Advice from St. Francis de Sales for the Catholic Hermit (or anyone)

The nothing finished the second biography of St. Francis de Sales last night. Such peace and joy ensued into the night. Yes, and also an element of excitement crept under the covers of the nothing Catholic hermit's soul. St. Francis de Sales is proving already very beneficial for the hermit life and further training in the Rule: the Nine S'.

Doucement the saint would tell his "doves"--the sisters of the Visitation. Go slowly! Be gentle, soft, loving, humble....

This excerpt especially heightens the hermit's reach on this day's goal on the holy mountain climb. SFDS spoke these words in the last weeks of his life, as he was visiting some of the Visitation convents, leaving final blessed words of succor and exhortation to the sisters--some of whom tearfully knew they would never see their spiritual father again on earth.

My dear daughters, ask for nothing, refuse nothing, desire nothing, resign your cares to Divine Providence, allow God to do with you whatever He pleases. A heart indifferent to all things is like a ball of wax in the hands of God, capable of receiving all the impressions of His eternal good pleasure. It does not place itself in the things that God wills, but in the will of God that decrees them. My dear children, always act as God and your Superiors wish. Let the aim of your life to be to love God more and more, your ambition to possess Him. Adieu, my daughters, until eternity.

At Lyons, St. Francis de Sales' final stop on a journey required of him in obedience, he had these similar parting words for his daughters at the Visitation there. The sisters had asked him to tell them, before he left, what he most wanted them to remember, to have engraven in their souls.

Have I not already told you? Ask for nothing, refuse nothing, imitate Jesus in His cradle. He accepts poverty, nakedness, the companionship of beasts, cold, the inclemency of the season, everything His Father ordains, without a murmur. He accepts the services of His Mother and of St. Joseph, the adoration of the kings and the shepherds, all in the same spirit of indifference. Imitate Him.

The nothing experienced a situation the other night at Mass. Someone has not been comfortable with the nothing for a couple of months or so and had chosen the nothing to be a kind of enemy. But the nothing was thinking of something totally different, and in a look or hesitation, evidently caused the other person to think otherwise, as we humans generally personalize incidents and events! The outcome came about the next day, when the nothing practiced being lower than this person, and in lifting the person higher than the nothing, which isn't hard to do, actually.

The words and even the body posture of the nothing--thanks be to God--pleased this other person. The other even made a comment which was inaccurate of the nothing, but the nothing practiced not clarifying the misconception. It was progress in practicing in daily life, submission. Clarifying what this person thinks of the nothing is unnecessary for while it was an inaccurate conception, it does not matter, really. One can always bring good from any thought or deed.

While it seemed perhaps contrived that the nothing lifted up the other person in word, and even had the opportunity to be lower in body posture, kneeling down beside while the other sat in a pew, to share a compliment for the other and express the nothing's awkwardness as reason for the other's misunderstanding the nothing's awkwardness the evening before--it does seem as if one must begin somewhere, in these practice lessons of being lower than others.

In fact, and the truth of it, the nothing is lower than this other in many aspects. The motive was set to do an act of charity, and also to humble down, and all for the glory of God. Peace and good will to all men and women on earth.