Rector’s Reflections
Wednesday 26th June 2024
A Spiritual Classic from the Seventeenth Century
On Saturday afternoon, I happened to be in a second hand bookshop in Witney, where I spotted a copy of one to the great classics of Christian spirituality. So I bought the book, which happened to be very reasonably priced, and have it in front of me on my desk I as write these words. I thought I would write series of reflections about the book in question, not least because I suspect it is not as well known today as it used to be, which I think is a great pity. It might have fallen out of fashion, but I think its retains its relevance for Christians in our own day.
The book in question was first published in the French city of Lyons back in 1609, with the title Introduction to the Devout Life. After it had been first published, the work was frequently revised by the author, until the final definitive edition of 1619.
The book’s title is not particularly memorable, but it has the great advantage of giving an accurate summary of the book’s contents and purpose: it does indeed provide an introduction to the spiritual life, as was the author’s intention. The author deliberately set out to write an introductory work, and so he does not say everything that needs to be said on the subject of the spiritual life. He was writing an introductory work, which would accessible the majority of readers. He was not writing for an audience of academics; nor was he writing for saints or other very holy people. Quite the opposite. In the first instance, the book was written to help aristocratic Christians who worked in and around the French royal court: how was it possible to live a decent Christian live in the face of the intrigue and temptations which were so much part of Court life? How could one retain at least some moral and spiritual integrity in such a world? So the book provides some much needed practical advice for any Christian courtier wanting to live out their faith in a workplace which at times seemed to promote irreligion and immorality. However, the advice provided has proved to be of very general application, and Christians living in completely different contexts have found it to be strikingly relevant to the challenges they face in their own lives and cultures. In short, it’s a book written to advise and guide Christians who are faced with the challenge of living out their faith in a secular context.
As I write these words, I am struck by the extent to which this applies to the majority of Christians today. Very few of us spend our lives as Christians working in a monastery or a nunnery. Our places of work are usually pretty secular in their values, and the same is true of our families and social institutions. It’s often hard to be a Christian – our values can often seem to be counter-cultural, and we can be dismissed as naïve in our morality, or narrow-minded and puritanical in our values and attitudes.
By now, you may well be wondering: who was the author of this book? What was his background? What entitled him to advise others on the challenges of living as a Christian in a secular context? The author’s name was St. Francis de Sales. I will write about Francis in tomorrow’s reflections. We will then look at what Francis had to say.