The Devout Life, Here

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Devout Life, Here

"Every vocation becomes more agreeable when united with devotion.   The care of the family is rendered more peaceable, the love of the husband and wife more sincere, the service of the prince more faithful, and every type of employment more pleasant and agreeable.  It is an error, or rather a heresy, to try to banish the devout life from the regiment of soldiers, the shop of the mechanic, the court of princes, or the home of married folk."  (St. Francis de Sales, , Introduction to the Devout Life, Image Books, Garden City NY, 1955, p. 40)

"Almost all those who have hitherto treated of devotion have had in view the instruction of persons wholly withdrawn from the world, or they have taught a kind of devotion that leads to this absolute retirement.  My intention is to instruct those who live in towns, in families, or at court.  By their condition they are obliged to lead, as to outward appearances, an ordinary life ... a vigorous and resolute soul may live in the world without being infected by any of its moods..."  (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Image Books, Garden City NY, 1955, pp. 29-30)

Wyzcolkowski painting in US public domain