Fr. Scott A. Haynes
As a young French woman, St. Jane Frances de Chantal married a man named Christophe. He was a French baron and was thought to be very rich. But, in truth, he had enormous debts. Jane had a deep faith. And so, she was not worried. Her father, who liked to have little talks about religion each day, instilled a deep faith in her. He would allow his children to talk about anything, even controversial topics. St. Jane Frances de Chantal had a good heart and a great sense of humor that helped carry her through difficult moments. A friend of hers commented,
"Even stupid jokes were funny when she told them."
Despite the early financial worries, she and her husband shared "one heart and one soul." They were devoted to each other and to their four children. One way Jane shared her blessings was by giving bread and soup personally to the poor who came to her door. Often people who had just received food from her would pretend to leave, go around the house and get back in line for more. When asked why she let these people get away with this, Jane said,
"What if God turned me away when I came back to him again and again with the same request?"
Her marital happiness was shattered when Christophe was killed when hunting. Another hunter accidentally shot him. Before he died, Christophe forgave the man who shot him, saying to the man,
"Don't commit the sin of hating yourself when you have done nothing wrong."
The heartbroken Jane, however, had to struggle with forgiveness for a long time. At first, she tried just greeting him on the street. When she was able to do that, she invited him to her house. Finally, she was able to forgive the man so completely that she even became godmother to his child.
These troubles opened her heart to her longing for God and she sought God in prayer and a deepening spiritual life. Her commitment to God impressed St. Francis de Sales, the bishop who became her spiritual director and best friend. With the support of St. Francis de Sales, Jane founded the Visitation order for women who were rejected by other orders because of poor health or age. She even accepted a woman who was 83 years old. When people criticized her, she said,
"What do you want me to do? I like sick people myself; I'm on their side."
She believed that people should have a chance to live their calling regardless of their health.
Still a devoted mother of her own children, she was constantly concerned about the materialistic ways of one of her daughters. Her daughter finally asked her for spiritual direction as did many others, including an ambassador and her brother, who later became an archbishop. Her advice always reflected her very gentle and loving approach to spirituality. She often said:
"Should you fall even fifty times a day, never on any account should that surprise or worry you.
Instead, ever so gently set your heart back in the right direction and practice the opposite virtue, all the time speaking words of love and trust to our Lord after you have committed a thousand faults, as much as if you had committed only one. She taught:
"Once we have humbled ourselves for the faults God allows us to become aware of in ourselves, we must forget them and go forward."
We have been told the secret of happiness is finding yourself, finding love, finding the right job, finding the right spouse, finding the right religious order or whatever. Jane believed the secret of happiness was in "losing." She believe that,
"[We should] throw ourselves into God as a little drop of water into the sea, and lose ourselves indeed in the Ocean of the divine goodness."
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