St. Francis is one of the great spiritual masters in the Church’s history and a Doctor of the Church. Francis was born two months premature to the noble Sales family in Thorens, France, on August 21, 1567, the firstborn of twelve children. As a young man, he studied in Paris and Padua, obtaining doctorate degrees in both civil and canon law in preparation for a life as a lawyer and nobleman. During this time, he found peace in the radical and liberating love of God: “loving him without asking anything in return and trusting in divine love; no longer asking what will God do with me: I simply love him, independently of all that he gives me or does not give me.” This powerful experience of the love of God led him to a priestly vocation, despite the protestations of his father. Nonetheless, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1593 in Geneva, and in 1602 became the Bishop of Geneva.
One of his great contributions to the spiritual heritage of the Church was his conviction that holiness was not only a pursuit for clergy and religious, but for everyone, according to their vocation and state in life. His book, Introduction to the Devout Life, was written to guide the lay faithful towards holiness and true devotion:
Almost all those who have written concerning the devout life have chiefly in view persons who have altogether left the world; or at any rate they have taught a manner of devotion that would lead to such total retirements. But my object is to teach those who are living in towns, at court, in their own households, and whose calling obliges them to a social life, so far as externals are concerned….I endeavor by this book to afford some help to those who are undertaking this noble work with a generous heart.Introduction to the Devout Life, Preface
Pope Francis has done the Church a great service by once again pointing the faithful to this Doctor of the Church. It’s well worth your time to read the apostolic letter in full. In the meantime, I’d like to propose four takeaways for missionary disciples from Totum Amoris Est.
- Always ask: where is the greatest love to be found?
- The primacy of relationship and charity in evangelization
- Adapt your missionary message to your audience
- Choose joy steeped in love
Each point deserves its own treatment, so I’ll treat these as a series of posts. Click here to start with the first takeaway.
Totum Amoris Est: Where is the greatest love?
This is the second post in a series on Totum Amoris Est, the Apostolic Letter issued by Pope Francis to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the death of St. Francis de Sales. Click here for Part One of this series.
The title of this Apostolic Letter, Totum Amoris Est, means “everything pertains to love,” a quote from St. Francis’ Treatise on Divine Love: “In Holy Church, everything pertains to love, lives in love, is done for love and comes from love.” Everything in St. Francis’ spiritual worldview stems from the fact that God himself is love, and everything he wills for us is good. One of the main goals of the Christian life is therefore to always seek where the greatest love is to be found in our lives. Where this greatest love will be found is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. St. Francis recognized that God invites each of us to find the greatest love in the midst of the life to which he has called us. It’s in the everyday situations of our particular vocations that we will find the greatest love, and be invited to live it out. St. Francis writes:
You know, or you should know, that contemplation is in itself better than activity and the active life; nonetheless, if one finds greater union [with God] in the active life, then that is better. If a Sister in the kitchen holding a pan over the fire has greater love and charity than another Sister, that material fire will not hold her back but instead help her to become more pleasing to God. It frequently happens that people are united to God as much in activity as in solitude; in the end, it always comes back to the question of where the greatest love is to be found.
St. Francis also wrote in An Introduction to the Devout Life:
I ask you, my child, would it be fitting that a bishop should seek to lead the solitary life of a Carthusian? And if the father of a family were as regardless in making provision fo the future as a Capuchin, if the artisan spent the day in church like a religious, if the religious involved himself in all manner of business on his neighbour’s behalf as a bishop is called upon to do, would not such a devotion be ridiculous, ill-regulated, and intolerable?…that which runs counter to the rightful vocation of anyone is, you may be sure, a spurious devotion.
St. Francis points us to the reality that holiness is to be found right where God has called you. If you are married, the Lord will provide your greatest opportunity to love and grow in holiness in your vocation as a spouse. If you try to live your life like a monk when you are called to be a spouse, you’ll be a terrible monk! And not only that, it could also be a “spurious devotion”, taking you away from the greatest love, despite your best intentions. The same applies if you are a student, living the single life, a single parent, a priest, a religious brother or sister, etc. Look no further than your own vocation and state to find where God is inviting you to discover the holiness he is calling you to.
The first takeaway for us is to regularly come back to this question: where is the greatest love to be found in my life today? Where is God inviting me today to live out the greatest love in the life to which he has called me?
Totum Amoris Est: The primacy of relationship and charity in evangelization
This is the third post in a series on Totum Amoris Est, the Apostolic Letter issued by Pope Francis to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the death of St. Francis de Sales.
Part 1: Summary of Totum Amoris Est
Part 2: Where is the greatest love?
St. Francis lived at a time of great upheaval in Europe. The Protestant Reformation was in full swing, dividing much of Christian Europe into newly-formed doctrinal camps. When the young Francis was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Geneva, the city was considered Calvinist territory and had grown hostile to Catholic doctrine. Francis felt called to attempt to win back the faithful of his diocese to the Catholic Church and spent three years travelling the rugged, mountainous areas surrounding Geneva in controversial dialogue with those who had embraced the Calvinist doctrines. He even went door to door, and when people wouldn’t answer, he would slip under their doors a small publication explaining true Catholic teachings.
Through his patience and perseverance, Francis was successful in helping many Calvinists return to the Catholic faith—I’ve seen estimates range from 40,000 to 70,000 who returned. One of the key lessons to which Pope Francis (quoting from Pope Benedict XVI) points us is how, in the face of such opposition, St. Francis came to realize the effectiveness of personal relationships and charity in his missionary efforts. When doors were literally closed to him, he found that a personal connection with people led to the opportunity for connection and dialogue, where he could then present truth in a spirit of friendship and charity.
