From St. Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life
Translated by John K. Ryan, published by Image, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group,
Random House LLC, New York 1966
“In like manner, charity never enters a heart without lodging both itself and its train of all the other virtues which it exercises and disciplines as a captain does his soldiers. ( . . . . ) The just man is ‘like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season,’ for charity waters the soul and produces in it virtuous deeds” (110).
“A great fault in many who undertake the exercise of some particular virtue is thinking they must practice it in every situation. ( . . . . ) Occasions do not often present themselves for the exercise of fortitude, magnanimity, and great generosity, but meekness, temperance, integrity, and humility are virtues that must mark all our actions in life” (111).
“In practicing the virtues we should prefer the one most conformable to our duties rather than one more agreeable to our tastes. ( . . . . ) Every state of life must practice some particular virtue” (111).
“All men should possess all the virtues, yet all are not bound to exercise them in equal measure. Each person must practice in a special manner the virtues needed by the kind of life he is called to” (111).
“Hence, Philothea, you should choose the best virtues, not the most popular, the noblest, nor the most obvious, those that are actually the best, not the most spectacular” (112).
“When attacked by some vice we must practice the contrary virtue as much as we can and refer all the others to it. ( . . . . ) Thus if assaulted by pride or anger, I must devote and direct all my actions to humility and meekness and adapt all exercises of prayer, the sacraments, prudence, constancy, and sobriety to this end” (113).
“Thus it comes about, St. Gregory Nazianzen says, that by perfect practice of a single virtue a person can reach the heights in all virtue” (114).
“I add that all that we must try for is to make ourselves good men and women, devout men and women, pious men and pious women” (116).
“In the meantime let us try sincerely, humbly, and devoutly to acquire those little virtues whose conquest our Saviour has set forth as the end of our care and labor. Such are patience, meekness, self-mortification, humility, obedience, poverty, chastity, tenderness toward our neighbors, bearing with their imperfections, diligence, and holy fervor” (116).
“Yes, Philothea, the King of Glory does not reward his servants according to the dignity of the offices they hold but according to the love and humility with which they fulfill their offices” (116).
“We must often recall that our Lord has saved us by his suffering and endurance and that we must work out our salvation by sufferings and afflictions, enduring with all possible meekness the injuries, denials, and discomforts we meet” (117).
“When you have discharged your duty to the truth, you must also do the same to humility” (119).
“Complain as little as possible about the wrongs you suffer” (119).
“The truly patient man neither complains of his hard lot nor desires to be pitied by others. He speaks of his sufferings in a natural, true, and sincere way, without murmuring, complaining, or exaggerating them” (119).
“When you are sick, offer up all your grief, pain, and weakness as a service to our Lord and beseech him to join them to the torments he suffered for you” (120).
Look often with your inward eyes on Christ Jesus, crucified, naked, blasphemed, slandered, forsaken, and overwhelmed by every kind of weariness, sorrow, and labor. Remember that your sufferings are not comparable to his either in quality or quantity and that you can never suffer for his sake anything equal to what he has suffered for you” (120).
“To receive God’s grace into our hearts they must be emptied of our own vainglory. ( . . . . ) In the same way humility drives away Satan and keeps the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit safe within us. For this reason all the saints, and particularly the King of Saints and his Mother, have always honored and cherished this precious virtue more than any other among all the moral virtues” (121).
“So also in order to know whether a man is truly wise, learned, generous, and noble, we must observe whether his abilities tend to humility, modesty, and obedience for in that case they will be truly good” (122).“Our Saviour has instituted the most august sacrament of the Eucharist, which contains his flesh and blood in their reality, so that whoever eats of it shall live forever. Therefore whoever turns to it frequently and devoutly so effectively builds up his soul’s health that it is almost impossible for him to be poisoned by evil affection of any kind” (104).
“Begin your preparation for Holy Communion on the evening before by many loving aspirations and transports and retire a little earlier so that you may rise earlier in the morning. ( . . . . ) In the morning get up with great joy because of the happiness you hope for” (107).
“After you have received him, excite your heart to do homage to the King of salvation. Converse with him concerning your inmost concerns. Reflect that he is within you and has come there for your happiness” (107).
“Your great intention in receiving Communion should be to advance, strengthen, and comfort yourself in the love of God ( . . . . ) No, you cannot consider our Savior in an action more full of love than this. In it he abases himself, if we may so express it, and changes himself into food, so that he may penetrate our souls and unite himself most intimately to the heart and body of his faithful” (108).
“Go often to Communion, Philothea ( . . . .) so by adoring and eating beauty, purity, and goodness itself in this divine sacrament you will become wholly beautiful, wholly good, and wholly pure” (109).
