The Spiritual Maxims of St. Francis de Sales

[Denise]

The world holds us to be fools; let us hold it to be mad.

One cannot perfectly love God unless one forsake affections for perishable things.

The little afflictions of thine and mine are remnants of the world, in which there is nothing so precious.

How often the world calls good what is evil, and still oftener evil what is good!

[Denise]

Who does not see that the world is an unjust judge; gracious and favorable toward its own children but harsh and rigorous toward the children of God?

We may weep a little over this world which is dying, yea, which is dead for us, and to which we mean forever to die.

Trouble yourself little about what the world thinks, and let it say what it likes, good or ill.

[Denise]

The children of the world are all separated one from another because their hearts are in different places.

[Denise]

On Eternal Life

Earth is no farther from Heaven than the supernatural ways of God from our earthly ways.

We are all pilgrims in this mortal life.

The world is only peopled to people Heaven.

We should really live in this world as though our spirit were already in Heaven.

[Denise]

Little does passing time matter to a soul which aspires to eternity, and which only takes notice of perishing moments in order to pass by them into immortal life.

Our hearts have a thirst that cannot be quenched by the pleasures of this mortal life.

This life is short and it is only give to us to gain the other.

The shortest life is the best life if it leads us to the eternal.

[Denise]

Two or three years pass and eternity remains the same.

Whoever thinks well on eternity troubles himself little about what happens in these three or four moments of mortal life.

We in this life are walking as it were on ice.

What is not for eternity, can be nothing but vanity.

[Denise]

The day that has past must not judge the day present, nor the present day judge that which is past; it is only the last day that judges all.

God's love will be our guerdon (a reward or recompense) in this life, and He Himself will be our reward in eternity.

[Denise]

Thou hast made us for Thee, O God.

God wants you wholly and without reserve, and to the very utmost stripped and denuded of self.

Amongst all loves, God is so to be preferred that we must always stand prepared in mind to forsake them all for that alone.

How amorous the divine Heart is of our love.

[Denise]

When did God's love for you begin? When He began to be God. When did he begin to be God? Never, for He has always been without beginning and without end, and so He has always loved you from all eternity.

If God had not created man He would still indeed have been perfect in goodness, but he would not have been actually merciful since mercy can only be exercised toward the miserable.

So gentle is God's hand in the handling of our hearts.

[Denise]

God never loves a soul more without bestowing upon her more charity, our love toward Him being the proper and special effect of His love toward us.

There is no great spirit except that of God, who is so good that he willingly dwells in our little spirits.

The Divine Majesty never fails in care or foresight.

[Denise]

God's jealousy of us is not a jealousy of cupidity, but of friendship: our love is useless to Him, but to us a great gain.

No man can ever complain as though the Divine Majesty were wanting to anyone.

Who is mad enough to think it possible to sin more than God can forgive.

Our misery is far less than God's mercy.

[Denise]

No, no, God is not so terrible to those whom He loves; He is content with little, for He well knows we have not much.

God does not love our imperfections and venial sins, but He loves us much in spite of them.

The sovereign Spirit of God is everywhere, without whose leave no spirit stirs.

The world is a great stage on which God displays His many wonders.

[Denise]

God is a hidden God and He likes to be served and worshiped secretly.

God works from afar and from close by, and calls the distant to the service of those who serve Him without bringing them near.

God rejects nothing in which no malice or ill-will is to be found.

[Denise]

On Grace

There is an incomparable correspondence between God and man for their reciprocal perfection.

A little reed in the hand of grace becomes a mighty staff.

Nous aspirons a' lui, et respirons en lui.
We yearn for him, and breathe in him.

We are awake but have not awakened of ourselves.

[Denise]

Not only is God in the place where you are, but He is in a very special manner in the depth of your spirit.

If we do not repulse the grace of holy love, it dilates itself by continual increase in out souls.

The grace of God supplies the void, and where there is less nature there is more grace.