Do you get easily discouraged because of your repeated failures? Are you gentle and understanding when you meet erring fellowmen? - Daily Reflections January 24,2014

THE MEASURE OF LOVE

 

St. Francis de Sales said, “The measure of love is to love without measure.” Today’s saint was bishop of Geneva and spiritual director of St. Jeanne de Chantal and many others. When Protestantism spread throughout Europe, most Catholic leaders reacted defensively. Francis de Sales was different. He perceived the Reformation as a call to conversion and to a more intense effort to achieve holiness. His preaching became known because of his love, moderation and balance. He did not, like many other spiritual guides, impose the usual harsh disciplines or force the faithful to make a drastic choice between good and evil. For him, the intensity of one’s charity is more important than self-mortification. This reflects the ministry of Jesus, who reached out and called all to “love God and love neighbor.”

       The only complaint against Francis came from rigorist critics who charged that he made it appear all too easy to become a saint. While most spiritual books were for clerics and nuns, he addressed his Introduction to the Devout Life and his Treatise on the Love of God also to lay people. Francis taught that one could become a saint wherever one lives in the world. He wrote, “Devotion is to be practiced differently by the noble, the worker, the servant, the prince, the widow, the young girl, the wife.”

       For him, genuine devotion is simply true love of God. He wrote, “In holy Church, all is by love, in love, for love and of love.” These simple words make us check whether in our lives all is by, in, for and of love. Love is the key to other persons’ hearts and to the heart of God. Of course, it needs time and effort to achieve genuine and profound love of God. We get easily discouraged when we commit the same mistake again.

       Let us end with his very practical advice for our prayer life: “A single ‘Our Father,’ said with feeling, has greater value than many repetitions, said quickly and hurriedly.” Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Do you get easily discouraged because of your repeated failures? Are you gentle and understanding when you meet erring fellowmen?

 

Lord, today I thank You for giving the Church a man like St. Francis de Sales. Make me more understanding, gentle and compassionate with my fellowmen.