True Devotion and St. Francis of Sales

Recently, I have been reading a devotional classic called Introduction to a Devout Life by St. Francis of Sales (1567-1622). As I read this training manual for the "soul's guidance" in pursuing a life pleasing to God (cf. 1 Thess. 4:1-3), I will summarize some of his reflections, thus, putting God in the right in regard to the genuine disciple's devotion of Christ.

What is true devotion?

According to St. Francis, it is the experience of the love God that leads us to do well through acting carefully, diligently, and promptly. It is not just charity but it is charity done from a heart totally given over to the love of God in Christ Jesus. It is a willingness to serve our Savior with all of one's being, selflessly, affectionally, and lovingly.

But caution is needed. Not all devotion is true devotion. We can be fooled into believing that our devotion is true devotion when it is "coloured according to our own likings and dispositions. No wonder St. Francis rightly comments: "When Saul’s servants sought to take David, Michal induced them to suppose that the lifeless figure lying in his bed, and covered with his garments, was the man they sought; and in like manner many people dress up an exterior with the visible acts expressive of earnest devotion, and the world supposes them to be really devout and spiritual-minded, while all the time they are mere lay figures, mere phantasms of devotion" (2, 3).

These "phantasms of devotion" can take the form of being a Bible reader but not a Bible doer, or of being a lofty speaker of prayers in public but an absentee speaker of prayers in private, or of being a great articulator of doctrine but a mis-appropriator of doctrine in practice. In fact, it can be said that if the heart wanders from Christ that in the wake of that departure there will be the manifestation of a duplicitus life. No wonder St. Francis uses awareness words like "carefully," "diligently," "promptly," "briskly," "readily," "eagerly," "energetically," and "actively." These words move obedience from mere outward action back to the heart that produces the action.

It is true that only God truly knows the heart but the heart has flowers and those flowers give away the condition of the soul from which they grow. But it seems that our very own hearts would trick us into believing that our focus should be on the flower rather than the soil from which the flower springs. This misdirected gaze can lead us toward a path that would produce "phantasms of devotion," mere form rather than substance. It would be similar to an athlete who constantly placed his focus on the rewards of winning rather than on the elements that lead to winning.

St. Francis, therefore, calls his students to a thorough-going self-examination as well as a deep confession concerning one's own life before a holy God. It seems that St. Francis has a healthy understanding of the sinfulness of the human heart! So the life that is truly devoted to Jesus must be a life that is truly devoted to continual repentance, that is, a continual "turning from idols to serve a living and true God" (1 Thess. 1:10).

Here is one of my favorite quotes from St. Francis. Maybe this will spur you on to read more of this saint's explanation of the devout life. He says: "We sweeten unripe fruit with sugar, and it is useful in correcting the crudity even of that which is good. So devotion is the real spiritual sweetness which takes away all bitterness from mortifications; and prevents consolations from disagreeing with the soul; it cures the poor of sadness, and the rich of presumption; it keeps the oppressed from feeling desolate, and the prosperous from insolence; it averts sadness from the lonely, and dissipation from social life; it is as warmth in winter and refreshing dew in summer; it knows how to abound and how to suffer want; how to profit alike by honour and contempt; it accepts gladness and sadness with an even mind, and fill's mens heart with wondrous sweetness" (6).