Practical Piety

Collected from his letters and discourses.

Regarding the selection from St. Francis de Sales’ Letters and Discourses for this book: Though originally addressed, for the most part, to religious, perhaps few manuals of devotional reading could be mentioned which are more admirably adapted to persons living in the world. There breathes throughout it such practical wisdom, such gentleness, such sweetness, and frequently what we may call such a majesty of holiness, which, whilst it enters into the difficulties and scruples of the weakest, furnishes food for those who are strongest, that we seem not so much to be reading the writings of a saint, as hearing his living voice addressed to ourselves. May his intercession avail for all who read this book, either to strengthen them in the faith to which, by God’s grace, they have already attained, or to lead them to the true fold, if they are still wandering outside of it!

PREFACE

Part I. DUTIES TOWARDS GOD

Part II. DUTIES TOWARDS OUR NEIGHBOUR

Part III. DUTIES TOWARDS OURSELVES

Part IV. OF DEVOTION, AND OF THE PRINCIPAL EXERCISES OF PIETY

Part V. REFLECTIONS ON THE PRINCIPAL FEASTS OF THE YEAR

(See the detailed Table of Contents below)

Table of Contents

Part-1: DUTIES TOWARDS GOD

Of divine love
Of the means of acquiring the lore of God in which perfection consists
Of submission to the will of God
Of confidence in God
Of the exercise of confidence in God
Of confidence in divine Providence
Of the abandonment of oneself into the hands of Providence
Of the excellence of this abandonment
Of the exercise of this abandonment
Of determination to follow the will of God in all things
Examples on the preceding subject
What is meant by hoping against all hope
Of the divestment of self, and of confidence in God
Concerning fear of the judgments of God and confidence in his kindness
Of temptations against the faith
Other remedies in temptations against the faith
What must be done when temptations against the faith, having ceased, return again
Of temptations of blasphemy and infidelity
That we ought not to desire to do more than we can
The same subject continued
How good desires are to be fulfilled
Not to be over-fond of anything, and to wish to be what God wills us to be
Of how little one quits by giving oneself to God

Part-2: DUTIES TOWARDS OUR NEIGHBOR.

Of the love of our neighbor
In what way we should love our neighbor
On the death of persons dear to us
On the same subject
On the same subject
On the same subject
Of bearing with our neighbor's imperfections
Of cordiality
Of aversions
Of the merit of obedience
Of obedience to superiors
Of murmurs against superiors
Of obedience to superiors in what regards the interior life
Obedience is better than austerity, and the mortification of the heart than that of the body
Of imperfections we see in our superiors
Superiors ought cheerfully to bear with others, perceiving their imperfections
Of the respect due to confessors
Of the respect due to preachers
Of obedience to equals and inferiors
How we ought to receive and give correction
Of complaints on the subject of correction
Of the manner of giving advice
Of Christian simplicity
Of the exercise of Christian simplicity
That simplicity is not contrary to prudence
That we must take no part in evil-speaking, nor care about calumnies
How human prudence should be corrected
How we should behave ourselves to those from whom we have received a considerable injury
Of patience and resignation in lawsuits
That we ought not to go to law, but have recourse to arbitration
Continuation of the same subject
Continuation of the same subject
Of sweetness in the midst of domestic annoyance
Of the deference which is due to fathers and husbands

Part-3: DUTIES TOWARDS OURSELVES.

