St. Francis De Sales on Confidence in God

I am a poor, frightened little creature, the baby of the family, timid and shy by nature and completely lacking in self-confidence; and that is why I should like people to let me live unnoticed and all on my own according to my inclination, because I have to make such enormous efforts about shyness and my excessive fears.  Who can fail to see that this is not living according to the spirit?

No indeed,... for when I was still very young and had little understanding I already lived like this; but although according to my temperament I am shy, nervous and as timid as a mole, I want to have a good try to overcome these natural passions and little by little learn to do everything that belongs to the office which obedience, proceeding from God, has laid upon me.  Who can fail to see that this is living according to the spirit?

Living according to the spirit means doing the actions which the spirit of God asks of us, saying the words and thinking the things that he wants.  And when I say thinking the things he wants, I am referring to your willed thoughts.   I am miserable and so I don't feel like talking: draymen and parrots do as much; I feel miserable, but since charity demands that I should talk I will do it:  that is what spiritual people say.

I have been slighted and I get cross: peacocks and monkeys do as much; I have been slighted and I rejoice: that is what the Apostles did.  So to live according to the spirit is to do what faith, hope and charity teach us to do, whether in things temporal or things spiritual.

So live wholly according to the spirit,...  live sweetly and in peace.  Be quite confident that God will help you, and in all that happens rest in the arms of his mercy and fatherly goodness.

~ Saint Francis De Sales (+ 1622)

[taken from Magnificat for Tuesday, Jan. 24th, 2012]

Holy Fool

The "Holy Fool" is s/he who knows s/he doesn't know, and trusts God anyway!

Faith is ultimately not in figuring out the truth, but relating w/ God and trusting Him to reveal Himself in His own Good time!

The Balm That Heals The Ingratitude Of The World

Make the resolution today to be nothing for creatures, nothing for yourself, and all for God.  The great secret of holiness, I repeat to you, is to love, and saints are nothing but chalices of sorrowful love, "fools of faith, beings of light."  Another day I will speak to you about the martyrdom of love, that which most crucifies, and obtains the most graces.  For now you have enough to entertain yourself at the feet of Jesus.  I only tell you that humble souls are the ones who know how to love truly, and are the only ones to receive and communicate the rays of sovereign goodness.

Love, then, but with a love born of humility; we are not holy because we are not humble.  Do you love me more than these?  Tell him: "This is what I desire, Jesus of my heart, this is what I long for with all the enthusiasm of my humble heart.  To love you more than all the angels and saints."  To love you, to love you!  All the rest is detail, Jesus, images that pass, they are smoke that vanishes, only you, Jesus, Jesus and Mary.  I want to enter into your heart, more deeply than the lance, more profoundly than your heartbeats, and live from its warmth and its light, its charity and zeal, its meekness and humility.  That wound bleeds, that wound is waiting for me and hopes that I may be the balm that heals the ingratitude of the world and of those who are his own.  You, the Jesus who lives and breathes not far away, but right near to me, the one whom I devour with the inmost ardent desire every morning, shall be, from now on, the confidant of my secrets, of my confidences.

You love me, and this electrifies me.  You want to be my Father, my guide, my companion, by brother, my friend, my spouse, my everything!  O sweet Jesus, look at me!  One glance from you, and my heart will be opened to holy growth.  Give me your heartbeats, give me your voice, your heart, your tenderness, you compassion!

Possess me, absorb me, transform me, divinize me, simplifying me so that we may be two in one, you in me, I in you!

~Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida (Conchita)

"Love One Another"

"The less we have, the more we give.  Seems absurd, but it's the logic of love."...
True love causes pain.  Jesus, in order to give us the proof of His love, died on the cross.  A mother, in order to give birth to her baby, has to suffer.  If you really love one another, you will not be able to avoid making sacrifices.  The poor do not need our condescending attitude or our pity.  They only need our love and our tenderness.

To me, Jesus is the Life I want to live, the Light I want to reflect, the Way to the Father, the Love I want to express, the joy I want to share, the Peace I want to sow around me.  Jesus is everything to me.

If faith is scarce, it is because there is too much selfishness in the world, too much egoism.  Faith, in order to be authentic, has to be generous and giving.  Love and faith go hand in hand...

God has created us so we do small things with great love.  I believe in that great love, that comes, or should come from our heart, should start at home: with my family, my neighbors across the street, those right next door.  And this love should then reach everyone.

~Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

from the May 2010 -- Vo. 12, No. 3 issue of Magnificat