Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales - January

[Hildegard of Bingen]

Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales

Teachings and Examples from the Life of the Saint by Salesiana Publishers

 

January 4th  (page 4)

 
     The bee has no other remedy for its sickness by to expose itself to the rays of the sun, expecting heat and healing from its splendor.  Let us all place ourselves before the Crucified and say to Him:  O splendid Sun of our hearts, Thy will revive us with the rays of Thy goodness.  Here we are almost dead before Thee; we will not move from here until Thy heat brings us back to life.
 

(Letters 904; O. XVI, p. 50)

 

 
     January 4th, 1598 stands out in the life of Francis de Sales for a marvelous recovery at the hands of the Lord.  In the preceding December, the saint, at that time fully taken up with the mission of the Chablais, had to go to Annecy on urgent business. He found the city in the throes of an epidemic and set about serving and assisting the victims with all the zeal he could muster.  He visited them day and night; he served them with his own hands, consoled them and prepared them for a happy death.  His own health, however, already affected by his previous labors, could no longer stand the strain.  On January 4th he caught the plague, and in a few hours was at death’s door.  When this news spread, the whole city was in consternation, no one more so than Bishop De Granier, who was preaching in a nearby town.  In heartfelt dismay he turned to the Lord, begging Him with tears not to deprive him of such a wonderful co-worker.  The prayer was heard; he recovery of the saint was so sudden that everyone called it a miracle.  Francis himself was amazed and did not hesitate to affirm that through the prayers of the bishop he had been snatched from the gates of death.
 

(Hamon, Vol. 1, p. 174)

 
 
      Twenty years later, on January 4th, 1618, Francis de Sales gave the religious of the Visitation an outstanding conference on the flight into Egypt and spoke with great eloquence of the constancy which, in imitation of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, must be characteristic of their lives.
 

(A.S. I, p. 56)

 

 

It is a great evil to fail to do good.

 

 

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Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales

Teachings and Examples from the Life of the Saint by Salesiana Publishers

 

January 5th (page 5)

 
     When Holy Scripture mentions a good, mild, innocent person totally dedicated to God, it says:  “This was the son or daughter of the year.”  Well, if in the past we have not corresponded to the love of this sweet Savior with an inseparable union of our affections with the Divine Will, from now on we should determine to act in such a way that at the end of this new year we will also be called “children of the year.”
 

(Letters 1589; O. XIX, p. 97)

 
 
     On January 5th, 1618, Francis de Sales gave the religious habit of the Visitation to two novices, Sister Marie Louise Barfelly and Sister Frances of Greve.  Sister Frances often asserted that during this sacred ceremony the saint seemed to be like an angel.  She said that she had only to recall that event to renew the feeling of fervor she had experienced on that occasion.
 

(A.S. I, p. 79)

 
 
     The Holy Ghost directs us personally by His inspirations.
 
     That great fear that leads to scruples is not a bad things for the person who is just distancing himself or herself from sin; it can even be an indication of purity of conscience.  However, it is not to be approved of in those who have, for some time, acquired the love of God, that love which drives out fear.