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A couple of weeks ago I outlined the structure of part five, the final part of Francis de Sales's Introduction to the Devout Life. This section on regularly renewing your devotion consists of fourteen or fifteen specific meditations, and I said I was going to try to finish blogging about them by the feast day of the Baptism of the Lord (January 9), so I'd better get cracking. I think I can do this in about six posts.
Here's a bit from the end of Chapter 1 that leads us into Chapter Two.
Having consulted your confessor, choose a suitable time and having secured for yourself a greater solitude than usual, both interior and exterior, make two or three meditations, in the way I have already described, on the following [six] points.
Let's pause here to take this as a set of instructions.
Choose a suitable time. If you do the long form of the examination, there are about two weeks' worth of daily meditations coming up for this renewal, so it's probably a good idea to begin by setting aside a time slot for the whole lot of them.
It doesn't have to be a long time slot. The meditations have all been broken up into manageable pieces. I would guess, about the length of time you would set aside to pray a regular, five-decade rosary: 20 minutes or so.
Having secured yourself a greater solitude than usual "Greater than usual" can mean whatever we need it to mean -- this is one of the things about Francis that I love; he prescribes a program to follow, but is quite flexible in his recommendations for how we are to go about it. I think the point here is that the renewal needs to feel at least somewhat different and special compared to our normal daily meditations. We are supposed to create a temporary daily mini-retreat for ourselves, even if we really can't get away from our daily duties.
(Once again, it's obvious that Francis is writing for people living in the world. His advice is different in quality from that you'll find in the writings of "greater" saints like St. Teresa of Avila... yes, we can learn a lot from it, yes, we can draw analogies from the cloistered life to family life, but in the bottom line, St. Teresa wasn't thinking of me when she considered her audience. Francis, on the other hand, seems to specialize in advising women who have a a lot of distractions, a lot of responsibilities, and a lot of leisure time. Um. That would be me.)
In Chapter 3, incidentally, Francis suggests that some of this spiritual work can be done "while out walking" or "while in bed." So if that's a place you can create "greater solitude than usual," and you can concentrate in such an environment, know that you have Francis's blessing.
both interior and exterior You may be thinking he means "not just exterior solitude, but interior solitude as well; not just physical alone-ness, but also freedom from interior distraction." I rather think it is the other way round. Francis has advised us quite specifically how to create a place of interior solitude, and has not written as much about finding exterior solitude. So I'm thinking that this means "not just solitude in your heart, but really you should also go somewhere you are physically alone."
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So when these plans have been made for the upcoming fourteen days or so, the renewal begins.
The subject matter of Part 5, Chapter 2 is "The Value of Your Resolution." It is intended to help you to appreciate the good that has already been accomplished in you. And so Francis begins:
make two or three meditations, in the way I have already described Francis gave explicit instructions on how to meditate -- remember, this really is an introductory instruction! -- in Part 2, chapters 1 through 8.
on the following [six] points. I guess you just split this up -- either two per day for three days, or three per day for two days. I'm inclined to pick the latter because, as I noted, there are plenty of days of meditation to keep you busy.
Here are excerpts from the six points, presented by halves in two meditations.
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RENEWAL MEDITATION ONE
1. Consider the points of your resolution:
- first that you have forsaken... mortal sin forever;
- secondly that you have dedicated and consecrated [yourself]...to the love and service of God;
- thirdly that you have promised... to rise again at once should you ever fall into sin...
2. Consider to whom you made this resolution, for it was to God...
3. Consider in whose presence you made your resolution... in the sight of the very court of heaven.
RENEWAL MEDITATION TWO
4. Consider what led you to make your protestation, and how gentle and gracious God was to you... Consider how gently he drew you on by his grace, by the sacraments, by spiritual reading and by prayer; while you were asleep... he was watching you...
5. Consider when it was that God inspired you to make this resolution for it was in the prime of your life. What joy to know already what we can never know soon enough! ... If he had called you in your old age, after a misspent life, that too... would have been a great grace...
[Love that bit above. How delicately Francis refers to those among his readers who know quite well that they were called after a misspent life!]
6. Consider the effects of your resolution; compare yourself now with what you were and I am sure you will find a change for the good. Is it not a blessing to know how to pray, to desire to love God, to have mastered your passions and tranquillized your soul, to have avoided so much sin and remorse and above all to have gone so much more often to Holy Communion...? ...[T]his is the work of God's right hand.
[Love that last one too. Is it not a blessing... to desire to love God? The smallest positive change, the very smallest, is worthy of praise. Francis writes, "Such wonderful favors must be weighed... in the scales of the sanctuary." We are to be assured that even a very little progress is progress indeed.]
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In the next post, we'll see Francis's plan for your annual examination of conscience.
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