| A Desire for Holiness is Like the Orange Trees on the Sea Coast |
The following article is taken from Selected Letters of St. Francis de Sales.To prepare for our chat on Sunday, please read the article, which is reproduced below, and review the questions at the end.Click for Living Jesus Chatroom  Photo by Simon Wilkes on UnsplashTo the Baronne de Chantal, written from Annecy, 3 May 1604 Madam, I should like you to feel more and more reassured and this is why I am observing as faithfully as possible my promise of writing to you as often as I can. The greater the external distance between us the closer do I feel our inward link and union to be. I shall never cease to pray God graciously to perfect his holy work in you, that is to say, to further your excellent desire and design to lead a perfect Christian life, a desire which you should love and foster tenderly in your heart as given to you by the Holy Ghost and as a spark of his divine fire.I once saw a tree in Rome which had been planted by St. Dominic; people go to see it and they love it for love of the saint who planted it. In the same way, now that I have seen the tree of your desire for holiness which Our Lord has planted in your soul I love it tenderly and take even more pleasure in looking at it than when we were together. I exhort you to do the same and to say with me:’O beautiful tree of God’s planting, divine and heavenly seed, may God watch over your growing and make you bear fruit in due season, protecting you from the wind which makes the fruit fall where evil beasts can devour it.’This desire of yours, dear Madam, should be like the orange trees on the sea coast at Genoa, covered almost the whole year round with fruit, flowers and leaves growing all at the same time; for your desires should always be bearing fruit as you put some of them into effect every day, and at the same time you should never cease longing for some new occasion of progress. These longings are the flowering branches on the tree of your purpose in life; the leaves are your frequent realization of your weakness and keep your good works and your good desires in a healthy state. All this may be called one of the pillars of your tabernacle.The other is your love for your widowhood, a love which is holy and desirable for as many reasons as there are stars in the sky and without which widowhood is false and not honorable. St. Paul commands us to honor widows who are widows indeed; but women who do not honor their widowhood are only widows outwardly while their heart is still in the married state. ‘Blessing I will bless the widow,’ does not apply to them, nor yet the promise that God will be the judge, protector and defender of widows.Praise God who has given you this dear and holy love; allow it to increase every day and the comfort you find in it will grow in like measure since the whole structure of your happiness rests on these two pillars. Examine them at least once a month to see whether they are both quite firm and stable, making use of some devout meditation and consideration similar to the one of which I am enclosing a copy and which has proved helpful to other souls in my care. All the same, do not tie yourself down to this particular meditation, for this is not my reason for sending it; I only want to indicate to you the general direction which your monthly examination and testing is to take if it is to be helpful. If, however, you really prefer this particular set of words it will not prove useless. But note that I say: if you really prefer it, for my chief desire for you is that you should always feel unfettered in your spirit, enjoying a holy liberty in the means you use to reach perfection. As long as you keep the twin pillars of your tabernacle in good condition and make them ever more firm and stable it matters little how it is done.Beware of scruples and rest in what I said to you by word of mouth, for I said it in Our Lord. Keep yourself constantly in the presence of God in the way you know. Be on your guard against eager haste and restlessness for nothing is a greater hindrance on our way to God. Hide your heart gently in Our Lord’s wounds, without making any vehement effort; have great confidence that in his mercy and goodness he will not forsake you, yet cling closely to his holy cross. Next to love of Our Lord I commend to you love of his holy bride, the Church, that gentle dove which alone is able to rear true fledglings for her bridegroom. Praise God a hundred times a day for making you a daughter of the Church, following the example of Mother Theresa who found great comfort in repeating this often at the hour of her death. Fix your eyes on the bridegroom and the bride and say: ‘O how beautiful is your bride, how divine the bridegroom who is yours!’ Have great compassion and feeling for all the pastors and preachers of the Church, consider how they are scattered over the whole face of the earth and how there is no corner of the world without at least a few of them. Pray God for them so that they may fruitfully save souls while saving themselves; and this is where I beseech you never to forget me since God has given me such a strong will not to forget you either.I am sending you something I have written concerning the perfect life for all Christians. I did not write it for you but for a number of others; all the same you will see how to make it serve your own purposes. I beg you to write to me as often as you can and with the fullest confidence, for in my great longing for your good and your progress I shall be unhappy if I do not know how things stand with you. Commend me to Our Lord for I need it above all men in the world. I beg him to fill you abundantly with his holy love, and also all who are dear to you. I ever remain, and beg you to look upon me asYour most sincere and devoted servant in Jesus Christ,Francis, Bishop of Geneva. Reflections: How is a well-rooted tree a good symbol for the devout life and for a life of faith?What about when a tree goes through Fall and Spring, what does this tell us about our faith journey?When St. Francis says, “never cease longing for some new occasion of progress,” how do we put this into effect?What does it mean to have love for one’s widowhood (or any such life situation)?Why is it necessary to praise/thank God through difficult times? Doesn’t this seem masochistic?What is wrong with having eager haste and restlessness? Shouldn’t we eagerly desire to serve the Lord? Sign up for our Living Jesus Chat Room:Come to our Living Jesus Chat Room, 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern Time |