Learning and Living Devotion

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This morning, my wife and I began a prayerful reading of Introduction to the Devout Life, together.  In the first sentence of the text, St. Francis de Sales defines devotion as "a virtue most pleasing to God's Majesty."  The saint undertook to write the treatise so that others could grow in this most important virtue, and it is for the same reason that my wife and I seek to read and pray through it.

St. Francis introduced the virtue of devotion by noting that there is "only one true devotion," but that there are many "false and empty" counterfeits.  Yet, he continues, humans color devotion according to their own "passions and fancies."  In a scathing manner, he writes that "many persons clothe themselves with certain outward actions connected with holy devotion and the world believes that they are truly devout and spiritual whereas they are in fact nothing but copies and phantoms of devotion."  Ouch!  As I read that single paragraph, I knew that I desperately need to pay close attention to these exhortations of this holy man.  I do not want to be numbered among those who are wretched and prideful behind a facade of devotion and virtue.  I have been there and it sucks the joy out of life.

True and living devotion, on the other hand, is something that transforms human attitudes and actions.  Such transformation begins with grace, which is divine love adorning a human soul.  Grace strengthens humans to do good, which is growth in charity.  When charity reaches its perfection, then it is devotion.  Devotion, perfected charity, "not only makes us do good, but also [makes us] do this carefully, frequently, and promptly...."  Charity, writes de Sales, enables us to observe God's commandments.  Devotion enables us to "observe them more quickly and diligently."  An example will help here.  If I love my wife, I will do the dishes and the laundry because she has told me that those chores need to be done.  If I am devoted to my wife, I will begin said chores without being told (or asked, which is really the same thing in a marriage), and I will tend to them with the same care as she might.  I must admit: I am quite far off from this type of "eminent charity" or true devotion.  I want to be there, however, due to my love of God and wife and neighbor.


Francis concludes by reminding his reader that when charity and devotion both operate as God intends, and when human beings are disposed properly, the do so as one.  He offers the analogy of flame and fire, which really do not differ.  "Charity is spiritual fire and when it bursts into flames, it is called devotion."  So, we reasonably could say that charity is like a regular fire, while devotion is like a grease fire.  The both really are fire, but one is much more difficult to stamp out as it grows and spreads.  Devotion added to the fire of a soul will make one more "prompt, active, and diligent" in service of God and others.  That is worth striving for.


One day of reading and meditating on this saintly text, which is imminently practical, has already taught me so much.  I look forward to shedding the facade, and to finding the simple and true love for God that will please His majesty!  I pray most that my family, my ministry, and my social interactions will benefit from my own growth in devotion.

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