Salesian Literature

To the Reader

 

This little volume has been written to introduce the modern reader to the person and thought of Francis de Sales, the seventeenth-century bishop and author who is considered one of the masters of the Christian spiritual tradition. My perspective in the writing of this volume has been focused by two considerations. First, I have wished to depict both accurately and attractively this man who has been pronounced a doctor of the church (which means that his teaching has been officially recognized for its wisdom and fullness). That is to say, I have hoped, as much as is possible across the centuries, to introduce you to a living person, someone who has struggled with the question of what it is to live the Christian life and to live it well. I hope that reading this book will be a little like going on retreat; that you take the opportunity to "sit with" and "pray with" Francis de Sales and to integrate some of his spirit and insight into your own struggle to live the Christian life.

 

Second, my perspective has been influenced by the belief that reading the spiritual classics of the past is not always a straight­forward task. There is a certain sorting out and interpretation necessary to make the words of someone who lived four hundred years ago come alive and be meaningful for today. That has always been the challenge of appropriating Christian tradition— to remain faithful to the core insights of the past and yet to allow them to assume new forms appropriate to a changing historical reality.

 

So my tack will be to introduce you to Francis' own words, giving some sense of him and the moment in which he wrote them as well as the purposes and people for which and whom he wrote. Then I'll offer some reflections for your consideration, drawing out the heart of his spiritual message while at the same time pointing out some of the assumptions that he holds that seem applicable mainly to Christians of his own era and perhaps not useful or easily translated in today's world.

 

There will be, then, a frankly interpretive quality to the commentary that follows the selections of Francis' own writings. While historical accuracy will be respected, so you can rely upon the presentation of de Sales, you are free to agree or disagree with my interpretation of the usefulness of any of his teachings for today's Christians.

 

Indeed, the point of reading the words of someone who lived so long ago is not so that we can literally imitate or become that person and live in the era in which that person lived. The point of reading the spiritual masters is that we wrestle to know who we are and how we are called by God precisely through the interaction with others who have also wrestled in the uniqueness of their own lives. What connects us with them is the struggle, each in the immediacy of his or her own historical moment and personal story, to en-flesh, to live out, the unfolding and ever-changing mystery of God-with-us.

 

Francis de Sales was one of those remarkable individuals in our shared past who struggled with an unusual vitality and who was able to communicate the fruits of his struggle through his writings. The invitation in these pages is to come to know the truth of this man, which may ultimately aid us in knowing the truth about ourselves.

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