Friday, January 26, 2018

Fenelon’s Spiritual Letters - Part 1











Francois Fenelon (1651 – 1715) was a French priest who was an advocate of Quietism, a movement within Catholicism (with influences within Protestant circles as well) which emphasized day-to-day surrender to God, a quiet and meek spirit, and acceptance of all things with peace.  He was a good friend and supporter of Madame Guyon, who introduced Fenelon to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.  “It is to the everlasting credit of this powerful and influential man (who served in the court of Louis XIV) that he humbled himself before this obscure woman and received from her the guidance that he did.” 

A book by Fenelon recently came into my possession which I have really enjoyed reading.  “Fenelon’s Spiritual Letters” is a series of letters that the French priest wrote to Godly men and women who asked advice of him on how to have a deeper relationship with Christ.  I've come across some real gems in my reading of this little book that I wanted to share with you here.  I have put in parenthesis synonyms to some of the more obscure words in these letters.  I have also put in bold those phrases or sections which especially speak to me. I hope much of this long-ago wisdom will speak to you today!

The Need of Devotion In A Worldly Life
…Try to rescue half an hour morning and evening.  You must learn, too, to make good use of chance moments…The less time one has, the more important it is to husband (not waste) it.  If you wait till you have regular and convenient hours at your disposal (to pray),…you run the risk of waiting too long…Take then, Madame, half an hour in the morning, and another half-hour in the afternoon, to repair the inroads which the world makes; and in the course of the day…renew yourself in the presence of God.”
On Silence
Silence promotes the presence of God, prevents many harsh and proud words, and suppresses many dangers in the way of ridiculing or harshly judging our neighbor.  Silence humbles the mind, and gradually weans it from the world; it makes a kind of solitude in the heart…
Talk when you are alone; you cannot talk too much then, for it will be to God alone that you will tell your troubles, your needs, and your longings.  But in society you can hardly talk too little.  It must not be a cold disdainful silence, however, but rather a silence full of deference to others…Constrain yourself then to say little, to speak simply and modestly, to give the precedence to other speakers…”
Pray, read, humble your spirit by a taste for simple things.  Seek your strength in silence.
One is sometimes tempted to talk humbly, and it is easy to find a thousand fine pretexts (reasons) for so doing, but it is better to be humbly silent. Talkative humility is to be suspected; in talking, self-love relieves itself a little…
On Salvation
Our salvation is the work of every day and every moment of our life.  There is no time more fit for it than that which God mercifully grants us now; because we have time today, and perhaps we will not have it tomorrow…Keeping watch over self means listening to God; abiding always in His presence, being recollected (at peace), not voluntarily seeking dissipation (overindulgence) or distractions among the things of this world; it means, as far as possible, loving retirement (times of withdrawal from the world), good books, and prayer…
On Christian Service
It seems to me that a soul which sincerely desires to belong to God never looks to see whether a thing is small or great; it is enough for it to know that He for whose love it is done is infinitely great…
Often all that we offer to God is not that which He wills.  What He desires most of us is what we are least willing to give Him, and what we dread to have Him ask of us.  It is Isaac, the only son, the well-beloved, that He commands us to resign; all the rest is nothing in His sight…His blessing is not upon…the labor of a divided soul; it is His will that we should yield everything to Him; and, short of this, there is no repose (rest).  If you would prosper, and have God’s blessing on your work, withhold nothing, and the God of peace will be with you..
On Faults
You ought to condemn your fault without seeking to soften it by any excuse, and to see yourself before God…without being irritated at yourself and disheartened but profiting in peace by your humiliation for your fault. 
Vexation (Irritation) at a fault is generally more of a fault than the fault itself…The more peaceful and free your heart is, the more you will become one with God.
On Self Love
No peace is to be looked for within (ourselves) when one lives at the mercy of a crowd (within ourselves) of greedy and insatiable desires, and when we can never satisfy this “me” which is so keen (intense) and so touchy as to whatever concerns it…(So) in our intercourse (dealings) with others we are like invalids who have been long confined to the bed, who cannot be touched anywhere without pain.  A sickly self-love, full of pity for itself, cannot be touched without screaming.  Touch it with the end of your finger, and it thinks itself flayed alive.  Then add to this sensitiveness the roughness of other people…and you find all the children of Adam tormenting one another; half of mankind made unhappy by the other half…
…The only remedy is to come out of one’s self in order to find peace.  We must renounce ourselves, and lose all self-interest, that we may no longer have anything to lose, to fear, or to contrive (to plot or to plan).  Then we shall enjoy the true peace reserved for “men of good will,” that is, for those who have no longer any will but God’s…Then men will not be able to harm us…
On Avoiding Forebodings and Living By Faith
Do not think about distant events.  This uneasiness about the future is unwholesome for you.  When God gives you help, see Him alone in it, and take it day by day, as the Israelites (took0 their manna, without ever providing a store to last from one day to another…
…The life of pure faith does two things: first, it makes us see God behind all the frail agents He uses; secondly, it keeps the soul ever in a state of suspense.  One is always as if in the air, without being able to touch the ground; the comfort of one moment never serves for the comfort of the following moment.  We must leave to God all that depends on Him, and think only of being faithful in all that depends on ourselves.  This dependence from one moment to another, this darkness, this peace of the soul amid the uncertainty of what will happen to it each day, is a real inward and noiseless martyrdom; it is being burned by a slow fire…When God takes away that which He has given you, He knows well how to replace it, either through other means or by Himself…
Live in peace…without thinking about the future.  Perhaps there may not be a future for you. Even the present is not yours, and you must use it according to the will of God, to whom alone it belongs…Above all, be faithful to the present moment, which will bring you all needful grace…
…The real learning you need is stripping off self, deep recollection, silence of the whole soul before God, renunciation of intellect, a taste for lowliness, obscurity, helplessness, and (humility).
On Calmly Enduring the Irregularities of Others
…Do not be angry about what people say; let them talk, while you try to do God’s will.  As to the will of men, you could never come to the end of satisfying it, nor is it worth the trouble.  A little silence, peace, and union with God ought to comfort you for all that men may say unjustly…Renew yourself often in the presence of God, so as to calm yourself, to humble and adapt yourself to the “little ones.” Nothing is really great save lowliness, charity, distrust of self, detachment from one’s own opinion and will.  All stiff, harsh “goodness” is contrary to Jesus Christ.
…The right way (to deal with the anger of others) is to act as in the presence of God, wholly divested of self, doing what we can by God’s light, and being content with such success as He gives.  This continual death to self is a blessed life which but few understand.  A word uttered simply in this inward peace effects more, even in external affairs (day-to-day life), than all the most eager and bustling exertions…
…Let the river flow beneath its bridges; let men be men, that is to say, weak, vain, inconstant (unpredictable), unjust, false, and presumptuous.  Let the world still be the world…you cannot hinder it…The shortest way is to let them alone and to bear with them.  Accustom yourself to unreasonableness and injustice.  Abide in peace in the bosom of God, who sees all these evils more clearly than you do, and who permits them.  Be content with doing without excitement the little which depends on you, and let all else be to you as if it were not.

To read Part 2, click here.


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