Introduction to the Devout Life
First Part, chapters 19-24
English-speaking Group 2
The practical side of these reflections in this last section of part 1 was immediately evident to all of us. We see St. Francis' practical and visual attempts to lead the soul to a devout and liberating experience of confession. Now the emphasis shifts from fear to love. The meditation centers around a boundless love that waits to transform even the horror of our sinfulness into the sweet fragrance of God's loving forgiveness. Even St. Francis' meditations on the affections of sin has immediate applications for us in our work today. How do we lead the young from focusing on their obsessions and lead them to see the God who wants to set them free from all of these?
The images used by St. Francis are rich. How often there is a fly in the ointment of our lives! How often something that seems the pinnacle of happiness is spoiled by the corruption of our own sinfulness or the selfishness and sinfulness of another. This is evident to young people in their own lived experiences. The challenge is to find words which touch their own emptiness today and invite them to see a transforming love that does not stand by waiting to condemn, but to transform and heal!
For the Indian-American Group
John
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