We must not judge things according to our own liking, but according to that of God. This is a great secret, if we are holy according to our own will we will never be truly holy, we must be so according to God’s will.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
There is a difference between possessing poison and being poisoned. Pharmacists keep almost every kind of poison in stock for use on various occasions, yet they are not themselves poisoned because it is merely in their shops, not in their bodies. So, too, you can possess riches without being poisoned by them if you keep them in your home, purse or wallet, but not in your heart.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Be careful and attentive to all the matters God has committed to your care: since God has entrusted them to you, God wishes that you have great care for them. Do not be worried, that is, don’t exert yourself over them with uneasiness, anxiety and forwardness. Don’t be worried about them, for worry disturbs reason and good judgment and prevents us from doing well the very things about which we are worried in the first place.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Practice those little, humble virtues which grow like flowers at the foot of the cross: helping the poor, visiting the sick, and taking care of your family with all the tasks that go with such things and with all the useful diligence which will not let you stand idly by, for great opportunities to serve God rarely present themselves while little ones are frequent.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Would to God that we did not concern ourselves so much about the road whereon we journey, but rather would keep our eyes fixed on our Guide and upon that blessed country whither He is conducting us. What should it matter to us if it be through deserts or pleasant fields that we walk, provided God be with us and we be advancing towards heaven?
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
The greatest security we can have in this world that we are in the grace of God, does not consist in the feelings that we have of love to Him, but rather in an irrevocable abandonment of our whole being into His hands, and in a firm resolution never to consent to any sin great or small.
–Saint Francis of Sales (1567-1622)
