Gratia non tollit naturam

Thorens-Glieres (1567-1622),
Monastère de la Visitation, Paris

"devotion must be practiced in different ways by the nobleman and by the working man, by the servant and by the prince, by the widow, by the unmarried girl and by the married woman. But even this distinction is not sufficient; for the practice of devotion must be adapted to the strength, to the occupation and to the duties [(aux forces, aux affairs et aux devoirs)] of each one in particular.
     "Tell me, please, my Philothea, whether it is proper for a bishop to want to lead a solitary life like a Carthusian; or for married people to be no more concerned than a Capuchin about increasing their income [(Et si les mariés ne vouloient rien amasser non plus que les Capucins)]; or for a working man to spend his whole day in church like a religious; or on the other hand for a religious to be constantly exposed like a bishop to all the events and circumstances that bear on the needs of our neighbor. Is not this sort of devotion ridiculous, unorganized and intolerable [(ridicule, desreglee et insupportable)]? Yet this absurd error occurs very frequently, but in no way does true devotion, my Philothea, destroy anything at all. On the contrary, it perfects and fulfills all things. In fact if it ever works against, or is inimical to, anyone’s legitimate station and calling, then it is very definitely false devotion [(la devotion ne gaste rien quand elle est vraye, ains elle perfectionne tout, et lhors qu’elle se rend contraire a la legitime vacation de quelqu’un, elle est sans doute fausse)]. . . .
     "It is therefore an error and even a heresy [(un erreur, ains une heresie)] to wish to exclude the exercise of devotion from military divisions, from the artisans’ shops, from the courts of princes, from family households. . . .  [T]he type of devotion which is purely contemplative, monastic and religious can certainly not be exercised in these sorts of stations and occupations, but besides this threefold type of devotion, there are many others fit for perfecting those who live in a secular state.
     "Therefore, in whatever situations we happen to be, we can and we must aspire to the life of perfection."

     St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the devout life I.iii, trans. Liturgy of the hours.  French from pp. 19-21 of tom. 3 of the Œuvres complètes published by the Visitandines of Annecy (1892-1932).  vacation is, according to the dictionaries of early French that I have here at home, correct.  "'Lot,' St. Gregory says, 'who was so chaste in the city defiled himself in the wilderness' [(Loth, dit saint Gregoire, qui fut si chaste en la ville, se souïlla en la solitude)]" (trans. Ryan; the reference is to Pope St. Gregory the Great, Hom. Ezek., book 1, no. 9, sec. 22.1 (SC 327, ed. & trans. Morel, p. 362 ll. 21-22 | 24-26:  "Lot de quo loquimur, in Sodomis sanctus exstitit, in monte peccauit," "Lot, dont nous venons de parler, se montra un saint à Sodome, et pécha sur la montagne".   Trans. Theodosia Tomkinson (Etna, CA:  Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 2008), pp. 172-173:

when it is said to the Prophet:  'Thou art among unbelievers and destroyers, and thou dwellest with scorpions' a physic of consolation is offered to us who are often tired of living since we are unwilling to dwell with evils.  Therefore we lament that all who live with us are not good.  We are reluctant to bear the sins of our neighbors, we already perceive that all ought to be Saints, while we are unwilling to be that which we bear from our neighbors.  But in this matter it is clearer than light, when we refuse to tolerate bad men how much less we still have of good.  For a person is not wholly good unless he is good even among evil men.  Hence Blessed Job asserts of himself saying:  'I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.'  Hence Paul the Apostle says to his disciples:  'In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.'  Hence Peter, shepherd of the Lord's flock, says:  'And delivered just Lot, oppressed by the injustice and lewd conversation of the wicked; for in sight and hearing he was just, dwelling among them who from day to day vexed the just soul with unjust works.'  Often indeed when we complain about the lives of our neighbors we seek to change our place, to choose the solitude of a more remote life, ignorant evidently that if the spirit is lacking the place does not help.  For that same Lot of whom we speak stood as holy in Sodom but sinned upon the mountain.  For that places do not protect the mind the very first ancestor of the human race bears witness, he who fell even in Paradise.  But all the words we speak from earth are less.  For if the place had power to save, Satan would not have fallen from Heaven. . . .

     But indeed there is one reason why the company of the wicked should be avoided, lest if perchance they cannot be restrained they attract to imitation, and when they themselves are not changed from their malice, the pervert those who are associated with them. . . .