Thomas Griffin 1/24/24
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In the preface to Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life he admits that most projects on holiness have been written for those who have completely left the world behind for God. “But my object,” Francis says, “is to teach those who are living in towns, at court, in their households, and whose calling obliges them to a social life.” He goes on to note that most people in this state of life decide to deny the possibility that a devout life can be lived in their circumstances.
Do you deny it? Can a truly holy life, one completely lived for God in every way possible, be accomplished while we live “ordinary lives” of work and family? Francis also notes that fleeing the world is not possible because it leads to indifference and clinging to the world is not an option either because it leads to a rejection of God’s kingdom.
Christians that are in tune with their faith can frequently summarize the practice of their religion in two ways: time spent in prayer and time spent in the intellectual pursuit of the truth. Both are necessary for the disciple. However, both can be made into idols that need to be consistently examined.
Francis de Sales writes the Introduction to the Devout Life because he knows that Christians can easily get their faith wrong. Holiness and devotion can be confused with tasks rather than with the fire of God’s love. Francis says that a man might convince himself that he is devout “because he repeats many prayers daily, although at the same time he does not refrain from all manner of angry, irritating, conceited or insulting speeches among his family and neighbors.”
Prayer can become solitary in its impact on our real lives. Prayer is not one aspect of our relationship with God; prayer is our relationship with God. However, prayer is not an activity to be accomplished but an embrace to be experienced. Ultimately, this is God’s work. It takes our free choice to commit to prayer and our attentiveness to the fact that this is a divine conversation. Placed inside of that context, there is no limit on what God can do to us inside of our prayer time.
“All true and living devotion,” Francis continues “presupposes the love of God—and indeed it is neither more nor less than a very real love of God.” Praying or attending Sunday Mass simply because we know we should is a good thing. It could, however, easily lead to going through the motions when God is offering us His very life instead. For this reason, he calls it “a very real love.” Love for God that is transformative must arise from the inner recesses of one’s soul.
Francis de Sales was fascinated with the intimacy that devotion brought to the human heart. He was also a learned and highly intelligent man. The pursuit of the truth led him to become more devoted; academia did not steal his devotion but fed it. Diving more into the life of faith we will instinctively desire to know details about the truth. God gives us the capacity to do so because he created us to be united with His very being.
In one of his meditations he notes that God “gave you understanding that you might know Him, memory that you might think of Him, a will that you might love Him, imagination that you might realize His mercies, sight that you might behold the marvels of His works, speech that you might praise Him.”
All intellectual pursuits, especially those in the vein of theology and philosophy, serve our very real relationship with God. Even the reading of these words serves your friendship with the Lord because it has the ability (because of the saint that we quote) to bring about communion with the living God. The use of our intellect is utilized in prayer but it can never be substituted for a true life of devotion.
Francis later notes that “reason is the special characteristic of man, and yet it is a rare thing to find really reasonable men” because “self-love hinders reason.” Man’s rational soul separates him from all other creatures, and yet, it is something outside of the intellect that steals its power. The temptation to know more and to have a deeper understanding of subjects can lead one to believe that they are better than others, revealing that divine study must be kept in check by a deep prayerful attitude.
Having the mindframe and heart of Francis de Sales allows the Christian to pray and study out of love for a deeper intimacy with Jesus Christ. Devotion depends on the rejection of merely accomplishing tasks and the promotion of encountering the Triune God who lives within you and desperately desires for you to know Him. All prayer and intellectual pursuit must serve devotion.
In fact, it is prayer and devotion that will enlighten the mind. Francis notes that “prayer opens the understanding to the brightness of Divine Light, and the will to the warmth of Heavenly Love—nothing can so effectively purify the mind from its many ignorances, or the will from its perverse affections.”
Thought is purified in prayer because prayer is living in the Presence of the Truth. For all those who seek wisdom, live a life of devotion. For all those who desire to pray more, do so out of love for the Person you sit with, not the mere satisfaction brought from doing what is right and just. Francis de Sales can serve modern man powerfully because he gives him access to the crux of faith: true devotion aimed at an actual deepening of one’s friendship with God.
Thomas Griffin is the chairperson of the religion department at a Catholic high school on Long Island where he lives with his wife and two sons. He has a masters degree in theology and is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Empty Tomb Project: The Magazine.
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