Source: Lent with Saint Francis de Sales – The Visitation of Saint Mary of Annecy (visitationannecy.org)
Monday
“Mary took a pound of a very pure fragrance and poured it on the feet of Jesus”
Jn 12:1
From a Sermon by St. Francis de Sales (Works X, 81,87),
and Treatise on the Love of God (Works V,10)
Saint Magdalene was always the perfumer of the Lord who chose her and called to him to exercise this office. On the day of her conversion, she wore precious ointment from which she embalmed it; when she went to find him at the supper which was made after the resurrection of Lazarus it was with his box of perfume, and at the burial she was still in charge of it. In short, and always, she acted as a perfumer.
… She is still admirable in this, it is that she is always at the feet of the Lord: at his conversion, at the feast at Lazarus, at the foot of the Cross, and in the Resurrection… How happy you will be, my dear daughters, if all your life you do not leave the feet of the Savior for anything, if you live in humility and submission; imitating and following this queen of perfumers and even more the Queen of all queens, the Virgin, our dear Mistress, to whom Saint Magdeleine was so devout that she never abandoned her. Our Lady also loved her greatly and more than any of the women who followed her. She accompanied him to the death of her Son, to the burial, to his return, and finally she did not part with him until she went to the Sainte Baume near Marseilles to complete her penance. There she led a life more divine than human without her heart coming out of the feet of her Saviour.
Oh! that we must, following the example of this great saint, always be low and small at the feet of Our Lord!
… But it is still necessary to offer the perfume, it is necessary to bring to our good Master a loving heart so that it penetrates and tempers it with itself, as does the precious ointment and balm that falls on cotton, mingles and unites so much, more and more, little by little, with it, that it can no longer be said whether cotton is perfumed and whether it is perfumed; nor if the perfume is cotton or perfume cotton. Oh! how happy is a soul who, in the tranquility of his heart, lovingly preserves the sacred feeling of the Presence of God.
TUESDAY
“Now the Son of man has been glorified and God has been glorified in Him!”
Jn 13:21
From the Treatise on the Love of God, L. XII ch. 12
Do you not know, Theotime, that the high priest of the law bore on his shoulders and on his chest the names of the children of Israel, that is, precious stones on which the names of the leaders of Israel were engraved? Hey! You see Jesus, our great bishop, look at him, consider that he carried us on his shoulders, accepting the charge of redeeming us by his death and the death of the cross. O Theotime! this soul of the Savior knew us all by name and nickname; but especially on the day of his Passion, when he offered his tears, his prayers, his blood and his life for all, he launched especially for you these thoughts of dilection: O my Eternal Father I take to myself and take care of all the sins of poor Theotime, to suffer torments and death, that he may leave and live; May I be crucified, provided he be glorified! O sovereign love of the heart of Jesus! What a heart will never bless you enough!
Thus, within her motherly breast, her divine heart foresaw, disposed, deserved, imperated all the benefits we have, not only in general for all, but especially for one; and He prepared for us those movements, these attractions, these inspirations, and these sweetnesses by which He draws leads and nourishes our hearts to eternal life.
Oh! let us look at this eternal will which destines them to us, and to the heart of the Saviour who has earned them for us by so many sorrows, and especially by his death and by his passion.
Wednesday
“One of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me?’ I will deliver it to you.”
Mt 26:14
From the Treatise on the Love of God L. IV ch. 1.
The Holy Spirit warns us: “Let him who is standing beware of falling” (1 Cor 10) and we say in the Pater: “Do not let us succumb to temptation.”
We are not firm and invariable in maintaining God’s love. The first angel and Judas, who had received him, lost him; and David and St. Peter did not let him lose for a time.
How is it possible, you will say, that a soul who has God’s love can ever lose it? For where love is, it resists sin. And how can sin enter it? Since love is strong as death, bitter to fight like hell, as can the forces of death or hell, that is, sins, overcome love which at least equals them in strength, and overcomes them in assistance and in right?
But how can it be that a reasonable soul who once savored such a great sweetness as divine love can ever voluntarily swallow the bitter waters of offense?… My dear Theotime, the heavens themselves are astonished and the angels remain mad with astonishment at this prodigious misery of the human heart which abandons such a kind of good, to attach themselves to such deplorable things.
While we are in this world, our minds are subject to a thousand moods and miseries, and therefore easy to change and turn into their love. It is only in heaven that we will no longer be subject to change, but will remain inseparably united out of love for our sovereign good… for it is impossible to see the divinity and not to love it. But here below, where we glimpse it only through the shadows of faith, our knowledge is not so great that it does not yet leave the entrance to the surprise of other apparent goods, which, between the darkness that mingle in the certainty and truth of faith, slip imperceptibly like little fox cubs and demolish our flowering vine.
Holy Thursday
You shall love the Lord of your God with all your heart…”
From a sermon by St. Francis de Sales. (September 30, 1618). Works IX 198
Let us consider a little what is this love that the Lord has for us and of which we are so dearly loved.
Notice, I beseech you, how much grace the Savior has in expressing to us the ardor of his passion of love, both in word and affection and in deeds. In words, this is clear, for he never extended so much to speak on any subject as on that of his love for us and the desire he has that we love him… See how jealous he is of our love: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, with all your mind and all that you are, that is, with all your power” Then in his sacrament, it seems that he will never be happy enough to invite men to receive him, for he inculcates in an admirable way the good which he has prepared for those who will approach it worthily. “I am,” said he said, “the bread that came down from heaven, “whoever eats me shall not die forever. I am the bread of life and so many other words. Then, speaking of his death: “I longed with a great desire to make this Passover with you”; and “No one loves with greater love than he who puts his soul for his friend, that is, who gives his own life.”
Does it not seem to you, my dear daughters, that we have a very great obligation to respond as much as we can, to this incomparable love of which we have been and are loved by Our Lord? We probably owe it; at least we must have an affection for doing so. To love God with all our heart what is it but to love Him with all our love, but with an ardent love; And for this, one must not love many other things, at least one particular affection.
To love Him with all that we are is to abandon our whole being to Him to remain totally subject to His Love!
GOOD FRIDAY
“… Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”
Jn 19:19
From a sermon by St. Francis de Sales. Good Friday, March 25, 1622. Works X 360
To speak of the Passion by which we were all redeemed, I will take as my subject the words of the title that Pilate had written on the Cross: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
In this title are understood the causes of this divine Passion which are reduced to two, signified by these words: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews…
Jesus means Saviour, but he died because he was a savior, especially since to save you had to die.
King of the Jews, that is, he is Savior and King all together. Jews means “confessor.” He is therefore King, but of those alone who will confess Him and to redeem these confessors, He died, yes, He is truly dead, and of the death of the cross.
These are the causes of Jesus’ death-
Christ: the first is that he was Saviour, Holy and King; the second, that he wanted to redeem those who confess him.
… But couldn’t God provide the world with another remedy than that of the death of His Son? O certainly he could do it well; For was it not in his power to forgive human nature with absolute power and pure mercy without bringing justice into it and without the intermission of any creature?
He probably could; and who would have dared to speak about it or find fault with it? No one because he is the sovereign Master and can whatever pleases him.
Certainly He could redeem us by other means, but He did not want to, because what was sufficient for our salvation was not enough to satisfy His Love!
What consequence can we draw from this, otherwise, that since he died of love for us, we also die of love for him, or, if we can not die of love that at least we live for nothing but for him.
HOLY SATURDAY
Jesus, seeing his mother, and near her the disciple he loved, said to his mother, “Woman,
behold your son.”
Jn 19:26
A sermon of S.F. S. for Good Friday. 1620
Men think almost all their lives about what they have to do when they die, as they may well establish their last wills … And for this many make their will in full health, fearing that the effort of mortal pain will deprive them of the means to manifest their intentions. But Our Lord, knowing that He would put His life and keep it as and when He pleased, put His will back to his death…
… The Savior, wanting to pronounce His testament only on the Cross and a little before he died, applied His seal and sealed His will before all other things. His seal is none other than himself, as he had made Solomon say to him, speaking in his devout soul: ‘Put me as a seal on your heart…’ He applied this sacred seal when instituting the Most Holy and Most Adorable Sacrament of the Altar.
Then he made his will, manifesting his last will on the Cross a little before dying so that one of the men would be his co-heirs.
His testament is none other than the divine words he spoke on the Cross.
I remember two: “Lord,” said the good thief, “remember me when you are in your Kingdom.” To which our dear Lord replied: “Today you will be with me in Paradise”. O what sweet and kind words: Today you will be with me! in Paradise!…
O word of great consolation, for what his goodness has done for the good thief, it will do for all the other children of the Cross who are Christians. O blessed children of the Cross, for you are assured that at the same time as you repent, our Savior will be your Redeemer and give you glory!…
… Looking at his mother standing by the Cross with his beloved disciple, he said to her, ‘Woman, this is your son!’ and put it in her heart… What love? a motherly love.
And Mary accepted all the children of the Cross as her own and became our Mother.