Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales - February

[Hildegard of Bingen]

Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales

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


February 15th (page 46)

 

      Our miseries and weaknesses must not scare us, because the Lord has seen much greater ones. His mercy does not reject the miserable but gives them His grace and raises them from the depths of baseness and abjection to His throne of glory. I would like to have a good hammer to blunt the keen desire of your spirit to progress in virtue. So often have I told you that, in the spiritual life, we must walk in a very simple way. If you do well, thank and praise God; if you do something wrong, make an act of humility! I know quite well that you do not want to do the wrong thing on purpose, so consider the wrong things you do as the means to keep you humble.

(Letters 912; O. VI, p. 68)

      Once – on a February 15th – Francis de Sales sent Mother Chantal a letter, inviting her to rejoice with him because all the leading ladies of Annecy were go given over to piety that, invited to a ball at carnival time, they did not dare to go without his permission. “Dear me”, the saint often said, “Carnival is a sad time for me because I see the number of Sunday Communions go down.” To make reparation for the disorders of the carnival, the saint ordered exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for the three final days. He himself preached on this occasion with so much unction and success that all social activities were stopped. People gave up all sorts of invitations to listen to him.


(A.S. II, p. 384)

Many people fail to make any progress because they do not sincerely uncover
Their predominant fault, the true root cause of their failings.