Introduction to the Devout Life

::: St. Francis de Sales :::

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CONTAINING COUNSELS AND EXERCISES NECESSARY

FOR THE GUIDANCE OF A PERSON FROM THE DESIRE FOR THE DEVOUT LIFE UP

TO A TOTAL COMMITMENT TO LIVE IT

CHAPTER 1: A Description Of True Devotion

CHAPTER 2: The Nature And Exceptional Goodness Of Devotion

CHAPTER 3: Devotion Is Suitable To Every Kind Of Life-Situation And Occupation

CHAPTER 4: The Necessity Of A Guide To Begin And To Make Progress In Devotion

CHAPTER 5: We Must Begin With Self-Purification

CHAPTER 6: First Of All: Purifying Ourselves From Mortal Sins

CHAPTER 7: Secondly: Purifying Ourselves From Attachment To Mortal Sin

CHAPTER 8: The Means To Make The Second Purification

CHAPTER 9: First Meditation: Our Creation

CHAPTER 10: Second Meditation: The Purpose For Which We Are Created

CHAPTER 11: Third Meditation: God's Blessings

CHAPTER 12: Fourth Meditation: My Sins

CHAPTER 13: Fifth Meditation: My Death

CHAPTER 14: Sixth Meditation: The Final Judgement

CHAPTER 15: Seventh Meditation: Hell

CHAPTER 16: Eighth Meditation: Heaven

CHAPTER 17: Ninth Meditation: Deliberate Choice Of Heaven

CHAPTER 18: Tenth Meditation: Deliberate Choice Of The Devout Life

CHAPTER 19: How To Make A General Confession

CHAPTER 20: A Firm Resolution To Impress Upon Oneself The Decision To Serve God, As A Conclusion To The Acts Of Repentance

CHAPTER 21: Concluding The Firm Resolution

CHAPTER 22: We Must Purify Ourselves From Attachment To Venial Sin

CHAPTER 23: We Must Purify Ourselves From Attachment To Useless And Dangerous Things

CHAPTER 24: We Must Purify Ourselves From Evil Inclinations

CHAPTER 1:

A Description Of True Devotion

You seek devotion, dearest Philothea, because as a Christian you know that it is a virtue very pleasing to God. Small mistakes made at the beginning of any project grow infinitely great as it progresses, and in the end are almost impossible to correct. Hence you should know, before everything else, what is the virtue of devotion.

There is only one true devotion while there is a very large number of false and meaningless ones. So if you cannot recognize true devotion, you could be deceived and waste time in following some devotion that is irrelevant and irrational.

Aurelius used to draw all the faces in the pictures he painted with the expressions and appearance of the women he loved. (42) So, each one represents devotion according to his liking and imagination. He who is in the habit of fasting will think that because he fasts he is very devout, even though his heart is filled with hatred. He will not take a sip of wine, or even of water, anxious about sobriety but he has no scruples to sip the blood of his neighbour by speaking ill or by false statements.Another considers himself devout because of the very great number of prayers he recites every day, even though soon after this he speaks words that are annoying, full of pride and hurtful to those in his house and to his neighbours. Another very gladly opens his purse to give alms to the poor but cannot take any gentleness from his heart to forgive his enemies. Yet another will forgive his enemies but will not pay what he owes unless he is legally forced to do so. All such persons are generally looked upon as devout whereas in fact they are not.

When Saul's soldiers came looking for David in his house, Michal placed a statue on a bed and covered it with David's clothes and so made them believe that it was David himself asleep due to illness (1 Samuel 19:11-16). In the same way, many people cover themselves with various external actions related to holy devotion. The world takes them for people who are truly devout and spiritual, whereas in reality they are nothing more than statues and illusions of devotion.

Dear Philothea, devotion that is true and living presupposes the love of God, rather it is nothing else than a true love of God. It is not, however, love as such. In so far as divine love enriches us it is called grace, which makes us pleasing to God. In so far as it gives us the strength to do good, it is called charity. But when it grows to such a degree of perfection that it makes us not only to do good but rather moves us to do it carefully, frequently and promptly, it is called devotion. Ostriches never fly, hens fly only awkwardly, quite low and rarely; but eagles, doves and swallows fly often, swiftly and very high. In the same way, sinners do not fly towards God but rather all their movements are on the earth and for the things of the earth. People who are good, but have not yet progressed to devotion, fly towards God by their good deeds but rarely, slowly and with difficulty. Persons who are devout fly to God frequently, promptly and freely.

In short, devotion is nothing else than a spiritual agility and liveliness by means of which charity realizes its actions in us, or we do so by charity, promptly and lovingly.

