As the Church celebrates his feast today, I can easily imagine him sitting with a laptop, clicking out the good news that indeed Jesus lives.
Francis wrote voluminously. Not only is he known for his books, but for his (numerous) letters.
He also composed short papers and pamphlets for wide distribution, to help clarify the faith in a time when confusion abounded.
I like to imagine him patting today's Catholic bloggers on the back, encouraging us to 'keep it up' as we distribute our witness to the Truth in THIS age of the Church and in the turbulence of our world.
Francis de Sales was a bishop and founder of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. He was definitely a busy man in France in the early 1600s. Still, he found time to take up his quill pen and spread the good news of Christ.
As we clack away at our keyboards,
often in wee hours of the morning or while a baby naps, I'd like to
think our patron is praying for us.
I have a feeling he is doing just that.
(this is an edited re-post from our earliest archives)
I agree! And I love St. Francis de Sales. So many of his quotes speak to me.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Laura. I find him so relevant to our everyday lives!
DeleteI have noticed that many of my very favorite posts of yours happen to be when you quote him. I did not know he was the patron saint of writers, though. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteKathleen, it's my understanding that his distribution of free papers and tracts is largely responsible for this patronage. I am pretty convinced that if he were living today, he'd be a blogger :)!
DeleteNancy,
ReplyDeleteOh yes! I can imagine St Francis de Sales saying, "Keep it up!" I am always amazed at the volume of work busy saints still managed to write. I can only imagine their words came straight from the Holy Spirit and they never had my problem of having to edit and edit and edit...
Gosh, I'd never thought about saints editing :) ! They probably didn't have time, and I'm sure the Holy Spirit "took this into account" (smile) as He inspired them.
DeleteThis does make me think, however, about how I tend to be more struck by St. Francis de Sales' letters than by his formal writings (books). I always feel like he could be writing directly to me, and probably that's because he WAS writing, in each case, to an individual. And he wouldn't have been editing letters. After all, those had to be written in ink in those days, and he couldn't go back and correct his thoughts like we do so easily on computers. Hmmmm....
Did not know he was patron of writers! Your quotes are gorgeous...love your style!
ReplyDeleteoxoxoxo
God bless
Thank you so much, Chris!
DeleteLove this!! Your words and St Francis de Sales are so encouraging on this journey of faith. May we continue to share our voice with others and continue to glorify our lovely Lord and God! Thank you, once again for this inspiration Nancy.....you are a kindred spirit in Christ....
ReplyDeleteAhhh, it's good to find kindred spirits as we serve our Lord! Thanks be to God, and thank YOU!
DeleteKeeping up with our Blogs is very important as we do not know who may visit and not leave a message. To many, our writings may be the first time they get to learn about Our Lord.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Yes, Victor - so true! Thanks.
DeleteLovely thought, indeed. I'll receive the dear man's prayers on my behalf too, a celestial member of that great cloud of witnesses. Knowing he wrote many letters encourages me, as much of my writing to encourage comes in the form (or genre) of letter writing. Blogging is a part of that now as well.
ReplyDeleteWishing you, Nancy, a beautiful day....
Brenda
xox
Thanks, Brenda. Much of my writing to encourage has been in letters also, and blogging was a natural extension of that. Sounds like we've gone along the same lines. :)
DeleteAnd it WAS a beautiful day - I spent some of it with my 6 year old grandson (smile smile smile). Hope your day was lovely as well.
I was going to drop dead if it weren't Francis de Sales. I jokingly attribute this quote to him: "Preach the Gospel at all times; use words."
ReplyDeleteWhew - I'm so glad it's Francis de Sales, because you're needed here on earth awhile longer!
DeleteI absolutely LOVE your "quote." :)