Hajja Salesjana

homeless in this absorption, no longer living from our heart when something other than God possesses our heart. We are ripe for addiction. Such addiction reveals to us that our restless heart longs for the infinite God, but we get seduced by a ‘downward transcendence’ when we substitute the living God for some thing or some one . Such “desiring love, settling on an object extrinsic to the self, makes, admittedly, a movement outwards and indeed reaches its object, but this rootedness in the self draws it ineluctably back, to complete a circle (as amor recurvus ) and finish where it began.” 19 Accordingly, as Lavelle remarks, “the proper work of the will is in the ordering of our love; for the will dictates the consent or the refusal we give to love …the will regulates the course of love and must be vigilant to keep its flame alive and prevent it from being diverted to objects which may allure but can never satisfy it. Such objects are worthy of being loved only in the light of the Infinite Love which sustains the will itself and in which, once found, it reaches fulfilment.” 20 This emphasis on our free consent to love brings us to the threshold of the mystical life because it presupposes God’s prevenient grace already at work within us. In Salesian terminology this is the role of inspirations. 21 (to be continued in next three issues of Ħajja Salesjana 2022) (Endnotes) 1 Rev.3:20. 2 OEA IV:116; 162; 164. There are multiple references, in the Treatise which allude to God as the origin of the inspirations that he sends into our hearts. OEA IV:117; 128; 230; 232; 234; OEA V:89; 91; 100; 103; 344. References are taken from Oeuvres Éditiond’Annecy and abbreviated as follows: OEA , followed by the volume (Roman numerals) and page (Arabic numerals). The English language translation is tak- en from Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God , trans. J.K Ryan(Rockford, IL: Tan book Publishers, 1975). 3 “Be a magnet to my heart” OEA V:19; T2:24. This explains why St Francis con- stantly makes use of terms expressive of “union”, “adhésion”, and “tirer”. See also, OEA VIII:153. 4 Francis de Sales, Spiritual Exercises, trans. William Doughtery, OSFS, ed. Joseph F. Chorpenning, OSFS (Toronto: Peregrina Publishing, 1993), 30. 5 John Philip Newell, The Re-birthing of God: Christianity’s Struggle for New Be- ginnings (Woodstock, Vermont: Skylight Paths Publishing, 2014), 7. 6 It is not easy to define ‘heart’ in Salesian spirituality because St Francis ‘does not always use the term to signify systematically the same reality.’ R. Mercier, ‘Spiritual Direction: Prophetic Insight and Pastoral Guidance Methods of Prayer according to St Francis de Sales’. Indian Journal of Spirituality , 18 (2005), 350. 7 OEA IV:44. 8 E.M. Lajeunie, Saint Francis de Sales. The Man, the Thinker, His Influence . Vol. 2. Trans. by Rory O’Sullivan (Bangalore: SFS Publications, 1987), 266 9 OEA IV:40. 10 J. Urdis, ‘Possessed by Pure Love: The Spirituality of Catherine of Genoa’. Studies in Spirituality , 6 (1996), 131-44. 11 OEA XVI:300. 12 OEA XV:91. 13 OEA IV:84. 14 Alexander Pocetto, ‘An Introduction to Salesian Anthropology’. SalesianStudies , 8 (Summer, 1969), 45-50. 15 OEA V:309. 16 OEA IV:77. See also, OEA IV:78; 79; 84; 137. 17 André Ravier, Ce Que Croyait François de Sales (Paris: Ateliers Henri Labat,1976), 7. 18 Psalm 100. 19 James Mc Evoy, “The other as oneself: friendship and love in the thought of St Thomas Aquinas”, in Thomas Aquinas: Approaches to the Truth , eds. J. Mc Evoy and M. Dunne (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2002), 24. 20 Louis Lavelle, Quatre Saints:De La Sainteté (Livry-Gargan: SAGIM, 1993),195-6. 21 The theme of inspiration is treated in the Introduction , book two, chapter eighteen, OEA III:108-11 and extensively in the Treatise , book two, chapters 9-13, OEA IV:115-133; book four, chapters 5-6, OEA IV:228-36; book eight, chapters 10-13 OEA V:89-104. Photo by Timothy Eberly - www.unsplash.com 13 Jannar-Marzu 2022 hajja