Jean-Pierre Caussade - Abandonment to Divine Providence, How to Fulfill your Daily Duties with God-Given Confidence

Jean Pierre de Caussade 
(1675-1751), French Jesuit priest and writer





When a soul recognizes the will of God and shows a readiness to submit to it entirely, then God gives himself to such a soul and renders it most powerful succor under all circumstances. Thus it experiences a great happiness in this coming of God, and enjoys it the more it has learnt to abandon itself at every moment to his adorable will.

[succor - assistance and support in times of hardship and distress]
[adorable - delightful, captivating, dear]

God reveals himself to us in as mysterious a manner in the most ordinary circumstances, and as truly and adorably as is the great events of history or of Holy Scripture.

To behold divine mysteries it is necessary to shut the eyes to what is external, and to cease to reason.
Lord, you speak to each individual soul by the circumstances occurring at every moment of life.

When we read God's Word from moment to moment, not written with ink on paper, but on your soul with suffering, does it not merit some attention on your part? How is it that we cannot see the will of God in all this?

All is yours, all is from you and for you. I have no longer anything to look after, anything to do. I have no hand in the arrangement of one single moment of life; all is yours.

I ought neither to add to, nor to diminish anything, neither to seek after, nor to reflect on anything. It is for you to regulate everything; mine is to be satisfied with your work and leave all to your good pleasure.

Souls called by God are both solitary and free; detached from all things in order to belong to God and to fulfill faithfully the present duty according to his expressed will. They do not allow themselves to reflect, to neglect, nor think of consequences, causes, or reasons. It is enough for them to go on simply, accomplishing their plain duties and their duty to God.

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[Note: While at the Cloisters retreat, I read this book and collected a few of my favorite comments. I thought I would share a few of them with you.]