"We wish to see Jesus" (Jn 12:21). This request, addressed to the Apostle Philip by some Greeks who had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover, echoes spiritually in our ears too during this Jubilee Year. Like those pilgrims of two thousand years ago, the men and women of our own day - often perhaps unconsciously - ask believers not only to "speak" of Christ, but in a certain sense to "show" him to them. And is it not the Church's task to reflect the light of Christ in every historical period, to make his face shine also before the generations of the new millennium? Our witness, however, would be hopelessly inadequate if we ourselves had not first contemplated his face.

The contemplation of Christ's face cannot fail to be inspired by all that we are told about him in Sacred Scripture, which from beginning to end is permeated by his mystery, prefigured in a veiled way in the Old Testament and revealed fully in the New, so that Saint Jerome can vigorously affirm: "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ ... (John Paul II, Novo Millennio inuente, Nos. 16, 17).

On the other hand, it should be quite evident that a certain degree of withdrawal from the world and some measure of contemplation must necessarily be present in every form of Christian life, as the Second Vatican Council rightly declared in reference to priests and religious dedicated to the apostolate. Indeed it is true that even outside the monastic setting there are some who through the grace of the Holy Spirit are elevated to contemplation. But just as a certain invitation of this type is extended to all Christians, so too a certain degree of separation from the affairs of this world is necessary to all, even though all do not withdraw to the desert in the same way. Monks and nuns, however, retiring to a cloistered life, put into practice in a more absolute and exemplary way an element essential to every Christian life: "From now on... let those who deal with the world (live) as if they had no dealings with it. For the form of this world is passing away" (1 Cor. 7:29, 31). (Venite Seorsum, 15th August 1969, Vatican Council, Perfectae Caritatis, No. 50).

At this point it is impossible to pass over in silence the Blessed Virgin Mary, who welcomed into her bosom the Word of God. "Full of faith, and conceiving Christ first in her mind, before in her womb," a garden enclosed, a sealed fountain, a closed gate (cf. Songs 4:12; Ez. 44:1-2), "in faith and charity she is the Church's model and excellent exemplar. The Blessed Virgin exhibits herself as a splendid model for the contemplative life, and a venerable liturgical tradition, both in the Eastern Church and the Western, appropriately applies to her these words from the Gospel: "Mary has chosen the better part" (Lk. 10:38-41). (Venite Seorsum, 15th August 1969, Vatican Council, Perfectae Caritatis, No. 50).

"Jesus came and touched them, saying, 'Rise, and have no fear’ (Mt. 17:7). Like the three Apostles in the episode of the Transfiguration, consecrated persons know from experience that their lives are not always marked by the fervour which makes us exclaim: "It is well that we are here" (Mt 17:4). But it is always a life "touched" by the hand of Christ, a life where his voice is heard, a life sustained by his grace. (Vita Consecrata, No. 40; Cf. Also Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2709 - 2724.)

We have already seen that SFS began to experience infused contemplation (prayer of quiet) occasionally soon after his temptation in Paris, that is in 1587. But it does not seem to be frequent and more often during the following years. All the same he was following a rather complex method of meditation. Progressively he simplified it. Such was the stage of contemplation he reached towards the end of his studies in Padua and the progress continued. On 25, May 1595 on the feast of Corpus Christi, he had a very deep experience of God, an overflow of grace. But the experience itself is not essential to contemplation. By 1602 he was experiencing less intense forms of contemplation. He was prudent and was afraid of falling into illusion. He was a mystic but not master of mysticism (Pierre Serouet, p. 127-134). From 1602 and especially after the Lenten Sermons in 1604 in Dijon he came into contact with the works of St. Teresa of Avila. So he could compare his own experience with that of St. Teresa and their correspondence liberated him from all fear of illusion and enabled him to contemplate freely.

Without doubt he reached his full mystical development. The saints continue to advance in love till their last day. It is understood. But we think that the date between 1608 and 1609 a date which we cannot know - to make it more precise and which we should not take in a very strict sense - marks very well the period in which SFS since long time initiated into infused contemplation and already favoured for several years with very special mystical graces could be counted among the great mystics whom the Catholic Church honours. (Pierre Serouet, p. 196).

How great are the goodness and mercies of God! It is not enough for the love Jesus Christ has towards us to have given us his own Mother to be duly ours. See and contemplate what he has given at Loretto to make her known and loved. Had I more time, leisure, devotion to meditate freely on the ineffable love of Jesus and his Mother! It was a consolation for me to think that St. Francis de Sales came to this sanctuary. (From his personal Diary)