The Spiritual Maxims of St. Francis de Sales

[Denise]

Those whose one desire is to please the divine Lover, have neither inclination no leisure to turn back upon themselves.

How happy are we to be slaves of God, Who made Himself a slave for us.

Charity is the pure gold which makes us rich in eternal wealth.

[Denise]

Charity never enters the heart without lodging there all the other virtues in its train.

Charity is amongst the virtues, as the sun amongst the stars; she distributes to all their lustre and beauty.

It is not right to keep the humanity of Jesus Christ and at the same time have this admirable wine of Heaven, the Holy Spirit.

[Denise]

We must sometimes leave Our Lord in order to please others for the love of Him.

Never does any love take away our hearts from God, save that which is contrary to Him.

Let everything be in confusion, not only around us but within us, yet always the highest point of our heart must look unceasingly toward the love of God.

The most certain sign that we love God only in all things is when we love Him equally in all things.

[Denise]

Charity is much stronger and more assiduous than mere natural affection.

We leave charity for a moment, and this imperfect habit of human love is thrust upon us, and we content ourselves with it as if it were true charity, till some clear light shows us that we have been deceived.

Do much for God and do nothing without love; apply all to this love; eat and drink for it.

[Denise]

On the Love of Neighbor

To love our neighbor in charity is to love God in man.

Finding God in creatures and creatures in God, great souls love God, not the creatures.

We should always love our neighbor as in the breast of Christ.

We are all brethren, all of one flesh.

[Denise]

Let us live in God and we shall be together.

We share in the sufferings and death of those we love.

Charity regards the beauty of the heart and spreads itself over all without distinction.

We must help one another as much as we can, and leave the rest to God.

[Denise]

It is a great part of our perfections to support one another in our imperfections.

Bearing with the imperfections of our neighbor is one of the chief characteristics of our love for him.

Do not sow a crop of good intentions in your neighbor's garden, but cultivate your own with diligence.

[Denise]

No one gives love voluntarily who does not receive it necessarily.

It is not for the creature's sake that you submit yourself to the creature, but for the love of the Creator who you acknowledge in the creature.

Consideration of others is as much the offspring of charity as fasting is the sister of obedience.

[Denise]

It is to those who have most need of us that we ought to show our love more especially.

We desire to be borne with in our miseries and always find them worthy of toleration; those of our neighbor always seem to us greater and heavier to bear.

Whatever love invites us to do, whether for the rich or poor, is equally pleasing to God.

[Denise]

When charity requires it we must freely and mildly communicate to our neighbor not only what is necessary for his instruction, but also what is profitable for his consolation.

Love the poor and poverty, for it is by this love that you shall become truly poor.

If you tear out one of my eyes, I shall look at you as my dear friend with the other.

We can never love our neighbor too much.

[Denise]

Beginnings and Ends

Charity is both the means and the end, the one and only way by which we can attain that perfection which in truth is charity itself.

Perfection

The perfection of charity is the perfection of life, for the life of our soul is charity.

Virtue is something positive, not a mere absence of its contrary.

We can never attain to perfection while we have an affection for any imperfection.

[Denise]

Wheresoever we are, we can and should aspire to a perfect life.

When we aim at perfection, we must aim at the center, but we must not be troubled if we do not always hit it.

We must not be astonished to see ourselves imperfect, since we must never see ourselves otherwise in this life.

[Denise]

We must suffer our imperfection in order to have perfection.

Do not examine so anxiously whether you are in perfection or not.

One little fault for which we keep an affection is more contrary to perfection than a hundred others committed inadvertently and without affection.

[Denise]

The person who would attain perfection must bear with his own impatience.

Perfection does not lie in not seeing the world, but in not tasting or relishing it.

We must not want to have all begin with perfection; it matters little how one begins, provided that one is quite resolved to proceed well or to finish well.

We must take all the care God wishes us to take about perfecting ourselves, and yet leave the care of arriving at perfection entirely to Him.

[Denise]

On Self-Love

Nothing troubles us except self-love.

We carry self about with us everywhere and frailty is deeply imbedded in our soul.

Self-love is cunning, it pushes and insinuates itself into everything, while making us believe it is not there at all.