A Daily Dose of God

 

                            The Feast of St. Francis de Sales, the Gentleman Saint

 

Today I offer you two of Francis de Sales most beneficial prayers, one to begin your day and the other to end your day.  If you faithfully pray them, you will draw closer to Jesus Christ and your daily anxiety will decrease as your love of God increases. 

Most of these Salesian spiritual thoughts have been gathered from Msgr. Charles Murphy’s book, “Belonging to God: A Personal Training Guide for The Deeper Catholic Spiritual Life.” 

“Belonging to God” is based on de Sales’ “Introduction to the Devout Life” while updating it with the teachings of both St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal for a rich and powerful spiritual manual. 

 

Direction of Intention (St. Francis deSales) 

My God, I give you this day.

I offer you, now, all of the good

that I shall do …

and

I promise to accept, for love of you,

all of the difficulty that I shall meet.

Help me to conduct myself during this day In a manner [most] pleasing to you.

 

The purpose of lay spirituality is to bring holiness to the secular world. 

St. Francis de Sales lived when Kepler, Copernicus and Galileo lived.  He drew upon John of the Cross, Luis of Granada and Teresa of Avila.  de Sales was taught by the Jesuits and influenced by Ignatius of Loyola.

“The holiness of the lay baptized is based on the prudent ‘enjoyment’ and ‘use’ of the things of this world in poverty and liberty of spirit.… to be holy is to discover and to accept that we belong to God, who alone is holy.” (p.14 & p.21)

 

Reflect on the Five Salesian Spiritual Principles:

1. listen to the heart

2. commit

3. perfect freedom

4. belonging to God

5. ordinary things

 

Fidelity to prayer is fundamental to progress in the spiritual life, in Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s Novella, The Little Prince – we learned that “It is the time you wasted with you rose that makes it important.”  Reflecting on your prayer life [the rose] by this world’s values is a waste of time, yet in the spiritual realm “what is important is wasting time” with God.  For us, “belief in God is not just a philosophy or a theology – it is a relationship, one that is nourished by prayer.” (p.96)

 

We know from experience that CHANGE – “…takes place only little by little …. We must not be disturbed by our imperfections.” (p.81)

The prayer below can help us review our day, its successes, its failures and its missed opportunities.

 

Day is Ending (St. Francis de Sales)

Thank you for all the gifts of the day,

for the place I spent it

And for those with whom I spent it, for all its joys

and all its sorrows, for the troubles overcome

and for those that remain.

I offer you the silence of this night, its darkness and its solitude.

Whether you chose under the cover of this night to take away the problems of this day, or leave them for tomorrow, I will bless your name.

Thy will be done.               

Amen.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saint Francis de Sales pray for us.

Saint Andre Bessette intercede for us.

May God Be Praised!