Introduction to the Devout Life

Introduction to the Devout Life
Author: Saint Francis De Sales
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2015-06-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1681497220

Written over 400 years ago, Introduction to the Devout Life is still one of the most popular books for those pursuing holiness. St. Francis de Sales explains how to turn that desire for sanctity into resolutions that yield grace-filled results. Themes include: Pursuing a devout life whole-heartedly Incorporating prayer and sacraments into a busy schedule Growing in virtue Battling wisely against temptation Making spiritual progress through daily, monthly, and yearly exercises Whether you are just beginning your spiritual journey or are more advanced in the spiritual life, you’ll be able to apply this timeless wisdom immediately. Let St. Francis de Sales illumine the path to holiness and strengthen your desire to walk that road with the Lord. St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622) was the Bishop of Geneva and a renowned spiritual director. Preaching during the Counter-Reformation, he is estimated to have converted 70,000 Calvinists in his short lifetime. He was a fervent proponent of the universal call to holiness and spent much of his time guiding lay people on the road to sanctity. Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1877, St. Francis is still helping to form saints through his many writings, of which Introduction to the Devout Life is the most famous.

Live Today Well

Live Today Well
Author: Fr. Thomas Dailey
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2015-07-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 162282301X

Living the Christian life requires a strategy. Most of us won’t get to heaven through heroic feats of sanctity, but by learning to live the devout life through our everyday activities. St. Francis de Sales has developed for you a spiritual plan of action — a plan that will help you acquire holiness despite the many responsibilities and mundane realities that take up all your time and effort. In these pages, Fr. Thomas Dailey — an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales — gently guides you through St. Francis de Sales’s spiritual plan, showing how you can balance time devoted to God with the time needed to complete your many tasks each day. You’ll learn St. Francis de Sales’s technique of daily prayer and grace-filled awareness that will transform your life one day at a time — no matter how busy your lifestyle. From making a spiritual retreat during the day to fending off the many temptations you face, Live Today Wellwill help you commune with God throughout your day. And by practicing the little virtues you learn here, you’ll soon find yourself moving toward the heavenly heights as you become the saint you are called by God to be. You’ll also learn: Four ways to become aware of God’s presence Tips for spiritual time-management Simple methods of praying, whether in Church or not How to avoid the three dangerous tendencies that appear in conversations How to conquer your greatest temptations The one virtue which gives greatest assurance for reaching perfection The two critical elements of any good confession

Behold This Heart

Behold This Heart
Author: Thomas Dailey
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2021-01-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 164413134X

True devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus moves us to ponder the unrelenting love of Jesus, fully human and fully divine, as He poured Himself out for the world. In these pages, Fr. Thomas Dailey transports you beyond the prayers and liturgies and helps you to contemplate the Sacred Heart, which Pope Benedict XVI said “has irreplaceable importance.” Fr. Dailey shows you how to experience the way of prayer that formed St. Margaret Mary — the visionary to whom the devotion was revealed — in the religious order founded by St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal. Fr. Dailey's brilliant combination of Salesian spirituality and meditative devotion will enable you to respond to Christ's “divine affection” and experience God's love as never before. Through a series of nine reflections on the Sacred Heart, Fr. Dailey will show you:

The Catholic Controversy

The Catholic Controversy
Author: St. Francis de Sales
Publisher: TAN Books
Total Pages: 527
Release: 1986-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1618908928

Between 1594 and 1598, a preacher named Francois converted 72,000 Protestants to the Catholic Faith. These are his words. One of the most remarkable and well-documented events in Catholic history began when a young priest, St. Francis de Sales, volunteered to re-evangelize the Calvinists of the Chablais. Finding his preaching forcefully rejected, St. Francis de Sales shrewdly switched tactics and began a written apologetics campaign, posting pamphlets on walls and slipping them beneath doors under the cover of night. His defense of the Faith was so clear and thorough that at the end of four years nearly the entire population of 72,000 had returned to the Catholic Faith! These powerful little tracts are as relevant today as they were in the late 1500s. St. Francis de Sales draws support from Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church to address questions still frequently posed by modern Protestants. Revered as some of the most cogent arguments against Protestantism ever penned; they present a defense of the Catholic Faith that has never been equaled. Now with beautiful new cover, easier to read size, updated typesetting, and the original content. 320 pps PB St. Francis de Sales was one of the most effective Catholic apologists and evangelists of the past five centuries. Undoubtedly, he is the most effective apologist to Protestant Calvinists who has ever lived. Steve Wood (Family Life Center International)

Pray40Days

Pray40Days
Author: Michael J. Denk
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2017-02
Genre:
ISBN: 9780999020609

Pray40Days is a 40 days prayer program for people of any age who want to set their prayer life on fire! Whether a beginner in prayer or more advanced, everyone can benefit from the 6 different ways of praying presented in this book.

A Retreat with Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal, and Aelred of Rievaulx

A Retreat with Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal, and Aelred of Rievaulx
Author: Wendy M. Wright
Publisher: Franciscan Media
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1996
Genre: Spiritual retreats
ISBN: 9780867162394

Your directors for this retreat, Befriending Each Other in God, are Francis de Sales, charismatic bishop of Geneva and author of the popular devotional guide, Introduction to the Devout Life; Jane de Chantal, wife, mother, widow and foundress of the religious community for women, the Visitation of Holy Mary; and Aelred of Rievaulx, twelfth-century prior of the Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx in England and author of On Spiritual Friendship. With Francis, Jane and Aelred, you will explore the dynamics and texture of the spiritual friendships so essential to becoming more open to God and helping you become who you want to be.

The Concept of Freedom in the Writings of St. Francis de Sales

The Concept of Freedom in the Writings of St. Francis de Sales
Author: Eunan McDonnell
Publisher: Peter Lang
Total Pages: 486
Release: 2009
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9783039119639

Through the examination of the concept of freedom in the writings of St Francis de Sales the author concludes that, in contradistinction to a contemporary understanding of freedom perceived as self-determination, a Salesian understanding privileges freedom's relationship to 'the good'. This situates St Francis de Sales in the classical Thomistic tradition of freedom's necessary relationship to the good, but involves a methodological shift as he employs the Renaissance starting point of 'the turn to the subject'. This study demonstrates how St Francis arrives inductively at what St Thomas demonstrated deductively, namely, the essential relationship of freedom to the good. Along with this Thomistic influence, the author analyses the Salesian indebtedness to Augustinian anthropology which explains the primacy St Francis gives to the will, and consequently, to love. Love, understood as the heart's movement towards the good, allows the Salesian approach to move beyond the confines of a traditional faculty psychology to embrace a more biblical understanding of the human person. This examination of love's relationship to freedom reveals their teleological and archaeological natures, coming back to our origins wherein we discover the source of our freedom bestowed on us as a gift from God.