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 17th (page 77)

     A will resigned to God’s will should have no other desire but to simply live out that Divine Will. As a person who is traveling on a ship does not move along by his own efforts but lets himself be carried along by the ship, so likewise a heart that is embarked on the divine good pleasure should have no other will but that of permitting itself to be led by God’s will. In such a case, the heart no longer says, “. . . but yet not my will, but thine be done.” [Lk 22:42] for there is no will to renounce. It simply says, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” [Lk 23:46]

(T.L.G. Book 9, Ch. 13; O.V, pp. 150-151)

     On March 17th, 1614, Emperor Matthias I wrote to Francis de Sales. He showed his great esteem for him, asking him for his prayers, and, as a prince of the Holy Roman Empire, invited him to attend the Diet of Ratisbon (February 1st, 1615), called to draw up appropriate measures to drive the Turks out of the kingdom of Hungary. He also expressed the desire to receive instructions and advice as to how to save his own soul. The saint modestly replied that he would be delighted to accept His Majesty’s invitation, but the state to which the Protestants had reduced him left him no other means to help except that of prayer.

(A.S. III, p. 146)

Some people are so proud of what they have done that they commit a type of idolatry.

Everything they do takes on the form of an idol.