| Hi Subscriber, This week we read a letter from St. Francis de Sales to Madame Louise de Ballon, Sister at the Abbaye Sainte Catherine in June 1617. It is from the book Selected Letters of St. Francis de Sales. To prepare for our chat on Sunday, please read the letter, which is reproduced below, and review the questions at the end. Log in to our chatroom from this link: Click for chatroom signin Photo by Jacob Bentzinger on Unsplash My dear, really very dear Daughter and Cousin, You certainly must get this poor woman away and protect her from her fate, for the relaxed style of living at the place where she is now staying is so dangerous that it is a miracle any of them escape downfall. Alas, my poor child, you are rightly astonished that a creature should want to offend God, for this is astonishing beyond measure; nevertheless it does happen, as one can unfortunately see any day. And what dooms these poor idle women is their ill-starred beauty and attractiveness which they attribute to themselves because evil men persuade them of it; they are so preoccupied with their body that they cease to have any care for their soul. Well, my dear daughter, you must do whatever you can, but without losing your own peace of mind. As to yourself, my dear cousin and daughter, do not lose heart; for you should be so much in love with God that even if you can do nothing whatever when you are in his presence, you should be very happy to appear before him even if you only catch a glimpse of him from time to time. And a little while before you actually go to pray you should settle your heart in peace and stillness, making an act of hope that you will pray well; for if you go to it without hope and full of distaste before you even begin you will find it hard to keep up your desire for it. Courage then, my little cousin, tell Our Lord that you will never leave him, even if he were never to send you any sweetness; tell him that you will not leave his presence until he has blessed you. When your heart roams or gets distracted lead it back very gently, softly putting it close to its Master; and even if you spend your whole hour doing nothing except gathering up your heart quite calmly and putting it close to Our Lord, and even if your heart does nothing except turn away as soon as you have led it back, your hour will have been very well spent and you will have done something very agreeable to your dear Bridegroom, to whom I commend you with my own heart which is all yours. |
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