Today we have some profound words about abiding in Jesus from Francis De Sales (b. 1567 – d. 1622), from Chapter 13 of his book Introduction to the Devout Life. His words complement a post that appeared here a couple of weeks ago about abiding in Jesus . De Sales inspires us to keep in constant contact with God throughout the day.
“You can express spiritual desires to God by short, ardent movements of your heart. Marvel at his beauty, implore his help, cast yourself in spirit at the foot of the cross, adore his goodness, converse often with him about your salvation, present your soul to him a thousand times during the day, fix your interior eyes upon his sweet countenance, stretch out your hand to him like a little child to his father so that he may lead you on, place him in your bosom like a fragrant bouquet, plant him in your heart like a flag, and make a thousand different motions of your heart to provide you with love of God and arouse in yourself a passionate and tender affection for this divine Spouse.
If our mind thus habituates itself to intimacy, privacy, and familiarity with God, it will be completely perfumed by his perfections. There is no difficulty in this exercise, as it may be interspersed among all our tasks and duties without any inconvenience, since in this spiritual retirement or amid these interior aspirations we only relax quickly and briefly. This does not hinder but rather assists us greatly in our daily tasks.”
[A few changes to the text were made to improve readability.]
As we mentioned in the earlier post, it will help you to practice abiding in Jesus if you figure out which approach helps you the most, which can change throughout the day or week. It could be a phrase or idea from scripture, an image, a sense of his presence, a physical movement, or just a simple choice to focus on your center where Jesus dwells. Once you have chosen a strategy, practice that focus several times throughout the day. Create reminders, put them on your calendar, place a physical reminder in your work area such as a Cross, or take 1-minute timeouts and refocus throughout the day.
What are you doing to practice abiding in Jesus? Which words, images etc might help you the most?
