"Just as there is a dead faith, there must also be a living faith which always bears good fruits in all seasons. It is excellent. Joined and united with charity and vivified by it, it is strong, firm and constant. It performs many great and good works which deserve the praise: So charity united to faith is not only followed by all the virtues, but from this results the multitude of good works of a living faith."

- St. Francis de Sales

Click an image to open the book as PDF.

SAMVAD JOURNAL FULLY HUMAN AND FULLY ALIVE.PDF JOURNAL VOL.1 2015.PDF

As we are on the 400th year of the publication of Treatise on the Love of God, I request all of us to spend sometime during this year to brush up our knowledge on the Love of God.

SUMMARY OF TREATISE ON THE LOVE OF GOD

PAMPHLET ON THE SPIRITUALITY OF ST.FRANCIS DE SALES

IMAGES OF THE CROSS IN ST. FRANCIS DE SALES (PDF)

On this feast of our Savior’s Circumcision, the name of Savior was rightly given Him on this day, for there is no redemption without shedding of blood (Heb 9:22), and no salvation without redemption, since no one can enter Heaven except this gate.

God desired to provide a more loving gift for us who live on earth as in a desert. He came Himself came in the middle of the night. Thus in the darkness of the night our Lord was born and appeared to us as an infant lying in a manger.

Of all the people then in Bethlehem it was only the simple shepherds who came to visit our Lord. Whom do the shepherds symbolize? If the shepherds symbolize each of us, who are our flock and sheep? They are our passions, inclinations, affections and spiritual faculties. If we do not keep watch over our flocks, we will not merit to hearing this very lovable news of the Savior’s birth.

What else have we to say except that the mystery of our Lord’s Nativity is also the mystery of the Visitation. Just as the most holy Virgin as to visit her cousin St. Elizabeth, we too must go very often during this octave to visit the Divine Infant lying in the manger. We will receive from Him an unparalleled consolation in visiting this most lovable Baby.

This is the grace I desire for you, my dear souls, that you remain very near to this sacred Savior who is about to gather us all around Himself in order to keep us always under the standard of His most holy protection. May we have the fidelity to keep ourselves submissive, obedient and subject to His wishes.

Certainly, in the Incarnation He has made us see that which otherwise the human mind could hardly have imagined or understood, that is, that God was man and man God: in short, man divinized and God humanized in such a way that God, without ceasing to be God, is man; and man, without ceasing to be man, is God.

The glorious St. John the Baptist did not send his disciples to Jesus our Lord to find out whether or not He was the Messiah. He had three reasons: first, to make Him known to the whole world. Second, he wanted to draw disciples only to his Teacher, to whose school he now sends them to be instructed personally by Him. Third, to detach them from himself and let them see Jesus so that they might come to Him in a manner worthy of Him. Therefore, John sent them to this Divine Majesty to be instructed and informed of the truth.

St Francis de Sales has a wonderful image that illustrates how we should trust in this God who has done so much to gain our trust.

He tells us to think of the little children who go on a walk with their dad. With one hand they hold fast to their father, and with the otherhand they pick berries, or play with a stick, or throw stones in the pond. If we handle the goods, affairs, and problems of this world with onehand, we must always hold fast with the other to our heavenly Father's hand. We should look up at him from time to time to see if we are pleasing him. We do this through prayer and the sacraments, and through obeying his commandments and the teachings of his Church. Above all, we should never let go of his hand by direct disobedience to his will or laziness in our spiritual lives. It's foolish to think that with two hands we can gather more berries - we will only get lost, injured, or kidnapped.