the “Gentleman Saint”, Jacques Maritain once wrote: “No one better than he has succeeded in showing the marvelous adaptability to the progress of love penetrating every state of life. I do not mean in spite of the temporal commitments of the Christian in the world – I mean because of these very obligations themselves.” (Kelley, Spirit of Love, p. x)

We are citizens of heaven and we are citizens of earth. How might God challenge us to do justice to this dual citizenship just today?

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(November 7, 2020: Saturday, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time)
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“I have learned – in whatever situation I find myself – to be self-sufficient...”

“I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things, I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.”

St. Paul is a man who learned one of the secrets to happiness: the ability to roll with the punches. For his part, St. Francis de Sales equated this virtue – we might call it flexibility or adaptability – with the practice of devotion.

“Devotion is true spiritual sugar for it removes bitterness from mortification and anything harmful from our consolations. From the impoverished it takes away discontent; from the rich it removes anxiety; from the oppressed it removes grief; from the exalted it removes pride; from the solitary it removes loneliness; from those in society it removes overextension. It serves with equal benefit as fire in winter and dew in summer. It knows how to use prosperity and how to endure want. It makes honor and contempt alike useful to us. It accepts pleasure and pain with a heart that is nearly always the same, and it fills us with a marvelous sweetness.” (IDL, Part I, Chapter 2, p. 42)

How can I determine if I am able to be self-sufficient in whatever situation I find myself? How can I tell if I am making progress in the practice of devotion?

How well will I roll with life’s punches today?

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Spirituality Matters: November 8th - November 14th

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(November 8, 2020: Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her...those who watch at dawn will not be disappointed, for they shall find her sitting at the gate.”

In an introduction to an 1862 edition of St. Francis de Sales’ Spiritual Conferences, Cardinal Wiseman wrote: “The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales is eminently a spirit of wisdom. For certainly all that we have written about it will have been written in vain if our readers have not recognized this spirit as a superhuman prudence. And what is this but wisdom? Moderation, avoidance of extremes, adaptation to all circumstances, and discerning the means to respond to all characters and situations - these constitute a wisdom difficult and uncommon.” (Conferences, p. lxiv)

St. Francis de Sales' spirituality is, among other things, a path to wisdom. It is a divinely inspired, common-sense approach to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the state, stage and circumstances of life in which we find ourselves. St. Francis de Sales offers us a down-to-earth way in which to pursue the things of heaven.

One of the qualities of this God-centered, practical wisdom is prudence. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language describes being prudent as “wise in handling practical matters; exercising good judgment and common sense; careful in regard to one's own interests; provident…” Prudence comes from the Latin word, the root meaning of which is “to provide for.”

Today's Gospel provides a powerful story about the image of being prudent, to be “careful in regard to one's own interests.” One group of servants had prepared for the possibility that their master might be delayed in arriving. And, as a result, they brought extra oil along for their torches. The other group, however, did not prepare or make provision for this possibility and therefore only brought enough oil to provide one cycle of illumination.

The moral of the story is clear and unambiguous: “Keep your eyes open, for you know not the day nor the hour.” Look around you. Consider the signs of the times. See beyond the horizon.

To be sure, so much of St. Francis de Sales wisdom is about rolling with the punches, playing with the hand we are dealt or going with the flow. Sometimes, however, being “careful in regard to one's own interest” - being prudent, employing common sense - requires that we plan, provide and prepare for even the unexpected.

Perhaps, especially for the unexpected.

The book of Wisdom proclaims that whoever "keeps vigil for wisdom shall be quickly free from care." Part of that vigilance is about preparing ourselves to recognize the sights, sounds and smells of God's will and action in our own lives before it is too late.

After all, when did Noah build the ark?

Before the rain! Before the rain!

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(November 9, 2020: Dedication of the Lateran Basilica)
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"You are God’s building. Thanks to the favor God showed me I laid a foundation as a wise master-builder might do, and now someone else is building upon it. Everyone, however, must be careful how he builds…for the temple of God is holy, and you are that temple."

Today the Church marks the anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral church of Rome by Pope Sylvester I, on November 9, 324 AD. As long ago as this dedication was, the truth is that human beings have been building one thing or another since the beginning of time: the Tower of Babel, the Ark, the Pyramids, the Coliseum, the Great Wall of China, The Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center…

As co-creators with God, we are charged with making something good out of all that God has entrusted to us. We are charged with building a world marked by liberty, justice, freedom, peace, reconciliation, truth, honesty, kindness and care.  In short, we are called to build up the Kingdom of God here on earth by laying the ground work for that great and mysterious day when the ongoing creative, redeeming and inspiring work of God will reach its fulfillment: life on high with Jesus Christ.

Closer to home, there is lots of work to be done. Building upon the foundation of Christ, Paul, Sylvester and countless others, we also must build things that give glory to God and which serve the needs of one another. However, the most important things that we build are not things at all. They are our relationships with each other: husband, wife, mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister, friend, neighbor, and co-worker.

Look at Jesus himself. He never helped to break ground for a new school. He never laid a cornerstone for a new synagogue. He never constructed a monument. He never attended the ribbon-cutting for a new store. What he built was much more important and powerful: a web of relationships in which men, women and children personally experienced God’s love for them, and a web of life and love meant to be shared and expanded with future generations.

