OUR CHARISM
God is eager for our love. Because of this He sends His inspirations to some people, separating them from others. These persons by a firm determination consecrate and dedicate to His honour and glory their hearts with all their love, their bodies and their possessions. - St. Francis de Sales
Responding wholeheartedly to the grace of God who chose us in Christ to be like Him, we realize that we are called to boldly proclaim God's will that all be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. Enlightened and empowered by the Holy Spirit we, who are called according to His purpose, humbly submit ourselves to fulfill His mission. Therefore, He consecrates us to live in a community of self-emptying love.
The Holy Spirit who anointed and filled Jesus Christ for the divine mission and empowered the apostles at Pentecost to continue His mission inspired and empowered our Founder, Servant of God, Father Peter Mermier to envision a religious community seeking perfect love and sharing it with all going beyond all boundaries created by human beings. He was inspired by the missionary zeal of St. Francis de Sales, the great Apostle of Chablais and a great master of the spiritual life. Inflamed by the love for God and an intense love for humanity, St. Francis de Sales saw in the disfigurement of humans the disfigurement of God Himself. While making full use of the existing means available to him like preaching, writing, meeting individual persons and communities St. Francis de Sales sought creative and innovative ways to be more effective at the service of the Gospel. He invited all to realize their God-given vocation to become more human in the mould of Christ. Our Founder, Father Peter Mermier presents to us St. Francis de Sales as our Patron and model. Living the spirit and spirituality of Saint Francis de Sales in our mission is the Charism that gives identity to our Congregation and is its distinguishing mark. Our Charism unfolds itself in the triple task that Bishop Joseph Rey considered important for our religious life as missionaries while approving the Congregation: study of St. Francis de Sales, imitating his virtues and forming our method of guiding people on his: full of gentleness to sinners.
Nourished and inflamed by the Word of God we proclaim God's reign as we share in the Church's missionary activity. By our religious and missionary commitment flowing from our Charism we share wholeheartedly in the mission of the Church in a way that is distinctively Fransalian. We dedicate ourselves completely to doing the unique and simple will of God. This fosters in us simplicity of heart which Saint Francis de Sales calls the perfection of all perfections. Such simplicity manifests a vigorous charity. It has no mixture of self-interest, in all our desires and in all our actions. In this way, we give ourselves more completely to our neighbour. Our total commitment to our vocation is in and through our complete self-surrender to God through the practice of the evangelical counsels.
