‘We would like to see Jesus”
In John 12: 20- 33, a number of Greeks approach Philip with this request: "We would all like to see Jesus." Can't we all relate to that desire? Where do we look for Jesus? Up the sky? Far away places? [...]
March 2018
All have a vocation. All are called to holiness.
“When God created the world He commanded each tree to bear fruit after its kind; and even so He bids Christians,--the living trees of His Church,--to bring forth fruits of devotion, each one according to his kind and vocation. A [...]
Living Lent-Praying with Scripture
St. Francis de Sales gives sound advice on how to meditate with Holy Scripture. He suggests: ” We can consider the Holy Bible, that is, the mysteries contained therein, and principally the Gospels, in two ways. The first is to [...]
February 2018
Francis de Sales on Marriage: the Vocation of Parents
The third quality that typifies the devout love of husband and wife is the birth and rearing of children. When I was a principal, I came to see, in the lives of the parents of our students and especially [...]
January 2018
How one woman is turning her chemo into charity; a response to suffering
"The truly loving heart loves God's good pleasure not in consolations only but also in afflictions." (St. Francis de Sales-Treatise on the Love of God) Recently a woman contacted me, wanting to make a donation to our parish ministry to the [...]
December 2017
Drawing Near to the Infant Jesus
Blessed Louis Brisson shares his thoughts at Christmas time with his spiritual children: “A little child walks along holding his mother’s hand, distrusts his own strength, and is not bold. May you be the same and venture nothing without God. [...]
SFS on Marriage: Fidelity
Back in October, I wrote on “the union of hearts” as the first of three qualities that Francis de Sales called for in marriage. The second quality is fidelity. Obviously such fidelity excludes romantic, sexual attachments to anyone outside the [...]
November 2017
Gratitude for inspirations
and Crosses! As our national holiday of Thanksgiving approaches, how can we be grateful with a particularly Salesian heart? St. Francis de Sales’ suggests we delight in all God’s inspirations within us, and that we accept with gratitude even the [...]
True Humility
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; whoever humbles himself will be exalted." (Mt 23:12) The above verse from Matthew’s Gospel (featured in the Lectionary for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time) follows Jesus’ critique of the Pharisees (and scribes) for [...]
