CANVAS

Guided by the Spirit

By marching to the individual’s rhythm, Francis follows God’s pace in each heart and the rhythm of the Holy Spirit in each person’s life. According to Jane de Chantal, who knew him so well, Francis “was docile to God’s Spirit which was at work in him and quickly but gently formed a true picture of the soul he directed”. To those unprepared he said nothing, not wanting to “waste words when there was no one listening”. But on those in whom he discerned God’s Spirit at work, he lavished all “the teachings necessary for their salvation”.

Relying on her own experience and the testimony of others, Jane de Chantal add this: “I also noticed that he preferred to leave his directees with a great liberty of spirit, with himself content to follow the divine Spirit’s lead, directing them according to God’s lead and allowing them to act according to His divine inspirations rather than his own personal instructions” (St. Jane’s deposition at the 1st canonization process, article 40, in Devos, SFS par les temoins de sa vie, Gardet, pp170-171).

"He (St. Francis De Sales) attached great importance to inspirations in the Christian life. He treated them in chapter 18. Part 2, of his Introduction to the Devout Life and in several chapters of the Treatise on the Love of God, particularly in Book 2 (chapters 9~13) and in Book 8 (chapters 10~13). In all his direction sessions and correspondence, he continually practiced discernment of spirits.

Without inspirations we remain spiritually underdeveloped. "Without them our souls would live lazy, insipid and useless lives." Our interior would be like nature in winter where everything is asleep, benumbed and seems utterly dead. But with the spring sunshine, everything bounces back to life: leaves and flowers appear, birds sing again, animals gambol about, and people go out into the fresh air. Similarly, inspirations enlighten our understanding, awaken and enliven our will, and give us the strength to want to do and actually do what is good."

But what are inspirations actually?

They are God's "movements" in us. They are a sign of his love for us and are like friendly messages which he sends to us. What is their purpose? To awaken us, to encourage us to live more and more fully according to the Source of our life and the End of our actions, God who is love.

"By inspirations we mean all those interior attractions, movements, acts of self-reproach and sorrow, lights and insights that God works in us, predisposing our hearts by his blessings (Ps.20), and by his fatherly care and love so as to awaken, nudge, urge and attract us to holy virtues, heavenly love, and good resolutions - in short, to everything that hastens us on our way to our eternal happiness" (Introduction to the Devout Life 2.18)

Inspirations are the signs which God gives to all those who are journeying and are en route to the eternal life which awaits them.

The means that God uses to inspire us are infinite. They can be: "the sight of nature", some meeting, or event, even an apparently insignificant one, some joy or pain, some book, or something we hear on the radio or see on television, and so on. However, among all Christians, “the usual means is preaching": God's Word heard in Church is the ordinary channel by which His voice reaches us.

Francis De Sales suggests that an inspiration is like a good temptation, with the three steps leading us to a good or virtuous act similar to the three steps we follow in the commission of a sinful act: the suggestion, our pleasure in the suggestion, our consent. So long as we don't give our consent to an inspiration, it remains without effect. Similarly, there is never sin without consent to the temptation.

What counts, then, is not that we notice an inspiration but that we consent to it. For only our consent allows God to realize the "marriage" which he “desires to have" with us, the covenant he wants to make with the human family. From this comes Francis’s urgent invitation to us: " Consent, but with a full, loving and persevering consent" (Intro. to the Devout Life 2.18). This is one of the keys to our spiritual advancement. “If we would only receive heavenly inspirations according to the full extent of their power, in how short a time would we make progress in holiness" (Treatise on the Love of God, 2.11)

But before we give our "yes" to an inspiration we must discern, "testing it to see whether it is true or false". To discern well, we must reflect, pray, seek the counsel of some spiritual guide or some "wise person" as Tobit said to his son Tobiah in scripture (4.18). Francis gives sure guidelines, similar to those of other spiritual masters such as Ignatius Loyola and Teresa of Avila. He reduces them to three principal ones> " To sum up, the three best and surest signs of true inspirations are: perseverance, in contrast to inconstancy and lack of seriousness: peace and gentleness of heart, in contrast to restlessness and anxiety: humble obedience, in contrast to obstinacy and bizarre behaviour" (Treatise on the Love of God, 8.13).

Taken from: "The Spirituality of Francis De Sales, A way of Life" by Francois Corrignan