The Devout Life
theophilus January 24th, 2008
Today’s first reading in the liturgy continues the saga of David. In the reading, he’s basking in the glow of his victory over Goliath and receiving the adulation of the Israelites.
Of course, all of this attention makes King Saul envious and we find him plotting David’s death. That is until Saul’s son, Jonathan, steps in and mediates a reconcilation between Saul and David.
What is remarkable about this story isn’t Saul’s ingratitude and murderous envy, it’s Jonathan’s reaction to it. Jonathan was David’s best friend. He was also the presumptive heir to the throne - that is until God annointed David, through Samuel, as the next king. Jonathan could have been envious himself. He could have conspired with his father to kill David and lay a right to claim the throne upon his father’s death. Instead, he put God before self and protected his friend.
How would we have reacted if we were Saul? How would we have reacted if we were Jonathan?
Envy, friendship, courage, humilty, gratitude, temptation – all play a part in our lives and our emotions. They either draw us toward God or pull us away. They are forces that either control us or we control them.
St. Francis de Sales, whose life the church commemorates today, wrote a book called the “Introduction to the Devout Life”. I bought a copy of it about a year ago and have been picking and choosing from it ever since. It’s not a book to read through like a novel – it’s a book where you read one of its 2-3 page chapters and mull it over. The book lays out a thought process that enables us to draw closer to the life that God wants us to live – the “devout” life. And the book is aimed at ordinary folks like me who are just trying to do a good job at work, raise our families, and give back to our communities.
I encourage everyone to pick up a copy. It’s a wealth of wisdom on how we can make the right choices and avoid the wrong choices in our lives. This wisdom will help us be more like Jonathan and less like Saul. It will help us lead a devout life – a life that is there for the taking for anyone desiring it.
