Salesian Spirituality for Lent: Purified by God’s Grace & Personal Effort
Having examined St. Francis de Sales’s exhortation to perseverance (in Part Four of the Introduction), which is helpful at the beginning of Lent, it is right to turn and examine the pilgrimage along which he guided “Philothea”—the soul interested in growing in devotion. The bishop and spiritual director aimed to move souls from initial desire toward a resolution to total espousal of the devout life. Thus, from its first pages, this entire text intended to guide readers toward the transformation their wills—that is, the seat of the deepest desires of their souls.
Practical as ever, De Sales begins by defining devotion, “a virtue most pleasing to God’s majesty.” To make his point simple and abundantly clear, as he was wont to do in writing and preaching, the teacher capitalizes on an analogy. Using the connection and contrast between walking and running, he teaches that charity is analogous to walking, while devotion is analogous to the “spiritual agility and vivacity” of running. Devotion, thus, “consists in a certain degree of eminent charity”; it “makes us prompt, active, and faithful in observance of God’s commands”; and, finally, “it arouses us to do quickly and lovingly as many good works as possible, both those commanded and those merely counselled or inspired” (I.1). Beyond that, he recommends devotion as “the delight of delights and queen of the virtues…the perfection of charity” (I.2).
Lent makes an opportune moment to focus on learning and cultivating devotion. The season, after all, is intended to bring disciples to deeper love of God and loftier spiritual heights. Considering ourselves as Philothea, perhaps we are already walking in charity, even participating regularly and fruitfully in the sacraments. Still, God intends each of us to have—and to be—more. To use a different metaphor, he intends to take us from a mere match to a torch, giving off significantly more light and heat for those around us.
Before moving further, De Sales makes a brief diversion to remind Philothea of a foundational reality. Devotion would be practiced differently from person to person, he states, and it should be “adapted to the strength, activities, and duties of each particular person.” In other words, devotion and holiness could be found and exercised in any state of life. “Wherever we may be,”—whether one is a baker, a domestic servant, a lawyer, a doctor, or a philosopher—“we can and should aspire to a perfect life,” he concludes (I.3), leading to holiness and the fulfillment of our deepest desires.
Again, Lent provides a great opportunity for each of us to step back and ask if charity and devotion are growing within our souls. What is God offering to each of us, precisely through our vocation and state of life, that will help us become more devoted to others and, ultimately, to Him? If I have been called to family life, how can I model a greater degree of devotion for my spouse and children? If I am a nurse, how can I be more devoted to my patients? If I am an auto mechanic or a corporate executive, how might the Lord be calling me to “eminent charity” (I.1) for the people I serve?
After this important note, De Sales’ primary objective in Part One is to shepherd a reader to a newly purified soul. A soul who desires to embark upon the devout life, the saint directs, needs to be purged—first of mortal sins, then of venial sins, and, eventually, of the affection for sin. Beyond these, a truly devout soul needs to be purified of evil inclinations, even of affection for useless, dangerous things. These affections, he writes, “are directly contrary to devotion…They weaken the powers of our spirit, stand in the way of God’s consolations, and open the door to temptation.” They make the soul “extremely ill,” he concludes (I.22). Therefore, De Sales intended to lead Philothea to “a strong, living conviction of the great evils sin brings upon us,” and help us “arrive at a deep, intense contrition” for our previous attachments to, and patterns of, sin. From this point, the “soul’s rejuvenation” can proceed afresh (I.8).
With this truth in mind, De Sales shepherded Philothea into the most powerful, efficacious portion of Part One. In that section, the pastor guided Philothea through ten meditations that progressed systematically from his or her very origin, through personal choices and consequences, and, finally, to the desire to spend eternal life with the Heavenly Father.
The final three meditations were particularly poignant because they turned Philothea’s meditation toward the “sweet canticle of eternal love,” the “constant happiness,” and the “ineffable contentment” available to a devout soul who desires and strives for “the consolation of a happy and indissoluble union.” The spiritual guide asked the soul to “marvel” at the beauty of the imagined Heaven, and to feel compunction for “straying far from the path to this glorious dwelling.” The spiritual guide intended all this to lead directly to a firm resolution of conversion and discipleship on Philothea’s part. In St. Francis’s words, the devoted disciple would pray, “I will therefore put away everything that might lead me astray or delay me on this journey” (I.16), essentially making an act of consecration of Jesus as Lord of one’s entire life; and a submission to all God’s “holy laws and ordinances,” carried out in loving devotion (I.18).
The terminus of the meditations, by De Sales’s direction, was a general confession and completion of the appropriate penance. After becoming pure, another act of consecration can be made: “I give and consecrate to him my mind with all its faculties, my soul with all its powers, my heart with all its affections, and my body with all its senses. …I will nevermore abuse any part of my being against his divine will and sovereign Majesty…” (I.20). This is precisely why we ought to commit to a Lenten regimen of prayer, fasting, and devoted almsgiving. Such a regimen will help detach us from the things that prevent our progress toward Heaven. By Easter, hopefully, each of us—as Philothea—can make our own acts of consecration, submission, and renewal.
Philothea had to be reminded, though, that cultivating devotion and holiness would be a lifelong process. Thus, De Sales had to continually remind the reader of the need for perseverance (as discussed in last week’s column). “In this enterprise we must have courage and patience, Philothea,” he warned, because the “usual purgation and healing, whether of body or of soul, takes place only little by little…” (I.5). The essential truth he meant to convey is that our progress toward devotion—toward heroic and perfected charity—can and will continue if we are humble and courageous enough to ask for the grace to continue forward.
At the very end of Part One, De Sales employs the analogy of the fly in the ointment to a person’s soul. As a fly in the ointment can destroy the beautiful, fragrant ointment, so attachment to worldly pleasures and sins can rob us of devotion and cause our souls to turn rotten. Thus, the reader ought to ponder: What are the sins, mortal or venial, that act like flies and spiders in the ointment of my intellect and will? What are the worldly pleasures, even reasonable ones, that continue to prevent my soul from ascending to God? None of these, as St. Francis de Sales told Philothea, are “so perverse that [they] cannot, first by God’s grace and secondly by our own labor and care, be brought under control and overcome” (I.24). Led by God’s infinite grace, these are the obstacles we must attempt to lessen and eliminate from our lives—during this Lent and in every season beyond.
Editor’s Note: This Lenten series aims to unpack De Sales’ rich spiritual wisdom, applying it to the penitential season and to our lives as disciples generally. Catch up on the rest of the series here!
Author’s Note: All quotes from Introduction to the Devout Life, by St. Francis de Sales, are taken from John K. Ryan’s translation, published in 1966 by Image/Doubleday (ISBN: 0-385-03009-6). References include the part and the section. For example, Part IV, Section 3 is cited as (IV.3).
Image from Wikimedia Commons
