Almond seed inscribed

Introduction to the Devout Life
Part III – Chapters 14-30
Friday November 3, 2006
Group 1 (Tien, Cecilia, Steve, John, Rey)

1. There were two images used by Francis of Sales that really struck us. The first is biblical (Gen 27) - hair on the hands of Jacob "which did not stick to his skin but to his gloves" and the hair on the hands of Esau which was "sticking to his skin as it was hairy by nature". This biblical image does not really speak of poverty, yet St. Francis effectively employed this example to talk of poverty and detachment. Just like the hair of Esau which would have caused him great pain when pluck off, our "attachments" (resources or riches to which our hearts are inordinately attached) when taken away from us would cause us great pain and provoke us to complain and be impatient. Detachment and the spirit of poverty will enabl! e us not to lose our serenity and peace of mind. (Devout Life, 3:15, page187)

The second image is the "almond seed inscribed" on page 207 of the Introduction to the Devout Life. "If some word is written on an almond seed that is quite entire, and put back in its shell carefully, and properly folded and closed, and thus planted, then every fruit which the tree produces will have the same word writted and engraved on it." We are no agriculturists but we certainly do not believe that this agricultural image employed by St. Francis of Sales is indeed a fact. The editors of our Devout Life version traced this agricultural note to a 4th Century writer Palladius. (See fotenoot on page 207). Myth or fact (we say, myth), St. Francis made an effective use of this image to stress to Philothea (and to us) how exterior actions really come and flow from the he! art (interior) as the tree and all its fruits come from the seed, and that a heart filled with Christ will soon bear fruits of exterior actions filled with Christ. "Engrave and inscribe on your heart, before everything else, this holy and sacred maxim: LIVE JESUS! After that... your life which comes from your heart... will produce all its actions... inscribed and engraved with the same word of salvation."

2. We also find a paragraph in the Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis of Sales that echoes a similar phrase attributed to Jean de Chantal in another place.

On page 215 of the Devout Life, St. Francis talking about the propriety in dress says that: "a married woman may and ought to dress herself when with her husband as he wants it. However, if she does the same when she is away from him, she will be asked as to whose eyes she is seeking to please with such particular care." This is ! St. Francis here talking.

In another place, Jean de Chantal was described to be graceful, attractive and self-possessed who carried herself with nobility... "a perfect lady". But her husband, Baron Christophe de Rabutin (a military captain) was away, the Baroness Jean de Chantal would live a simple lifestyle. She would not go to court nor attend parties, and would exhibit extreme sobriety in her manner of dressing. Asked why, she would reply: "Don't bother me about that. The eyes which I must please are a hundred miles from here, and it would be useless for me to dress up." (Story and Spirit, 70)

Thus, on this "rule of thumb" concerning propriety in dress, who influences whom? Did Jean the Chantal learn it from Francis of Sales, or the other way around? Well, it looks like that it was more of the "common sense" of the people ! at that time and in that place which influenced both. Both the Bishop of Geneva and the Baroness simply articulated and gave "text" to the sense of their context.

3. Finally, we also commented about the idea of "particular friendship" and what St. Francis of Sales says about it. First of all , we say that every friendship is particular in the sense that it is personal. Secondly, Francis of Sales did not outrightly condemn particular friendship, rather made a distinction between genuine friendship which comes from God (Devout Life, 3:19) and frivolous friendship which is dangerous and even evil (Devout Life, 3:17-18). Talking about genuine friendship which comes and tends to God and whose bond is God, Francis of Sales clarifies to us that he speaks not of simple love of charity but of a kind of spiritual friendship among persons who share and communicate their devotion and spi! ritual affection and thus become one in spirit. (Devout Life, page 196). Much of what he writes about this theme, we believe, come from his own experience of genuine and spiritual friendship, particularly with Jean de Chantal. In Chapter 21 (Devout Life, 3:21), when dealing about the counsels and remedies against evil friendship, Francis of Sales offers concrete and practical suggestions like distancing, changing of place, refraining from all private conversations... He was actually clarifying what we would consider today as "boundaries". Besides the importance of keeping and respecting the boundaries (of course, Francis didn't use this term), the Bishop of Geneva calls Philothea (and us) to the basics - mental solitude, prayer, spiritual books, confession, communion, and spiritual direction.

Rey