That humble gratitude for Christ’s love when we were not lovable, our redemption and dignity in God, makes us love mercifully and generously in return. This mercy, St. Francis [de Sales] would often say, should extend not only to our neighbors and our intimates, but also to ourselves. The “gentle struggle of friendship” is all of these; it is the interior life of every Christian. It makes its bonds much more permanent because they are founded on Christ, it makes its intimacy deeper and its day-to-day life gentler and more elastic, and finally, it reaches out, always inviting equals and unequals to share in its medicinal participation in the very intimacy of the Trinity.
--Terence McGoldrick,
The Sweet and Gentle Struggle:
Francis de Sales on the Necessity of Spiritual Friendship
Image source: San Rafael Homeless Find Christmas Succor at [St. Vincent de Paul] Dining Room https://www.marinij.com/2017/12/25/san-rafael-homeless-find-christmas-succor-at-dining-hall/
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