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TAN Books - St. Francis De Sales

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39 pages

English

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Description

We are proud to introduce The TAN Classics Made Simple - a brand-new companion series to our bestselling TAN Classics collection.TAN Classics Made Simple booklets are designed to give you an orientation course before you embark on an exploration of the great works of Catholic literature found in our best selling TAN Classics line.Each full-color booklet covers the highlights of TAN Classics in 32 easy-to-read pages. Designed to provide you with the vital facts and features about the life of the Saint, their work, their call to Holiness and the events of their time.Including: Introduction to the TAN Classic, Major Events Timeline, Author Biography, How to Read a TAN Classic section, Words to Know, And much more!Perfect for parishes, schools, or simply a personal introduction to the TAN Classics, these booklets will provide you with a map and compass for navigating the best of Catholic writing!

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Catholic Church

Informations

Publié par	TAN Books
Date de parution	21 septembre 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781618901675
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0174€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Robert Gallagher
Publisher
Saint Benedict Press, LLC
TAN Books
Publisher’s Preface
If you’re not sure what it means to be “holy,” or even how to begin developing a spiritual life—this little booklet was written to get you started. Far more than a brief biography or a summary of the Classic, this booklet is the perfect guide for learning how to read St. Francis de Sales’s timeless work on Catholic spirituality and living a truly devout life.
The Classics Made Simple series aims to introduce the great works of Catholic literature to a wide readership. The Classics of the Faith are not meant only for saints and scholars: they’re meant for everyone. They’re wise, human, practical, and they have something important to say to each of us.
The Classics are also timeless. Other books come and go, passing with the tastes and fads of each generation. But the Catholic Classics remain and God has used them to teach and sanctify men and women of every age.
We hope this TAN Guide will stir within you a desire to read An Introduction to the Devout Life, or if you’ve already read it, to re-read it with a renewed interest. You’ll discover each TAN Guide is a perfect vehicle to introduce your newest favorite Classic to your friends and family. Give this little booklet a few minutes of your time and see what happens!

Introduction to— An Introduction to the Devout Life
To understand any great work of literature—spiritual or otherwise—we have to understand the world in which it was written.
St. Francis de Sales’s An Introduction to the Devout Life was composed at the beginning of the seventeenth century in Savoy—the mountainous area in eastern France bordering Switzerland and Italy. For the previous fifty years, many of the faithful Catholics of the area had been converted to the Protestantism of John Calvin. Some of them were dismayed by stories of corruption in the Church, and were attracted by the fervent preaching of the Protestant Reformers and the opportunity for what they thought was a simple, Bible-based, personal experience of Jesus Christ.

In the midst of this religious and cultural revolution, God raised up a group of reformers from within the Catholic Church. In the mid-sixteenth century, during the turmoil of Calvin’s preaching in France, St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier founded the Society of Jesus. Those first Jesuits led the Catholic Church’s fight back after the devastating losses of the Reformation. The Jesuits were passionate priests—radical missionaries who were not afraid to be uncompromising soldiers of Christ. St. Francis de Sales, born about fifty years after St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier, was deeply influencedby the Jesuits and by St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises . As a diocesan priest, he complemented the fiery zeal of the Jesuits with his own gentleness, stability, and solid sweetness that secured their gains and won even more souls back to the Faith.
Holiness Is Within Everyone’s Reach
St. Francis first wrote An Introduction to the Devout Life as a spiritual manual for an aristocratic lady named Louise de Charmoisy, the wife of an ambassador of the Duke of Savoy. St. Francis wrote to her as “Philothea,” which is Greek for “lover of God,” and, indeed, Madame de Charmoisy desired to lead a devout religious life—but her duties as the wife of an ambassador meant that she had to live among the wealthy and within the diplomatic demands and social niceties of courtly life.
St. Francis de Sales was himself from a noble family and understood well the complexities and contradictions of striving for holiness within the corridors of power and wealth. Nonetheless, he believed that all the faithful, in whatever state of life, were called to be made perfect by God’s grace; in An Introduction he makes it clear that following Christ is possible for people in all walks of life and at every level of society. In 1609, realizing that his notes to Madame de Charmoisy might be useful for a larger audience, he collected and published them for the first time. It was an immediate success, and Francis kept adding to the book until the publication of its final edition, just three years before his death in 1622.
Within the text we get striking glimpses of the context of its times: chapters on “Forbidden Games,” “When We May Play and Dance,” and “Balls and Recreations Which Are Lawful but Dangerous.” Such anachronistic details can make the book seem inaccessible in places to the modern reader, but they add to its charm and impart instruction which is easily adapted to life today. Once we understand and make allowances for the historical context (as we do when reading Shakespeare, Dante, or the Douay-Rheims Bible) the historical context ceases to be a difficulty and starts to become a delight. We see why it’s no wonder that An Introduction to the Devout Life was not only a huge success in its time, but to this day remains one of the perennial classics of the spiritual life, popular among both Catholics and Protestants.
At the heart of the book’s popularity is the certain belief that holiness is possible, not just for priests and nuns, but for everyone. The incarnation of Christ teaches us that God’s love is interwoven with the most ordinary aspects of life. As the poet Henry Vaughn has written, “Here in dust and dirt, O here/ The lilies of His love appear!” Whether in the refined royal courts of aristocratic France, in the courtyard of a farmhouse or the grinding life of a modern home or workplace, St. Francis de Sales’s wisdom can be applied. That’s because, although this work comes from a particular place and time, it transcends both place and time. The saint’s homely wisdom and profound understanding of God’s way with the human heart makes the work valuable to all who take the trouble to read and understand. An Introduction to the Devout Life may be 400 years old, but it is fresh for each new generation.
The Structure of Sanctity
A good spiritual director understands that the journey to heaven requires a map, and a map requires clear structure. You can’t wander aimlessly and hope to get to heaven. Instead, you need to follow directions carefully and take instruction from a master. St. Francis de Sales is the master spiritual director, and it is no surprise, therefore, to discover that his book has a very sound and logical structure.
An Introduction to the Devout Life is composed of five parts, each representing a stage on the journey to Christ. The first part consists of twenty-four short chapters in which the individual who is seeking instruction learns about the basics of the spiritual life. Here we learn about the foundational need to orient our heart toward God and away from our own worldly desires and inclinations. At the heart of the first stage are ten meditations designed to move the soul from mere theory on the spiritual life to actually laying a sure foundation for growth.
These meditations take the reader on a journey to establish true perspectives and priorities. So, we meditate on creation and the reason we were created, God’s mercy and the reality of sin, death, judgment, hell, and heaven. These considerations lead the soul to a new resolve, a general confession, and determination to be purified from sin in order to truly seek God. This first section sheds light on our souls so that we can see clearly what needs to be corrected. In his usual gentle style, St. Francis writes, “As the light waxes fuller, we see the more plainly in our mirror the stains and specks upon our faces. Even so, as the Holy Spirit enlightens our conscience we perceive more clearly and distinctly the sins, inclinations, and imperfections which hinder us in attaining true devotion.”
The second section explains the vital role that prayer and the Sacraments have in the spiritual life.