Abandonment to Divine Providence (One)
We recently
considered the great Christian classic, “Of The Imitation of Christ,” by Thomas
À Kempis, which is available for free online and for purchase. Another
wonderful Christian classic (also available online for free, and for purchase)
is “Abandonment to Divine Providence” by Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751).
The book is comprised of letters Fr. de Caussade wrote to French Visitation
nuns in the town of Nancy, after he had been their spiritual director for about
7 years total starting in 1729.
When de
Caussade uses the term “abandonment,” he means in the sense of trustful
surrender to the One you love and One you know loves you totally: God.
Therefore, his words are a spiritual guide for one wanting to come closer to
God, to know His love more, and to share intimate communion with Him.
It is an
excellent book to reach for when you are suffering, have received a serious
medical diagnosis, or cannot understand your disappointments and why things
happen to you. It is no philosophical treatise and doesn’t attempt to explain
the problem of evil intellectually. No. This is a book for the perplexed and
suffering who need strength, guidance, and wisdom in times of trial. It gives
you courage to believe.
De Caussade
writes:
“The soul,
enlightened by faith, judges of things in a very different way to those who,
having only the standard of the senses by which to measure them, ignore the
inestimable treasure they contain.
“He who
knows that a certain person in disguise is the king, behaves towards him very
differently to another who, only perceiving an ordinary man, treats him
accordingly. In the same way the soul that recognizes the will of God in every
smallest event, and also in those that are most distressing and direful,
receives all with an equal joy, pleasure and respect. It throws open all its
doors to receive with honor what others fear and fly from with horror. The
outward appearance may be mean and contemptible, but beneath this abject garb
the heart discovers and honors the majesty of the King....” [De Caussade speaks
here of the lowliness and poverty of the manger in Bethlehem.]
“To
consider God equally good in things that are petty and ordinary as in those
that are great and uncommon is to have a faith that is not ordinary, but great
and extraordinary....
“The life
of faith is nothing less than the continued pursuit of God through all that
disguises, disfigures, destroys and, so to say, annihilates Him.... [F]aithful
souls endure a constant succession of trials. God hides beneath veils of
darkness and illusive appearances which make His will difficult to recognize;
but in spite of every obstacle these souls follow Him and love Him even to the
death of the Cross.
“Pursue then without ceasing, ye faithful souls, this
beloved Spouse who with giant strides passes from one extremity of the heavens
to the other. [Ps 19:6] If you be content and untiring [in your faith,] nothing
will have power to hide Him from you. He moves above the smallest blades of
grass as above the mighty cedar. The grains of sand are under His feet as well
as the huge mountains. Wherever you may turn, there you will find His
footprints, and in following them perseveringly you will find Him wherever you
may be.”
Dibby Green
Originally published in the print edition of the Mojave Desert News on August 15, 2019.Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is located in California City, CA. Visit our website at ollcalcity.org.