Here we stand, countless centuries since the dawn of creation, and so much has been built, but so much more, with God’s help, remains to be constructed and strengthened…especially honest, just, peaceable, freeing, life-giving relationships with one another.

Are we up to that task today? Are we careful about what and how we build? What kind of foundation are we laying just today for tomorrow?

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(And, or…)
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“You are God’s building...”

To construct a building is one thing, but to maintain it is quite another. Prudent builders/owners not only allot resources for the actual construction of whatever it is they build, but they will also earmark resources for the ongoing upkeep of the building.

In a letter to Madame de Chantal (February 11, 1607), Francis de Sales observed:

“It is not necessary to be always and at every moment attentive to all the virtues to practice them; that would twist and encumber your thoughts and feelings too much. Humility and charity are the master beams - all the others are attached to them. We need only hold on to these two: one is at the very bottom and the other at the very top. The preservation of the whole building depends on two things: its foundation and its roof. We do not encounter much difficulty in practicing other virtues if we keep our heart bound to the practice of these two...” (LSD, pp. 148-149)

God – the Master Builder – has constructed each of us in his image and likeness. Celebrate the building-of-God that you are! Maintain the gift of your divinely built edifice with the spiritual foundation and roof most readily available for your good - humility and charity!

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(November 10, 2020: Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church)
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“You must say what is consistent with sound doctrine…so that the word of God may not be discredited.”

What should we infer from today’s selection from Paul’s Letter to Titus? We can talk all we want about what we believe as Christians, but if we really want to give credible witness to the power and promise of God’s word, we need to be more concerned with how we live what we believe. In other words, we need to do what we say!

So, what does it look like when we are talking the talk and walking the walk? Paul tells us that we need to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, loving, reverent, self-controlled and chaste…among other virtues.

When push comes to shove, what do authentic, credible Christians look like? Paul suggests we look for folks who are “eager to do what is good.”

Today, can the same be said about us?

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(November 11, 2020: Martin of Tours, Bishop)
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“Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

We all have skeletons in our respective closets. We all have things in our past about which we are embarrassed or ashamed. In his Letter to Titus, Paul remarks: “We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another.”

Because of God’s mercy – because of God’s generosity – there is more to us than our past. We can have a new present; we can have a new future. Paul continues: “When the kindness and generous love of God our Savior appeared - not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy - he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.”

The Gospel story of the ten lepers is a powerful illustration of how God’s love can change and transform our past. Jesus cured these men not because of anything that they did to deserve it; rather, Jesus cured them simply because he wished to do so. If Jesus did expect anything in return for his pity – for his mercy – for his generosity – he expected some semblance of gratitude.

Today, think about all the good things that God has done for you. Think about how merciful God is. Think about how generous God is. How can we show our gratitude? How can we say, “thank you”? Perhaps, Paul says it best.

“Be peaceable, considerate, exercising all graciousness toward everyone.”

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(November 12, 2020: Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr)
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“The Kingdom of God is among you…”

In today’s Gospel we hear: “Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, ‘The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ The Kingdom of God is among you.”

Jesus seems to be saying that the Kingdom of God is not about finding a thing, place or location, because in the context of the Gospel, the Kingdom of God is a person - in this case, the person of Jesus Christ.

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed:

“God is in all things and in all places. There is no place or thing in this world in which God is not truly present. Just as wherever birds fly they always encounter the air, so also wherever we go or wherever we are we find God present.”

He continued:

“God is not only in the place where you are but also in a most particular manner in your heart – in the very center of your spirit. Just as the soul is diffused throughout the entire body but resides in a special manner in the heart, so, too, God is present in all things but always resides in a special manner in our spirit.” (IDL, Part Two, Chapter 2, pp. 84-85)

So, where would you expect to find the Kingdom of God today? Try looking for it in the Body of Christ - look for it within yourself and look for it within others.

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(November 13, 2020: Frances Xavier Cabrini, Religious and Founder)
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“Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather...”

We’ve probably all had this experience while travelling by car in the open country - seeing birds circling somewhere in the sky up ahead. As we drew closer to where they were circling, we realized that these were not just any bird but birds of prey. And, at that point, we anticipated what we were going to see within the next minute or two - roadkill.

Hence, we associate the gathering – or circling – of vultures with death.

By contrast, what would we expect to see gathering or circling around life? St. Francis de Sales mentions a few of the things for which we should look:

“Patience; meekness; self-discipline; humility; obedience; poverty; chastity; tenderness toward our neighbors; bearing with our neighbors’ imperfections; holy fervor.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 2, p. 127)

Which begs the question: what do other people see gathering – or circling – around us?

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(November 14, 2020: Saturday, Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says…”

And what did the unjust judge say? Essentially, he said this: “I will do justice to this woman just to get her off my back.”

Have you ever done something good simply to get someone else to stop bugging you? Have you ever done the right thing just to get someone else to go away? Have you ever done the just thing to get someone else to shut up?

Let’s face it. Isn’t it true that sometimes we do the right thing for a less-than-right reason?

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Let us purify all our intentions as best we can. Since we can diffuse throughout all various acts to sacred motive of divine love, why should we not do so? On all occasions we will reject every kind of vicious motive, such as vainglory and self-interest, and consider all the good motives we can have for undertaking the act before us so as to choose the motive of holy love - which is the most excellent of all – and to flood it over all other motives, steeping them in the greatest motive of all....” (TLG, Book XI, Book 14, p. 237)

One might ask, “So, am I supposed to wait until my motives are totally pure before I attempt to do something right?” Lord knows that if that were the case, then the world would really be out of luck! In a perfect world we would always do what is good, righteous and just for only good, righteous and just reasons. But insofar as this is an imperfect world, we should not cease our attempts to do what is good for goodness sake; rather, we should acknowledge the need to purify our intentions even as we struggle to live our lives with other people in a reasonable, just and equitable manner.

