Introduction to the Devout Life

We recently celebrated the feast day of St. Francis de Sales who is the patron of writers (presumably this would include bloggers). One of the great gifts he has given the Church is his spiritual classic, Introduction to the Devout Life (At the end of the post, I provide additional links for obtaining a copy of the book).

Last month, I recommended Be a Man! by Father Larry Richards as a starting point for implementing consistent, daily, planned spiritual reading. I chose that title because it was written specifically for men of the laity. I have chosen Introduction to the Devout Life (IDL) for the same reason. It was written with the  laity in mind.

St. Francis de Sales was ahead of his time. The idea of the universal call to holiness is common to us now, but the laity of the 16th Century were not privy to this teaching. St. Francis actually addresses this in his Preface:

"But my object is to teach those who are living in towns, at court, in their own households, and whose calling obliges them to a social life, so far as externals are concerned. Such persons are apt to reject all attempt to lead a devout life under the plea of impossibility[.]" (vi)

St. Francis actually wrote that "it is not however, my own choice or wish which brings this Introduction before the public" (vii). He was instead urged by a "devout Religious" to publish the work.

In IDL, de Sales describes devotion as that guide that “not only leads us to do well, but to act carefully, diligently, and promptly” (p. 3). St. Francis de Sales directs a person to ponder Jacob’s Ladder, in order to help a person understand how to progress from simply doing good to doing good carefully, frequently and instinctively. He asserts the two poles of this spiritual ladder are meditative prayer, which seeks God’s love, and the second is the Sacraments, which dispense God’s love. The rungs of the ladder are the virtues and graces by which we ascend to join God’s love or descend to share His love with others in acts of mercy and charity.

St. Francis organized IDL into meditations. The meditations suggested by St. Francis de Sales act as instruments of purification, but are not themselves the purifying agent. Neither does the one who meditates purify himself, but rather the meditations prepare the soul to accept God’s sanctifying grace. When the meditations are obediently performed “they (by God’s Grace) will root out both sin and its affections from your heart (XIII, p. 24). As sin is abandoned and the will of God embraced, we seek to know, love and serve God. The CCC (2706) teaches, “to the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able to discern them.” This process stirs us to ask the question, "Lord, what do you want me to do?”

Introduction to the Devout Life - Multiple Formats (Some FREE!)
Online Searchable - Christian Classic Ethereal Library

PDF - CCEL

mp3 - CCEL (Recorded by a volunteer but adequate quality to supplement study.)

eBook - Amazon (Kindle)

Paperback - Aquinas & More