Salesian Literature

Letters on:

Prayer, Faith, and Accepting Your Vocation

1. Thy Will be done   ::    2. Do the will of God joyfully  ::    3. Serve God where you are  ::    4. Let us be what we are, and let us be it well 

5. Our faith should be naked and simple  ::    6. There are two principal reasons for prayer  ::    7. Little virtues prepare for contemplation of God

8. We must remain in the presence of God  ::    9. Never does God leave us save to hold us better

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7. Little virtues prepare for contemplation of God

To Jane de Chantal, on prayer and virtue

 

My dear child,

 

Each one must love the virtues that are suitable to him, each according to his vocation.  The virtues of a widow are humility, contempt of the world and of oneself, and simplicity.  Her exercises are love of her abjection, the service of the poor and ill; her place, the foot of the Cross; her rank, the last; her glory, to be scorned; her crown must be her misery: these are small virtues.  Regarding ecstasies, insensibilities, defying unions, elevations, transformations, and states in which one deems it a distraction to serve our Saviour in His humanity and in His members (and in which one no longer takes any amusement except in the contemplation of the divine essence), we must leave these for the rare souls who are elevated and worthy of them.  We do not merit such a rank in the service of God; one must serve Him first in lowly offices, before being appointed to His cabinet.

 

Seeing your Abbess[1] in every place that she is.  See her in her chamber in Nazareth: she exercises her modesty in being fearful, her candour in desiring to be informed and questioning, her resignation and humility in calling herself a handmaid.  See her in Bethlehem: she lives a simple life of poverty; she listens to the shepherds as if they were great doctors.  Look at her with the kings: never does she take it upon herself to harangue them.  See her in the Purification: she goes to obey the ecclesiastical custom.  In going to and returning from Egypt, she simply obeys St. Joseph.  In visiting her holy cousin Elizabeth out of a charitable graciousness, she does not believe that she wastes time.  She looks for Our Lord not in rejoicing, but in crying.  She has compassion for the poverty and embarrassment of those who invited her to the wedding at Cana, obtaining for them their necessities.  She is at the foot of the Cross humbly, lowly, and virtuously.

 

God does not reward His servants according to the dignity of the office they exercise.  I do not say that one should not aspire to these high and supreme virtues, but I say that one must exercise oneself in the little ones, without which the great ones and often false and deceitful.  Let us learn to suffer voluntarily words of abasement and words that serve to snub our opinions and our views; then we will learn to suffer martyrdom, annihilation in God, and insensibility in all things.  David learned first to butcher animals and then to destroy armies (1 Kings 17:34-37; RSV 1 Sam. 17:34-37).  One knows what Eliezer did to learn if Rebecca was suitable to be the spouse of the son of his master Abraham.  He asked her for a drink of water: she proved her suitability when she willingly gave it to him and proved it again when she willingly gave it to his camels (Gen. 24:13-20).  A little courtesy, a small virtue – but the mark of a true greatness.

 

I do not forbid elevation of the soul, mental prayer, interior conversation with God, and the perpetual transport of the heart in our Saviour; but do you know what I want to say, my daughter?  You must be like the “strong woman” (Prov. 31:10) of whom the sage says, “She has put out her hand to strong things, and her fingers have taken hold of the spindle” (Prov. 31:19).  Meditate, lift your spirit, bear it in God – that is, bear God in your spirit: here are the “strong things.”  But with all of this, do not forget your distaff and your spindle: thread the string of little virtues, lower yourself to exercises of charity.  He who says otherwise is mistaken…

 

Always make your way before God and before yourself.  God takes pleasure to see you take your little steps; and like a good father who holds his child by the hand, He will accommodate His steps to yours and will be content to go no faster than you.  Why do you worry? …

 

Walk joyously, my daughter, with a tremendous confidence in the mercy of your Spouse, and believe that He will lead you well; but let Him do it.

 

Francis

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[1] Our Lady

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