May God give us the courage we need just this day to not only do the right thing but also to do the right thing for the right reason!

Spirituality Matters: October 25th - October 31st

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(October 25, 2020: Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind…You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Francis de Sales authored the Treatise on the Love of God. Had he lived long enough, he also intended to write a book on the love of neighbor. What is common to both is charity - the love of God and neighbor. Charity was, and is, in the mind and heart of Francis de Sales, the virtue of virtues. We are called to love our God in a neighborly way, and we are called to love our neighbor in a God-like manner.

Needless to say, but say it we will, Francis de Sales has more than a little to share with us about the nature and practice of charity.

"Just as God created man in his image and likeness, so also God has ordained for us a love in the image and likeness of the love due to God's divinity…Why do we love God? The reason we love God is God himself…Why do we love ourselves in charity? Surely, it is because we are God's image and likeness…Since all people have this same dignity, we also love them as ourselves, that is, in their character as most holy and living images of the divinity…The same charity that produces acts of love of God produces at the same time those of love of neighbor….To love our neighbor in charity is to love God in others and others in God." (Treatise on the Love of God, Book 10, Chapter 11)

For St. Francis de Sales, the love of God and the love of neighbor are not two distinct experiences as much as they are two expressions of the same reality, two sides, as it were, of the same coin. (Recall Jesus’ command in last Sunday’s Gospel to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to render to God what is God’s.”)

“The great St. Augustine says that charity includes all the virtues and performs all their operations in us,” wrote St. Francis de Sales. “These are his words: ‘What is said about virtue being divided into four’ - he means the four cardinal virtues – ‘in my opinion is said because of the different affections that proceed from love. Hence, I do not hesitate to define those four virtues thus: temperance is love that gives itself entirely to God. Fortitude is love that willingly bears all things for God's sake. Justice is love that serves God alone, and therefore disposes justly all that is subject to human beings. Prudence is love that chooses what is useful to unite itself to God, and rejects all that is harmful.’” (Treatise on the Love of God, Chapter XI, Chapter 8)

"The one who possesses charity has one's soul clothed with a fair wedding garment, which, like that of Joseph, is wrought over with all the various virtues. Moreover, charity has a perfection that contains the virtue of all perfections and the perfections of all virtues." (Ibid)

In charity we find the meeting place of the love of God, the love of self, and the love of others. How well do we share this multi-faceted love with those we meet every day? Put another way, how faithful are we in giving what is due to the things of haven and the things of earth?

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(October 26, 2020: Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Live as children of the light…”

In his Letter to the Ephesians Paul describes what it looks like when we are living as “children of the light”:

·        We are kind and compassionate to others.

·        We forgive others.

·        We avoid even speaking of things like immorality, impurity or greed.

·        We eschew obscene, silly or suggestive speech.

·        We dedicate ourselves to thanksgiving and gratitude.

Even as we strive to “be imitators of God”, we are still imperfect people. Each of us still retains our share of shadows; all of us still struggle with some elements of darkness. What are we – as children of the light – to do about this dilemma? Francis de Sales certainly offers this encouragement:

“It is a great part of our perfection to support one another in our imperfections; what better way is there for us to practice love of our neighbor save in this support?” (Select Salesian Subjects, #0096, p. 22)

The presence of shadows – and even darkness – should not discourage us in our attempts to be children of the light. Rather, let us “live in love” – and demonstrate that love – through our support and encouragement of one another.

Today!

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(October 27, 2020: Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“To what can I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like a mustard seed…”

It seems paradoxical that Jesus would describe something as vast as the Kingdom of God in terms of one of the smallest of all seeds - the mustard seed. Still, consider how St. Francis de Sales describes eternity in a letter to the Duc de Bellegarde (Peer and Master of the Horse at the courts of both Henri IV and Louis XIII of France):

“Keep your eyes steadfastly fixed on that blissful day of eternity towards which the course of years bears us on; and these as they pass, themselves pass us stage by stage until we reach the end of the road. But meanwhile, in these passing moments there lies enclosed as in a tiny kernel the seed of all eternity; and in our humble little works of devotion there lies hidden the prize of everlasting glory, and the little pains we take to serve God lead to the repose of a bliss that can never end...” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 236)

Indeed, the Kingdom of God is a big thing. In fact, it is the biggest and the broadest of all things. As Jesus reminds us, however – and as Francis de Sales underscores – sometimes the biggest of things come in very small, ordinary and everyday packages!

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(October 28, 2020: Simon and Jude, Apostles/Martyrs)
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“He called his disciples to himself…”

Remember the hit TV comedy series Cheers? These are the words from the show’s theme song:

Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go here everybody knows your name,
and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows your name.
You wanna go where people know, people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows your name.

In today’s Gospel we hear that even Jesus knew that “making your way in the world…takes everything you’ve got” and that “taking a break from all your worries sure can help a lot”. So, he went up to the top of a mountain by himself to spend time in prayer with his Father. The next day, he called his disciples to himself and named his Apostles. And to this day – nearly two thousand years later – everybody knows their names.

