• About
    • Copyright Disclaimer
    • Disclaimer
    • Disclosure Policy
  • My Book List
  • Book List for Catholic Men
  • Book List for the Youth
  • Sermons and Audios
  • Finer Femininity
    • Finer Femininity Meeting
    • Traditional Family Weekend
  • My Morning and Night Prayers
  • Donate to Finer Femininity?
  • Catholic Mother’s Traditional Advent Journal
  • Finer Femininity Magazine!
  • Books by Leane
    • My New Book – Catholic Mother Goose!
    • Catholic Hearth Stories
    • My Book – Cheerful Chats for Catholic Children
  • Toning With T-Tapp
    • Move It! A Challenge for You and Me….

Finer Femininity

~ Joyful, Feminine, Catholic

Finer Femininity

Category Archives: by St. Francis de Sales

Devotion is Suitable to Every Vocation & Profession ~ St. Francis de Sales

31 Sunday Jul 2022

Posted by Leanevdp in by St. Francis de Sales, Spiritual Tidbits

≈ 1 Comment

by St. Francis de Sales, Introduction To a Devout Life

When God created the world He commanded each tree to bear fruit after its kind;  and even so He bids Christians,—the living trees of His Church,—to bring forth fruits of devotion, each one according to his kind and vocation.

A different exercise of devotion is required of each—the noble, the artisan, the servant, the prince, the maiden and the wife; and furthermore such practice must be modified according to the strength, the calling, and the duties of each individual.

I ask you, my child, would it be fitting that a Bishop should seek to lead the solitary life of a Carthusian? And if the father of a family were as regardless in making provision for the future as a Capucin, if the artisan spent the day in church like a Religious, if the Religious involved himself in all manner of business on his neighbor’s behalf as a Bishop is called upon to do, would not such a devotion be ridiculous, ill-regulated, and intolerable?

Nevertheless such a mistake is often made, and the world, which cannot or will not discriminate between real devotion and the indiscretion of those who fancy themselves devout, grumbles and finds fault with devotion, which is really nowise concerned in these errors.

No indeed, my child, the devotion which is true hinders nothing, but on the contrary it perfects everything; and that which runs counter to the rightful vocation of any one is, you may be sure, a spurious devotion.

Aristotle says that the bee sucks honey from flowers without damaging them, leaving them as whole and fresh as it found them;—but true devotion does better still, for it not only hinders no manner of vocation or duty, but, contrariwise, it adorns and beautifies all.

Throw precious stones into honey, and each will grow more brilliant according to its several color:—and in like manner everybody fulfils his special calling better when subject to the influence of devotion:—family duties are lighter, married love truer, service to our King more faithful, every kind of occupation more acceptable and better performed where that is the guide.

It is an error, nay more, a very heresy, to seek to banish the devout life from the soldier’s guardroom, the mechanic’s workshop, the prince’s court, or the domestic hearth. Of course a purely contemplative devotion, such as is specially proper to the religious and monastic life, cannot be practiced in these outer vocations, but there are various other kinds of devotion well-suited to lead those whose calling is secular, along the paths of perfection.

The Old Testament furnishes us examples in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David, Job, Tobias, Sarah, Rebecca and Judith; and in the New Testament we read of St. Joseph, Lydia and Crispus, who led a perfectly devout life in their trades:—we have S. Anne, Martha, S. Monica, Aquila and Priscilla, as examples of household devotion, Cornelius, S. Sebastian, and S. Maurice among soldiers;—Constantine, S. Helena, S. Louis, the Blessed Amadaeus,  and S. Edward on the throne.

And we even find instances of some who fell away in solitude,—usually so helpful to perfection,—some who had led a higher life in the world, which seems so antagonistic to it.

St. Gregory dwells on how Lot, who had kept himself pure in the city, fell in his mountain solitude. Be sure that wheresoever our lot is cast we may and must aim at the perfect life.

 

In this troubled world we need the prayers of children. Their souls are innocent, their petitions special in the Eyes of God. Let us get our children on their knees, and with fervor and the remarkable confidence of a child, let us get them to pray for our families, our country, our world…



“May you wear the Queen’s uniform–the scapular–faithfully and thoughtfully. May it be a means of many graces, the means also of the greatest grace – everlasting life…” ~ Father Arthur Tonne

Do you need some good reading suggestions? Visit…

My book List

Book List for Catholic Men

Book List for the Youth

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support.

Follow FF on Facebook

Follow FF on Facebook

Follow FF on MeWe

Have Tea With Me!

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

The Catholic Wife and Young Lady’s Maglets!

Beautiful, Feminine Aprons for Sale!

Rosaries, etc.

