Spiritual Directory of St. Francis de Sales

THE SPIRITUAL DIRECTORY FOR DAILY ACTIONS

Article XIV

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Very Useful Counsels

 

Do not look forward to what might happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suf­fering or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.

 

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Honour, venerate and respect with a special love the holy and glorious Virgin Mary, who, being the Mother of Jesus Christ, our Brother, is also in truth our Mother. Let us then have recourse to her, and let us, as her little children, cast ourselves into her bosom with per­fect confidence. At all times and on all occasions let us call upon this sweet Mother, let us invoke her maternal love, and while striving to imitate her virtues, let us have truly filial hearts in her regard.

 

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Make yourself very familiar with the Angels. See them often invisibly present in your life. Above all, love; and revere the Angel of the diocese in which you dwell, those of the persons with whom you live and especially your own. Invoke them often, praise them continually, and make use of their help and assistance in all your affairs, whether spiritual or temporal, so that they may cooperate with your intentions.

 

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Begin all your prayers, be they mental or vocal, with the presence of God, and make no exception to this rule, and you will soon perceive how profitable it will be to you.

 

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Be devout to the word of God, whether you listen to it in familiar conversations with your friends or at sermons. Hear it always with attention and reverence. Try-to derive profit from it and do not suf­fer it to fall to the ground, but receive it into your heart like a precious balm, in imitation of the most holy Virgin, who kept carefully in her heart all the words that were spoken in praise of her Child and remember that Our Lord gathers up the words that we say to Him in our prayers according as we gather up those which He says to us by means of preaching.

 

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Have always at hand some good book of devotion. Read a little of it every day with great devotion, as though you were reading letters sent to you by the saints from heaven, to show you the way there and give you the courage to walk along it. Read also the lives of the saints, in which you will see, as in a mirror, the Christian life portrayed, and adapt their actions to your profit according to your vocation.

 

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The rosary is a very profitable kind of prayer, provided that you know how to say it properly. In order to do so, pro­vide yourself with one or other of the little books which explain how it should be recited. It is also good to say the litanies of Our Lord, of our Lady, and of the saints, and all the other vocal prayers which are to be found in ap­proved manuals and prayer books, yet on the understanding that, if you have the gift of mental prayer, you will al­ways reserve for that the principal place.

 

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They should always aspire to a true and sincere humility of heart, holding themselves little and low in their own eyes, and when the world shall so consider them and shall despise them, they shall accept this contempt as something well befitting their littleness and as a precious proof of God's love for them, for God looks with pleasure on that which is despised, and lowliness ac­cepted is always well pleasing to Him.

 

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Complain as little as possible of the wrongs which are done to you, for it is certain that ordinarily he who complains sins, because self love ever makes us think the injuries greater than they really are.

 

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Particular respect should be shown to the Pastor of the parish where they live.

 

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I say to you look up to heaven and do not forfeit it for this despicable earth. Look down into hell and do not cast yourself into it for transitory joys. Look at Jesus Christ and do not renounce Him for the world. And when the labors of devout life seem painful to you, sing, "Live Jesus, to Whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory now and forever. Amen."

 

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God be blessed!

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