Thursday, January 12, 2012

1/24/2012 – Tuesday of the third week in ordinary time - Memorial of St Francis de Sales – Mark 3:31-35


       Jesus is in the midst of his ministry, in his proclamation of God’s kingdom, but perhaps his mother and his family are concerned for his welfare.  Perhaps they want to make sure that he is ok and well taken care of.  Yet, Jesus knows he needs to be occupied with his Father’s work, so he declares that his true mother, his true brothers and sisters, are those who do the will of his Father in their lives. 
         St. Francis de Sales, the saint whom we celebrate today, also displays in his life the same courage and conviction that Jesus exemplifies in today’s Gospel.  Francis de Sales was the Bishop of Geneva in the early 17th century and was declared to be a Doctor of the Church in the year 1877.  Francis was destined to by a lawyer and a senator in his native country of France, but after earning his doctorate in law, he decided to become a priest.  He is known for his great preaching and for his support of the Catholic faith in the city of Geneva, which was a very strong center of Calvinist Protestantism.  With Sister Jane Frances de Chantal, he helped found the Sisters of the Visitation, a group of religious sisters who were to practice the virtues that Mary exemplified in her visit to her cousin Elizabeth: humility, charity, and piety. 
         Francis de Sales had a strong sense of identity in his Catholic faith, in his priestly vocation.  May we hear the calling we have as disciples of Christ, living out that discipleship with courage and zeal.  May we do our Father’s will just like Jesus, just like St Francis de Sales.  

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