Part 8

When God thus gives Himself to a soul, all that is ordinary becomes extraordinary; therefore it is that nothing appears of the great work which is going on in the soul; the way itself is so marvellous that it needs not the embellishment of marvels which belong not to it. It is a miracle, a revelation, a continuous enjoyment of God, interrupted only by little faults; but in itself it is characterized by the absence of anything sensible or marvellous, while it renders marvellous all ordinary and sensible things.

_CHAPTER XII._

God assures to Faithful Souls a Glorious Victory over the Powers of Earth and Hell.

If the divine action is veiled here below by an exterior of weakness, it is that the merit of faithful souls may be increased; but its triumph is no less sure. The history of the world is simply the history of the struggle maintained from the beginning by the powers of the world and hell with souls humbly submissive to the divine action. In the conflict all the advantage seems to be on the side of the proud; yet humility is always victorious.

This world is represented to us under the form of a statue of gold, brass, iron, and clay. This mystery of iniquity which was shown in a dream to Nebuchadnezzar is but the confused assemblage of all the acts, interior and exterior, of the children of darkness. These are again represented by the beast coming up out of the abyss from the beginning of all ages, to make war upon the interior and spiritual man; and this war still continues. The monsters succeed one another; the abyss swallows them and vomits them forth again, while unceasingly emitting new and strange vapors. The combat begun in heaven between Lucifer and St. Michael still wages. The heart of that proud and envious spirit has become an inexhaustible abyss of every kind of evil; and his only aim since the creation of the world has been to ever raise up among men new workers of iniquity to replace those swallowed up in the abyss. Lucifer is the chieftain of those who refuse obedience to the Almighty; this mystery of iniquity is but the inversion of the order of God. It is the order, or rather the disorder, of Satan. This disorder is a mystery, for beneath a fair exterior it hides irremediable infinite evils. All the wicked who have declared war against God, from Cain to those who now lay waste the earth, have been seemingly great and powerful princes, famous in the world and worshipped of men. But their apparent splendor is a portion of the mystery; they are but the beasts which, one after another, rise from the abyss to subvert the order of God. But this order, which is another mystery, resists them with men truly powerful and great, who give the death-blow to these monsters; and even as hell vomits forth new monsters, heaven raises up new heroes to battle with them. Ancient history, sacred and profane, is but the record of this war. The will of God always triumphs. His followers share His victories and reap a happy eternity. But iniquity can never protect its followers, and the deserters from God’s cause reap death, eternal death.

The wicked ever believe themselves invincible; but oh, my God, who shall resist Thee! Were the powers of earth and hell ranged against one single soul, she would have naught to fear in abandoning herself to the will of God. That apparent might and irresistible power of iniquity, that head of gold, that body of silver, brass, and iron, is but a phantom of glittering dust. A pebble overthrows it and makes it the sport of the winds.

How admirable is the work of the Holy Spirit throughout all ages! The revolutions which irresistibly carry men along with them, the brilliant heroes heralded with so much pomp, who shine like stars above the rest of mankind, the marvels of the age, are all but as the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, which at his awakening fled with all its terrors.

All these things are only sent to exercise the courage of the children of God; and when their virtue is proved and confirmed, He permits them to overcome these monsters, and continues to send new warriors into the field. So that this life is a continual warfare which exercises the courage of the saints on earth, and causes joy in heaven and confusion in hell.

Thus all opposition to the will, the order of God, serves but to render it more adorable. The servers of iniquity are the slaves of justice, and from the ruins of Babylon the divine action builds the heavenly Jerusalem.

APPENDIX.

Our readers will be grateful to us for adding to Father Caussade’s treatise a few methods which facilitate the practice of abandonment. To recommend these methods it suffices to say that their authors are St. Francis de Sales, Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, Bossuet, and Father Surin.

I.

A very easy Means of acquiring Peace of Heart.

BY FATHER SURIN, S. J.

It seems to me that the multiplicity of methods we employ to acquire and practise virtue is one of the obstacles to our being solidly established therein. Not that I counsel being so irrevocably bound to one method that we are not ready to change when God’s attraction changes. But, after all, this attraction at bottom never changes, and only presents itself under a more spiritual form. They who will be faithful to the following rules will have no difficulty in practising the virtues appropriate to the circumstances, the time, and the place in which they find themselves, and in relishing in the exercise of these virtues the peace and holy liberty of the children of God.

