Today we celebrate the feast of an outstanding bishop and doctor of the Church. St. Francis de Sales was outstanding in his clear-thinking, straight-to-the-heart approach to his pastoral work. Francis was born in Savoy in 1567. Being of noble birth, he secretly felt the call to become a priest but he kept these thoughts to himself "until he had real proof from God that it was his will – and not his own ruminations!"
After many years of waiting, during which time he studied and obtained a doctorate in theology from the university in Padua, God made himself clearly known to Francis. As he was riding, he fell three times from his horse and every time his sword came out of the scabbard – and each time came to rest on the ground in the shape of the cross. Shortly after this he began studies for the priesthood. It did not take much time for this bright young priest to be made a bishop, in Geneva, Switzerland which was in the midst of the Calvinist revolt of the Protestant Reformation. Francis did much, in his own particular way, to fight against the Calvinists.
One thing he did was to publish "fliers" or "tracts" about the true life of faith that is to be found in the Catholic Church alone - that he would deliver and place under the doors of people everywhere. This was the first use of published tracts.
Francis also, having been prepared in a dream, worked with a widow named Jane Francis de Chantal – in a slow and orderly fashion – always trying to determine God's lead in the process - to found an order of contemplative nuns: the Visitation Sisters – who did much to fuel the Catholic Counter-reformation with sweet-smelling prayer rising day in and day out to God our heavenly Father.
In the first reading today St. Paul describes himself as the "least of all the holy ones" who was given the task of preaching to the Gentiles the inscrutable riches of Christ and to bring to light for all what is the plan of the mystery hidden from ages past…so that now God's wisdom might be made known through the Church. This is indeed what St. Francis de Sales did as well – he proclaimed loudly and clearly what he knew in his heart was directly from the Blessed Trinity of love!
The gospel passage speaks of the heart of Francis' message, which is the heart of St. John the Evangelist's message, which is the heart of Jesus' message: LOVE ONE ANOTHER – as I have loved you, so you are to love one another! He meant this – for when we actively love one another GOD IS EXPERIENCED IN OUR LIVES! There is no other way to experience God than by LOVING – because GOD THE FATHER IS LOVE!
St. Francis helps us to understand this "loving experience" – in his book "The Introduction to the Devout Life" – when he compares romantic love, with divine love: if we can put as much effort and interest in our relationship with God, as we do in a human-to-human romantic relationship – then we will know God, and we will know better how to love our fellow human beings – romantically and otherwise!
The mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.
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