The spirituality of St. Francis de Sales is one of the golden leaves in the spiritual tradition of the Church.

It is a “Spirituality of the Heart,” relevant today as in the time of St. Francis de Sales himself - an all-embracing, Down-to-earth Spirituality for everyone.

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Some of the Salient Features of Salesian Spirituality | Prayer | Salesian Literature | Salesian Views

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Prayer

v Method of Prayer v Mass v Rosary v   Private Prayer v Public Prayer

v   Ejaculatory Prayer v Content of Prayer

Prayer is the beginning and end of Salesian Spirituality. “Sans fin, sans measure, sans reserve” (i.e., without end, without measure, without reserve) shows the tremendous emphasis that St. Francis de Sales laid on Prayer. He sees prayer as an act of homage to God. The ultimate goal of prayer is union with God and this becomes self-explanatory in his own words when he says: “The chief aim of prayer is uniting of the soul with God. And the union with God is achieved by love and love is furthered by a free prayer from one’s soul.” So, St. Francis de Sales sees the highest task of human person in giving his/her whole personality with all strength to God and letting love bloom in human hearts.

Method of Prayer 

For St. Francis de Sales, prayer included every act of a person’s life. For him, his own life was a prayer and prayer started with daybreak and continued until another daybreak. And yet there are certain acts of worship and communion, which stands out as methods of prayer.

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Mass 

Through the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, St. Francis de Sales displayed the highest act of prayer. He was an apostle of Mass. The divine Sacrament was his real life. The divine words of Mass he spoke softly, reflectively and prayerfully. During the Mass anybody who saw him were truly moved to devotion. At times his eyes were full of tears. Thus to many people he became the image of the Saviour himself.

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Rosary 

Among his acts of devotion and prayer, rosary had a primacy of its own. He loved Virgin Mary. He believed that being with Mary offered everyone the fertile condition to receive mercy. He did commit himself near her everyday. He said the rosary meditatively, slowly and devoutly, lasting about an hour. And this joyful act of prayer sustained him in the summer and winter of his life.

Private Prayer 

In Salesian system, private prayer takes the first place. He insisted that, one who strives for perfection should dedicate ‘an hour a day’ for meditation and contemplation. His orientation to interior prayer has influenced the Catholic Church since his time. In his youth, he also shared the esteem for textual prayer. But the more closely he studied religious life, so much more, changes began to take place in him. Some people argued that laypersons would not be capable of meditation and contemplation, unlike priests and monks. But Francis was sure and certain that this method of prayer is attainable even for the rawest soul.

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Public Prayer 

It would be wrong to think that St. Francis de Sales underestimated the value of public prayer. On the contrary he wanted even lay people to be present at vespers on Sundays. He desired careful preparation for the office through acts of contrition and prayer to the Holy Ghost. But it is undeniable that his emphasis primarily was on inner prayer. He did believe that, if we cultivate interior prayer, oral prayer could recede.

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Ejaculatory Prayer 

This is another method of prayer fervently valued and re-discovered by St. Francis de Sales, though St. Augustine had referred to it. According to him, on ejaculatory prayers rests the greater work of perfection. In case of necessity, it can even replace all other prayers. He describes its essence as short but fiery lifting of the heart to God. And through this the soul surrenders itself to God a thousand times a day. He says that we should not bend ourselves with definite words, but move in the direction of love. He appreciates expressions like – ‘I love you’, ‘my all’, etc., as momentary expressions for forceful ejaculatory prayer.

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Content of Prayer 

First and foremost St. Francis de Sales belonged to God. From the very beginning of his apostolate, he belonged to God and man simultaneously. For him content of prayer included every aspect of his life and everything he did. He would rise at daybreak and rarely did he retire before 11 p.m. All his personal time he spent for study, prayer and meditation. Everything he studied was an important content of his prayer. For him study was prayer and prayer was study. When he prayed he studied and when he studied he prayed.

Scripture was his primary content of prayer. He meditated on Scripture unceasingly. While he was at prayer he used different commentaries and works of persons like St. Thomas, St. Augustine, Jerome, etc. Even Greek and Hebrew commentaries were essential part of his prayer. Therefore, it shall be no surprise that he stated “neither my character nor my talent enable me to preach having consulted to doctors.” Thus, for St. Francis de sales, the content of prayer included everything that he did from early morning until he retired to bed, late in the evening.

 - Poovathunkal George msfs

Some of the Salient Features of Salesian Spirituality

   The Universal Call to Holiness

   Devotion must be suited to One’s own Status

  Integration and Harmony in Pursuit of Holiness

  Building a Spirituality on the Virtue of Humility

   Sustaining of Spiritual Life through Prayer

   Nurturing an optimistic Attitude in Life

    Building up a Spiritual Life on Little Virtues (Acts)