1st. Let us be fully convinced that we have but one thing to do: to possess each moment the fulness of our mind, without permitting the reasonable will to uselessly recall the past or excite vain anxieties concerning the future.

True abandonment, which makes God look upon us with love, consists in leaving the past to His ever merciful justice, and in confiding the future to His fatherly Providence. The remembrance of our past infidelities should humble but not trouble us, though we were convinced that they are much more serious than they appear.

In regard to the future, let us place no trust whatever in our strength and the sentiments of devotion we may experience; let us place all our trust in Jesus alone, however contrary sensible impressions may be. Relying on this foundation, it is no presumption to feel ourselves stronger than earth and hell; and the greater this confidence, the more it honors Jesus Christ, and the more it disposes His goodness to succor us in all our needs.

2d. We shall sanctify the present moment by renewing as frequently as we shall feel it needful the act of recollection which we must have made the first time with all the fervor of which we are capable; but this recollection should be very peaceful and dwell in the depths of the soul more than in the sensible part.

3d. We can remain faithful to this recollection only on condition that we frequently examine the interior and exterior condition of our soul. As soon as we discover in her any irregularity, however small, or in any degree displeasing to God, we should proceed to restore order with a heart as tranquil as if we had never failed, without disquieting ourselves with reflections springing from self-love, vexation at the fault committed, or from a pretext of livelier contrition. These sentiments can only retard our progress in virtue; for, while the soul amuses itself caressing its chagrin and probing its past faults, this useless introspection paralyzes its action and disposes it to new falls. A peaceful regret for time ill employed, united with an earnest endeavor to make better use of the present moment, is the true character of love of God.

4th. The quickest means of attaining peace of heart is love of our own abjection and miseries, voluntary offence against God, however, excepted. This love of one’s personal abjection derives profit from everything, even from falls, which should never discourage us.

A soul that loves her own abjection laughs at discouragement and combats it with all her strength. Content to be of herself but impotence and misery, she rejoices that Jesus Christ possesses the fulness of all perfection, and that she cannot do without Him an instant. She would not, were it in her power, will to have any strength of herself, for her radical impotence for all good and her unceasing need of Jesus Christ set forth His divine attributes to greater advantage. This is the sole contentment of a soul that seeks only the glory of God.

In this peaceful, humble way we advance in purity of divine love, and in the extermination of our bad habits more rapidly in a week than we would in a year of unquiet vigilance. Very little experience of God’s way will convince us of this. For self-love is the motive and end of those who yield to disquiet, while those who proceed with the calmness of which we have spoken rely on Jesus Christ. Now, it is most evident that seeking only God’s interest always gives strength, and that egotism, even spiritual egotism, being a disorder, is weakening.

5th. The perfection of order is to be found in the complete fusion of our interests with those of God. Therefore he who remains faithful to this sweet habit is not astonished to see himself assailed by every form of temptation; he bears the weary burden of them as the natural fruit of his misery, maintains in the depth of his heart a resigned acquiescence, and courageously drags this weary chain of his past without permitting himself to be troubled or cast down by the memory of his iniquities. When this thought assails him, he loses no time examining whence it came, nor how long it has lasted, for such an examination would be in itself a new distraction, more voluntary and injurious than the first; he is satisfied with humbling himself at sight of this infidelity, which, wholly involuntary as it is, proves, nevertheless, that his heart is not wholly fixed upon God. Disquietude in this case being a mark of self-love, we must return to God and seek peace in love of our own abjection.

6th. We must follow the same rule in our relations with our neighbor, and cause him to feel the truth of these words of our Saviour: “My yoke is sweet, and My burden light.” No one who takes this yoke upon himself can fail to realize these words, for they are the utterance of eternal Truth. The practice of which we have just spoken will inevitably cause us to taste its sweetness.

7th. When this feeling of disquiet has passed, and peace of mind is restored, it is well then to recall our past faults in order to humble and reprove ourselves. There is no one who should not feel the need of doing this, so great is the depth of our pride and self-love which never die, and never cease alas! to produce new fruits. If we neglect this very important point, the foundation of our virtues will inevitably lose its solidity. When, on the contrary, we persevere in this habit, we always conceive a greater esteem for our neighbor; unfavorable appearances no longer lead us to judge rashly, and we only condemn ourselves, for, recognizing our nothingness and sinfulness, we place ourselves under the feet of all.

