A Homily for the Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Friday, January 24, 2025
Prince of Peace Catholic Church – 8:00 Mass
Ephesians 3:8-12; Psalm 37:3-4, 5-6, 30-31; John 15:9-17
Saint Francis de Sales was born fifty years after an Augustinian priest named Father Martin Luther ignited the Protestant Reformation, and just twenty-five years after John Calvin’s anti-Catholic teachings spread to Geneva, Switzerland.
As a newly ordained priest, he began to make a name for himself. His sermons were powerful and preached with humility, showing great respect for those who disagreed with him as he exposed the errors of Calvinism.
At the age of thirty-five, Father de Sales was ordained Bishop of Geneva, and his evangelical fervor moved ahead at full throttle. His intention was to win back the citizens of Geneva to the Catholic Church from the errors of Calvinism. Little by little, one soul at a time, he began to have success. His preaching was clear, respectful, truthful, and charitable. His motto was “He who preaches with love, preaches effectively.” He believed that EVERYONE, in every state in life, within every occupation, was called to a life of sanctity, a life of love.
You can learn more about his convictions in his most famous published book, Introduction to the Devout Life, a compilation of letters he sent to his spiritual directees over the years, in which he gives clear and practical advice on the importance of being purged of sin and attachment to sinful habits. He also teaches how to grow in the virtues, especially humility; navigate temptations; and overcome anxiety and sadness. It also provides exercises on how to renew one’s life of devotion, which was nothing other than loving and pleasing God with one’s life.
Jesus’ commandment in today’s Gospel passage is the basis for Francis de Sales’ practical teachings. Jesus says, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.”
From all eternity, the Father infinitely loves the Son, pouring forth all that he is into the Son and teaching him everything. Jesus loves his disciples – each one of us! – with the same infinite, radical self-giving love. He draws his disciples into this unimaginable communion of love between the Father and Son and invites them to remain in this communion of love.
And how do we remain in his love? As the branches are to “remain” on the vine, the disciples are to remain in communion with Jesus and the Father’s love through loving OBEDIENCE: Keep my commandments.
Such trusting, loving obedience preserves and fosters the disciples’ communion with Jesus because this is Jesus’ own response to the Father as the Son: “Just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” If his disciples love and obey him as he loves and obeys the Father, then they too will share his joy, a complete, divine joy that comes from knowing the Father and experiencing his love.
One reason why it is so difficult to love as Jesus does is that we are sinners, bound up in prideful selfishness. To love as God does, we must be constantly dying to our own sinfulness, our selfishness, and living for God.
And how do we live for God? By obeying the Father’s will and loving one another. And how do we love one another? We serve them, we don’t judge them, we pray for them, we want only what is good for them and we’re willing to get involved to help make that happen.
If we SAY that we love others but our ACTIONS are selfish, we are not loving at all. Love is very PRACTICAL, it is not an emotion, as many believe. As it is said in the Worldwide Marriage Encounter experience, Love is a decision.
We need God’s help to love others in this way, because it isn’t something we can do on our own. Our human nature is selfish, self-serving and not oriented to making sacrifices to serve others. To produce the fruits of love, we must remain on the vine and be pruned by the Father. Put differently, if we are to love others as God does, we need to remain and grow in communion with Jesus, through prayer, the sacraments, and works of penance.
When we look upon the cross in faith, we see the love of God revealed, a love that is totally self-giving for others’ good. It is the same love that Jesus tells us we must practice.
Saint Francis de Sales clearly understood Jesus’ command in today’s Gospel reading to “Love one another as I love you” as being FOUNDATIONAL to the entire Christian life. It is so simple and yet so difficult. But, with God’s help, we can do it…each and every one of us.
Saint Francis de Sales, pray for us.