The God-Centered Life

The God-centered Life consists of 25 letters of spiritual counsel written by the Roman Catholic archbishop François Fénelon nearly three hundred years ago to members of the court of Louis XIV. Louis was known as "the Sun King" because of the opulence, ostentation and hedonism of his court. Fénelon wrote the letters because many members of Louis' court had a sincere and fervent need to learn the will of God and follow it despite the lures of the world into which they had been cast. To them Fénelon's message was crystal clear. As the editor puts it in his introduction: "In sum, the less our lives are self, world, and thing-centered the more they can become God-centered. It's as simple as that." So much emphasis in Christian churches is place on salvation that the words of St. Paul are often overlooked: "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (RSV 180) There is no better guide to that renewal than these words of François Fénelon.