Introduction to the Devout Life: 4-1, "Worldly Wisdom."

An index of all posts on St. Francis de Sales's Introduction to the Devout Life is here.

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As I wrote in the last post, Part 4 of the book is kind of the "Troubleshooting" section of the how-to-live-devotedly manual.  And the very first chapter is almost like a warning:  "You will have this kind of problem."  What's the problem?  In short, other people will wonder what's wrong with you.

It is a fantastic chapter.  And, I might add, it is actually much more widely applicable.  It would apply to anyone who makes a sincere effort to change their own character and behavior in any sense, not just the spiritual one.  Someone who decides to get clean and sober; someone who decides to quit goofing off and get a real job; someone who decides to get out of debt; somebody who decides to start taking care of their body instead of abusing it -- all these people could gain some wisdom from this chapter.  Bottom line, change-for-the-better threatens a lot of the friends, acquaintances and family in this world, and sometimes they try to undermine it.  

So let's take a look at St. Francis's words.

As soon as worldly people see you bent upon the devout life they will shower you with mockery and detraction.  

• The more malicious will attribute your change to hypocrisy and insincerity, saying you have turned to God only because the world has disappointed you.  
• Your friends will raise countless objections which they consider wise and charitable, saying that it will only make you morose and unbearable; that it will discredit you in the eyes of the world; that you will grow old before your time; that your domestic affairs will suffer; that those who live in the world must live accordingly and that you can get to heaven without all these mysteries and so on.  

...They are interested neither in your health nor in your affairs.

Wake up! says St. Francis.   What's the real reason for the objections?  It can't be for your own good, because they approve of many things that would be worse for you and your business:

We have seen men and women spend, not only the whole night, but several nights in succession, playing cards or chess... And yet it does not disturb worldly people in the least; but if we spend an hour in meditation or are noticed getting up in the morning earlier than usual to go to Holy Communion, they send for a doctor at once to cure us of melancholy and jaundice!  

They can spend thirty nights in dancing without experiencing any ill effects but if they have to spend one Christmas night in watching they are full of coughs and complaints the next day.

Ha.  I could add an example from my own life back in college:  "She is perfectly content to eat M&Ms out of the vending machine for breakfast, but ask her to eat two lighter meals on Ash Wednesday and she frets about not getting enough protein."

St. Francis points out that critical people are generally hypocritical and inconsistent:  they will stick to one principle when it suits them, and to the opposite principle when the wind changes.

It is quite obvious that the world is an unjust judge:  gracious and forbearing with its own children, but harsh and rigorous with the children of God. ... "When John came, he would neither eat nor drink, and they said of him that he was possessed.  When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank with them, and of him they said:  Here is a glutton; he loves wine."  (Mt 11:18-19)

You just can't win with these people:

The worldly will be scandalized, Philothea, if we condescend to laugh, play, or dance in their company, but if we refuse, they will call us melancholy hypocrites.  If we dress well they will attribute it to a bad motive; if we dress simply they will attribute it to meanness.

Whatever you do, others will be able to put an unattractive spin on it, and they'll hold you to an artificially high standard:

 They will call our joy dissipation, our self-denial sadness, their jaundiced gaze never satisfied.  They will magnify our imperfections into sins, count our venial sins as mortal and our sins of frailty as sins of malice....[I]f they cannot find fault with our actions, they censure our intentions.

...The worldly are against us whatever we do; if we are in the confessional for a long time, they express surprise that we have so much to confess; if we are only in there for a short time they will say that we have not confessed everything.  

They will watch us carefully; one word of anger and they will say we have an ungovernable temper; if we show prudence in our affairs they will say we are avaricious; if we are gentle they will call us foolish, while as for them, their anger is courage, their avarice economy, their overfamiliarity honest fun...

I have to say that I notice people of all stripes having this attitude towards their political opponents.  Haven't you?

So, what to do?

We must ignore such blindness, Philothea; let them cry out like owls trying to disturb the birds of day as much as they like while we go serenely on our way, unwavering in our resolves; our very perseverance will convince them that we have dedicated ourselves to God and embraced a devout life.

Ignore the naysayers, and be persistent.  After all, it's understandable that we might not be taken seriously at first:

...[H]ypocrisy is hard to distinguish from true virtue externally; the test lies in the fact that hypocrisy is inconstant and vanishes like smoke whereas true virtue is ever firm and constant.

Consider that the criticism might even be good for us:

To meet with reproaches and criticisms at the beginning of our spiritual life helps to establish our devotion, for it prevents us from falling in to pride and vanity...

A closing thought:

We are crucified to the world and the world should stand crucified to us; it counts us fools; let us count it demented.

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Comments

[Tabitha]

wow!

[Cathie B]

That was amazing and has now convinced me that I MUST read that book. I'm dealing with lots "anti-Catholicism" right now and I really need something like this to bolster my resolve.

Thank you for sharing.

[Ellen]

just wanted to say I am getting a lot out of this series of posts. Thank you for doing it

[bearing]

You're welcome! This chapter was one of my personal favorites, not that it strikes any particular chord in my own life (except that I've been that, ahem, wise and charitable-sounding friend from time to time), but more because I thought the writing was so crisp.