Ave Maria Meditations
St. Francis de Sales tells us that when we have committed some fault or have taken a fall from grace this is what we should do:
“When your heart sinks, raise it gently, humbling yourself quietly in God’s presence with the knowledge of your misery, without surprise at your fall. For it is no cause for marveling that sickness may make us ill, that weakness tends to diminish our strength, and that misery will cause us to be wretched. But hate with all your heart the offense you have committed against God, and filled with courage and confidence in His mercy, get back on board to resume of the voyage to virtue, which you had abandoned.
Between misery and mercy there is such a great link that the one cannot exist without the other. Certainly our miseries and our weaknesses, however grievous they may be, must not discourage us; they must, rather, make us humble and lead us to throw ourselves into the arms of divine Mercy. This mercy will be glorified in us in proportion to our miseries, provided we rise out of them. We should hope to be able to do this with the grace of our Lord.”