Just today, how can we make a name for ourselves in the service of God and neighbor? Today, how can we treat others in ways that makes them “glad you came?”

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(October 29, 2020: Thursday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Put on the armor of God...”

In a Lenten sermon (1622), Francis de Sales made the following exhortation:

“Fear nothing, I pray you, since you are encompassed with the armor of truth and of faith…This faith is accompanied by the four cardinal virtues: fortitude, prudence, justice and temperance. It uses them as an armored breastplate to put its enemies to flight, or to remain among them firm, invincible and unshaken. So great is its strength that it fears nothing, because not only is it strong, but it is aware of its strength and by whom it is supported – Truth itself. Now there is nothing stronger than truth, in which consists the valor of faith…” (Sermons of St. Francis de Sales for Lent, pp. 21, 39)

Obviously, this “armor of God” is designed to protect us from exterior threats, but it can also be just as helpful in preserving us from interior threats. In a letter to Angelique Arnauld, Francis de Sales wrote:

“The great Apostle (Paul) felt as if an army – made up of his moods, versions, habits and natural inclinations – had conspired to bring about his spiritual death…asserting that the grace of God through Jesus Christ would defend him, not from fear, or terror, or from the fight, but from defeat and from being overcome…” (LSD, pp 1712 – 173)

Francis de Sales tells us that upon rising we should make a “preparation of the day” – that is, we should anticipate all the circumstances, events and people that we will encounter with the hope of knowing which virtues to employ and which vices to avoid. Don’t forget to add “putting on the armor of God” – and the cardinal virtues that come with it - to your daily “to-do” list!

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(October 30, 2020: Friday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more
in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value…”

In his commentary on this selection from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, William Barclay observed:

“It was Paul’s prayer for his people that their love would grow greater every day. That love, which was not merely a sentimental thing, was to grow in knowledge and in sensitive perception so that they would be more and more able to distinguish between right and wrong. Love is always the way to knowledge. If we love any subject, we want to learn more about it; if we love any person, we want to learn more about that person; if we love Jesus, we will want to learn more about Him and his truth.”

To the extent that my love of God, self and others is active and growing, it might be well for us to spend some time answering these questions:

What are the things I value in my life? Who are the people I value in my life? How can I put those values into action just today?

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(October 31, 2014: Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Trick or treat!!!”

“Trick-or-treating or guising is a customary practice for children on Halloween in many countries. Children wearing costumes travel from house to house in order to ask for treats such as candy (or, in some cultures, money) with the question ‘Trick or treat?’ The ‘trick’ is a (usually idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given to them. In North America, trick-or-treating became an ever-growing phenomenon Halloween tradition in the years following the lifting in 1947 of nationwide sugar rationing that had occurred during WWII.”

“The tradition of going from door to door receiving food already existed in Great Britain and Ireland in the form of ‘souling’, where children and poor people would sing and say prayers for the dead in return for cakes. Guising, that is, children disguised in costumes going from door to door for food and coins also predates trick-or-treating, and is recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895, where masqueraders - in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips - visited homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit and money. While going from door to door in disguise has remained popular among Scots and Irish, the North American custom of saying "trick or treat" has become the norm.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick-or-treating)

(NOTE: in the United States Halloween has become one of the most popular social events for adults, second only to News Years Eve.)

Many of us will be opening our doors countless times tonight for little ghosts, ghouls and goblins who will be wearing disguises and hoping for treats. Isn’t it reassuring that when we approach God in prayer for the many good things that we seek on behalf of ourselves or others, that we don’t need to be disguised – that we don’t need to wear masks – that we don’t need to pretend to be something or someone we’re not?  Isn’t it wonderful that we can simply be who we are on this earth without the need to hide our faces from a God who loves us for who we are?

Of course, there’s no “trick” to expressing our gratitude to a God who loves us as we are. The best way is to “treat” others in the same way, that is, to love them not for whom they aren’t, but to love them for whom they are!

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Spirituality Matters October 18th - October 24th

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(October 18, 2020: Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s; render to God what is God’s.”

Living a God-centered life is not a simple, cut-and-dry proposition. While we are indeed created to live forever with God in heaven, we must also, on any given day, tend to any number of duties and responsibilities here on earth.

We must give both heaven and earth their respective dues.

How does this work? How do we achieve this balance in our won lives?

To use the phrase: are we supposed to rob from Peter to pay Paul? No, we do not need to deprive one to pay tribute to another! Are we supposed to give to God from one hand and give to the world from the other? No, we are challenged to use both our hands in such a way that gives justice to both the things of earth as well as the things of heaven.

While not overstating the obvious lesson in today’s Gospel, service to heaven and service to earth are, in fact, two sides of the same coin! We are ultimately faithful to both “Caesar” and to “God” by treating our brothers and sisters with justice…by giving them their due.

Francis de Sales wrote:

“Be just and equitable in all your actions. Always put yourself in your neighbor's place and your neighbor in yours, and then you will judge rightly. Imagine yourself the seller when you buy and the buyer when you sell and you will sell and buy justly…you lose nothing by living generously, nobly, courteously and with a royal, just and reasonable heart. Resolve to examine your heart often to see if it is such toward your neighbor, as you would want your neighbor to be toward you if you were in your neighbor's place. This is the touchstone of true reason.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 36

Giving others their due is not only about being faithful to the debt of love we owe to one another, but it also can also have very practical ramifications. Francis de Sales penned these words in 1604: "I see that you have a debt…repay this as soon as you possibly can, and be as careful as you can never to withhold from others anything that belongs to them.” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 69)

Whether the obligations are great or small, we must strive to always give what is due to our brothers and sisters. We must strive to treat one another reasonably, fairly, humbly, honestly and justly. In so doing we render to “Caesar” what is “Caesar’s” and we also render to God what is God's.

