"They abstain from sin like sick men abstaining from melons. They don't eat them solely because the doctor warns them that they'll die if they do, but they begrudge giving them up, talk about them, would eat them if they could, want to smell them at least, and envy those who can eat them."
—Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales
St. Francis de Sales uses this humorous analogy to illustrate our lingering affection for sin. It’s funny because it’s true.
This is so often us, especially those of us who have been awakened to the destructive path we once walked and have chosen to change. We know the good, the true, and the beautiful, and yet we may still feel a pull toward the “melon”—toward something we know would harm us.
St. Francis reveals a deeper level of purification from vice. It’s not enough to just recognize what’s right, or even to avoid what’s wrong; true conversion involves uprooting our desire for sin altogether.
And this work requires patience, prayer, vigilance, and healing. So let us pray for these gifts as we seek a heart fully freed from attachment to sin.