During his life, Francis de Sales had a gift for giving spiritual direction to lay people living ordinary lives in the world. He firmly believed that everyone could grow in holiness, even while engaged in very active occupations, and his books and volumes of letters addressing this need remain beloved works to this day. What is the secret of their longstanding value? It is the intimacy and at the same time practicality of the saint's direction -- for he speaks to us person to person. We recognize ourselves in what is said because he speaks of those things that each of us has experienced.
This collection of maxims and sayings gathered from his many pages of spiritual counsel are words of advice that every friend of St. Francis has always been fond of repeating -- words that serve as means of encouragement, points for meditation, counsels, exhortations, reminders. For St. Francis speaks as clearly to our twenty-first century condition as he did to that of his own spiritual family.
Francis de Sales was Bishop of Geneva, and was an accomplished preacher. He is known also for his writings on the topic of spiritual direction and spiritual formation, particularly Introduction to the Devout Life.
Francis came to the conclusion that whatever God had in store for him was good, because God is Love, as Scripture attests. This faithful devotion to the God of love not only expelled his doubts, but also influenced the rest of his life and his teachings.
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