In the Salesian tradition, we never really have to choose between tending to the things of heaven or the things of earth. By meeting the needs of our brothers and sisters, we tend to both the things of earth and to the things of heaven at the same time, in the process “proving our faith, laboring in love, and showing constancy in our hope in Jesus Christ”.

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(October 19, 2020: John de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues, Priests & Companions, Martyrs)
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“Take care to guard against all greed…”

Greed is defined as “an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth.”

What is important to note is that greed is not equated with merely possessing material wealth, but that greed is also about having an “excessive” or inordinate desire to possess material wealth. It is not about the amount of the wealth; it is about the size – and intensity - of the desire for wealth.

Francis de Sales certainly understood this distinction. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, he wrote:

“I willingly grant that you may take care to increase your wealth and resources, provided this is done not only justly but properly and charitably. However, if you are strongly attached to the goods you possess, too solicitous about them, set your heart on them, always have them in your thoughts and fear losing them with a strong, anxious fear, then, believe me, you are suffering from a kind of fever. If you find your heart very desolated and afflicted at the loss of property, believe me, you love it too much…” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 14, p. 163)

The Gospel parable is a classic example of what Francis de Sales described. The rich man is not condemned because he is rich; the rich man is condemned because he does not even consider sharing his good fortune – his rich harvest – with others.

Note the distinction that Jesus makes, however. “Guard against all greed”. Greed is not limited to material possessions. Many of the things to which we cling – many of the things about which we have inordinate desires to keep for ourselves - aren’t material at all: our time, our opinions, our plans, our preferences, our comforts, our routines, our ways of seeing things and our ways of doing things are just a sampling of the many things to which we excessively cling.

What kinds of greed – in any form, in all forms - might we need to be careful to guard against today?

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(October 20, 2020: John of the Cross, Priest)
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“He is our peace…”

In a letter to Mother de Chantal, Francis de Sales wrote:

“I entreat you to keep very close to Jesus Christ and your Our Lady and to your good angel in all your business, so that the multiplicity of your many affairs may not make you anxious nor their difficulties dismay you. Do things one by one as best you can and apply your mind loyally but gently and sweetly. If God gives you good issue, we shall bless him for it; if his pleasure should be otherwise, we will bless him all the same. And it will be enough for you that you did your best in complete good faith, since Our Lord and reason do not demand results in things we do, but only our faithful and whole-hearted cooperation, endeavor and diligence; for these depend on us, whereas success does not. God will bless your good intention in undertaking this journey...” (Stopp, Selected Letters, pp. 195-196)

Jesus is the embodiment of this spirit. In success or setback, in acceptance or rejection, in good times or in bad times Jesus always possessed inner peace in the midst of the multiplicity of his affairs; his “whole-hearted cooperation, endeavor and diligence” were united to his Father’s will. What Jesus did or did not accomplish throughout his earthly ministry was not nearly as important as the fidelity of his relationship with his Father.

So, whatever you accomplish – or do not accomplish – just this day, try above all things to do this one thing.

To remain in peace.

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(October 21, 2020: Wednesday, Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“My strength and my courage is the Lord: I am confident and unafraid...”

Today’s Gospel reminds us that we can never be certain as to when we will need to provide an accounting to God for the lives we have lived. We will never know for sure when we will need to demonstrate how well we have made good use of the gifts, the talents, the blessings – and above all, the life – God has given us.

When that day, that hour or that moment comes, will we be ready?

This consideration is sobering. The reality that we will all die one day and appear before the judgment of God can be more than a bit unsettling. Francis de Sales himself said that we should fear death, however, he challenged us not to be afraid of death. If we focus too much upon the inevitability of our last moment on this earth, the fear – and more importantly, the anxiety - it produces may prevent us from living fully each and every present moment that will precede our last.

As members of the Salesian family we are challenged to be “confident and unafraid” when it comes to facing our mortality. The same God who will judge us at the end of our lives is the same God who gives us the strength and courage to do the best we can throughout our lives. Not surprisingly, Francis de Sales offers us the counsel we need to live our mortal lives as best we can with confidence and without fear.

“There is no better preparation for a good death than to lead a good life.” *****
(October 22, 2020: John Paul II, Pope)
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“…that you be filled with the fullness of God...”

Some things are worth repeating. In the context of the exhortation in Paul’s Letter to Ephesians, let us revisit some advice that we heard just two days ago that Francis de Sales offered to Jane de Chantal over 400 years ago:

“I entreat you to keep very close to Jesus Christ and your Our Lady and to your good angel in all your business, so that the multiplicity of your many affairs may not make you anxious nor their difficulties dismay you. Do things one by one as best you can and apply your mind loyally but gently and sweetly. If God gives you good issue, we shall bless him for it; if his pleasure should be otherwise, we will bless him all the same. And it will be enough for you that you did your best in complete good faith, since Our Lord and reason do not demand results in things we do, but only our faithful and whole-hearted cooperation, endeavor and diligence; for these depend on us, whereas success does not. God will bless your good intention in undertaking this journey...” (Stopp, Selected Letters, pp. 195-196)

Insofar as we are up to our eyeballs in the details of life, it is all-too-easy to feel frequently that we have little or nothing to show for our efforts. Amid all the responsibilities and obligations that come from our vocations and avocations, it is awfully easy to wonder if we really do make a difference in this world. At the end of any given day, it is an all-too-common experience to ask ourselves what have we really accomplished?

