Letters - Direction - Brulart 6

LETTERS OF St. FRANCIS DE SALES

Be convinced that God wants you to serve Him just as you are

June 25, 1608[1]

Madame, my very dear sister,

I have received your letter of May 16. I would be very sorry if the good project for the reform of Puits d’Orbe were to vanish like that! Still, if the hope I have of going to Burgundy is not thwarted, I have decided to go to that abbey to see what is going on. I am not a stubborn man and I am willingly persuaded to compromise when something cannot be accomplished in its entirely. […]

You mention your impatience. Is it really impatience or only natural repugnance? Since you call it impatience I’ll take it for such until this fall when I hope to speak to you more fully about this in person. Meanwhile, judging by what I have come to know of you through your letters, more than through the few conversations I have had with you, I must tell you, my very dear sister, in liberty of spirit, that I think you have a heart which is too attached to the means of arriving at your goal. I know very well that your goal is none other than the love of God, and you have to use means and practices to reach it; however, I say that you attach yourself tenaciously to those means which you like, and want to reduce everything to that. That is why you are upset when anything gets in your way or distracts you.

The remedy would be to try to convince yourself – to fill your mind with this conviction – that God wants you to serve Him just as you are, both by practices that are suited to your state in life, and by the actions that go with it. Once you are convinced of this, you must bring yourself to a tender affection for your state in life and for everything about it, out of love for Him who wills it so.

You see, my dear sister, it’s not enough to give this a thought in passing’ you must give it first place in your heart, recalling it often, thinking it over seriously, welcoming and enjoying the truth of it. Take my word for it, all that is contrary to this advice is nothing but self-love. […]

The various conditions in which you find yourself at prayer and outside of prayer, sometimes feeling strong, sometimes weak, at times looking at the world with delight, at other times with disgust, - all this is something God is allowing you to live through humbly and gently. This is how you can see what you are of and by yourself and what you are with the help of God; in no way should this discourage you. […]

May the holy love of God ever live and rule in our hearts. Amen.

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[1] Oeuvres, XIV, 39-41: Letter CDXLII.

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