How to “Live Jesus”

“To Live Jesus is to have – in Francis de Sales’ words – the name of Jesus engraved on one’s heart. To allow Jesus to live, one does not simply learn about Jesus, pray to Jesus, or even imitate Jesus. One surrenders the vital center of one’s being – one’s heart, as understood in the holistic biblical sense, to another living presence. 

The Pauline dictum, ‘I no longer live but Christ lives in me,’ is at the core of the distinctive Salesian inscription.  Jesus was for the two early seventeenth-century founders of the Salesian tradition (St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal) a presence to be experienced, a reality to be lived.” (Letters of Spiritual Direction, page 10)  

Vive Jesu, or Live Jesus, is the Oblate motto. It was the guiding principle in the life of St. Francis de Sales and appeared on his own coat of arms. On the Oblate Shield, the motto is situated in the center of the Rising Sun, which symbolizes the Risen Christ. Living Jesus is what the Oblate way of life is all about. 

As in all spiritual traditions, Salesian Spirituality defines a way of life and a lifestyle centered on certain values.

These values are broad themes that both enrich one’s personal relationship with Jesus and also serve as the foundation for any ministry in which Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and their lay colleagues collaborate. 

The following values are integral to Salesian Spirituality. While this list is not exhaustive, these values are woven throughout the entire fabric of Salesian Spirituality. These values include:

• You are called to be holy

• Develop, maintain, and deepen a prayerful life

• Live an intentional, reflective Life

• Embrace the particulars of your state and stage in life

• Live in the present moment

• Respect yourself; respect others

• Treat people right

• See the glass – and life - as half-full

• Little things mean a lot

These values distinguish the Salesian model of ministry – a framework for living, loving, working, laughing, mourning, and praying together – from other approaches for sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

Our ability to live – or our failure to live – in conformity with these values have a profound effect upon our individual lives and upon the climate and culture of the ministry in which we work together.