One of the pioneers of lay spirituality is a 17th century bishop, Francis de Sales.  His book, Introduction to the Devout Life, began as letters to a duchess who wished to be holy.  In its time it was a revolutionary text because it taught that everyone could be holy - you did not need to belong to an ascetic elite.  This teaching was worked out in further letters to a young widow, Jane Frances de Chantal, who became the bishop’s close friend.  ‘With you I speak as I do with my own heart,’ he wrote to her.  He urged her first of all to care for her children, then the needy in her neighbourhood.  When Jane wanted to become an enclosed nun, Francis advised against this.  Together they initiated a community of religious women who took their inspiration from Mary’s visitation to Elizabeth (Luke 1), dedicating themselves to works of mercy.  Canon lawyers of the time insisted on restrictions but the novel institute prospered.