But be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart;consider what great things He has done for you. 1 Samuel 12:24
“The world ridicules devotion in life, caricaturing devout people as peevish, gloomy, and sullen, and insinuating that religion makes a person melancholy and unsociable. But the Holy Spirit, speaking through the mouths of the saints and indeed through our Saviour Himself, assures us that a devout life is wholesome, pleasant, and happy.
The world observes how devout people fast, pray, and suffer reproach; how they nurse the sick, give alms to the poor, retrain their temper and do similar deeds which in themselves and viewed in isolation, are hard and painful. But the world fails to discern the interior devotion which renders these agreeable, sweet, and pleasant.
Look at the bees: they suck the bitter juice from thyme and convert it to honey because that is in their nature. Devout souls, it is true, do experience bitterness in works of self-discipline, but they are engaged in a process that converts such bitterness into a delicious sweetness. Sour green fruits are sweetened by sugar, bringing a ripeness to what had been unwholesome to the palate.
In the same way, true devotion is a spiritual sugar which takes away the bitterness of self-discipline. It counteracts the poor person’s discontent and the rich person’s smugness; the loneliness of the oppressed and the conceit of the successful; the sadness of the one who lives alone and the dissipation of the one is at the centre of society. In a word its gift is an equanimity and balance which refreshes the soul.
In creation God has commanded the plants to bring forth fruit, each according to its kind. Similarly, he commands all Christians, who are living plants of His Church, to bring forth the fruits of devotion according to each person’s ability and vocation. The practice of devotion will need to be adapted to the capabilities, jobs and duties of each individual.”
Francis de Sales (1567-1622) from Introduction to the Devout Life as recounted in Celebrating the Saints, compiled by Robert Atwell (SCM: Norwich, 2004) 59.
Today’s post was long, so I will be short.
I pray that your generosity finds deep roots in interior devotion, that like a bee you take the bitterness of this life and convert it to sweet honey, and that as living plant of Christ, made alive by His resurrection, that you bear much fruit for God’s glory.
Give us the self-discipline to make it so, Holy Spirit. Amen.