On days like these, recall the words of St. Paul: “Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations…”

Today – just today – “do things one by one as best you can”. As for the results, leave them in the hands of a God who will “grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit”.

Today – just today – “do things one by one as best you can”. As for the results, leave them in the hands of a God who will “grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit”.

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(October 23, 2014: John of Capistrano, Religious & Priest
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“Live in a manner worthy of the call you have received...”

What call have we received? We are sons and daughters of God; we are brothers and sisters of Jesus; we are temples of God’s Holy Spirit.

How do we live in a manner worthy of this call? St. Paul is clear and unambiguous: “Live with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

In today’s Responsorial Psalm, we prayed the words, “Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face”. How do we know if we are making progress in our efforts to “live in a manner worthy of the call” we have received? Look to see if other people see in our thoughts, our affections, our attitudes and our actions something of the face of God.

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(October 24, 2020: Anthony of Claret, Bishop)
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“Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of God’s gift....”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“God acts in our works, and we co-operate in God’s action. God leaves for our part all the merit and profit of our services and good works; we leave God all the honor and praise thereof, acknowledging that the growth, the progress, and the end of all the good we do depends on God’s mercy, finishing what God began. O God, how merciful is God’s goodness to us in thus distributing his bounty!”

God has great expectations for us: “Life on high with Jesus Christ”. God – through his mercy, that is, through his generosity – also gives us the grace we need to strive to meet those expectations. How can we possibly show our appreciation for the “grace that was given to each of us according to the measure of God’s gift”? Perhaps St. Francis de Sales said it best. “The measure of love is to love without measure.”

God’s love in our regard is certainly without measure. To what degree can the same be said of our love for one another?

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Spirituality Matters: October 11th - October 17th

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(October 11, 2020: Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“I am experienced in being brought low, yet I know what it is to have an abundance. I have learned how to cope with every circumstance: how to eat well or go hungry and how to be well provided for or to do without.”

How did St. Paul manage to deal with the ups and downs of life in such a centered, balanced and confident manner? More importantly, how can we manage to deal with the ups and downs of our own lives in such a centered, balanced and confident manner?

Among other things, we need a solid, profound trust in God. We need the kind of trust that enables us to see the hand of God in both good times and bad times alike.

Francis de Sales offered some great advice for how to roll with the punches on life in a letter he wrote in 1603:

“You should be like a little child who, while it knows that its mother is holding its sleeve, walks boldly and runs all around without being distressed at a little fall or stumble; after all, it is as yet rather unsteady on its legs. In the same way, as long as you realize that God is holding on to you by your will and resolution to serve him, go on boldly and do not be upset by your little set-backs and falls; there is no need to be put out by this provided that you throw yourself into God's arms from time to time and kiss God with the kiss of charity. Go on joyfully and with your heart as open and wisely trustful as possible; and if you cannot always be joyful, at least be brave and confident.” (Stopp, Selected Letters, pages 45 - 46.)

In another letter, Francis offered the following observation regarding our trust in God and our ability to deal with adversity in life:

“It is far better to lift up our eyes to the hills whence help shall come to us, to hope in the Lord and willingly glory in our infirmities so that the strength of Christ may dwell in us……For those who put their trust in the Lord shall take wings like the eagle; but whoever loses heart shall come to nothing and vanish like smoke. The soldier who leaves the field trembling with fear no doubt finds rest but no greater safety than the one who goes on fighting.” (Stopp, Selected Letters, page 121)

There are many experiences in life that may leave us fearful, or at least, frustrated. What distinguishes happy, healthy and holy people from people who just try to get through life is the ability and willingness to trust that God loves us in all the ups and downs of life. In the words of Job, those who trust in the Lord know that while the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, always blessed is the name of the Lord.

And blessed, always, are all those who trust - and believe - in God……no matter what.

*****
(October 12, 2020: Blessed Louis Brisson, Priest/Founder and Religious)
*****

~ PROPER READINGS ~

A Reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians

If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.

Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory. Rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others.

Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,

Who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.

Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,

coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance,

he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name

that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

“Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.”

Blessed those whose way is blameless,

who walk by the law of the LORD.

Blessed those who keep his testimonies,

who seek him with all their heart.

“Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.”

You have given them the command

to observe your precepts with care.

May my ways be firm

in the observance of your statutes!

“Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.”

I delight in your commandments,

which I dearly love.

I lift up my hands to your commandments.

I study your statutes, which I love.

“Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.”

A Reading from the Holy Gospel According to John

“I am the true vine,

and my Father is the vine grower.

He takes away every branch in me

that does not bear fruit,

and everyone that does he prunes,

so that it bears more fruit.

You are already pruned because

of the word that I spoke to you.

Remain in me, as I remain in you.

Just as a branch cannot

bear fruit on its own

unless it remains on the vine,

so, neither can you unless you remain in me.

I am the vine; you are the branches.

Whoever remains in me and I in him

will bear much fruit,

because without me you can do nothing.

