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    Mediation St. Frances de Sales

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    Mediation St. Frances de Sales Empty Mediation St. Frances de Sales

    Post by Poem Wed May 26, 2010 8:00 pm


    Mediation

    Kneeling before the mysterious medieval image of the Black Virgin, the young Francis de Sales was delivered out of his crisis into a space of inner serenity, into what the nineteenth century Protestant hymn writer Fanny Crosby called "Blessed Assurance." Later in his life, he was to write in the Introduction to the Devout Life that, "With the single exception of sin, anxiety is the greatest evil that can happen to a soul" (Introduction to the Devout Life, IV:11). The Doctor of the Church is not speculating; he is speaking from experience.

    "With the single exception of sin, anxiety is the greatest evil that can happen to a soul." What then would be the soul's greatest boon? Confidence. Listen to the gentle Bishop of Geneva:

    It is very good to mistrust ourselves, but what good will that do unless we place all our confidence in God and await his mercy? And even if we do not feel such confidence, we must not cease to make acts of confidence and say, "Even though I have no feeling of confidence in you, I know that you are my God, that I am totally yours and have no hope except in your goodness; therefore I abandon myself entirely into your hands.

    It is always in our power to make these acts, and even if we have difficulty in doing so, still, it is not an impossibility, and it is on these occasions and in these very difficulties that we give witness of our fidelity to God.

    A thousand times a day cast your whole heart, your soul, your anxiety on God with great confidence, and say with the psalmist: "I am yours, Lord; save me."

    Do not fear future evil in this world, for perhaps it will never come. But in any event, if evil should come, God will strengthen you. If God commands you to walk upon the waves of adversity, do not doubt; do not be afraid. God is with you; have courage and you will be delivered.

    It is very fine to be aware of our misery and imperfection, but we must not stop there, nor fall into discouragement, but pick ourselves up by a holy confidence in God. The foundation of this rests in God and not in us because we change and God never changes.

    God never changes. God is worthy of all our confidence. That "blessed assurance" is, ultimately, the only remedy for the anxiety that at certain hours torments even the most phlegmatic among us. Saint Francis de Sales invites us to let go of the false security of the anxieties that have become so dear, and to surrender in peaceful confidence to the "blessed assurance" of the Love of God. Confiance et paix.

    Peace be with you always
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