Just as it is the work of charity to make us keep all the commandments of God in general and without any exception, so it is the work of devotion to make us do so promptly and earnestly. Therefore, whoever does not keep all of God's commandments cannot be considered either good or devout, because to be good one must have charity. To be devout one must not only have charity but a great liveliness and promptness in doing charitable actions.

Since devotion is to be found at a certain level of charity that is extraordinary it makes us prompt, active and earnest in keeping all of God's commandments. But, more than this, it rouses us to do as many good works as we can, promptly and lovingly, even though they are in no way commanded but rather only counselled or inspired.

A man, who has recently recovered from some illness, walks only as much as he needs to, but slowly and with difficulty. So also, a sinner healed of his sinfulness moves ahead to the extent that God commands him, and that too slowly and with difficulty until he acquires devotion. After that, like a man in good health he not only walks but runs joyfully in the way of God's commandments (Ps. 118:32). Even more, he moves ahead and runs in the paths of God's counsels and inspirations.

In conclusion, charity and devotion are not more different from each other than the flame from the fire, all the more so because charity is a spiritual fire which when it burns with intense flames is called devotiion. In fact, devotion adds to the fire of charity only the flame which makes charity prompt, active and diligent not only to keep God's commandments but also to put into practise his counsels and inspiratioins.

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CHAPTER 2:

The Nature And Exceptional Goodness Of Devotion

To discourage the Israelites from entering the Promised Land, they were told that it was a country that devoured its inhabitants. It was implied that its climate was so unhealthy that no one would be able to live there for long, and further that the people there were monsters who devoured other men like locusts(Numbers 13:33-34). In the same way, my dear Philothea, the world defames holy devotion as much as it can. It represents devout persons with faces that are dissatisfied, sad and sulky. It proclaims that devotion makes people depressed and unbearable.

But Joshua and Caleb insisted that the Promised Land was good and beautiful, and also that possessing it would be delightful and pleasant (Numbers 14:7-8). So also the Holy Spirit assures us, through the words of all the Saints, and our Lord by his own teaching (Matt. 11:28-30), that the devout life is pleasant, happy and lovable.

The world sees that devout persons fast, pray, put up with insults, serve the sick, give to the poor, keep awake to pray, control their anger, stifle and smother their passions, deny themselves sensual pleasures. They do these as well as other kinds of actions which, in themselves and of their very nature and character, are difficult and austere. But the world does not see the interior and wholehearted devotion which makes all these actions pleasant, delightful and easy.

Look at the bees on the thyme. They find there a very bitter juice, but as they suck it they change it into honey since that is their nature. Worldly people! it is true that the devout find much bitterness in their exercises of mortification, but in doing them they change them into the most delightful sweetness. The fires, the flames, the wheels and the swords were like flowers and perfumes to the Martyrs because they were devout. If the most cruel torments, and even death itself, are made delightful by devotion, what will it not do for the practice of virtue?

Sugar sweetens fruits that are not quite ripe and puts right anything unpleasant or harmful in those that are fully ripe. Indeed, devotion is the true spiritual sugar, removing unplesantness from mortificatioans, and what may be hurtful from consolations. Devotion takes away discontent from the poor and anxiety from the rich, despair from the oppressed and arrogance from the powerful, sadness from the lonely and dissipation from one who is with others. Devotion serves as fire in winter and dew in summer. It is able to live in prosperity and suffer need. It draws equal profit from honour and contempt. It receives pleasure and pain with a heart that hardly changes and fills us with a wonderful delight.

Look carefully at Jacob's ladder (Genesis. 28:10ff) since it is a true image of the devout life. The two sides, between which we go up, and to which the rungs are fixed, represent prayer which asks for and receives the love of God and the Sacraments which give it. The rungs are the various degrees of charity by which we move from virtue to virtue, either coming down by action to help and support our neighbour or going up by contemplation to loving union with God.

Now consider those on the ladder: they are either men with angelic hearts or Angels with human bodies. They are not young but seem so since they are full of vigour and spiritual agility. They have wings to fly and they soar up to God in holy prayer. But they also have feet to walk along with men by a life of holiness and love. Their faces are beautiful and cheerful because they receive everythging with delight and contentment. Their legs, arms and heads are completely uncovered because their thoughts, desires and actions have no other intention or purpose but that of pleasing God. The rest of their body is covered, but with a beautiful and light garment, because while they do make use of the world, and of the things of the world, they do so with complete sincerity and detachment. They take with moderation what is needed for their state in life. Such are devout people.