Anyone who does not remain in me

will be thrown out like a branch and wither;

people will gather them and throw them

into a fire and they will be burned.

If you remain in me

and my words remain in you,

ask for whatever you want

and it will be done for you.

By this is my Father glorified,

that you bear much fruit

and become my disciples.

As the Father loves me,

so, I also love you.

Remain in my love.

If you keep my commandments,

you will remain in my love,

just as I have kept

my Father’s commandments

and remain in his love.

“I have told you this so that

my joy may be in you

and your joy may be complete.”

Gospel of the Lord.

~ SUGGESTED REFLECTION ~

In her book, Heart Speaks to Heart: The Salesian Tradition, Wendy Wright quotes Fr. Brisson regarding the challenge to “Reprint the Gospel” in all aspects of life. We read:

“It is not enough to read the Gospel in order to understand it. We must live it. The Gospel is the true story of the Word of God living among men. We must produce a New Edition of this Gospel among men by prayer, work, preaching and sacrifice…”

“First, we reprint the Gospel by prayer, through which we give ourselves to God in every way without reserve.”

“Second, we reprint the Gospel by means of work. We must reprint the Gospel and reprint it page by page without omitting anything…In our lives there is always some manual labor. There is a library to keep in order, a helping hand to be given. A little gardening to be done, a little tidying up or arranging to be done…God has attached great graces to manual labor.”

“The third way for us to reprint the Gospel is by preaching. All of us should preach. Those who work with their hands as well as those who are occupied with exterior works, those who conduct classes and those who teach by example, those who direct souls as well as those assigned to the ministry of the pulpit – all of us should preach. We should preach in practical ways. We should teach our neighbors, if not by our words, at least by our actions.”

“The fourth thing in the Gospel is sacrifice. The Word made Flesh prayed in order to teach us how to pray. He worked. He preached. Finally, He suffered. These are the four conditions necessary to reprint the Gospel…” (pp. 145-146)

There are any number of ways in which God may ask us to reprint the Gospel: in prayer, work, preaching and sacrifice. Are you ready? Are you willing? How can you reprint the Gospel today?

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(October 13, 2020: Tuesday, Twenty-eight Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Stand firm: do not submit again to the yolk of slavery…”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Our free will is never so free as when it is a slave to God’s will, just as it is never so servile as when it serves our own will. It never has so much life as when it dies to self, and never so much death as when it lives to itself. We have the liberty to do good and evil, but to choose evil is not to use but to abuse this liberty. Let us renounce such wretched liberty and subject forever our free will to the rule of heavenly love. Let us become slaves to dilection, whose serfs are happier than kings. If our souls should ever will to use their liberty against our resolutions to serve God eternally and without reserve, Oh, then, for love of God, let us sacrifice our free will and make it die to itself so that it may live in God! A man who out of self-love wishes to keep his freedom in this world shall lose it in the next world, and he who shall lose it in this world for the love of God shall keep it for that same love in the next world. He who keeps his liberty in this world shall find it a serf and a slave in the other world, whereas he who makes it serve the cross in this world shall have it free in the other world. For there, when he is absorbed in enjoyment of God’s goodness, his liberty will be converted into love and love into liberty, a liberty infinitely sweet. Without effort, without pain, and without any struggle we shall unchangingly and forever love the Creator and Savior of our souls.” (Treatise 12: 10, pp- 277-278)

The Salesian tradition understands the essence of liberty as the freedom that comes from knowing – from believing – that God loves us. The Salesian tradition also understands that to substitute anything for God’s love for us – regardless of how attractive or promising it may appear and/or present itself to be – leads to a life of enslavement.

Today – just today – you can live free or you can live enslaved.

Which do you choose?

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(October 14, 2020: Callistus I, Pope and Martyr)
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“If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit...”

So, if we live in the Spirit, how do we know that we are following the Spirit? The Letter to the Galatians makes it clear what we should look for, and what others should look for in us. Namely:

·        Love

·        Joy

·        Peace

·        Patience

·        Kindness

·        Generosity

·        Faithfulness

·        Gentleness

·        Self-control

How does this get played out on a down-to-earth, daily basis? In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“The Apostle means that divine love gives us inward joy and consolation, together with a great peace of heart, which is preserved in adversity by patience. It makes us kind and gracious in helping our neighbor by a heartfelt goodness towards him. Such goodness is not fickle; it is constant and persevering and gives us enduring courage by which we are rendered mild, pleasant and considerate to all others. We put up with their moods and imperfections. We keep perfect faith with them, as we thus testify to a simplicity accompanied with trust in both in our words and in our actions. We live modestly and humbly, leaving aside what is luxurious and improper in food and drink, clothing, sleep, play, recreation and other such desires and pleasures. We master the inclinations and rebellions of the flesh by a constant chastity…” (TLG, Part Book XI, Chapter 19, pp. 251-252)

Today how might God be calling you to live in the Spirit – and to follow the Spirit – in your interactions with others? What will others see – and experience – in your efforts to do that?

