on St Francis de Sales
Well, when we see our neighbor created in the image and likeness of God, is it
that we shouldn’t say to each other, “Here, look at this one, see
like his Maker?” Shouldn’t we rush to
caress him, and cry over him with love? Shouldn’t we cover him with
a thousand and a thousand blessings? Why, then ? Out of love for him? Certainly not, because we
do not know whether he is worthy of love or hate in himself. So why? Oh
Theotimus, for the love of God who formed him in his image and likeness, and who by
therefore enabled him to participate in his goodness, – here below in grace, and in heaven,
in glory. I say for the love of God, because this neighbor comes from God, he belongs to him, he
exists through him, he is in him, he is for him, and he resembles him in a very special way.
Remark
The passion of Saint Francis de Sales for the other is not only a philanthropy
; it is at the same time love of God. By emphasizing the unity between love of God and love
neighbour, the Bishop of Geneva only expresses the center of the Christian faith: “We
love because God himself first loved us (…). And here is the command
we have from him: he who loves God, let him also love his brother” (1Jn 4, 19…21).
Word of God sends everyone back to a fundamental choice: to remain withdrawn into oneself or, at
on the contrary, to make one’s life an “exit from oneself”, an opening to love.
Francis expresses the link between love of God and love of neighbor in a way that
is clean: because I am created in the image of God, I am called to love the existence that
God gave me; and because every human being is also created in the image of God, I am
called to love everyone. This love is not primarily a question of affinities, of atoms
hooked; it consists in taking a contemplative look at each person in order to recognize the
likeness of God: “Look at this one: see how he resembles his Creator!” He
thus opens up to a universal love that passes through the concrete and fraternal welcome of each one.
This Salesian look at people is consistent with the Pope’s invitation in his
encyclical Fratelli Tutti (All Brothers): he denounces “the shadows of a closed world” and wants
to promote “a heart open to the world”. In conclusion, he gives as a model Charles de
Foucauld: “He oriented the desire for the total gift of his person to God towards identification with
the last, the abandoned, deep in the African desert. In this context he expressed his
aspiration to feel every human being as a brother or a sister (…). He ultimately wanted
to be the universal brother. May God inspire this dream in each one of us!” (Fratelli Tutti, n°
286).
At a time when the whole Church is engaged in a synodal process, we can
hear in these words a call. In each of our Christian communities, there
important to recognize ourselves as brothers and sisters, “in the image and likeness of
God”, to follow together Christ who leads us to the Father.
Friend of Souls
A fruitful life
A significant trait: his attendance at the confessional. Bishop
de Granier had named it the “penitentiary” of the diocese, he
had the broadest powers to give
absolution. There triumphed better than anywhere else the
sweetness of his welcome. He helped skillfully, without haste,
painful confessions; after which he exclaimed: “Oh!
your soul is dear to me!”
One day a man confessed to him infamy, which he enumerated
without any embarrassment, as if he were telling a story; he
stopped short when he saw tears streaming down the cheeks of the
priest. “What is the matter with you?” “I am crying,” replied François, “from
what you do not cry.” And in these words he put a
such emotional intensity that the man became aware
of the gravity of his faults and burst into tears.
In the fall of 1594, we find François in Chablais. On a Sunday in July 1597, François
had just commented on this verse of the Gospel: “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, offer him
the other.” A Calvinist violently stopped him at the exit of the Saint-Hippolyte church and said to him: “If I
give a slap now, would you turn your cheek so that I give you another?” François
answered softly: “My friend, I know well what I must do, but I do not know what I
would do because I am full of misery. Besides, you can try it.” A few friends
blamed him for speaking thus. One would have liked him to be able to say a few words here and there “in vinegar”. To that,
François replied: “I assure you that each time I have had pungent aftershocks, I don’t care.
repented afterwards. Men do more out of love and charity than out of severity and rigor.”
Having become a bishop, François preached Lent in 1605 at La Roche-sur-Foron. He has
knowledge of Pernette Boutey. She ran a haberdashery and drapery business in the city.
She was very liberal towards the poor, always on good terms with her parents and
friends. Every day she heard mass and when she couldn’t she prayed at home
the space of two hours. François was dazzled by what he learned about her, he considered Pernette
as a great friend of God and commended herself to his prayers.
When he learned in June 1606 that she had died, to the amazement of his collaborators, he
showed great emotion and “wiped his eyes two or three times”. To those who laughed,
he simply said: “To such souls belongs the kingdom of heaven and this good woman who was not
only small by condition, will soon be, as I hope our advocate in heaven.”
François de Sales or the passion for the other is really one of the most
remarkable works of our Savoyard saint who expresses himself with great kindness and gentleness towards
every person. He fully lived this passion for the other and we paid him back, but François
wanted to be loved only to lead souls to love God.
– The title of this chronicle, “the friend of souls”, is borrowed from André Ravier, author of “Un sage
and a saint, François de Sales” – Editions Nouvelle cité.
– “François de Sales or the passion of the other” – René Champagne – Editions Médiaspaul.
– The stained glass window is in the Notre-Dame de Liesse church, in Annecy and represents the sermon of the Grand
Forgiveness on September 8, 1614 when a dove alights on the shoulder of Saint Francis de Sales.