Introduction to the Devout Life (1619)

All true and living devotion presupposes the Love of God

This spiritual classic is written not by a monk for monks but by a catholic bishop advising a young wife of an ambassador to live a pious life. Mme. de Charmoisy found it difficult to maintain a devout spirit in the midst of all the glamour of courtly life. So she wrote to Frances de Sales for advise.

Francis de Sales starts with an explanation of what a devout life is. Then follows very practical advise on prayer introducing topics to meditate on and several resolutions. In the third section he describes various virtues and how to pursue them - then there's a section on temptations and how to overcome them. The last part focuses on the conscience and how to maintain a pure heart and a love for God.

I found Francis de Sales very balanced in his understanding of spiritual formation and direction - of course when he gets practical on "worldly" things like card playing, how to dress etc. time and culture has changed in the last 400 years.

What was specially helpful was the section on virtues - when he talks about patience, humility, gentleness, purity, poverty of spirit and the chapters on true and false friendships. These parts I will return to, no doubt. ( )

Where have I been all my life to not discover this book and this discipline. I feel that at age 70 I am starting all over in my spiritual walk.
Just read chapter X on morning prayer - good guide for the day. ( )

This is definitely one of the most inspiring books I've read. Francis De Sales was a spiritual adviser to a lay woman and wrote letters to direction and encouragement to her. When others in the church read them, they urged him to publish a book of spiritual direction that would be applicable to all lay persons, based on the letters he'd already written. The book keeps the letter format, addressing an allegorical character, Philothea ('lover of God').
Francis de Sales does not beat around the bush. His intent is to offer clear, specific advice to lay people on how to live a devout life, as opposed to a life of mediocre attention to God. He spends quite a bit of time talking about how we must recognize our sinfulness and God's ever-abundant greatness. Then, he goes into the daily practice of the devout life, everything from meditative prayer, reading scriptures and inspirational books, and attending mass to forming intentional friendships, responding to irritating people with love, and controlling even our smallest sinful inclinations. This is not just a general inspiration type book - it's very specific, but it's a wonderful reminder that we should consider how every single aspect of our lives should be devoted to God, even the seemingly insignificant ones.
It is written for a Catholic audience, but 90% of it would be just as beneficial to non-Catholic Christians. If you wanted to bypass references to Mary, the Eucharist, Confession, ad the saints, you'd still derive a huge amount of inspiration from this classic devotional text. I'd recommend this to everyone. ( )

This is one of the first books I ever read that was 'spiritual' in the real sense of the word, and I am still very fond of it. I love the way St. Francis de Sales writes of the spiritual life with such practicality and gentleness. ( )

This book is an instruction of devotion to those who live any kind of life, not just religious. So Saint Francis de Sales with that thought writes regarding an individual, which by desire of devotion wishes to the love of God. The instructions are broken down into five parts.

He starts by showing us how to turn our simple desire to a life of devotion into an absolute resolution. Among all of us, a Bishop should set the example of perfect devotion. But its practice cannot be the solitary life of a Carthusian. Nor would that be the life for a tradesman. True devotion does no harm, but rather leads all things toward perfection. True devotion actually makes your trade take on a great beauty. To follow our path of devotion we must purify our soul via the sacrament of penance. And this must be done with fore thought, if necessary write a list. We must truly depart from sin with all our heart. We must then be diligently exercising ourselves by starting our days with spiritual exercises. Which will help place us in the presence of God and beseech him to inspire us. The remainder of the section focuses on various meditations.

Then we learn how we may unite more to Our Lord. By use of the sacraments, God comes closer to us. And by holy prayer, in which he attracts us closer to Him. And above all mental prayer is recommended which has for its object the life and passion of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Then there is a short explanation of how to perform mental prayers. We are reminded that God is everywhere, especially in our heart and spirit.

The third part is to learn to advance in the exercises of the virtues. Charity is the most important of all virtues. For with charity come all the other virtues. When we exercise virtues, we should always prefer those that are in accord with our duty, not those that we feel are most agreeable. We must exercise virtues faithfully and discreetly.

Fourth he exposes us to some of the snares of our enemy and how we might escape them, and then move forward in our life of devotion. And finally, We stop and take a break. We renew our strength and examine our advancements in our devotion to God.

This is a perfect discourse on how to live a holy life in the secular world. Perhaps even more relevant today then when it was written. ( )