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(October 15, 2020: Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church)
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“In Christ we have redemption by his Blood, the forgiveness of transgressions in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us…”

Today we celebrate the life and legacy of St. Teresa of Avila. In his book This Saint’s for You, Thomas Craughwell observes:

“Every day – all day long – God pours his grace upon the world. Those who accept it – who cooperate with God’s will – draw closer to the Lord, as in the case of St. Teresa of Avila, the patron of souls in need of divine grace. The easygoing life of the Carmelite convent she entered was not conducive to the contemplative life. So, she began planning a new branch of the Carmelites, one that would bring nuns (and friars) back to the order’s original commitment to a life of austerity and deep prayer…St. Teresa’s legacy is her collection of spiritual writings, She was the first Catholic woman to write systematically about prayer and the interior life. In 1970, upon naming her a Doctor of the Church, Pope Paul VI praised Teresa as ‘a teacher of remarkable depth.’”

Insofar as Teresa died in 1582, her writings were well known by the “Gentleman Saint”. In a letter to Madame de Chantal (1605), Francis de Sales wrote:

“The practice of the presence of God taught by Mother Teresa in chapters 29 and 30 of The Way of Perfection is excellent, and I think it amounts to the same as I explained to you when I wrote that God was in our spirit as though he were the heart of our spirit and in our heart as the spirit which breathes life into it, and that David called God: the God of his heart. Use this boldly and often for it is most useful. May God be the soul and spirit of our heart forever….” (Stopp, Selected Letters, pp. 160 – 161)

We are all in need of God’s grace. We are all in need of recognizing – and experiencing – the divine activity within us that makes everything clean and good for us: the God whose spirit breathes life into us, the God who is the heart of our spirit and the God who is the God of our hearts.

In what ways might we need to be redeemed by God’s grace? How might we be instruments of that same redeeming grace in the lives of others?

Today!

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(October 16, 2020: Margaret Mary Alacoque, VHM, Religious)
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“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more.”

Today we celebrate the life and legacy of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. In his book This Saint’s for You, Thomas Craughwell observes:

“At the age of nine, Margaret Mary Alacoque contracted polio. She spent the next six years confined to her bed as an invalid. When she was fifteen it is said that she had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Upon emerging from her ecstasy, she discovered that she had been healed of her infirmities. During those six years Margaret Mary had developed a rather deep prayer life. When she subsequently joined the Sisters of the Visitation at Paray le Monial, she found the form of meditation prescribed for the novices rudimentary to the point of being tedious. Notwithstanding this source of frustration, Margaret Mary persevered and professed final vows.”

“In 1675 she had a vision of Christ while praying in the monastery chapel. He told Margaret Mary that he wanted her to be his messenger, spreading throughout the world devotion to his Sacred heart that, he told Margaret Mary, was ‘burning with divine love’ for the human family. Christ asked that the Church institute a new feast day in honor of his Sacred Heart and that, for love of him, Catholics should attend Mass and receive Communion on the First Friday of each month. He promised to save all faithful Catholics who honored him by displaying an image of his sacred heart in their homes or going to Mass and Communion every First Friday of the month for nine successive months.”

“Margaret Mary Alacoque encountered a great deal of skepticism when she began to tell the other sisters in the monastery about her visions. The nuns accused her of lying and questioned her sanity, while the local clergy dismissed her visions, saying that the Sacred Heart devotion went too far in humanizing Christ and thus diminished his divinity. The Jesuits, however – and the monastery’s chaplain Father Claude de la Colombiere, SJ – argued successfully that Margaret Mary’s revelations put fresh emphasis on the perfectly orthodox principle of confidence in God’s infinite love. Today veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a mainstay in Catholic devotional life.”

Cloistered though she was, God chose Margaret Mary to be a herald of the redemptive power of the Heart of Jesus. She was charges with sharing with the world how deeply Christ yearns to lavish us with love and forgive us our sins.

How might we be heralds of that same redemptive Sacred Heart in the lives of others today?

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(October 17, 2020: Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr)
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“May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call…”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:

“Since the assurance God gives us that paradise is ours infinitely strengthens our desire to win it, it weakens and annihilates the trouble and disquiet that this desire might bring us. By the sacred promises, God’s goodness has made our hearts become – and remain – completely calm. This calm is the root of that most holy virtue which we call hope.”

Inseparable from hope is yet another virtue greatly admired by “The Gentleman Saint” – aspiration. In the same chapter in which the quote above was taken, Francis describes both how hope and aspiration are distinct as well as how the two intimately work together.

“Between hoping and aspiring, the sole difference is this: we hope for such things that we expect to gain by the aid of another, whereas we aspire for such things that we expect to gain by our own resources and by ourselves…Aspiration is the offspring of hope, just as our cooperation is the offspring of grace. Just as people who would hope without aspiring would be rejected as cowardly and irresponsible, so, too, those who would aspire without hope would be considered rash, insolent and presumptuous. When hope is accompanied by aspiration – when we aspire with hope and hope with aspiration – hope is changed into courageous determination, while aspiration is changed into hope into humble striving.” (TLG, BK II, Chapter 16, pp. 144 – 145)

In the Salesian tradition, hope is not helplessness. Hope certainly is not the same as mere wishful thinking. Rather, hope gives us the strength to remain calm and collected even as we do our part to obtain our greatest good – life on high with Jesus Christ. In the meantime, in the day-to-day ebb and flow of life, hopeful aspiration and aspiring hope help us in our daily efforts to know when we must rely on the grace of God as well as to know when we must rely on the grace of our own hard work.

These two virtues are – in fact – two sides of an invaluable spiritual coin.

Today, how much must I rely upon God to become the best version of myself? Today, how much must I reply upon myself (with the encouragement of others) to become the best version of myself?

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