Take Your Time

Gentle Guidance from St. Francis de Sales

Not every Catholic shouted glad hosannas when Francis de Sales was canonized in 1665, forty-three years after his death.The path leading to God that he described was "too easy,"some grumbled. One commentator wrote derisively that he had turned the way to holiness into "a pleasant road" that didn't require enough sacrifice or hard work.

Of course, the majority opinion about Francis was overwhelmingly positive . Still , the criticism underscores the fact that most sev­enteenth-century Catholics found it somewhat shocking to think that peo­ple in all walks of life, and not just priests and nuns, were called to holiness. Yet Francis de Sales had learned from personal experience that a lay person busy with work, family, and friends could cultivate a deep relationship with God, not despite but through these ordinary life circumstances. After all, Francis had lived almost half his life by the time he was ordained a priest!

So what better guide for our Lenten journey than this lawyer-turned­ priest-turned-bishop? In the following two selections, the first taken from his Letters of Spiritual Direction and the second from his Spiritual Conferences, de Sales urges us to slow down, be patient,…

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