So renowned for his magnificent writing that he became patron of writers, St. Francis de Sales is one of the most stirring spiritual directors you will encounter. Adopt his counsel in An Introduction to the Devout Life and witness the transformation of your own devout life, beginning here with the remedy to venial sin.
As the light waxes fuller we see the more plainly in our mirror the stains and specks upon our face. Even so as the Holy Spirit enlightens our conscience we perceive more clearly and distinctly the sins, inclinations, and imperfections which hinder us in attaining to true devotion. The same light which discovers to us these tares and weeds, also kindles us with the desire to cleanse and purify our hearts from them.
You will discover then, my daughter, that besides mortal sins and their affections from which you are now purified, there yet linger in your heart various inclinations and dispositions to venial sin. I do not say that you will discover venial sins, but you will find a disposition and inclination to them, which is a very different thing, for we can never be wholly free from venial sins, at least not for any length of time, but we can be without affection for them. There is a wide difference between a chance falsehood concerning some trivial matter, which is the result of carelessness, and taking pleasure in falsehood or deliberately telling lies.
Therefore I say we must purify the soul from all inclination to venial sins, that is to say, we must never willingly admit or continue in any kind of venial sin whatever. It would indeed be a fearful thing wittingly to burden our conscience with anything so offensive to God as a will to displease Him. And venial sin, however slight, does displease Him, although not so grievously as to make Him condemn and destroy us for it. If therefore venial sin so displeases God, all consent and affection on our part to it is nothing less than a willingness to displease His Divine Majesty. Can any pious soul not only offend God, but take pleasure in so doing?
All such inclinations, my daughter, are directly opposed to devotion, as inclinations to mortal sin are opposed to charity: they enfeeble the spirit, hinder divine consolations, and open the door to temptation; so that, though they do not slay the soul, they wound it grievously.
“Dying flies” (says the wise man) “spoil the sweetness of the ointment” (Eccles. 10:1); by which he means that when the flies only pass over the surface of the ointment and eat as they go, what remains is uninjured, but if they remain in it, they putrefy and spoil it all. So the venial sins of a devout soul which find no resting-place, do no great injury, but if they are harbored and delighted in, they destroy the sweetness of the ointment, that is, of pure devotion. Spiders do not kill bees, but they spoil and corrupt their honey, covering the combs with their webs, by which if they remain the bees are hindered in their work.
So venial sins do not destroy the soul, but they hinder devotion, and so clog the powers of the soul with bad habits and inclinations that it loses that active charity which is the lifespring of devotion—always supposing that we willingly harbor venial sin in our conscience. Some slight falsehood, some lack of self-control in word or action, in dress, in occupation, in amusement—these will leave no lasting evil if, like spider’s webs, they are banished from our conscience as soon as perceived, just as the bees drive out the intruding spider. But if we permit them to remain, still more if we take any pleasure in them and suffer them to multiply, soon our honey will be lost, and the hive of our conscience will be soiled and damaged.
But I ask again, what sincere soul could ever take delight in offending God, rejoice in displeasing Him, and persist in willing that which He forbids?
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This article is taken from a chapter in An Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales which is available from TAN Books.
