Many months ago, I asked my sponsor how one could remain faithful without a religious vocation. He admitted that he’d actually never read this book, but recommended it just the same.

As with most books, I bought it immediately but did not read it immediately. I have a lot of books to get through, you understand. But I grabbed it recently, mostly because I needed a small book to carry on an airplane, but was drawn into it by the introduction alone. That two-hour flight passed quickly.

We’re not all called to religious life, but we’re all called to be devout. You don’t have to join the monastery to live in constant prayer, and you don’t have to be a priest to serve others. This book is about how. It starts simply with self-reflection, preparing yourself for the huge task of devotion. It then goes into the ways of the virtues, avoiding sin, and how to get back on track when you fall off. It talks in length about meditation and purifying the soul. These aren’t tasks that can, or should, take all day. It’s greeting the morning with a simple prayer, and ending the day the same. It’s never losing sight of Jesus amidst a busy life.

This isn’t a book you read once and shelve. Much of its advice is simple (dress modestly!), but things we need a constant reminder to do. St. Francis de Sales compiled this book after letters he wrote to his cousin, who sought his spiritual advice. I imagine that cousin referencing them again and again, keeping his advice on meditation nearby as she prayed and relating her own life to the stories he tells.

At the end of the day, devotion is deceptively simple: Keep Jesus first. But we don’t always do that. We’re not always virtuous, and we sometimes succumb to anger and jealousies. But we can always improve. We’re not to beat ourselves up, but understand that we’re merely human. Re-reading the wise and gentle words of St. Francis de Sales helps to understand that, and accept ourselves despite our faults.