Today is Jan. 24, the memorial of St. Francis de Sales.
Today we remember in our prayers in a special way all who have traveled to Washington, D.C. to join in the National March for Life, the largest annual human life demonstration in the world! I’ll be attending the march with my Dominican brothers.
We read at Mass in today’s readings, “I will put my laws in their minds and I will write them upon their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Heb 8:10).
For St. Francis de Sales, love stands at the heart of our faith and our daily living. In the Preface to the “Treatise on the Love of God,” he writes, “In Holy Church, everything pertains to love, lives in love, is done for love and comes from love.”
A ‘God of the human heart’
Francis de Sales taught that God reaches the human heart through humble, gentle, and compelling bonds of charity — what he called “cords of Adam,” or simply “ties of humanity.” Rather than overpowering us, divine love respects our freedom and invites us to cooperate in our own sanctification. Each day, then, becomes an occasion to spread our wings and be lifted by the Holy Spirit’s gentle wind, moving from a place of self-reliance toward the grand horizon of God’s will.
Consequently, for Francis de Sales, devotion is not a strange or fearful obligation but rather the natural outflow of divine love. True devotion does not reside in harsh demands or superhuman feats, but blossoms in the gentle, trusting acceptance of God’s love in our day-to-day lives. It expands the heart and animates every aspect of our daily routine — family, work, friendships, study, and rest — so that each moment can become an offering of love to God. He taught, “At the very thought of God, one immediately feels a certain delightful emotion of the heart, which testifies that God is God of the human heart.” At every moment, God invites our hearts into a loving relationship with him.
Let us pray,
O God, who for the salvation of souls willed that the Bishop Saint Francis de Sales become all things to all, graciously grant that, following his example, we may always display the gentleness of your charity in the service of our neighbor. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
