Last week I featured Bert Ghezzi in this space with his encouragement to attend Daily Mass.

I think he is one of the best Catholic authors today.  After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame, Bert has been involved in all levels of religious education for more than 40 years. He has seven adult children and 16 grandchildren. He is an active member of St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church and lives near the church in Altamonte Springs, Florida.  I’d encourage you to visit his website: http://www.bertghezzi.com.  Bert has a great love of the saints and has written several books on the wisdom of the saints. Today, I want to share Bert’s profile of St. Francis de Sales, who is the patron of writers, journalists, the Catholic press, confessors, deaf people, and educators.
 
In The Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales showed how ordinary people, who are locked daily into worldly routines, could live saintly lives. He argued that not only was holiness possible for people in all walks of life, but that living for God made every calling better. He addresses his reader as Philothea, a soul who loves God:
 
“No, Philothea, true devotion does us no harm whatsoever, but instead perfects all things. When it goes contrary to a man’s lawful vocation, it is undoubtedly false. ‘The bee,’ Aristotle says, ‘extracts honey out of flowers without hurting them’ and leaves them as whole and fresh as it finds them. True devotion does better still. It not only does no injury to one’s vocation, but on the contrary adorns and beautifies it. All kinds of precious stones take on greater luster when dipped into honey, each according to its color. So also every vocation becomes more agreeable when united with devotion. Care of one’s family is rendered more peaceable, love of husband and wife more sincere, service of one’s prince more faithful, and every type of employment more pleasant and agreeable.”
 
Readers will not find any new secrets in Francis’ book. What makes it exceptional is his showing how repentance, prayer, the spiritual disciplines and virtues fit in the lives of lay people.
 
St. Francis’ father had educated him for a brilliant secular career. Instead, however, he became a priest, missionary and bishop. Francis de Sales was an outstanding leader of the Catholic Reformation, a European renewal movement that both preceded and responded to the Protestant Reformation. After his ordination in 1593, he evangelized the people of the province of Chablais, winning many back to the Catholic Church and making many converts.
 
In 1602, Francis was appointed bishop of Geneva. In that office he proved himself to be an able pastor, administrator and educator. He was also the spiritual director for other saints, including St. Jane de Chantal, who became his close friend in 1604. With her he founded the Order of the Visitation in 1610. He died on December 28, 1622. St. Francis de Sales is a doctor of the Church and the patron saint of writers.
 
“Ostriches never fly. Hens fly in a clumsy fashion, near the ground, and only once in a while. But eagles, doves and swallows fly aloft, swiftly and frequently. Similarly, sinners never fly up towards God, but hover close to the earth. Good people who are not yet devout, fly toward God by their good works but do so infrequently, slowly and awkwardly. Devout souls ascend to him more frequently, promptly and with lofty flights. In short, devotion is simply that spiritual agility and vivacity by which charity works in us or by aid of which we do good works quickly and lovingly.” — St. Francis de Sales
 
P.S.  As a child we had stories of the saints in our little family library.  I loved to read those stories and still do.  Fr. Tom Peyton also loved to read the lives of the saints and blessed our faith community with his library of books on the saints.  These books are available in the meeting room.  I would encourage you to browse through these books and take one home with you.  No need to sign anything out.  Take it home and enjoy reading it and when you are finished return it for someone else to enjoy.  And yes, I am still in the Phillipines, but I know you’re loving Fr, Dave’s celebrations.  Don’t get too used to him.  I shall return!
Fr. Jerry Ragan