:: Bloom where you are planted :: Recollections with St. Francis de Sales

RECOLLECTIONS WITH St. FRANCIS DE SALES





JULY 2005 - APRIL 2006

October 2005:

4. Delight in God's Will

1. Personal Study and Reflection

1.1. Scripture References

Jer. 20:9: Within me there is something like a burning fire.
Ps. 40:8: I delight to do your will, O my God.
Ps. 119:35: Lead me in the path of your commandments for I delight in it.
Songs 2:3-7: I delight to sit in his shade and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
Phil. 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice.
I Pet. 1:3-12: In this you greatly rejoice...
Lk. 1:46: My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.
Mt. 13:44: In his joy he goes and sells all that he has.
Rom. 7:22: I delight in God's law

1.2. Teaching of the Church

This obedience of the Son - full of joy - reaches its zenith in the face of Passion and Cross: "Father, if it is your will, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done." From the prayer in Gethsemane towards Christ's readiness to do the will of the Father is filled to the very brim of suffering, becoming that obedience "unto death, even death on a Cross" spoken of by Saint Paul (Redemptionis Donum, 13).

From this point of view we must consider once more the fundamental event in the economy of salvation, namely the Incarnation of the Word at the moment of the Annunciation. It is significant that Mary, recognizing in the words of the divine messenger the will of the Most High and submitting to his power, says: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord: let it be to me according to your word" Lk. 1:38. The first moment of submission to the one mediation between God and men the mediation of Jesus Christ - is the Virgin of Nazareth's acceptance of motherhood. Mary consents to God's choice, in order to become through the power of the Holy Spirit the mother of the Son of God. It can be said that this consent to motherhood is above all a result of her total self-giving to God in virginity. Mary accepted her election as Mother of the Son of God, guided by spousal love, the love which totally consecrates a human being to God. By virtue of this love, Mary wished to be always and in all things given to God, living in virginity. The words, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord" express the fact that from the outset she accepted and understood her own motherhood as a total gift of self, a gift of her person to the service of the saving plans of the Most High. And to the very end she lived her entire maternal sharing in the life of Jesus Christ, her Son, in a way that matched her vocation to virginity (Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, 19).

1.3. Teaching of St. Francis de Sales

Benevolent love for God is shown in this way. We cannot actually desire anything for God; his excellence is so perfect, his perfections so infinite, they exceed anything we could ever wish for, or imagine. Unable to conceive any genuine desires on God's behalf, we form imaginary ones. Such desires, born of trying to imagine the impossible may find a place now and then in times of deep spiritual emotion, of unusual fervour. Often it happened to St. Augustine, we are told; then his love would overflow in this prayer: "I am Augustine, Lord, and you are God. Yet, were the impossible possible, that I were God and you Augustine, I should want to change places with you, want to become Augustine so that you could be God."

There is yet another way of showing what we might call benevolence towards God. This happens when we desire - after reflecting that we cannot add to the dignity of God in himself- to add to our appreciation of his dignity; in other words to increase ever more and more our gratification at his goodness. We are seeking gratification, then, not for the delight it gives us, but for the delight God enjoys (Treatise on the Love of God, Book V. Chapter 6).

1.4. Biographical Notes

During the ceremony, when Francis knelt before Gribaldi, the consecrating bishop, his face became resplendent as it happened earlier in the chapel at Loretto. Everyone was astonished. What had really happened? We know it from the confidences Francis shared with Mother de Chantal. In this action of his consecration it seemed to him naively, that the most adorable Trinity was internally imprinting on his soul what the bishops were doing externally on his person. It even seemed to him that he saw the most Blessed Mother of our Lord, who placed him under her protection, and the apostles Saints Peter and Paul were guarding him.

The letter Francis wrote to Madame de Chantal ten years later, illustrates it: "God has taken me out of myself in order to take me to Him and then give me to the people, in other words, that He had converted me from what I was for myself into what I was to be for them." (Formative Biography, p. 190-191).

The greatest secret is this: find out what God wants, and when you know, try to do his will joyfully or at least bravely; and over and above that we must love God's will and the obligation it lays upon us, even if we have to herd swine all our lives and do the most abject things in the world; for it must be all the same to us, whatever the sauce God chooses for us. This is the centre of perfection at which we must all aim, and whoever gets closest to it will win the prize (Selected Letters, p. 89).

2. Apostolic Community Meeting

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Shared Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament (One Hour)

Points for Reflection and Sharing:

In various situations of life, both pleasant and unpleasant do you experience an awareness of God's will?

What are the natural feelings that come up within you in different situations? Do you experience dislike and do you express it often? In spite of it do you accept these situations courageously?

Do you have an inner urge to respond with delight to the will of God in such situations?

Can you explain what is an experience of delight in the will of God?

How would you present this delight in God's will to your people? Give concrete examples.

3. Evaluation and Decisions

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Share the concrete follow up of the decisions taken.

What practical steps do we need to take to assimilate at the individual and community level the insights we have gained from this Recollection?