Devotion of the day: how to overcome the restlessness caused by sadness

When you feel agitated by the desire to be free from evil or to achieve a good - advises St. Francis de Sales - first of all calm your spirit, accept your judgment and your will, and then beautifully try to succeed in your intent, using appropriate means one after the other. And by saying beautiful beautiful, I do not mean negligently, but without anxiety, without disturbance and disquiet; otherwise, instead of getting what you want, you would spoil everything and be cheated worse than before.

"I always carry my soul in my hands, O Lord, and I have not forgotten your law", said David (Ps 118,109). Examine several times a day, but at least in the evening and in the morning, if you always carry your soul in your hands, or if some passion or restlessness has not kidnapped you; see if you have your heart at your command, or if it has run out of hand to venture into unruly affections of love, hatred, envy, greed, fear, tedium, glory.

If you find him led astray, before anything else call him to you and bring him back to the presence of God, placing again affections and desires under obedience and the escort of his divine will. For as one who fears losing something dear to him, holds it tightly in his hand, so we, in imitation of David, must always say: My God, my soul is in danger; therefore I carry it continually in my hands, and thus I never forget your holy law.

To your thoughts, however small and of little importance, never allow them to disturb you; because after the little ones, when the grown-ups come, they would find their hearts more willing to be disturbed and bewildered.

Realizing that restlessness is coming, recommend yourself to God and resolve not to do anything as much as your desire wants, until the restlessness has completely passed, except that it is impossible to differ; in this case it is necessary, with a gentle and calm effort, to curb the impetus of desire, tempering it as much as possible and moderating its enthusiasm, and therefore to do the thing, not in accordance with your desire, but according to reason.

If you have the opportunity to discover the restlessness of the one who directs your soul, you will certainly not be slow to calm down. Therefore King St. Louis gave the following admonition to his son: "When you have some pain in your heart, tell it immediately to the confessor or to some pious person and with the comfort that you will receive, it will be easy for you to bear your evil" (cf Philothea IV, 11).

To you, O Lord, I entrust all my pains and tribulations, so that you support me in carrying my sanctifying cross with serenity every day.