Of self-love
That we must not be discouraged at feeling the attacks of self-love
Of one's own judgment
Of the mortification of one's own judgment
Of over-great tenderness for oneself
How we must destroy the old Adam
Of mistrust in ourselves, and of our spiritual enemies
Of spiritual friendships
Of humility
Of the spirit of humility
Of abjection
Of afflictions
Continuation of the same subject
Continuation of the same subject
That we must suffer in tranquility and love
How the saints looked upon crosses
Of the repose which pure hearts ought to have in the will of God in the midst of afflictions
Of firmness of spirit in the accidents of life
That we must have this same firmness in what regards the spiritual life
Example of this firmness afforded by the blessed Virgin and St. Joseph
Of patience in sicknesses and infirmities
Continuation of the same subject
Of patience when suffering from headache
Continuation of the same subject
Of patience under painful operations
On the maxim ask for nothing and refuse nothing
Practice of this maxim in sufferings
Practice of this maxim in sickness
Of generosity
Of evenness of spirit
Of modesty
Of temptations against purity
Of the manner of making the vow of chastity
That we ought not to desire temptations, and that we ought to be on our guard, against those of self-will
Of the virtue of divestment
Answer to certain difficulties, regarding the virtue of divestment
How one ought to hate one's defects, and look on death
Continuation of the same subject
Of the fear of death
Of preparation for death
That -we ought not to desire to know the state of the dead
That we ought to be content with our state of life
Of those who enter into religion as if by compulsion
Of austerities practiced through self-love against obedience
Of fidelity to the rules
Of the violation of the rules
Continuation of the same subject
That we ought not to go beyond the rules
Of peace and tranquility, in the midst of affairs
Of peace in the midst of contradictions

Part-4: OF DEVOTION, AND OF THE PRINCIPAL EXERCISES OF PIETY.

Of devotion
Means for arriving at devotion
Other means for arriving at devotion
Maxims for living constantly in piety
That devotion ought to be discreet
That devotion-ought to be sweet, simple, and patient
That devotion ought to be intimate and strong
That devotion ought to be generous
Of the spirit of liberty, and of the marks by which it is known
Of the effects of the spirit of liberty, and of the occasions for practicing it
Examples of the spirit of liberty
That progress in piety does not consist in, multiplying the exercises of it
Of mental prayer
Continuation of the same subject
Continuation of the same subject
Continuation of the -same subject
Continuation of the same subject
Of distractions
Of good desires, and of unsuitable thoughts in meditation
Of drynesses in prayer
Continuation of the same subject
Continuation of the same subject
Continuation of the same subject
Continuation of the same subject
Of strengthening our good resolutions
Of prayers which may be made in sickness
Of preparation for the sacraments
Of the fruit which we ought to draw from the sacraments
Of disposition for holy communion
Of the most holy communion
Of the spirit in which one ought to read spiritual books
Of the imperfections which are found in religious persons
Exercises of piety for persons engaged in the world
What a person engaged in the world ought to do in order to arrive at perfection
Of the combat of the inward man with the "outward
What we ought to think of the world
Of the defects into which we fall in spite of our desires after perfection
Perfection is not to "be acquired in a day
We should daily consider ourselves as commencing anew
Several important admonitions for the spiritual life
Of excitement and disquietude in the pursuit of virtue
How we may know whether our feelings come from God or from the devil
Whereby to recognize, the goodness of one's religious vocation
Of the object aimed at Un entering religion
What it is to be a religious
Of the qualities which a novice ought to have in order to be admitted to the profession
How the spirit of one's vocation is to be preserved
Of disgust for one's vocation
Of the conversation of religious persons with seculars
God ordinarily gives us an inclination for the state to which he calls as
Mistrust the advantages of this life, and labor for eternity
We meet with all seasons in. our souls
What is meant by living according to the spirit, and according, to the flesh
God thinks of us, and looks on us with love, in spite of our weaknesses
That we ought to conquer our evil inclinations without distressing ourselves about them
Of suspected revelations
Of sensible grace

Part-5: REFLECTIONS ON THE PRINCIPAL FEASTS OF THE TEAR.

The feast of Christmas
Continuation of the same subject
The end of the year
The end and the beginning of the year
The feast of the Circumcision
The feast of Epiphany
The feast of the Presentation of our Lord
The feast of St Joseph
The feast of the Ascension of our Lord
The feast of Pentecost
The feast of Corpus-Christi
The feast of St. John de Baptist
The feast of St. Peter
The feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin
The feast of the Assumption
The feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin
The feast of All Saints and of All Souls

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