8th. In considering our past faults, we must first see how we could have avoided falling; then with a tranquil heart lay before Jesus our misery and the will to be faithful to Him which He gives us; finally, we must not vainly amuse ourselves with estimating the difficulty or the facility we experience in doing good. We must not go to God circuitously, but unceasingly rouse ourselves to that pure and generous disinterestedness which will lead us directly to His most loving and adorable Majesty.

II.

On Perfect Abandonment.

BY BOSSUET.

When we are truly abandoned to God’s will, we are ready for all that may come to us: we suppose the worst that can be supposed, and we cast ourselves blindly on the bosom of God. We forget ourselves, we lose ourselves: and this entire forgetfulness of self is the most perfect penance we can perform; for all conversion consists only in truly renouncing and forgetting ourselves, to be occupied with God and filled with Him. This forgetfulness of self is the martyrdom of self-love; it is its death, and an annihilation which leaves it without resources: then the heart dilates and is enlarged. We are relieved by casting from us the dangerous weight of self which formerly overwhelmed us. We look upon God as a good Father who leads us, as it were, by the hand in the present moment; and all our rest is in humble and firm confidence in His fatherly goodness.

If anything is capable of making a heart free and unrestrained, it is perfect abandonment to God and His holy will: this abandonment fills the heart with a divine peace more abundant than the fullest and vastest floods. If anything can render a mind serene, dissipate the keenest anxieties, soften the bitterest pains, it is assuredly this perfect simplicity and liberty of a heart wholly abandoned to the hands of God. The unction of abandonment gives a certain vigor to all the actions, and spreads the joy of the Holy Spirit even over the countenance and words. I will place all my strength, therefore, in this perfect abandonment to God’s hands, through Jesus Christ, and He will be my conclusion in all things in virtue of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

III.

A Short and Easy Method of making the Prayer of Faith, and of the Simple Presence of God.

BY BOSSUET.

1st. We must accustom ourselves to nourish our soul with a simple and loving thought of God, and of Jesus Christ, our Lord; and to this end we must gently separate her from all discourse, reasoning, and a multitude of affections, to keep her in simplicity, respect, and attention, and thus bring her nearer and nearer to God, her sole and sovereign good, her first principle, and her last end.

2d. The perfection of this life consists in union with our Sovereign Good; and the greater the simplicity, the more perfect the union. It is for this reason that those who would be perfect are interiorly solicited by grace to become simple, that they may finally be capable of enjoying the _one thing_ necessary--that is, eternal unity. Then let us frequently say, in the depth of our hearts: _O unum necessarium, unum volo, unum quæro, unum mihi est necessarium, Deus meus et omnia._ (Oh, one thing necessary! Thee alone do I wish, do I seek, do I desire! Thou art all that I need, O my God and my all!)

3d. Meditation is very good in its time, and very useful at the beginning of the spiritual life; but we must not stop at it, as the soul by her fidelity to mortification, and recollection, usually receives a purer and more intimate form of prayer which may be called the prayer of “simplicity.” It consists in a simple and loving attention, or contemplation of some divine object, either of God in Himself or some of His perfections, or of Jesus Christ or some of His mysteries, or some other of the Christian truths. Then the soul, abandoning all reasoning, falls into a sweet contemplation which keeps her tranquil, attentive, and susceptible of the operations and the divine impressions which the Holy Spirit communicates to her: she does little, and receives much; her labor is sweet, and yet most fruitful; and as she approaches nearer to the source of all light, all grace, all virtue, she also receives more.

4th. The practice of this prayer should begin at our awakening by an act of faith in the presence of God, who is everywhere, and in Jesus Christ, whose eyes never leave us though we were buried in the centre of the earth. This act is made sensibly, in the usual manner; for example, by saying interiorly, “I believe that my God is present;” or by a simple thought of faith in God present with us, which is a purer and more spiritual act.

