It can be tempting to think that we are very pious and devout Christians. We may pray the Rosary every day, or even go to daily Mass.
We may even go to confession every week, believing that it is what "devout" Christians are supposed to do.
Yet, it is possible to do all the above activities and be far from God.
Definition of a devout life
St. Francis de Sales wrote an entire book on this topic in his Introduction to the Devout Life. In it, he explains that being "devout" does not mean doing many things:
One man sets great value on fasting, and believes himself to be leading a very devout life, so long as he fasts rigorously, although the while his heart is full of bitterness;—and while he will not moisten his lips with wine, perhaps not even with water, in his great abstinence, he does not scruple to steep them in his neighbor’s blood, through slander and detraction.
He even argues that we could be a generous giver and still be far from God:
This man freely opens his purse in almsgiving, but closes his heart to all gentle and forgiving feelings towards those who are opposed to him; while that one is ready enough to forgive his enemies, but will never pay his rightful debts save under pressure.
For St. Francis de Sales, the key to leading a "devout" life is being filled with the love of God:
In short, devotion is simply a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly; and just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God’s Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them readily and diligently. And therefore we cannot call him who neglects to observe all God’s Commandments either good or devout, because in order to be good, a man must be filled with love, and to be devout, he must further be very ready and apt to perform the deeds of love.
To use an analogy, St. Francis de Sales compares love and devotion to the fire and a flame:
The difference between love and devotion is just that which exists between fire and flame;—love being a spiritual fire which becomes devotion when it is fanned into a flame;—and what devotion adds to the fire of love is that flame which makes it eager, energetic and diligent, not merely in obeying God’s Commandments, but in fulfilling His Divine Counsels and inspirations.
If we want to be truly devout Christians, we need to first be filled with God's love, which will then fuel our every action, purifying it of our own selfish intentions.
