Friday before the Third Sunday after the Epiphany; Francis de Sales

Holy God, who called your bishop Francis de Sales to bring many to Christ through his devout life and to renew your Church with patience and understanding: grant that we may, by word and example, reflect your gentleness and love to all we meet; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Proverbs 3:13

13 Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, 14 for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy.

1 Corinthians 2

When I came to you, brothers and sisters,a I did not come proclaiming the mysteryb of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom,c but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. 6 Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. 7 But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him”—10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

The heavens declare your glory, O God, The law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure and gives wisdom to the innocent. R

The statutes of the Lord are just and rejoice the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear and gives light to the eyes. R

The fear of the Lord is clean and endures for ever; the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, more than much fine gold, sweeter far than honey, than honey in the comb. R   

John

17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Francis de Sales was born in 1567 in the castle at Sales in Savoy, the eldest of six brothers. He was educated at the Jesuit college of Clermont in Paris, studying rhetoric and humanities. Whilst there, he began a course of theology. The course, however, brought on a prolonged period of despair, caused by the discussions of the theologians of the day on the question of predestination - which I can understand! He was suddenly freed from this despair as he knelt before an image of Our Lady, where he then made a vow of chastity and consecrated himself to the Blessed Virgin.

After finishing his studies in Paris, he went on to further education at Padua where he received a doctorate in law. After briefly practising law he turned to religion and, despite the objections of his parents, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1593, later becoming bishop of Geneva in 1602. This was at the time when the work of John Calvin, who died three years before Francis was born, when Calvin’s work was growing into a “Calvinism,” particularly in Geneva where Francis was bishop. Francis preached regularly against Calvinism and was an important figure within the counter-reformation happening at the time in Europe.

In 1610 he cofounded the Visitation Order for young girls and widows in Annency, dedicated to teaching and nursing the sick.

In his preaching and writings, particularly his books Introduction to the Devout Life, and Treatise on the Love of God, he concentrated on putting prayer and meditation within the reach of all Christians. His spirituality underscored the role of the layperson at a time when the religious professional was considered to be the only Christian who could really pray, helping, in the counter-reformation, to correct some of the extreme tendencies within the Catholic church.

In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis aims to help the soul free itself from all inclination to, or affection for, sin, and to teach how the soul can be united to God by prayer and the sacraments. It is described as a “masterpiece of psychology, practical morality, and common sense,” and was translated into numerous languages even in the lifetime of the author.

His interest for the religious life among the laity is shown by this quote from the book: “Almost all those who have hitherto written about devotion have been concerned with instructing persons wholly withdrawn from the world or have at least taught a kind of devotion that leads to such complete retirement. My purpose is to instruct those who live in town, within families, or at court, and by their state of life are obliged to live an ordinary life as to outward appearances.”

In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis reflects on Divine love, its birth in the soul, its growth, and its perfection. He encourages the reader in “affective love,” which is practised in prayer, and in “effective love,” which is conformity to the will of God. He goes on to teach how to practically apply this theory.

He died at Lyons on 28 December 1622 and his body was translated to Annecy on this day in 1623 but his heart, interestingly was left in Lyons. During the Revolution, nuns carried his heart to Venice where it is held there as a relic for veneration today.

Francis’ rejection of predestination probably goes hand in hand with his interest in what can now be called psychology, and his attempts to articulate how a soul can free itself from sin and grow in a love of God. The more one believes that we are personally capable of affecting our own destination, the more interest one will probably have in the inner self and its workings.

For me, an important aspect of the life of Francis for us today is his work within the catholic counter-reformation, encouraging the catholics at the time to allow prayer and the sacraments to affect their whole lives. The sacraments are vehicles of grace but, I’d argue, they are not normally mechanical vehicles which works regardless of our disposition - again, how we approach God makes a difference, in contrast to predestination type theologies where the work tends to be all on God’s side. Perhaps there are moments when the sacraments do work in more of a mechanical or prescriptive sort of way but in normal circumstances it is important to approach the sacraments with a heart which genuinely wants to be changed, and having this state when approaching the sacraments really does make a difference. Help me God to have a heart which really does desire in the right sort of way. Francis also recognises, however, that making progress on this journey is no small thing and that we are complicated beings which is why he attempts to write a practical guide which takes into account the complexity of the human soul.

Maybe in today’s context, we can look to the charismatic movement and the desire that charismatic Christians have for worship to make a real difference in the soul of the person, and apply something of that desire to our own sacramental worship just maybe in more of an understated, not necessarily feeling the effects all-in-one-go sort of way. What would St Francis de Sales say?

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

God of truth, whose Wisdom set her table and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine of the kingdom: help us to lay aside all foolishness and to live and walk in the way of insight, that we may come with your servant Francis de Sales to the eternal feast of heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord.