Devout moments in the Will

Introduction to the Devout Life

Part II, Chapters 1 – 11

English-speaking group: 

John Baptist Barnabas, Lijo Vadakkan, Amaladoss Sanjone

In this second part, St.Francis de Sales speaks of the constant rising of our hearts and minds to God through various prayers. Prayer is a powerful means to be in union with God, which leads to attain spiritual perfection.  Morning Prayer, Meditation, Ejaculated prayers, Holy Thoughts, Good aspirations, Evening Prayer and Examination of Conscience are all various forms of prayers that help men and women to reach this spiritual perfection.

When explaining about the short method of Meditation, the saint puts forward the analogy of a bird which finds the air wherever it flies: So also wherever we go or wherever we are we find God’s Presence. When meditating, we must invoke the help of guardian angels and saints. They will inspire and help us to make the meditation meaningfully and gracefully. Contextualization is very helpful for meditation: such as to meditate on our Lord on the Cross, imagine that we are on Mount Calvary and that there we see and hear all that was done or said on the day of His passion. When we do this, surely he will stimulate our mind to be in union with Him.

Meditation produces devout movements in the will, the affective part of our soul, such as love of God and neighbor, desire for heaven and glory, zeal for the salvation of souls, imitation of the life of our Lord, compassion, joy, fear of God’s displeasure, judgment, and hell, hatred of sin, confidence in God’s goodness and mercy, and deep sorrow for the sins of our past life.

After the Meditation, naturally our soul is aroused to do something good to ourselves and neighbors. Meditation always leads us to action. It does not remain in itself. Therefore, we must gather a little devotional bouquet. People who have been walking about in a beautiful garden do not like to leave without gathering in their hands some flowers to smell and keep for the rest of the day. In the same way, when our soul has carefully considered by meditation a certain mystery  we should select one, two, or three points that we liked best. We must continuously remind ourselves of these resolutions and try observing them throughout the day.

After the Meditation, we must remember the resolutions and decisions we have made and carefully put them into effect on that very day. This is the great fruit of meditation and without it, meditation is often not only useless but even harmful. Virtues meditated on but not practiced sometimes inflate our minds.

Saint Francis de Sales says that dryness in meditation is very normal but we should not give up. We must cling on to Him with patience, diligence and perseverance. There is a victory, so we should not be discouraged with the dryness experienced in meditation. Finally, he speaks about the importance of the Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Examination of Conscience. By the Morning Prayer we open the windows of our souls to the Sun of Justice and by the Evening exercise we close them against the shadows of hell.      

Report by John Baptist Barnabas
Photography: "Bees at work", by Joe Boenzi