| Spiritual Growth, Like the Palm Tree, Takes Many Years |
At our Living Jesus Chatroom on Sunday we will be talking about the following article, 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  Image by Gerd Altmann from PixabayTo Madame Anéglique Arnauld, written from Annecy, 16 December 1619 I will begin where you end, my very dear and really beloved daughter; for your last letter of those which have reached me ends like this: ‘I believe you know me well.’ Now it is indeed true, I do know you well and I know that your heart is steadfastly determined to live entirely for God; but I also know that your great natural activity harasses you with many restless impulses. O dear daughter, you must really not imagine that the work we have undertaken to do in you can be done so quickly. Cherry trees bear their fruit quickly because they only bear cherries which keep but a short time; but the palm, the prince of trees, only begins bearing fruit a hundred years after it has been planted, it is said. A mediocre sort of life can be achieved in a year; but the perfection for which we are striving-that, my dear daughter, takes quite a few years to establish itself, I mean in the ordinary way. And tell this person whom I have so earnestly commended to you that I really cannot forget her either day or night and that I am always calling down God’s grace upon her; and say to her boldly, indeed no, I shall never be downcast by her weaknesses and imperfections. Should I not be unfaithful and cruel not to watch her struggles affectionately as she tries to practice gentleness, humility and simplicity? Let her go on faithfully in this way and I shall not cease to long and sigh for her good and her progress. But tell this dear daughter that she should try and put her heart into an attitude of humility, gentleness and tranquility during her morning prayers, then again after dinner, during grace, at vespers and in the evening; and that she should try and call to mind in the course of the day that I told her to do it.Tell her that I am staying here in my diocese as long as it pleases God; and that as nothing can remove me from it except for some particular eventuality which I believe to be for Our Lord’s glory, I should have no more difficulty in detaching myself from such favors than before ever they were offered to me. I am and shall be and want to be ever at the mercy of God’s divine providence, I want to hold no other rank except that of a servant and a follower. You will always be told about everything, but be discreet. I am again invited to go to Paris on advantageous conditions. I said that I would neither go there nor stay here unless to follow the will of heaven. This country is my home according to my natural birth; according to my spiritual birth, my home is the Church. I shall willingly go or stay wherever I can best serve the latter without attaching myself to the former….Live in peace, my very dear daughter, and often pray for my amendment so that I may be saved and that we may one day thrill with eternal joy, remembering how God favored us by drawing us to himself and how he wanted us to have mutual consolation in telling one another about him in this world. O my daughter, may he always be our heart’s only desire! Amen. Reflections: What does it mean to know someone well?Why does St. Francis say it takes only a year to achieve a mediocre life, but many years for perfection?What does it mean to “call down God’s grace” upon someone? Do we have power over God?Discuss this line: “This country is my home according to my natural birth; according to my spiritual birth, my home is the Church.”If God draws us to himself, why did He establish a Church that is limited in scope by geography and human willpower?If progress in the spiritual life is slow, how can we be sure that we are even progressing after a year, or five years, or longer? Is it important for us to gauge this? Sign up for our Living Jesus Chat Room:Come to our Living Jesus Chat Room, 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern Time U.S. this Sunday |