PULL YOURSELF UP BY YOUR BOOTSTRAPS, BUT DON’T STEP ON ANYONE

This is perhaps an odd pivot from the downhome title of this blog, but I’d like to talk a little bit about a Catholic saint, Francis de Sales. He lived during the tumultuous time of the Protestant Reformation, which feels relevant already, but his spiritual formation is what is of interest for me.

When he was young, he attended a lecture on predestination where he was convinced that he was predestined to go to hell. This caused a deep spiritual crisis in his life, one he eventually emerged from, but on the complete conviction that God is love. It’s a beautiful testament to the faithfulness of God to reveal Himself to those who truly want to know Him.

This deep conviction in the love of God became manifest in his actions during a time when inflammatory rhetoric about both the Catholic church and those separating from it abounded. His kindness, gentleness, and mildness become known to all, and an appeal to those struggling to find God in the midst of chaos. Let us not forget how violent these times were as well. People on both sides of the debate were tempted to violence to control outcomes. To truly conduct oneself in the spirit of God’s love in such a time, a time that feels eerily close to our own in some ways, gentleness is required. And what is gentleness? I think St. de Sales said it best:

“Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as true strength.”