Devotion Must Be Practiced
From The Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales, bishop (1567-1622)
Devotion must be practiced in different ways
When God the Creator made all things, he commanded the plants to bring forth fruit each according to its own kind; he has likewise commanded Christians, who are the living plants of his Church, to bring forth the fruits of devotion, each one in accord with his character, his station and his calling.
I say that devotion must be practiced in different ways by the nobleman and by the working man, by the servant and by the prince, by the window, by the unmarried girl and by the married woman. But even this distinction is not sufficient; for the practice of devotion must be adapted to the strength, to the occupation and to the duties of each one in particular.
Tell me, please, my Philothea, whether it is proper for a bishop to want to lead a solitary life like a Carthusian; or for married people to be no more concerned than a Capuchin about increasing their income; or for a working man to spend his whole day in church like a religious; or on the other hand for a religious to be constantly exposed like a bishop to all the events and circumstances that bear on the needs of our neighbor. it not this sort of devotion ridiculous, unorganized and intolerable? Yet this absurd error occurs very frequently, but in no way does true devotion, my Philothea, destroy anything at all. On the contrary, it perfects and fulfills all things. In fact if it ever works against, or is inimical to, anyone’s legitimate station and calling, then it is very definitely false devotion.
The bee collects honey from flowers in such a way as to do the least damage or destruction to them, and he leaves them whole, undamaged and fresh, just as he found them. True devotion does still better. Not only does it not injure any sort of calling or occupation, it even embellishes and enhances it.
Moreover, just as every sort of gem, cast in honey, becomes brighter and more sparkling, each according to its color, so each person becomes more acceptable and fitting in his own vocation when he sets his vocation in the context of devotion. Through devotion your family cares become more peaceful, mutual love between husband and wife becomes more sincere, the service we owe to the prince becomes more faithful, and our work, no matter what it is, becomes more pleasant and agreeable.
It is therefore an error and even a heresy to wish to exclude the exercise of devotion from military divisions, from the artisans’ shops, from the courts of princes, from family households. I acknowledge, my dear Philothea, that the type of devotion which is purely contemplative, monastic and religious can certainly not be exercised in these sorts of stations and occupations, but besides this threefold type of devotion, there are many others fit for perfecting those who live in a secular state.
Therefore, in whatever situations we happen to be, we can and we must aspire to the life of perfection.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622) was born at Savoy in 1567. He studied eight years at the Jesuit college of Clermont in Paris and then studied law and theology at the University of Padua receiving his doctorate in law when only twenty-four. Declining the offer of a senatorship and the prospects of a brilliant secular career, he decided on the religious life. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1593 and appointed provost in Geneva. He spent five years as a missionary in Chablais, and despite repeated attack on him by assassins and mobs of Calvinists, he attracted thousands back to Catholicism along with new converts. He was appointed bishop of Geneva in 1599 at age 32 and became one of the outstanding leaders of the Counter-Reformation, noted for his intellect, wisdom and theological knowledge. He founded schools and taught catechetics. He died at Lyons, France on December 28, 1622 at age 55. Two of his writings, Introduction to the Devout Life (1609) and Treatise on the Love of God (1616) stressing that sanctity is possible in everyday life, have become spiritual classics still widely read and sold in bookstores today. He was canonized a saint in 1665, declared a Doctor of the Church in 1877 and designated patron saint of the Catholic press in 1923.