Thursday, January 15, 2009

St. Francis de Sales - That We Must Be Faithful, Both on Great and Small Occasions

St. Francis de Sales
...Be ready then, my child, to bear great afflictions for your Lord, even to martyrdom itself; resolve to give up to Him all that you hold most precious, if He should require it of you;--father, mother, husband, wife, or child; the light of your eyes; your very life; for all such offering your heart should be ready.

But so long as God's Providence does not send you these great and heavy afflictions; so long as He does not ask your eyes, at least give Him your hair.

I mean, take patiently the petty annoyances,
the trifling discomforts,
the unimportant losses which come upon all of us daily;
for by means of these little matters, lovingly and freely accepted, you will give Him your whole heart, and win His.

I mean the acts of daily forbearance,
the headache, or toothache, or heavy cold;
the tiresome peculiarities of husband or wife,
the broken glass,
the loss of a ring,
a handkerchief,
a glove;
the sneer of a neighbour,
the effort of going to bed early in order to rise early for prayer or Communion,
the little shyness some people feel in openly performing religious duties; and be sure that all of these sufferings, small as they are, if accepted lovingly, are most pleasing to God's Goodness,
Which has promised a whole ocean of happiness to His children in return for one cup of cold water.

And, moreover, inasmuch as these occasions are for ever arising, they give us a fertile field for gathering in spiritual riches, if only we will use them rightly...

From Introduction to the Devout Life

3 comments:

SQUELLY said...

I love St. Francis de Sales. When I was in Africa I got the chance to visit a school run by his missionaries and it was so amazing. They work so hard and with such love and never complain about things like Malaria or crime. They really do change peoples lives through the guidance of their patron.

A Bit of the Blarney said...

This is wonderful. The Keller Family motto has for some time been "We shall steer safely through every storm, so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast, and our trust fixed firmly on God" by St Francis de Sales. Thank you Cathy

EC Gefroh said...

How interesting Squelly! I hope you post about that.

Good motto Cathy!