We, too, can never be reminded enough that all missionary activity rests upon the foundation of a genuine love for people that leads to relationships of trust. Like in the Geneva of St. Francis’ day, our culture has a trust deficit with Catholicism and, in many cases, with God himself. Or, if not a trust deficit, God just may not be a part of their lives. Before people are ready to hear a proclamation of what we believe, we need to work to establish a foundation of trust. As the saying goes, people won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Who are the people you hope to share the Gospel with? Perhaps there are family members or friends, or maybe people you work with in your ministry. What is one step you can take today to further build the foundation of trust in your relationships?
Totum Amoris Est: Adapt your missionary message to your audience
This is the fourth post in a series on Totum Amoris Est, the Apostolic Letter issued by Pope Francis to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the death of St. Francis de Sales.
Part 1: Summary of Totum Amoris Est
Part 2: Where is the greatest love?
Part 3: The primacy of relationship and charity in evangelization
Pope Francis writes:
There [in France in the time of St. Francis] everything was in constant ferment. Francis was impressed and intrigued by the great issues emerging in the world, by the novel ways in which they were being approached, by the new and remarkable interest in spirituality and the unprecedented questions it raised. In a word, he sensed an authentic “epochal shift” that demanded a response couched in language both old and new…That same task awaits us in this, our own age of epochal change. We are challenged to be a Church that is outward-looking and free of all worldliness, even as we live in this world, share people’s lives and journey with them in attentive listening and acceptance. That is what Francis de Sales did when he discerned the events of his times with the help of God’s grace. Today he bids us set aside undue concern for ourselves, for our structures and for what society thinks about us, and consider instead the real spiritual needs and expectations of our people.
Earlier in the letter, Pope Francis quoted St. Francis:
I have taken into consideration the thinking of people of this age, nor could I do otherwise: it is very important to keep in mind the times in which one writes.
As I read these quotes, I couldn’t help but think of St. John Paul II’s explanation of the New Evangelization: an evangelization that is new in ardour, method, and expression. It is a call to share the timeless truths of the Catholic faith with a fresh method and expression that meets the needs of the current day. St. Francis exhibited these same traits. He saw the “epochal shift” of the Protestant Reformation, and he adapted the timeless truths of the faith to answer the questions of the people of Geneva. Combined with his commitment to personal relationships and charity, St. Francis shows us how we too can adapt the way we share the timeless truths of our faith in an ever-changing world, our own time of “epochal change.”
I also think of St. Paul’s famous description of how he evangelized:
Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win over those under the law. To those outside the law I became like one outside the law—though I am not outside God’s law but within the law of Christ—to win over those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.1 Corinthians 9:19-23
St. Paul would adapt the way he preached and lived so as to find a connection point with the people he was preaching to. He was not stuck in just one way of proclaiming the gospel. Instead, he was flexible in the method and expression of his evangelization while never compromising the one saving truth he proclaimed to all.
Pope Francis notes that St. Francis saw “a whole world athirst for God in a variety of ways,” and he became “an insightful observer of his times.” May we, too, become insightful observers of the variety of ways people today show their thirst for God, seeking to bring the Gospel to the 21st Century with fresh ardour, methods, and expressions of the timeless truths of our faith.
Totum Amoris Est: Choose joy steeped in love
This is the final post in a series on Totum Amoris Est, the Apostolic Letter issued by Pope Francis to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the death of St. Francis de Sales.
Part 1: Summary of Totum Amoris Est
Part 2: Where is the greatest love?
Part 3: The primacy of relationship and charity in evangelization
Part 4: Adapt your missionary message to your audience
Pope Francis finishes this letter with section titled, “The ecstasy of life.” Like his Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium), Pope Francis regularly points us to the joy that the Christian life should bring. He again points us to this joy through the lens of St. Francis’ writings.
For Saint Francis de Sales, then, while the Christian life is never without ecstasy, ecstasy is inauthentic apart from a truly Christian life. Indeed, life without ecstasy risks being reduced to blind obedience, a Gospel bereft of joy. On the other hand, ecstasy without life easily falls prey to the illusions and deceptions of the Evil one.
The joy to which both Pope Francis and St. Francis point us towards is a joy steeped in an authentic Christian love. It is a joy, an ecstasy, that comes from an encounter with the supernatural love of God poured into our hearts. This ecstasy, however, can become a distraction if it isn’t steeped in a love for all that God commands. Love for God should lead us to live as he commands, freely choosing to live the Christian life with joy. It is, ultimately, Christian joy that will be an attractive witness to the faith. Joy can be the spark of curiosity.
Joy should not be confused with needing to be in a perpetual state of happiness. Life is always marked with suffering and difficulties. Yet, we are called to choose joy in the midst of difficulties. And this takes us back to one of the fundamental principles that St. Francis outlines. Our Christian joy and devotion presupposes God’s love for us, and because of his perfect love, we can know that even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances, we can still choose the joy that flows from a deep and intimate relationship with our good and loving Father. It is this joy—joy that doesn’t make sense—that will be the attractive witness that draws others to ask if it is in relationship with God that they, too, can find the greatest love.
To close this series on Totum Amoris Est, I encourage you to ask yourself: how can I choose joy today in the midst of the circumstances in my life? How can choosing this joy help others discover the beauty of the personal relationship that God so deeply desires with each of us?
We’ll give the last word to St. Francis, as quoted in Totum Amoris Est:
What is more steadfast than charity, not in requiting injuries, but in taking no account of them? Concerned not with passing things, but with eternity? Since it has an unshakable trust in the promises of the future life, charity can tolerate all things in this present life. It can endure whatever it must here below, because it hopes in the promises of the world to come. Truly, charity never fails. Cultivate it then, and thinking holy thoughts, bring forth fruits of justice. And if you should discover anything else in praise of charity beyond what I have said here, let it become evident in your life.”
St. Francis de Sales, pray for us.