Live Today Well

I’m reading an awesome book called Live Today Well: St.Francis de Sale’s Simple Approach to Holiness by Fr. Thomas Dailey.

Before starting this book I did not know much about Saint Francis de Sales other than the fact that he was a bishop and considered to be a Doctor of the Church. I must say that this book is an excellent way to be introduced to this gifted saint.

Saint Francis de Sales lived in the late 16^th to early 17^th century. He was a prolific writer and he wrote thousands of letters. Now, I would consider myself to be a mildly intelligent person (I do have a Master’s degree after all), but I do sometimes have difficulty reading the works of lofty saints who lived centuries ago. Naturally the style of writing is very different than today and I find that I have to concentrate harder when I am reading their books.

Which is why I enjoy books like Live Well Today. It’s a compilation of the highlights of the teachings of Saint Francis de Sales and I am able to read it during my free time without having to read the same paragraph over and over to make sure I comprehend the point.  

I’m trying to take it one chapter at a time, so that I can gradually integrate de Sales’ teachings into my life. Well, I failed on my first day.

Saint Francis de Sales teaches that we should offer praise to God during our morning routines, you know, to start the day off right. I thought to myself “That is a great idea! I’ll start a morning prayer routine right as I wake up in the morning.”

Fast forward to this morning and I totally forgot about my resolution. My son is not the best sleeper and he was very restless, I had to drag my butt out of bed the morning so that I could schlep my way into work, and unfortunately giving praise to God seemed to slip my mind. Epic fail.

This has kind of been a problem in my prayer life, or lack thereof. I set goals to do something like pray the Liturgy of the House, the Rosary, or Chaplet of Divine Mercy every day and I always forget! It’s gotten even worse since the birth of my first child. I need to find a way to keep God at the center of my life and not neglect my prayer life.

I was hoping this book would help remedy that, but I am off to a bad start. I need to keep trying. I guess, in the end, that is all we can do…try.