St. Francis De Sales on Obedience, Chastity, and Poverty

Charity alone places us in perfection.  But the three great means of attaining to it are obedience, chastity, and poverty.  Obedience consecrates our heart, chastity our body, and poverty our worldly means to the love and service of God.  These are the three branches of the spiritual cross, and all have their foundation in the fourth, which is humility...Let us try, then to practice these virtues, each according to his vocation; for if they do not place us in the state of perfection, they will nevertheless give us perfection itself.  Moreover, we are all bound to practice these three virtues, although not all to practice them in the same way.  --From the chapter entitled "Obedience" from An Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis  De Sales

I came across the above quote yesterday which gives me a much better understanding of the virtues of obedience, chastity, and poverty that I attempted to write about in my last post.  St. Francis De Sales puts it so beautifully and simply doesn't he?  I am especially drawn to the statement about obedience, chastity, and poverty consecrating our heart, body, and worldy means to the love and service of God.  It is a reminder to me that practicing virtue isn't an end in itself to satisfy my pride, but is supposed to lead me to love of God and neighbor.