The Abbey of the Genesee

Fr. Marcellus Earl, OCSO

3rd Tuesday in Ordinary Time
Memorial of St. Francis DeSales

2 Sm 6:12-15, 17-19; Ps 24:7, 8, 9, 10;Mk 3:31-35

In this homily, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I do

not intend to speak to you about St. Francis de Sales, whose

memorial we are celebrating. Instead, since he is a doctor of the

Church, I will let him speak to you about some of the important

aspects of our spiritual life.

He has this to say about the perfection of our spiritual life:

“I hear speak of nothing but perfection, but I see it practiced

by just a few. Each pictures perfection in his own way.

Some see it in simplicity of dress, some in austerity, some in

almsgiving, some in the frequenting of the Sacraments; others

see it in prayers, others in passive contemplation, and still others

in those freely-given or gratuitous graces -- but they all err,

taking the effects for the cause and the means for the end. I, for

my part, know no other perfection than that of loving God with

one’s whole heart and one’s neighbor as oneself. He who

conceives any other type of perfection deceives himself, because

the accumulation of all the other virtues without this love is

nothing but the amassing of stones. And if we do not

immediately and perfectly enjoy this treasure of holy love it is

our own fault, because we are too parsimonious and hesitant

with God, and we do not give ourselves entirely to Him as did

the Saints.”1

Our Saint has some valuable words regarding humility:

“I am despised and derided and I am troubled; such is the

way peacocks and monkeys act. I am mocked and ridiculed and I

rejoice; thus did the Apostles react. This is the deepest degree of

humility: to rejoice when one is humiliated and jeered at, just as

the vain person takes pride in great honors; and to feel hurt

when honored and esteemed, as the proud person suffers when

taunted and ridiculed.”2

St. Francis de Sales in his time was, like Moses, the meekest

of men. So we shall be wise to accept and practice his words on

meekness:

“The highest degree of meekness consists in serving,

honoring and lovingly entertaining, when the occasion arises,

those whom we like the least, those who are against us, who are

ungrateful and troublesome.”3

As for patience in suffering, our Saint teaches the following:

“. . . he who is truly patient wants all that God wants, in the

manner and with all the inconveniences He wants. With regard

to the good works, a day of suffering borne with resignation is

worth more than a month of hard work; and as to prayer, which

is better -- to be on the cross with Christ or standing at the foot

of the cross contemplating His sufferings? Furthermore, offering

to God one’s infirmity, remembering for Whom one is

suffering, and conforming one’s will to God’s -- this is certainly a

most excellent prayer.”4

Whoever is wise let him hear these words of St. Francis de

Sales, and put them into practice, and so become great in the

kingdom of heaven.

1 The Spiritual Diary, p. 11