Salesian Literature

22.   The Loss of a Loved One

 

Dear Francis de Sales,

 

This is just a short note to ask your prayers for my sister who is very ill.

She has been poorly for a long time, but now I think she is dying.

If God does take her, I’ll send you word.

 

Yours sincerely,

Mrs. A. Christine

 

 

Dear Mrs. Christine,

 

I’ve just been told that your sister has passed away.  So now we are left behind, a prey to the feeling of sadness inseparable from times of bereavement.

 

God knows, I’ve no intention of telling you not to cry.  On the contrary, it is a good thing and only natural for you to cry a little.  Our dear Master wept a little for his friend Lazarus, and you can do the same in this case as a sign of true sisterly affection.

 

Have a little cry then, my dear child, but don’t let your grief run away with you.  You are not one of those people whose thoughts cannot rise beyond this unhappy world; who forget that we, too, are on the way to eternity; who forget that we shall rejoin our loved ones one day, if we live good lives in this world, never to be parted again.

 

We cannot help being affected by the ups and downs of life, or by the loss of those whose companionship gave us so much pleasure.  However, we ought never to break our solemn promise of always keeping our wills in tune with God’s.

 

Your dear sister had the great good fortune to be conscious long before the end that the hour of her passing was gradually stealing upon her.  This gave her the opportunity of preparing for a holy death.  Let us praise Providence for it, telling God that he is good and that everything he does is good.

 

Our human hearts should learn to accept the untoward events of life quite calmly with little or no concern, for they should now begin to cling more lovingly to heaven than to earth.

 

I shall pray for the repose of your sister’s soul, and ask God to comfort all who loved her.  Never think of her death without remembering that our Saviour died that we might live.  Praised be his holy will: Amen.  All for Jesus!

 

Your humble servant and friend,

Francis de Sales

(Source:  Annecy, 1611- March 1613.  Annecy Edition, XV, 325-326)

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