Recent Posts

  • “Lady Day” ~ March 25th, The Annunciation
  • The Catholic and His Medals
  • High School and Secret Company-Keeping ~ 1955, Fr. Donald Miller, C.SS.R.
  • The “Power” of a Woman
  • A Meditation on St. Joseph

Recent Comments

Leanevdp on The Catholic and His Medals
maryarc on The Catholic and His Medals
Leanevdp on The Catholic and His Medals
maryarc on The Catholic and His Medals
maryarc on High School and Secret Company…

Archives

Categories

  • About the Angels
  • Achieving Peace of Heart – Fr. Narciso Irala
  • Activities
  • Advent/Christmas
  • Alice Von Hildebrand
  • An Easy Way to Become a Saint
  • Attitude
  • Baby Charlotte
  • Be Cheerful/Helps to Happiness
  • Beautiful Girlhood
  • Book Reviews
  • Books by Leane
  • by Alice von Hildebrand
  • by Anne Kootz
  • by Charlotte Siems
  • by Emilie Barnes
  • by Father Daniel A. Lord
  • by Father Daniel Considine
  • by Fr. Edward Garesche
  • by Leane Vdp
  • by Maria Von Trapp
  • by St. Francis de Sales
  • by Theresa Byrne
  • Cana is Forever
  • Catholic Book of Character and Success
  • Catholic Family Handbook – Fr. Lovasik
  • Catholic Family Handbook, Rev. George A. Kelly
  • Catholic Girl's Guide
  • Catholic Hearth Stories
  • Catholic Home Life
  • Catholic Mother Goose
  • Catholic Teacher's Companion
  • Charity
  • Cheerful Chats for Catholic Children
  • Christ in the Home – Fr. Raoul Plus S.J.
  • Clean Love in Courtship – Fr. Lovasik
  • Courtship and Marriage and the Gentle Art of Homemaking
  • Creativity
  • Dear NewlyWeds-Pope Pius XII
  • Educating a Child ~ Fr. Joseph Duhr
  • Education
  • Events
  • Family Life
  • Fascinating Womanhood
  • Father Walker
  • Father's Role
  • Feast Days
  • Femininity vs Feminist
  • FF Tidbits
  • Finances
  • Finer Femininity Maglet!! (Magazine/Booklet)
  • Finer Femininity Podcast
  • For the Guys – The Man for Her
  • Friendship
  • Give-Aways
  • Guide for Catholic Young Women
  • Health and Wellness
  • Helps to Happiness
  • Hospitality
  • How to be Holy, How to be Happy
  • Inspiring Quotes
  • It's the Little Things…
  • Joy
  • Kindness
  • Lent
  • Light and Peace by Quadrupani
  • Loving Wife
  • Marriage
  • Modesty
  • Motherhood
  • My Shop – Meadows of Grace
  • Organization Skills
  • Parenting
  • Patterns
  • Peace….Leaving Worry Behind
  • Personalities/Temperaments
  • Plain Talks on Marriage – Rev. Fulgence Meyer
  • Podcasts – Finer Femininity
  • Power of Words
  • Prayers
  • Praying
  • Printables
  • Questions People Ask About Their Children – Fr. Daniel A. Lord
  • Questions Young People Ask Before Marriage, Fr. Donald Miller, C.SS.R., 1955
  • Reading
  • Recipes
  • Rev. Fulton Sheen
  • Sacramentals
  • Scruples/Sadness
  • Seasons
  • Seasons, Feast Days, etc.
  • Sermons
  • Sex Instructions/Purity
  • Singles
  • Smorgasbord 'n Smidgens
  • Special Websites
  • Spiritual Tidbits
  • Tea-Time With FinerFem – Questions/My Answers
  • The Catholic Youth's Guide to Life and Love
  • The Christian Home ~ Celestine Strub, OFM
  • The Everyday Apostle
  • The Holy Family
  • The Mass/The Holy Eucharist
  • The Rosary
  • The Wife Desired – Father Kinsella
  • Tidbits for Your Day
  • Traditional Family Weekend
  • True Men As We Need Them
  • True Womanhood, A book of Instruction for Women of the World, Rev. Bernard O'Reilly, L.D., 1893
  • Virtues
  • Vocation
  • Will Training by Rev. Edward Barrett
  • Womanhood
  • Youth
  • Youth's Pathfinder
  • Youth/Courtship

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Blogroll

  • Discuss
  • Get Inspired
  • Get Polling
  • Get Support
  • Learn WordPress.com
  • Theme Showcase
  • WordPress Planet
  • WordPress.com News

Disclosure Policy

This site contains affiliate links. Read more details here: Disclosure Policy

Powered by WordPress.com.

 

Loading Comments...