"I am as human as anyone could possibly be"

  Letters of Spiritual Direction, Theme I

Salesian spirituality was not simply humanistic in the technical sense of belonging to those spiritualities that are rooted in Christian humanist thought.  It was also a very “human devotion” in the ordinary sense of that phrase.

(Read further in Letters of Spiritual Direction, Theme I)

"So let us live courageously between the one will of God and the other"

  Letters of Spiritual Direction, Theme II

Drawing on the wisdom of received tradition, Salesian spirituality found its own point of spiritual equilibrium by “living between” what Francis de Sales described as the two wills of God. … Salesian spirituality steers a fine course between the otherworldliness and the fatalism that haunts much of Christian thought. To live courageously between the two wills, to engage in the constant and unending interplay between the two, is to begin to live in harmony with the unique will of God.

(Read further in Letters of Spiritual Direction, Theme II)

"Let us belong to God...  in the midst of so much busyness"

  Letters of Spiritual Direction, Theme III

Salesian spirituality, while retaining much of the interior spirit of the desert, in the sense that a radical call from God does indeed claim and refashion the human heart, did not at all assert that that voice could only echo clearly in the stillness of the hermit’s cave or the monastery cloister.

(Read further in Letters of Spiritual Direction, Theme III)

"Walk in the presence of God in holy and absolute liberty of spirit"

  Letters of Spiritual Direction, Theme IV

The Salesian spirit is contextual.  It is also relational.  Being in the midst dos not mean simply trying to pray in the brief silences that emerge amid the noise.  It means that making Jesus live is not something that occurs solely in the isolated individual vis-à-vis his or her own God.

(Read further in Letters of Spiritual Direction, Theme IV)

"Since the heart is the source of all our action, as the heart is, so are they"

  Letters of Spiritual Direction, Theme V

The Salesian stress on interiority, that is, on beginning from the inner, hidden life, and working outward in whatever setting or circumstances, finds eloquent expression in de Sales’ language of the heart.  To live Jesus meant to engrave that name on the human heart.  For in Salesian spiritual anthropology, the heart is the vital core of the entire personality.

(Read further in Letters of Spiritual Direction, Theme V)

"We cannot always offer God great things, but at each instant we can offer Him little things with great love"

  Letters of Spiritual Direction, Theme VI

There is in the Salesian spirit a deep appreciation for the significance of little things.  The insistence on hiddenness in the process of spiritual growth corresponds to this appreciation.  Dramatic exploits, acts of great heroism, visible mortification are left to other members of the Christian family.  The Salesian spirit occupies an unobtrusive kitchen pantry or perhaps a gardener’s cottage in the household of the larger Church.

(Read further in Letters of Spiritual Direction, Theme VI)

The universal call to holiness

  Corrigan Francois

(The Spirituality of St. Francis de Sales: A Way of Life.  "A Message: The Universal Call to Holiness")

If there is one message in particular that Francis de Sales preached to Christians of his day, it is this: All are called to holiness.

(Read further in Corrigan Francois, The Spirituality of St. Francis de Sales: A Way of Life, Translated by Joseph D. Bowler OSFS and Lewis S. Fiorelli OSFS, Bangalore, India: SFS Publications, 1992)

Salesian spirituality starts from the Heart and grows outward

  Joseph F. Power

(St. Francis de Sales, Finding God wherever you are. Selected Spiritual Writings.  "Characteristics of Salesian Spirituality")

The starting point within is called the “heart.”   Lest the understanding of the image be shaped by the connotations attached to that word in current speech or in sentimental piety, it is essential to know what Francis meant by it.

(Read further in Find God wherever you are.  Selected Spiritual Writings, Introduced and Edited by Joseph F. Power OSFS, New York: New City Press, 1993)

Salesian Spirituality is Relational Spirituality

  Joseph F. Power

(St. Francis de Sales, Finding God wherever you are. Selected Spiritual Writings.  "Characteristics of Salesian Spirituality")

Francis is very conscious that the heart-centre of the Christians for whom he was writing existed in relationships, not only with God, but with many other people who were part of their lives.  Monastic spirituality, based on a premise of “flight from the world,” taught that solitude and silence were indispensable means to achieving the goal of being “alone with the alone,” and often implied that other relationships were either inimical or incidental to one’s personal spiritual journey.

(Read further in Find God wherever you are.  Selected Spiritual Writings, Introduced and Edited by Joseph F. Power OSFS, New York: New City Press, 1993)

In the midst of movement Salesian Spirituality finds peace

  Joseph F. Power

(St. Francis de Sales, Finding God wherever you are. Selected Spiritual Writings.  "Characteristics of Salesian Spirituality")

To speak of relationship is to speak of change; they give and take, the ups and downs, the known and unknown in any relationship means that it is never static, but keeps changing, growing and waning, and can never be taken for granted.  Likewise to have spoken of a spirituality coming from a hidden heart-centre and tending to express itself in action is to have spoken of vital growth and movement, a constant interplay between interior and exterior.

(Read further in Find God wherever you are.  Selected Spiritual Writings, Introduced and Edited by Joseph F. Power OSFS, New York: New City Press, 1993)

The Call to be Saints

  Claude Morel

(Fifteen Days with St. Francis de Sales, "3. The Call to be Saints")

This call, to be saints, is addressed to each one of us in a very personal manner.  We have all to answer it and commit ourselves personally to the way of holiness.

(Read further in Claude Morel, Fifteen Days with St. Francis de Sales, Bangalore, India: SFS Publications, 1992)

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