I’ve been praying lately for a patron saint, and the answer has come up in spades – St. Francis de Sales. If you’ve never read any of his writings, you should. He is a Doctor of the Church, and the patron saint of writers and journalists.
Right now I’m reading his classic, “The Introduction to the Devout Life”. This is 400 years old and reads like it was written yesterday, and directly for me. I could go on and on about it, but here’s a statement about it from someone smarter than me.
St. Francis published many works of piety, among which we may single out his two best known books, *Philothea - An Introduction to the Devout Life *and The Treatise on the Love of God. In the Introduction to the Devout Life St. Francis, after showing clearly how hardness of heart discourages one in the practice of virtue and is altogether foreign to genuine piety (he does not strip piety of that severity which is in harmony with the Christian manner of life) then sets himself expressly to prove that holiness is perfectly possible in every state and condition of secular life, and to show ***how each man can live in the world in such a manner as to save his own soul, provided only he keeps himself free from the spirit of the world. ***
At the same time we learn from the Saint how not only to perform the customary acts of everyday life, (with the exception, of course, of sin) ***but also a fact which all do not know, how to do these things correctly with the sole intention of pleasing God. ***He teaches us to observe the social conventions which he calls one of the charming effects of virtuous living, not to destroy our natural inclinations but to conquer them so that little by little without too much effort, like the dove, if by chance there has not been granted us the strength of the eagle, we may raise ourselves even to heaven itself. What the Saint means by this metaphor is that if we are not called to an extraordinary personal perfection, nevertheless we can attain holiness by sanctifying the actions of everyday life.
He wrote at all times in a dignified but facile style, varied now and then by a marvelous acuteness in thought and grace of expression, and by reason of these qualities his writings have proven themselves quite agreeable reading. After having pointed out how we must flee sin, fight against our evil inclinations, and avoid all useless and harmful actions, he then goes on expounding the nature of those practices of piety which cause the soul to grow, as well as how it is possible for man to remain ever united to God. Following this, he shows how necessary it is to select out a special virtue for constant practice on our part until we can say that we have mastered it. He writes, too, on the individual virtues, on modesty, on moral and immoral language, on licit and dangerous amusements, on fidelity to God, on the duties of husband and wife, of widows, and of young women.
Finally, he teaches us how not only to conquer dangers, temptations, and the allurements of pleasure, but how every year it is necessary for each of us to renew and to rekindle his love of God by the making of holy resolutions. ***May it please God that this book, the most perfect of its kind in the opinion of contemporaries of the Saint, be read now as it formerly was by practically every one. If this were done, Christian piety certainly would flourish the world over and the Church of God could rejoice in the assurance of a widespread attainment of holiness by her children. ***
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