I assure you, dear Philothea, devotion is the delight of delights and the queen of virtues, since it is the perfection of charity. If charity is milk, devotion is its cream; if it is a plant, devotion is its flower; if it is a jewel, devotion is its lustre; if it is a precious balm, devotion is its perfume, a delightful perfume that gives comfort to men and makes the Angels rejoice.

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CHAPTER 3:

Devotion Is Suitable To Every Kind Of Life-Situation And Occupation

God commanded the plants, at the creation, to bear fruit each according to its kind (Genesis. 1:11). Similarly, he commands Christians, the living plants of his Church, to produce the fruits of devotion, according to each one's ability and occupation.

Devotion is to be practised differently by the nobleman, the workman, the servant, the prince, the widow, the young girl, the wife. Even more than this, the practice of devotion has to be adapted to the strength, life-situation and duties of each individual.

Do you think, dear Philothea, that it is suitable for a Bishop to desire to live the life of a hermit like a Carthusian monk? If people with a family were to want to be like the Capuchins not acquiring any property, if a workman spent a great deal of time in church like the member of a religious order, and if a religious was always subject to being disturbed in all sorts of ways for the service of his neighbour like a Bishop, would not such devotion be ridiculous, disorderly and intolerable? However, this sort of fault is very common. The world, which does not distinguish or does not want to distinguish between devotion and the indiscretion of those who consider themselves devout, complains and finds fault with devotion which is in no way responsible for such disorders.

Indeed, Philothea, devotion in no way spoils anything if it be true, rather it makes everything perfect. When it conflicts with any person's legitimate occupation, it is without doubt false. The bee, says Aristotle, sucks honey from flowers without damaging them, leaving them as whole and fresh as it found them. But true devotion does even better. Not only does it not spoil any sort of life-situation or occupation, but on the contrary enriches it and makes it attractive. All sorts of precious stones when immersed in honey have a greater brilliance, each according to its colour. Similarly, everyone becomes more pleasant in one's state of life by joining it with devotion. Devotion makes the care of the family peaceful, the love of husband and wife more sincere, the service of the ruler more loyal, and every sort of occupation more pleasant and more loveable.

It is an error, or rather, a heresy, to try to exclude the devout life from the soldiers' regiment, the workmen's shop, the court of rulers or the home of the married. It is true, Philothea, that a devotion which is purely contemplative, monastic and religious cannot be practised in such occupations. However, besides these three sorts of devotion, there are many others suitable for leading to perfection those who live their lives in the world. This is attested in the Old Testament by Abraham,Isaac and Jacob, David, Job, Tobias, Sara, Rebecca and Judith.

In the New Testament, St. Joseph, Lydia (Acts 16:14-15) and St. Crispin lived perfectly devout lives in their workshop, St. Anne, St. Martha, St. Monica, Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:1-4) in their family; Cornelius (Acts 10), St. Sebastian, St. Maurice in the army; Constantine, Helen, St. Louis, (44) Blessed Amadeus (45) and St. Edward (46) on the throne. It has even happened that many have lost perfection while in solitude, even though it is so favourable for perfection. Others have retained it amidst the multitude which seems of such little help for perfection. As St. Gregory mentions, Lot who was chaste while living in the city, was defiled while in the desert. No matter where we are, we can and we should seek a life of perfection.

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CHAPTER 4:

The Necessity Of A Guide To Begin And To Make Progress In Devotion

When young Tobias was told to go to Rages, he said, I do not know the way at all. His father replied, Well, go and find someone to be your guide. (Tobit 5:2,4) Similarly, I say to you, dear Philothea: If you want to set out earnestly on the path of devotion, find some good person to guide and direct you. This is the most important advice. The devout Avila writes that in whatever way you search You will never find the will of God with such certainty than by following the path of this humble obedience so much recommended and practised by all the devout persons of the past."

Blessed (48) Mother Teresa knowing that a certain lady, Catherine of Cardona, did severe acts of penance, was eager to imitate her in this, against the advice of her confessor who had forbidden her to do so. Being tempted to disobey him on this point, God said to her:My daughter, you are in a way that is good and safe. Do you see the penance she is doing? But I value more your obedience. So she loved this virtue so much that, besides the obedience owed to her superiors, she vowed a special obedience to a very good man (49), and bound herself to follow his direction and guidance by which she was very greatly consoled.

Similarly, before her and after, many good people in order to better subject themselves to God have submitted their will to that of His servants, and this is very greatly praised by St. Catherine of Siena in her Dialogues. The devout princess, St. Elizabeth, submitted herself in absolute obedience to the learned Master Conrad. The great St. Louis, before his death, gave his son this counsel: Make your confession frequently, choose a confessor, a suitable one, who is a prudent man who can teach you with certainty" to do the things you need to do.

