Let us be what we are, and be that well, in order that we may honor the Master Workman who has made us. Though we were the most excellent creatures under heaven, what would it avail us if we were not pleasing to the will of God?
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Wherever we may be, we can and should aspire to live a perfect life.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
God is in all things and in all places. There is no place or thing in this world where God is not truly present. Just as where birds fly they always encounter the air, so also wherever we go or wherever we are, we find ourselves in God’s presence.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
God wishes our care to be a calm and peaceful one as we proceed faithfully along the road marked out for us. As for the rest, we should rest in God’s fatherly care, trying as far as is possible to keep our soul at peace, for the place of God is in peace and in the peaceful and restful heart. You know that when the lake is very calm – and when the winds do not agitate its waters – on a very serene night the sky with all its stars is so perfectly reflected in the water that looking down into its depths the beauty of the heavens is as clearly visible as if we were looking up on high. So when our soul is perfectly calm, unstirred and untroubled by the winds of superfluous cares, unevenness of spirit and inconstancy it is very capable of reflecting in itself the image of Our Lord.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
We may be excused for not always being bright, but we are not excused for not being gracious, yielding and considerate.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
We must often recall that our Lord has saved us by his suffering and endurance and that we must work out our salvation by sufferings and afflictions, enduring with all possible meekness the injuries, denials and discomforts we meet.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
