Today’s world is increasingly polarized. It seems with each passing year it becomes harder and harder for people to look at those who are outside of their normal “in group” as sane, reasonable, or bearing any insights worthy of being considered. Typically, the answer to such questions by the average Joe or Sally, is a “live and let live” mentality. The Catholic critique of such casual relativism in our practical daily lives is well-known. I am certain there is a good Fr. Mike Schmitz talk or two and a handful of Bishop Robert Barron homilies exploring and critiquing the errors of such a mindset. I commend them for their service to the faithful and encourage you to check them out (or read some of Pope Benedict XVI’s, previously Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, writings and sermons on the subject).
In one accord with these great voices of Catholic orthodoxy I affirm Chesterton’s wit when he said in his autobiography, “The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.”. What I want to present here is another approach we should cultivate alongside apologetics (which certainly has its place and is essential in the Christian life). That is the life of charity, of meekness and humility. These are virtues that capture the approach of the tremendously influential saint we celebrate today, a doctor of the church, St. Francis de Sales.
For most of us, we stumble across St. Francis de Sales through his, rightfully, popular work Introduction to the Devout Life. St. Francis de Sales was much more than a spiritual director, though for that he is still to be esteemed and sought. He was a bishop. He was a great evangelist and apologist. He was a man who had mastered his passions by Christ’s grace. He was truly a spiritual father to all the souls he bore responsibility for. As many have said before me, he was a gentleman through and through.
I highly recommend reading about his life to catch a flavor of his personal spirit (such as is captured by his close friend and disciple, Jean Pierre Camus’ The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales). But, if you are pressed and only have time for the protein of the meal dive into his writings. You could start with his classic, but if reading personal letters if more your speed, I would recommend Roses Among Thorns, Sign of the Cross, or Thy Will Be Done. St. Francis de Sales held a tension in his incredibly humane and affable manner of existing most of us find impossible. He was simultaneously receptive and incredibly dignifying toward others while not justifying sin or shirking his obligations to God. For most of us, to hold that balancing act seems to already warrant canonization!
He captured his pastoral posture toward the sinner well when he said, “I do understand that we must accommodate ourselves to the reach of each person, yielding something, not to the malice, but to the weakness. Souls do not wish to be bullied, but gently brought back; such is the nature of man.” De Sales did not view proclaiming the truth, even hard truth, as a form of bullying, but he always proclaimed the truth in charity. This is captured in the simply phrase said to incapsulate his basic philosophy of life, “To ask for nothing, to refuse nothing.” His approach was one firmly modelled on the meekness and zeal of His Savior. Jesus was simultaneously the man who made a whip to chase out the money changers of the temple, while also being the rightful King of the Jews who freely laid down his life for us on the cross. For the Christian, meekness is not passivity, nor is dignifying the other a denial of everyone’s need for conversion.
But, there is still more in this great man.
One aspect of St. Francis’ life that is often forgotten is his assiduous night and day activities he dedicated as bishop of an area of Geneva, Switzerland with very few Catholics run mostly by Calvinists. Unable to gather large groups due to the local authorities he took his zeal to the pen writing many elegant and convincing tractates (now published as The Catholic Controversy; once again, worth reading!). Through years of relatively solitary missionary efforts to spread the true faith he was able to write saying, “Twelve years ago, in 64 parishes near Genevea” almost all where Calvinists, at that time “it was hard to find 100 Catholics within those parishes taken together; today, it would be just as hard to find 100” Calvinists. Truly a testament of his apostolic endeavors.
Today, we are in just as much need of such a charitable and apostolic witness. I recently read a book discussing mission in our polarized world. The author advocated three tools to more effectively navigate the storm that is many of our social interactions with those who seem to live on different world(view)s than us. They are: flexibility, curiosity, and prudence.
St. Francis de Sales, as far as I can tell. Embodied these qualities. As an apostle to the Calvinists in his territory he took life on life’s terms. This wasn’t in the passive acquiescence of responsibility. No. He said, if I can’t celebrate mass publicly in Chablais, then I will erect an altar in Thonon. If I cannot hold public gatherings to preach the faith, then I will right pamphlets about the exact issues my flock needs to understand. He was chased out of church. He was poisoned. He founded the Visitation Order, was a phenomenal spiritual director and bishop. In addition to these acts of immediate service he took the time to write his magnum opus, Treatise on the Love of God, an, admittedly, difficult text, but perhaps the greatest work ever written on what it means to live a life of charity. Where flexibility was required, he asked for nothing nor refused his circumstances. By making the most of where God had placed him in His providence he converted thousands. When presented with the unique beauty and situations of souls in different states of life (such as lay, religious, and clerical) he treated them all with the curious attention of Christ. Not making excessive demands, but instead incisive insights, questions, and analogies. Nonetheless, he was prudent. There is a time for a more casual and pastoral tone, and there is a time for a dense theological work explaining in a more systematic way the manner of his love. Because of his prudence the Church has his witness not only in letters and popular works of spirituality and apologetics, but also in the theological richness of his Treatise and the affectionate remembrance of those he served in friendship.
One last anecdote which captures the prudence and charity of this great saint, a witness for our polarized time inside and outside of the Church must be mentioned. In the late 1500’s a dispute arose between the Dominicans and the Jesuits known as the “de Auxiliis” controversy. The controversy was on the nature of divine grace as explicated by followers of the Dominican Domingo Bañez and the Jesuit Luis de Molina. The disagreement became so polarized that each side was slinging the epithet “heretic!” at one another. The Pope eventually had to step in. After listening to seventeen debates the holy father consulted his theologians, one of which being St. Francis de Sales. The Pope came to a shocking decision for members of each entrenched side. He issued a moratorium on the debate that had been raging for twenty years. This was the counsel and advice of St. Francis de Sales who understood that, sometimes, what people do not need is a hammer nor a banner, but a wise father who can tell you when to stop demanding and listen.
So, when we are tempted to “other” those we do not understand or agree with. Let us follow the simple, but difficult example of St. Francis de Sales: the way of charity. Jesus, give us your heart, mind, and spirit. Let us choose a meek and zealous life dedicated to your service, one day at a time without arrogance or hatred. Help us to be bridges and paths to conversion and peace.
St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!