A faithful friend, says Holy Scripture (Sirach 6:14,16), is a strong defence: whoever has found one has found a treasure. A faithful friend is the medicine of life and of immortality: those who fear the Lord will find one. These divine words, you will note, refer principally to immortality, for which it is necessary to have, more than anything else, this faithful friend to guide our actions by his advice and counsel and so keep us safe from the snares and deceits of the evil one. He will be like a treasure of wisdom to us in our difficulties, sorrows and failures. He will serve as a medicine to soothe and comfort our hearts in our spiritual illnesses. He will protect us from evil and help to improve our good. When spiritually ill, he will prevent it leading to death since he will help us to recover.

But who will find such a friend? The Wise Man answers: those who fear the Lord (Sirach 6:16), that is, the humble who earnestly desire their spiritual progress. Since it is so very important for you, Philothea, that on this holy journey of devotion you travel with a good guide, pray very earnestly to God to give you one after his own heart, and do not doubt. Even if it is necessary to send an Angel from heaven, as he did for young Tobias, he will give you a guide who is good and faithful.

Always look upon this guide as an Angel, that is, once you find him do not consider him as an ordinary man. And do not put your trust in him or in his human knowledge but in God. God will give you grace, and speak to you through this man, putting in his heart and in his mouth whatever is needed for your happiness. So much so that you should listen to him as to an Angel come down from heaven to take you there. In your dealings with him open your heart, with complete sincerity and fidelity, clearly disclosing to him the good and the bad in you without pretending or concealing. In this way, the good in you will be assessed and made more secure, and the bad will be set right and cured. So you will be given relief and strength in your troubles, and moderation and control in your joys. Have very great confidence in him along with a holy reverence, in such a way that reverence may not lessen confidence nor confidence hinder reverence. Entrust yourself to him with the respect of a daughter for her father, and respect him with the confidence of a son in his mother. In short, this friendship should be strong and gentle, entirely holy, entirely sacred, entirely divine and entirely spiritual.

And that it may be so, choose one from a thousand, writes John of Avila. And I insist, choose one from ten thousand, for those who are fit for such a task are very few indeed. He must be full of charity, of knowledge and of prudence. If he lacks any one of these three qualities, there is danger.

But I tell you once again, ask God to give you such a person and when you find one give thanks to God. Be faithful and do not look for others. Rather, move on with simplicity, humility and confidence, for your journey will be full of happiness.

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CHAPTER 5:

We Must Begin With Self-Purification

The flowers, says the sacred Spouse (Song 2:12), have begun to blossom in our land, pruning time has come. What are the flowers of our heart, Philothea? Our Good desires, certainly. As soon as they appear, we should get hold of a pruning knife to cut off from our conscience every deed that is useless and irrelevant. In order to marry an Israelite, a girl who was a foreigner had to take off the garment she was wearing as a captive, trim her nails and shave her head (Deuteronomy 21:12,13). So whoever seeks the honour of being a spouse of Christ has to strip off the old self and be clothed in the new (Eph. 4:12,24), giving up sin and then trimming and cutting away all sorts of obstructions which lead away from the love of God. The first step of our spiritual health is to be purified from our sinful dispositions.

St. Paul was cleansed in a moment becoming perfectly purified, as were also St. Catherine of Genoa, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Pelagia and some others. But this sort of purification is entirely miraculous and extraordinary in the order of grace, as the resurrection of the dead is in the order of nature, and so we should not claim it. The usual purification and healing, of the body as well as of the spirit, takes place only little by little, by gradual progress, by constant improvement, with effort and over a period of time.

The Angels on Jacob's ladder, even though they have wings, do not fly but rather go up and come down step by step in an orderly manner. One who rises from sin to devotion is compared to the dawn (Proverbs 4:18) which when it breaks does not drive away the darkness suddenly but little by little. As the saying goes, the cure which takes place slowly is always more sure. The illnesses of the heart, like those of the body, come on horseback very fast, but they go away on foot, slowly.

Therefore, one has to be courageous and patient, Philothea, in this venture. Alas! it is sad indeed to see people who finding they are subject to many imperfections, after practising devotion a few times, begin to become anxious, upset and discouraged. They almost let their heart be carried away by the temptation to give up everything and go back to life as before. But on the other hand they also are in extreme danger who, by a temptation that is contrary, are led to believe they are freed from their imperfections on the first day of their purification. These consider themselves perfect when hardly formed and try to fly without wings. Philothea, they are in great danger of a relapse, having taken themselves too soon out of the doctor's hands. Do not rise before the light is come, says the Prophet, rise after you have been seated. (Ps. 127:2 RSV). He himself puts this advice into practice and, though he is washed and clean, he prays that he should be purified even more (Ps. 51:2).

