Jane Frances de Chantal:Powerful and Powerless

Never have I had such a burning love and desire for the evangelical life and for the great perfection to which God calls me. What I feel about it is quite impossible to put into words. But, alas! My resolve to be very faithful to the greatness of the love of this divine Savior is balanced by the feeling of my incapacity to correspond with it.

Oh, how painful to love is this barrier of powerlessness! But why do I speak thus? By doing so I degrade, it seems to me, the gift of God which urges me to live in perfect poverty, in humble obedience, and in spotless purity.”

Jane Frances de Chantal (1572–1641) in Selected letters of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (London: Washbourne, 1918) in letter I “To St. Francis de Sales” dated 1611.

Click here to read it online freely.

This week we will read from seven letters of Jane Frances de Chantal. But first, who was she?

Jane Frances was a French noblewoman, wife, mother, widow, monastic foundress, and follower of Jesus. After her husband was tragically killed in a hunting accident, she dedicated her life to God. God used her to help reform the Catholic Church in her day.

She worked closely with famous followers of Jesus like Francis de Sales, who was a spiritual friend, mentor, and co-founder of the Visitation Order. Also Vincent de Paul served as her spiritual director and advisor in Paris after the death of Francis de Sales.

She starts all her letters with “Vive Jesus” meaning “Jesus lives.”

In this first letter, Jane Frances is a 39 year old mother and widow who had wealth and everything the world could offer but she sensed that God wanted more for her.

God wanted her to live an “evangelical life” and pursue “perfection” in Him. But how? She knew His power and her powerlessness.

Notice the humility and passion in this letter to her mentor. Where do you see yourself in this post? Are you the mentor, who will undoubtedly challenge her to pursue God’s best for her?

Or are you Jane Frances? Is God inviting you to surrender, to irrevocably offer yourself to God? This is the first in her collection of letters because her resolve to surrender changed everything.

It can do the same for you. The apostle Paul describes the surrendered life in today’s Scripture. Read it again. And start the week by resolving to live an “evangelical life” and pursue “perfection” through irrevocably offering yourself to God.

And pray for me as I preach with Chinese translation today at Sky City Christian Reformed Church in Monterey Park, California. Thank you. And please attend if you live nearby.