Our Lenten Journey with St Francis de Sales – 1 April – Saturday in Passion Week
“Thy Holy Cross ”
SATURDAY IN PASSION WEEK
St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritas
“IT WILL BE USEFUL always to carry the Crucifix about with us, to kiss it often with love, to look upon it with respect and tenderness, saying at times:
O Jesus, the Beloved of my heart,
permit me to press Thee to my breast
as a bundle of myrrh.
I promise that my mouth,
which is so happy as to kiss Thy Holy Cross,
shall abstain from deceits,
from murmurs, from every word
which might displease Thee;
that my eyes, which behold Thy tears
and Blood flowing for my sins,
shall look no more upon the vanities
of the world, or anything
which might expose me to offend Thee;
that my ears, which hear
with so much consolation
the seven words pronounced on the Cross,
shall take no more pleasure in empty praise,
in useless conversation,
in words that wound the neighbour;
that my mind, after having studied
with so much relish,
the Mystery of the Cross,
shall be closed against all vain or evil thoughts
and imaginations;
that my will, submissive to the laws of the Cross
and to the love of Jesus Crucified,
shall have only charity towards my brethren
that, in fine, nothing shall enter into ,
or depart from my heart,
without the permission of this Holy Cross,
the Sacred Sign of which,
I trace upon myself at rising
and at going to rest
and in all the sorrows of life.
Amen.” – (Consoling Thoughts of St Francis de Sales).
AnaStpaul 