02-05-2021, 12:32 PM
Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales
Teachings and Examples from the Life of the Saint by Salesiana Publishers
(February 5th (page 36)
Complain as little as possible about the wrongs you suffer. Undoubtedly, a person who complains commits a sin by doing so, since self-love always feels that injuries are worse than they really are. Above all, do not complain to irascible or fault-finding persons. If you feel the need to correct an offense or restore your peace of mind by complaining to someone, do not to those who are even-tempered and really love God. Instead of calming your mind, the others will create worse difficulties, and rather than pulling out the thorn that is hurting you, they will drive it deeper into your foot.
Today, February 5th, was once the octave of the feast of our saint. We thank God for having favored him with so much grace. King Henry IV remarked that God seemed to free Francis de Sales of any vice and adorn him with every virtue. All his years, months, weeks and days – even his every moment was dedicated to God. Every year he gave his soul a thorough going over; every month he renewed his vows and his resolutions, as he had taught in The Introduction to a Devout Life, and as he prescribed for his institute. Every day he retired spiritually into one of the sacred wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ, beginning and ending the week in the sacred side or in the Savior’s heart. Apart from when he was seriously ill or prevented by some very urgent necessity, he never missed celebrating Mass daily, and was most faithful to his morning and evening prayers, to his examination of conscience, to his prayers in common with his household, and to the direction of his house. He asked all his dependents to make the sign of the cross whenever they heard the clock striking the hour; he did himself, without any show of human respect, wherever he happened to be at that moment, saying, “May God be blessed; eternity approaches; soon our last hour will ring out.” Truly it can be said of this great saint that he lived and breathed and spent himself for God alone. He presented a standard of devotion that was solid, yet free of scruples, affectation or human respect. His ideal was to imitate Jesus Christ in his daily life, in a manner supernatural and angelic.
Teachings and Examples from the Life of the Saint by Salesiana Publishers
(February 5th (page 36)
Complain as little as possible about the wrongs you suffer. Undoubtedly, a person who complains commits a sin by doing so, since self-love always feels that injuries are worse than they really are. Above all, do not complain to irascible or fault-finding persons. If you feel the need to correct an offense or restore your peace of mind by complaining to someone, do not to those who are even-tempered and really love God. Instead of calming your mind, the others will create worse difficulties, and rather than pulling out the thorn that is hurting you, they will drive it deeper into your foot.
(INT. Part III, Ch. 3; O. III, p. 136)
Today, February 5th, was once the octave of the feast of our saint. We thank God for having favored him with so much grace. King Henry IV remarked that God seemed to free Francis de Sales of any vice and adorn him with every virtue. All his years, months, weeks and days – even his every moment was dedicated to God. Every year he gave his soul a thorough going over; every month he renewed his vows and his resolutions, as he had taught in The Introduction to a Devout Life, and as he prescribed for his institute. Every day he retired spiritually into one of the sacred wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ, beginning and ending the week in the sacred side or in the Savior’s heart. Apart from when he was seriously ill or prevented by some very urgent necessity, he never missed celebrating Mass daily, and was most faithful to his morning and evening prayers, to his examination of conscience, to his prayers in common with his household, and to the direction of his house. He asked all his dependents to make the sign of the cross whenever they heard the clock striking the hour; he did himself, without any show of human respect, wherever he happened to be at that moment, saying, “May God be blessed; eternity approaches; soon our last hour will ring out.” Truly it can be said of this great saint that he lived and breathed and spent himself for God alone. He presented a standard of devotion that was solid, yet free of scruples, affectation or human respect. His ideal was to imitate Jesus Christ in his daily life, in a manner supernatural and angelic.
(A.S. II, p. 114)
A good vocation is simply a firm and constant will to serve Almighty God
in the way and in the places to which He has called us.