02-03-2021, 01:59 PM
Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales
Teachings and Examples from the Life of the Saint by Salesiana Publishers
February 3rd (page 34)
Just as little children learn to speak by listening to their mothers and lisping words after them, so also by keeping close to our Savior and meditating on and observing His words, actions and affections, we learn by His grace to speak, act and will like Him. I assure you that we cannot go to God the Father except through this gate . . . Set aside an hour every day before dinner, or early in the morning when your mind is less distracted and fresher after the night’s rest. Do not extend it for more than an hour unless your spiritual director expressly tells you to do so.
Let us continue to consider our saint in the various stages of his life; He was consecrated bishop at the age of thirty-five, and God made him a father, not only of a particular people and a particular diocese, but father and universal director, a patriarch and founder of a religious order, a reformer of convents, a mediator between prices and kings, a restorer of devotion, the author of ascetical books highly valued in the Church of God. Finally, he became a perfect man, a complete father to everyone, a worker of miracles and a powerful protector of all who sought his intercession before God.
We know on the evidence of Sister Marie Adrienne Fichet, the seventh member of the Order of the Visitation, and from the memoirs of the former parish priest of Saint Maurice of Annecy, that in 1613 Mother Chantal became seriously ill with tonsillitis. Francis de Sales sent a message to the parish priest to bring him the relic of Saint Blaise. When he saw him coming he said, “Father, come with me because Mother Chantal is in danger of death. Let us pray for her!” Arriving at the convent, the saint touched the sick person with the relic, and she was immediately cured. Good Sister Fichet, a little hastily, said in a somewhat loud voice, “Surely there was no need to go to Armenia to look for a saint of the fourth century. His Lordship could have cured mother himself had he so wished.” With tears in his eyes, the humble prelate strongly rebuked her in the presence of all the company, imposing on her a penance and instructing her to ask forgiveness of the saintly bishop and martyr, Blaise.
Teachings and Examples from the Life of the Saint by Salesiana Publishers
February 3rd (page 34)
Just as little children learn to speak by listening to their mothers and lisping words after them, so also by keeping close to our Savior and meditating on and observing His words, actions and affections, we learn by His grace to speak, act and will like Him. I assure you that we cannot go to God the Father except through this gate . . . Set aside an hour every day before dinner, or early in the morning when your mind is less distracted and fresher after the night’s rest. Do not extend it for more than an hour unless your spiritual director expressly tells you to do so.
(INT. Part II, Ch. 1; O. III, p. 70)
Let us continue to consider our saint in the various stages of his life; He was consecrated bishop at the age of thirty-five, and God made him a father, not only of a particular people and a particular diocese, but father and universal director, a patriarch and founder of a religious order, a reformer of convents, a mediator between prices and kings, a restorer of devotion, the author of ascetical books highly valued in the Church of God. Finally, he became a perfect man, a complete father to everyone, a worker of miracles and a powerful protector of all who sought his intercession before God.
We know on the evidence of Sister Marie Adrienne Fichet, the seventh member of the Order of the Visitation, and from the memoirs of the former parish priest of Saint Maurice of Annecy, that in 1613 Mother Chantal became seriously ill with tonsillitis. Francis de Sales sent a message to the parish priest to bring him the relic of Saint Blaise. When he saw him coming he said, “Father, come with me because Mother Chantal is in danger of death. Let us pray for her!” Arriving at the convent, the saint touched the sick person with the relic, and she was immediately cured. Good Sister Fichet, a little hastily, said in a somewhat loud voice, “Surely there was no need to go to Armenia to look for a saint of the fourth century. His Lordship could have cured mother himself had he so wished.” With tears in his eyes, the humble prelate strongly rebuked her in the presence of all the company, imposing on her a penance and instructing her to ask forgiveness of the saintly bishop and martyr, Blaise.
(A.S. II, p. 65)