The practice of self-purification cannot and should not come to an end as long as we live. Therefore, let us not be disturbed by our imperfections, because our perfection consists in fighting them. And we cannot fight them unless we see them, nor can we overcome them if we do not come across them. Our victory is not in not being aware of them but in not consenting to them. And to be bothered by them is not the same as consenting to them.

In this spiritual struggle, we have to be wounded sometimes in order that we may practise humility, but we shall never suffer defeat unless we lose either life or courage. As imperfections and venial sins cannot take away our spiritual life, which is lost only by mortal sin, the only thing that matters is that they should not make us lose courage. Save me, Lord, David said, from cowardice and discouragement (Ps. 55:5). We have a happy condition in this warfare that we shall always be victorious as long as we want to fight.

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CHAPTER 6:

First Of All: Purifying Ourselves From Mortal Sins

We must begin by making a purification from mortal sin and the means to realize it is the holy sacrament of Penance. Look for the best confessor you can find. Get hold of one of the booklets which have been composed to help people to make a good confession. (50) Read it carefully, and note point by point what are your offenses, beginning from the time you came to the use of reason up to the present. In case you cannot rely on your memory, write down what you observe. Having in this way got ready and gathered up your sinful dispositions, detest them and renounce them with all the contrition and regret that your heart is capable of. Keep in mind those four points: that by sin you have lost God's grace, given up your place in Heaven, taken upon yourself the everlasting suffering of hell and renounced God's everlasting love.

You understand, Philothea, that I refer to a general confession of your whole life. Of course, I admit that it is not always absolutely necessary. But I am sure that it will be of very great help to you, now in the beginning. Therefore, I strongly recommend it to you.

It often happens that the usual confessions of those who live a common and ordinary life are full of great defects. Generally they make little or no preparation, and they do not have sufficient contrition. In fact, it frequently happens that they go to confession with the implicit determination of returning to sin, since they are not willing to avoid the occasions of sin or to make use of the measures required to amend their life. In all such cases a general confession is indispensable to inspire confidence.

Besides this, a general confession invites us to a knowledge of ourselves. It arouses us to a healthy embarrassment for our past life. It makes us marvel at the mercy of God and his waiting for us with patience. It brings peace to our heart, refreshes our mind, and urges us to good resolutions. It provides our spiritual director with opportunity to give us advice that is more suitable to our condition. It opens our heart so that we can express ourselves with confidence at our subsequent confessions.

Since I am advising you about a general renewal of heart and a complete conversion to God, by committing yourself to the devout life, I think I have every reason to advise you to make this general confession.

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CHAPTER 7:

Secondly: Purifying Ourselves From Attachment To Mortal Sin

All the Israelites did in fact leave the land of Egypt, but they did not all leave in so far as attachment to it was concerned. That is why, in the desert, many of them were sad that they did not have the onions and the meat of Egypt (Numbers 11: 4-5). In the same way, there are penitents who in fact leave sin but do not leave their attachment to it. In other words, they intend not to sin again but they give up and deny themselves the unhappy pleasures of sin with a certain reluctance. Though their heart turns away from sin and leaves it behind, yet it does not stop looking back again and again in that direction as Lot's wife did towards Sodom (Genesis 19:26).

They give up sin the way the sick give up melons. The sick do not eat melons because of the doctor's warning that eating them would mean death. But they are disturbed at having to do without them. They talk of them and try to bargain if they could possibly have them. They want at least to smell them, and consider those who can eat them to be very happy. Similarly, penitents who are weak and lack courage give up sin for some time but with sadness. They would like very much if they could sin and not be damned. They speak of sin with delight and appreciation, and regard as happy those who sin.

A man determined to take revenge will change his mind in confession, but soon afterwards he will join his friends and enjoy speaking about his quarrel. He will say that but for the fear of God, he would have done this or that; that the divine law with regard to forgiveness is hard; that, God willing, taking revenge should be allowed. Yes, it is quite clear that, though this man has given up sin, he is greatly burdened with attachment to sin. He is in fact out of Egypt, but in desire he is still there, longing for the garlic and onions which he enjoyed eating there. He is like the woman who has put a stop to her love affairs, but still takes delight in being courted and surrounded by admirers. Alas! such persons are certainly in great danger.

Dear Philothea, as you desire to commit yourself to the devout life, you must not only turn away from