Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales - March

[Hildegard of Bingen]

Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales

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


March 15th (page 75)

     We should approach holy prayer and simply to do our duty and give witness to our fidelity. If it pleases His Divine Majesty to speak to us and aid us by His holy inspirations and interior consolations, it is certainly a great honor and the sweetest of delights. But if it does not please God to give us this grace, ignoring us as if He did not see us or as if we were not in His presence, we must not leave on that account but remain there devotedly and peacefully. The Lord will infallibly be pleased with our patience and note our diligence and perseverance, so that when we come before Him again He will favor us with His consolations and enable us to taste the delights of deep prayer.

(INT. Part II, Ch. 9; O. III, p. 87)

     On March 15th, 1599, Canon de Chisse had a special audience with the pope and passed on to him the request of his uncle, Bishop De Granier, Bishop of Geneva, to have Francis de Sales appointed his coadjutor with right of succession. On this occasion, the uncle and the nephew gave an admirable proof of their virtue and the esteem they had for our saint, who was their favorite. We need to realize that Cannon of Chisse possessed all the qualities necessary for this office himself, being a man of virtue, learned , a very able preacher, already vicar general of the diocese and longstanding member of the Cathedral Chapter. But these considerations did not influence either uncle or nephew in any way. They both worked hard to procure this dignity for the great Francis de Sales, in view of the tremendous good he had done in the diocese since he had been appointed a parish priest.

(A.S. III, 363)

It is easier to flee from the vice contrary to chastity than to cure it.