St Francis De Sales Calls Ordinary People to Extraordinary Holiness

Francis called all men and women to pursue holiness, in accordance with their state in life and vocation. He understood that holiness can look different, depending upon state in life and vocation.

Francis De Sales called all men and women to pursue holiness in accordance with their state in life and vocation. He understood that holiness can look different, depending upon state in life and vocation. However, all holy people all look like Jesus, because Jesus begins to live His very life in and through them. He also emphasized that growing in holiness requires our continual and free cooperation with the grace of God.

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - On January 24th in the Liturgical calendar in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, we remember St Francis De Sales (1567-1610). This inspiring Christian leader reminds all men and women, no matter what their state in life, occupation or specific vocation, that every Christian is called to holiness. 

Citing the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Matthew (Matt. 5:48) The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity. All are called to holiness: Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (CCC #2013)

The Saints are given to us as examples to emulate and companions on the journey of a life which is to be lived by faith. They were also men and women, just like us, who responded to God's invitation to become like Jesus Christ and were transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. They now pray for us because we are joined with them in the eternal communion made up of all those who are joined to Jesus Christ.

I like to say the Saints put legs on the Gospel. What I mean is they show us what holiness truly looks like as it is lived in the real world by real people. One of the mistakes we can make in telling their stories is to relay them in such a way that we place them on the wrong kind of pedestal, making them seem unlike us. When we do this, we miss the most important part of their witness.

We are all called to be saints, precisely because we are Christians, followers of Jesus Christ. The word saint means, holy one. By the grace of God, given to all who are baptized into Jesus Christ, we are invited into a new way of living - in Him. We are called to a life of ongoing conversion and transformation, in and through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Francis wrote a devotional masterpiece addressed to ordinary men and women entitled Introduction to the Devout Life. In it he instructs a pilgrim named Philothea, who is seeking his spiritual direction. He explains this way of holiness to which all Christians are called. The spirituality which it offers is addressed to everyone, including lay men and women. In its day, that was considered to be unique.

This understanding of the Christian life is often seen as a precursor to the renewed emphasis found in the writings of the Second Vatican Council in the Catholic Church on what is called the universal call to holiness. In fact, it is simply a recovery of the clear teaching of the Bible and the early fathers of the Christian Church on what it means to actually be a Christian. The letters or epistles found in the New Testament are often addressed to the saints, or the holy ones. Every Christian is called to holiness.

Francis De Sales called all men and women to pursue holiness in accordance with their state in life and vocation. He understood that holiness can look different, depending upon state in life and vocation. However, all holy people all look like Jesus, because Jesus begins to live His very life in and through them. He also emphasized that growing in holiness requires our continual and free cooperation with the grace of God.

Francis made it clear, as did Jesus Himself, that walking along this way of holiness is not easy. It leads the pilgrim along the rugged road of the Cross. Francis had empathy for the faithful to whom he gave spiritual direction. He once wrote in a letter to a depressed soul who sought his holy counsel - God wants your misery to be the throne of His mercy. He desires that your powerlessness be the seat of His omnipotence.

In a letter to a Christian exasperated with his lack of progress in holiness he once wrote, Be patient with the whole world, but, above all with yourself. I want to tell you not to lose your serenity because of your imperfections, and always to have the zest to raise yourself up. It gives me joy to see each day you begin again. There is no better way to finish life well than to return to the starting point always and not ever to think that we have done enough.

The Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours (The Breviary) of the Roman Catholic Church offers this beautiful excerpt from the masterpiece written by our brother in the Lord:

From The Introduction to the Devout Life, by Saint Francis de Sales: Devotion must be practiced in different ways

When God the Creator made all things, he commanded the plants to bring forth fruit each according to its own kind; he has likewise commanded Christians, who are the living plants of his Church, to bring forth the fruits of devotion, each one in accord with his character, his station and his calling.

I say that devotion must be practiced in different ways by the nobleman and by the working man, by the servant and by the prince, by the widow, by the unmarried girl and by the married woman. But even this distinction is not sufficient; for the practice of devotion must be adapted to the strength, to the occupation and to the duties of each one in particular.

Tell me, please, my Philothea, whether it is proper for a bishop to want to lead a solitary life like a Carthusian; or for married people to be no more concerned than a Capuchin about increasing their income; or for a working man to spend his whole day in church like a religious; or on the other hand for a religious to be constantly exposed like a bishop to all the events and circumstances that bear on the needs of our neighbor.

Is not this sort of devotion ridiculous, unorganized and intolerable? Yet this absurd error occurs very frequently, but in no way does true devotion, my Philothea, destroy anything at all. On the contrary, it perfects and fulfills all things. In fact if it ever works against, or is inimical to, anyone's legitimate station and calling, then it is very definitely false devotion.

The bee collects honey from flowers in such a way as to do the least damage or destruction to them, and he leaves them whole, undamaged and fresh, just as he found them. True devotion does still better. Not only does it not injure any sort of calling or occupation, it even embellishes and enhances it.

Moreover, just as every sort of gem, cast in honey, becomes brighter and more sparkling, each according to its color, so each person becomes more acceptable and fitting in his own vocation when he sets his vocation in the context of devotion.

Through devotion, your family cares become more peaceful, mutual love between husband and wife becomes more sincere, the service we owe to the prince becomes more faithful, and our work, no matter what it is, becomes more pleasant and agreeable.

It is therefore an error and even a heresy to wish to exclude the exercise of devotion from military divisions, from the artisans' shops, from the courts of princes, from family households.

I acknowledge, my dear Philothea, that the type of devotion which is purely contemplative, monastic and religious can certainly not be exercised in these sorts of stations and occupations, but besides this threefold type of devotion, there are many others fit for perfecting those who live in a secular state.

Therefore, in whatever situations we happen to be, we can and we must aspire to the life of perfection.

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Deacon Keith A. Fournier is the Editor in Chief of Catholic Online and the Founder and Chairman of Common Good Foundation and Common Good Alliance. A married Roman Catholic Deacon of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, he and his wife Laurine have five grown children and seven grandchildren. He is also a human rights lawyer and public policy advocate who served as the first and founding Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice in the nineteen nineties. He has long been active at the intersection of faith and culture.

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