St. Francis de Sales always preferred those virtues which were most ordinary and common, rather than those which are called for on only rare occasions.
He said, “Now everyone does not have the opportunity to practise the sublime virtues of fortitude, magnanimity, endurance unto death. The occasions for exercising these are rare, yet men aspire to them every day, because they are brilliant and attractive. Also, very often men fancy that they are able, even now, to practise them and hence they indulge in wonderful opinions of their own excellence. But when put to trial, they fail miserably … The opportunity of acquiring good positions or large sums of money is not to be met with every day. But it is possible to earn pennies daily, and he who cares wisely for his small gains will become rich by degrees. In the same way we should become spiritually wealthy and lay up for treasures in heaven by using all the little opportunities which at every turn for the service of God.”
The saint added: “It is not enough to practise great virtues. They must be performed with a spirit of love. For it is love alone which forms the basis of and gives weight and value to all good works in the sight of God. And an act of virtue performed out of great love of God is far more valuable than some great thing in which love has a smaller share. Look at the good soul who gave a cup of cold water to the thirsty with such love of God that it was changed into the water of life. And Christ gave preference to a poor widow’s two mites, given for love, rather than the large sums cast into the treasury by the rich.”
The ordinary and common virtues which can be practised frequently in our daily life are: prayer, devotion, humility, gentleness and patience.
St. Francis de Sales was very fond of an ancient Emperor’s motto, “Make haste slowly”. The saint always cautioned people against thinking that perfection is to be found in a multiplicity of religious exercises. He often said: “It is far better to do a few things well than to undertake many good works and leave them half-done.”
The saint said, “And what do I mean by doing a good work perfectly? Of course, I mean good works performed in a state of grace, as otherwise they would not only be imperfect, but no value as regards eternity. Well, such actions must be performed first, with a great fervour; secondly, with great purposefulness; and thirdly, with great purity of intention. Is it not true, then, that one such action is far better than many done, first, coldly; second, irresolutely; and third, without the purity of intention?”
An author wrote, “When St. Gertrude was young she did nothing except what her companions did; indeed, she did less; for there were many things that she was not permitted to do, on account of her delicate health. Yet she was more perfect than they. Now, how did this Saint attain such lofty perfection? In this way: The very things that she did at the same time with the others, she did with greater perfection than they. It is said of St. Stanislaus Kostka that though he did only the same things that others did, yet the excellence with which he did them made it seem that he did more.”
There is a beautiful practice of making a Morning Offering at the beginning of the day – offering to God all one’s thoughts, words, and actions of the day. We can renew our offering often during the day with simple prayers such as the one taught by Our Lady in Fatima: “Oh my Jesus, I offer this for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
聖人喜愛細小的德行
聖方濟各、沙雷氏時常喜愛，最普通和常見的細小德行遠比那些在稀有情況下才有所需要的。他說：『現在，不是所有的人都有機會實踐至死那剛毅的，寬宏的和堅忍的令人讚嘆的德行。鍛鍊的機會也是十分少有，可是每天有志於此的人卻不少，因為它們是光輝奪目，富吸引的。經常人們都會幻想他們仍能做到，甚至現在亦可實踐，由此他們縱情於他們自己優秀的美妙意見之中。但當遇到考驗，便慘淡地失敗…能夠找到好的職位或可觀金錢的機會不是每天都遇到的。但是掙得少許的金錢，每天到可以，能夠聰明地照顧這些微的收益會使他在某程度上富有。同樣以每一個少少的機會去為天主服務，我們靈性上應該可以變得富有並積存在天堂上。』
這聖人補充說：『實踐大的德行是不足夠的。他們應以愛的精神去實踐。因為在天主眼中只有愛是最基本的，它為好的工作注入價值。因天主偉大的愛而做一個好的德行，是較那些只有少許愛而做的大事遠遠更有價值。一看那好的靈魂，他為天主的愛給口渴者一杯水，它變成了生命之水。基督喜愛那為愛捐獻了兩文錢的窮寡婦，遠多於那些投入大量金錢作捐獻的富人。』
我們每日生命中能夠實踐的，普通常見的德行是：祈禱，奉獻，謙遜，溫柔和忍耐。
聖方濟各、沙雷氏很喜歡古時君王的助右銘：『慢慢地趕快』。這位聖人時常要大家小心不要以為完美只可以在多樣性的宗教活動中找到。他經常說，『少量的事能夠做得好遠勝於多樣的好事只能做得半好。』聖人說，『我所說的完善的做好一件好事是什麼？當然，我是說在天主寵愛中做好事，不然它們不單是不完美，在永恒層面中它們沒有價值。做這些工作首先是要有大的熱情；其次是滿有目的而做；第三者是要有純潔的動機。不是真嗎，一個如此的工作遠勝於很多其他的工作，它們先是冷酷的，次是無目的的，三是缺乏純潔動機的』。
另一位作者寫道：『當聖格特魯德年輕的時候，她只作她同伴們所做的，事實上她做得較少；因為她脆弱健康的緣故很多事情她並不被容許去做。可是她比其他的更為完美。這位聖人是怎樣達到這崇高的完美呢？就是在這方式：她與其他人都做相同的事，她總做得比他人完美。雖然聖斯坦尼斯做的事跟他人的相同，但他做到的完美使他看似做得更多。』
每天開始的『每日奉獻誦』有個美麗的實踐。奉獻給天主這一天所有的思想，話語和行為。在一天中，任何的時間，我們可以用花地瑪聖母教導的簡單禱文或其他的禱文，更新我們的奉獻：『噢耶穌，這是為愛祢，為罪人的悔改，並為賠補冒犯瑪利亞無玷聖心的罪惡。』
