This book was not as intimidating as I feared. If you read one per day, you could read the whole thing in about 4 months and have time to process it, as well. All in all, there are 119 letters/sections. The final section discusses how to regularly revisit and devote your soul to the Lord. While the circumstances he wrote were from a different time, it is exceedingly simple to translate into today’s situations.įollowing the section on how to live devoutly through various virtues, he then spends the whole next set of letters on temptation, how to avoid and deal with them. Talk about practical stuff! Since this book is a series of letters to a woman who was part of high society, there are practical down to earth examples. In this section, deSales covers everything from humility and obedience to friendship, modesty and slander. It included 10 meditations and a resolution to serve God.The second section covered prayer and use of the sacraments as tools in your devout life, followed by the most useful section for me - virtues. The first section was about what it means to be devout and the most important thing that I got was that being devout looks different for everyone! He also talked about confession and the effect of sin on being devout. Francis de Sales puts holiness within reach! While I’m not not normally a person who highlights or writes in books, I made liberal use of my highlighter. Being saintly always seemed hard, impossible and unattainable to me. Francis of de Sales classic Introduction to the Devout Life.Ĭonsisting of five parts, Introduction to the Devout Life is a fabulous book about trying to live a holier life. Over Easter, however, I had the opportunity to slow down and dig deep into the St. I am a notorious skimmer & reading slowly is difficult for me. I can’t believe I put off this book for nearly two years! I’ve always wanted to read it, but I get very intimidated by spiritual classics.

Introduction to the devout life book