Salesian Literature

Letters on:

Loving and Serving God in Your Daily Life

1. Marriage is an exercise in mortification   ::   2. As far as possible, make your devotion attractive  ::   3. Have patience with everyone, including yourself

4. Keep yourself gentle amid household troubles  ::   5. Do what you see can be done with love  ::   6. Parents can demand more than God Himself

7. Avoid making your devotion troublesome  ::   8. Have contempt for contempt  ::   9. Lord, what would You have me to do?  ::   10. Take Jesus as your patron

11. Remain innocent among the hissing of serpents  ::   12. Never speak evil of your neighbour  ::   13. Extravagant recreations may be blameworthy

14. We must not ask of ourselves what we don't have  ::   15. If you get tired of kneeling, sit down  ::   16. You will not lack mortification

17. We must always walk faithfully  ::   18. Illness can make you agreeable to God  ::   19. You are being crowned with His crown of thorns

20. Often the world calls evil what is good  ::   21. Rest in the arms of Providence  ::   22. In confidence, lift up your heart to our Redeemer

23. We must slowly withdraw from the world  ::   24. This dear child was more God's than yours  ::   25. Think of no other place than Paradise or Purgatory

26. How tenderly I loved her!  ::   27. Calm your mind, lift up your heart  ::   28. Miserable beggars receive the greatest mercy

​

4. Keep yourself gentle amid household troubles

To a busy housewife, on maintaining spiritual calm

 

My dearest daughter,

 

Whenever I can manage it, you shall have a letter from me.  But at present I write to you the more readily, because Monsieur Moyron, my present bearer, is my nearest neighbour in this town, my great friend and ally, by whom, on his return, you will be able to write to me in all confidence, and if the picture of St. Teresa of Avila is finished, he will take it, pay for it, and bring it, as I have asked him to do.

 

But, my daughter, I suspect that I did not tell you exactly, in my last letter, what I wanted to say concerning your little but frequent impatiences in the accidents of your housekeeping.  I tell you, then, that you must pay special attention to this, and that you must keep yourself gentle in them, and that when you get up in the morning, or leave prayer, or return from Mass or Communion, and always when you return to domestic affairs, you must be attentive to beginning quietly.  Every now and then you must look at your heart to see if it is in a state of gentleness.  If it is not gentle, make it so before all things; and if it is gentle, you must praise God, and use this gentleness in the affairs that present themselves with a special care not to let it get disturbed.

 

You see, my daughter, those who often eat honey find bitter things more bitter and sour things more sour, and are easily disgusted with coarse meats.  Your soul, often occupying itself with spiritual exercises that are sweet and agreeable to the spirit, when it returns to corporal mattes, exterior and material, finds them very rough and disagreeable, and so it easily get impatient.  And therefore, my dear daughter, you must see in these exercises the will of God, which is there, and not merely the thing that is done.

 

Often invoke the unique and lovely Dove of the celestial Spouse, that He would entreat for you a true dove’s heart, and that you may be a dove, not only when flying in prayer, but also inside your nest and with all those who are around your.  God be forever in the midst of your heart, my dear child, and make you one spirit with Him!

 

I salute through you the good mother Louise of Jesus and all the Carmelite sisters, imploring the aid of their prayers.  If I knew that our dear Sister Jacob were there, I would salute her also, and her little Francon; as I do your Madeleine, who is also mine.  Vive Jesus!

 

Francis

​

​

Back to Top

​