Catholics are supposed to be “in the world but not of the world.”
Someone asked St. Francis de Sales whether Christians who wished to live with some sort of perfection should see company and mix in society. St. Francis replied: “Perfection, my dear friend, does not lie in avoiding our fellow men, but it does lie in not over-relishing social pleasures and in not taking undue delight in them. There is danger for us in all that we see in a sinful world, for we run the risk of fixing our affections upon things worldly; at the same time to those who are steadfast and resolute, the mere sight of the things of this world will do no harm. In a word, the perfection of charity is the perfection of life, for the life of our soul is charity. The early Christians, who were in the world in their body though not in their heart, undoubtedly were very perfect.”
Thomas à Kempis wrote, “An internal man quickly recollects himself, because he never pours forth his whole self upon outward things.”
St. Francis de Sales taught that we should keep our eyes always fixed upon our Lord and do what we have to do without regarding what the world thinks of us, or its behaviour toward us.
He said, “We can never stand quite well with the world; it is far too exacting. If out of compliance we yield to it, and play and dance with it, it will be scandalized; and if we do not, it will accuse us of hypocrisy and gloom; if we are well-dressed it will impute to us some bad motive; and if we are ill-dressed, it will call us mean; it will style our gaiety dissoluteness and our mortification gloom. It will exaggerate our failings and publish our faults; and if it cannot find fault with our actions it will attack our motives. Whatever we do the world will find fault.”
The second century Letter to Diognetus explains how the Church is in the world and not of it, and why this is a cause of persecution:
“To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. As the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified with the world. As the visible body contains the invisible soul, so Christians are seen living in the world, but their religious life remains unseen. The body hates the soul and wars against it, not because of any injury the soul has done it, but because of the restriction the soul places on its pleasures. Similarly, the world hates the Christians, not because they have done it any wrong, but because they are opposed to its enjoyments.
“Christians love those who hate them just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body’s hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is held together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the world as in a prison, that the world is held together.”
St. Francis de Sales did not like controversial sermons. He said, “The object of preaching is to build, not destroy; to elevate the tone of men’s lives rather than to wrestle with the disputes which those outside the Church endeavour to raise.”
The saint’s method, both in preaching and private conversation with non-Catholics, was to explain clearly and gently the simple truths of the faith. He always said that truth in its graceful purity is attractive and can penetrate even the hardest hearts.
『在世上，卻不世俗化』
天主教徒應該是『在世上，卻不世俗化』。有人問聖方濟、沙雷氏，基督徒，如果願意活出一定的完美，是否可以結交與融入社會。聖方濟、沙雷氏回答說：『我親愛的朋友，完美不基於避開人，卻基於不太過依戀社交的樂趣，就是不要在它們内不適當地喜愛它們。在我們罪惡世界裡我們所見的，對我們都是危險的，我們有危險把愛意投放在世俗的事上；;同時，那些堅定，果斷的人，世界事的少少的一瞥，不會給他們造成傷害。一句説話，愛的完美，就是生命的完美，因為我們靈魂的生命就是愛。早期的基督徒，他們身在這世上，但心不在，無可致疑的是，他們十分完美。』師主篇的作者寫道：『一個内在的人，很快能收心 ，因為他從不把一整個的自己拋到外面事物去。』
聖方濟、沙雷氏教導，我們應該把我們的眼目，經常凝固於我們的上主，做好我們應做的，那管世界對我們如何想象如何行動。他說：『在這世界我們立場永遠不會很好，這是太嚴格的。如果你順從了，你隨它起舞玩樂，它會表示訝異；不就犯，我們就被稱假善和憂鬱；如果我們衣服華麗，便被喻作具不軌企圖;如果我們衣著不好，便祂稱卑鄙，它會妄稱我們的喜樂為放蕩，我們的克苦為憂鬱。它誇大我們的失敗，公布我們的過錯；如果它不能在我們的行為了找到錯誤，它攻擊我們的意圖。無論我們做什麽，這世界都能找到過錯。』
在第二世紀致丟格那妥書解釋教會在世這世界裡而並不是這世界的，為什麼受到迫害：
『按一般而言，我們可以說基督徒是在這世界裡一如靈瑰在肉身裡面。由於靈魂是在肉身每一部份之內，但卻與它保持著區別，所以基督徒是分布在世界各地但又卻不會為世界所認同。一如可見的肉體包含那不可見的靈魂，基督徒可見活於這世上，但他們的信仰生命卻保持未見。肉體憎恨它的靈魂並向之宣戰，不是因為靈魂作了任何的傷害，而是因為靈魂制止肉體的樂趣。同樣，世界憎恨基督徒，不是因為他們做了什麼過錯，卻是因為他們反對享受。
基督徒愛那些憎恨他們的人，就如靈魂愛它的肉身和它的一切肢體，雖然肉身憎恨靈魂。因著靈魂包含在肉體內，所以肉身得以整固，同樣，因為基督徒拘留在世上如囚犯般，世界就得以整固。』
聖方濟、沙雷氏不喜歡有爭議性的講道。他說：『講道的目的是去建設，不是去破壞；去提升人類生命的格調多於爭辯的摔交…』這聖人的方法在講道和與非天主教徒的私人談話中，是清楚地，溫和地去解釋信仰簡單的真理。他經常說，真理在它優美的純潔中是具吸引力的，可滲透最堅硬的人心。
