In the spirit of Divine Mercy, we are being blessed with two canonizations on April 27th and both of these most saintly popes had a distinct relationship to our Founder of the Visitation, St Francis de Sales.
Blessed John the 23rd took St Francis de Sales as his model very early in his life as a seminarian.
He wrote in his journal “As regards meekness, tranquility, gentleness, in short, all that shines in the gentle St Francis de Sales, my special protector and particular model, although there are no grave faults to deplore, there is still not all I would like to have…
(Journal of a Soul, Aug. 22, 1900)
On the Feast of St Francis de Sales, in 1903, Bl. John the 23rd wrote “Today was a perfect feast; I spent it in the company of St Francis de Sales,my gentlest of saints. What a magnificent figure of a man,priest and Bishop!If I were like him, I would not mind even if they were to make me Pope!I love to let my thoughts dwell on him,on his goodness and on his teaching. I have read his life so many times! His counsels are so acceptable to my heart. By the light of his example I feel more inclined to humility,gentleness and calm.My life, so the Lord tells me, must be a perfect copy of that of St Francis de Sales if I wish to bear good fruits. Nothing extraordinary in me or my behavior,, except my way of doing ordinary things, ‘all ordinary things but done in no ordinary way,”A great, a burning love for Jesus Christ and His Church: unalterable serenity of mind, wonderful gentleness with my fellow men,that is all.
O my loving saint, as I kneel before you at this moment, there is so much I could say to you!I love you tenderly and I will always remember you and look to you for help.O St Francis, I can say no more; you can see into my heart, give me what I need to become like you.”
(Journal of a Soul, Jan. 29, 1903)
The “Good Pope John” did become like his model and now joins him in the glory of the Church’s canonized saints!
Likewise, Blessed John Paul 11 had a spiritual outlook very similar to St. Francis de Sales.
“Pope John Paul II captured the Salesian concept of the love of God and presents a loving image of God to modern humanity. In an age where secularism and indifferentism manipulate people, the Pope invited all to experience a God, who is merciful, loving and caring. It is not the fear of evil and punishment that leads humanity to God, but His loving nature, His desire to encounter humanity in all its fragility. The Pope states it in the homily:
“Doctor of love, Saint Francis de Sales has unceasingly emphasized the lively source of the covenant of God with man: God loves us, God accompanies us at each stage of life, with a patient and faithful love; God puts in us His desire for what is good; an attraction towards what is beautiful and good. In His Providence, God gives us life to be made according to His image and His likeness. And God calls us to always partake of what constitutes the grandeur of His own life, perfect love. He accords us interior liberty; He renders us capable of tasting the certitude of being loved, and of making the firm resolution to respond to that love.
This great bishop also knew human weakness, his difficulty in responding in a constant faith to the message of love of the covenant. He knew that we often seek strength to prefer ourselves to any generous welcoming to a gift of God. That is why Francis de Sales was tireless in showing his brothers and sisters the patience and tenderness of God ready to pardon, to save. He does not cease to transmit the Good News of the Annunciation: the Son of the Most High born of Mary comes to be united to humanity. In a distraught world, the presence of Jesus reopens the ‘wounds of love’, cures distressed hearts, offers a covenant of pardon and of renewal. In His infinite holiness, Jesus draws us along the way of holiness.”
Like Francis de Sales, the pope understood that a world beset with secularism, individualism, and indifferentism could be motivated only by re-emphasizing the concept of ‘a loving God’ who is interested in each one of us. In tune with the Salesian outlook, John Paul II stressed the divine initiative in loving humanity. The Pope affirms that Saint Francis de Sales deepened our understanding of the ‘loving’ and ‘merciful’ nature of God: “A man of great goodness and kindness, who knew how to express God’s mercy and patience to those who came to speak with him, he taught an exacting but serene spirituality based on love, for loving God ‘is the sovereign happiness of the soul for this life and for eternity’. (Oeuvres, XV:180)” Upholding the teachings of Saint Francis de Sales, and personalizing them in his life, the Pope believes in the human inclination to do good and in our ‘natural attraction’ to what is beautiful.
Source: Pope John Paul II & St. Francis de Sales by JOHN SANKARATHIL, O.S.F.S. http://visitationspirit.org/2011/05/blessed-john-paul-ii-and-st-francis-de-sales/