5th. Then we must not endeavor to multiply, or produce several other acts or various dispositions, but remain simply attentive to this presence of God, exposed to this divine radiance, thus continuing this devout attention or exposition as long as God gives us the grace of it, without being eager to make other acts than those with which we are inspired, since this prayer is a prayer with God alone, and a union which eminently contains all the other special dispositions; and which disposes the soul to passiveness; that is to say, God becomes sole master of her interior, and there effects more special work. The less the creature labors in this state, the more powerfully God acts in her; and since the operation of God is a repose, the soul, in this prayer, becomes in a manner like Him, and receives, also, marvellous effects; and as the rays of the sun cause the plants to grow and blossom and bear fruit, so the attentive soul, exposed in tranquillity to the rays of the divine Sun of justice, more effectually imbibes the divine influences which enrich her with all virtues.

6th. The continuation of this attention in faith will serve her as thanksgiving for all the graces received during the night, and throughout her life, as an offering of herself and all her actions, as a direction of her intention, etc.

7th. The soul may fear to lose much by the omission of other acts, but experience will teach her, on the contrary, that she gains a great deal; for the greater her knowledge of God, the greater also will be the purity of her love, of her intentions, the greater will be her detestation of sin, and the greater and more continual her recollection, mortification, and humility.

8th. This will not prevent her from making other interior or exterior acts of virtue when she feels herself impelled thereto by grace; but the fundamental and usual state of her interior should be that union with God which will keep her abandoned to His hands and delivered up to His love, to quietly accomplish all His will.

9th. The time of meditation being come, we must begin it with great respect by a simple recollection of God, invoking His Spirit, and uniting ourselves intimately with Jesus Christ; then continue it in this same way. It will be the same with vocal prayers, office, and the Holy Sacrifice, whether we celebrate it or assist at it. Even the examination of conscience should be made after no other method: this same light which keeps our attention upon God will cause us to discover our slightest imperfections, and deeply deplore and regret them. We should go to table with the same spirit of simplicity which will keep us more occupied with God than with the repast, and leave us free to give better attention to what is being read. This practice binds us to nothing but to keep our soul detached from all imperfection, and attached only to God and intimately united with Him, in which consists all our welfare.

10th. We should take our recreation in the same disposition, to give the body and mind relaxation without permitting ourselves the dissipation of curious news, immoderate laughter, nor any indiscreet word, etc.; always keeping ourselves pure and free interiorly without disturbing others, frequently uniting ourselves to God by a simple and loving thought of Him; remembering that we are in His presence, and that He does not wish us to be separated at any moment from Him and His holy will. The most ordinary rule of this state of simplicity and the sovereign disposition of the soul is to do the will of God in all things. Regarding all as coming from God and going from all to God, is what sustains and fortifies the soul in all its occupations and in all that comes to it, and maintains us in the possession of simplicity. Then let us always follow the will of God, after the example of Jesus Christ, and united to Him as our Head. This is an excellent means of making progress in this manner of prayer, in order to attain through it to the most solid virtue and the most perfect sanctity.

11th. We should console ourselves in the same manner, and preserve this simple and intimate union with God in all our actions--in the parlor, in the cell, at table, at recreation. Let us add, that in all our intercourse we should endeavor to edify our neighbor, by taking advantage of every occasion to lead one another to piety, the love of God, the practice of good works, in order that we may diffuse the good odor of Jesus Christ. _If any man speak_, says St. Peter, _let him speak as the words of God_, and as if God Himself spoke through him. To do this, it suffices to follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: He will inspire you as to that which is simply and unaffectedly suitable at all times.

Finally, we will finish the day by animating with the sentiment of this holy presence our examen, evening prayer, and preparations for rest; and we will go to sleep with this loving attention, interspersing our rest, when we awake during the night, with a few fervent words, full of unction, like so many transports, or cries of the heart to God. As for example: My God, be all things to me! I desire only Thee for time and eternity; Lord, who is like unto Thee? My Lord and my God; my God, and nothing more!

12th. It must be remarked that this true simplicity makes us live in a state of continual death to self and of perfect detachment, by causing us to go with the utmost directness to God without stopping at any creature. But this grace of simplicity is not obtained by speculation, but by great purity of heart, and true mortification and contempt of self. He who avoids suffering, humiliations, and refuses to die to self, will never have any part in it. This is why there are so few who advance herein; for few indeed are willing to leave themselves, and they endure in consequence immense losses, and deprive themselves of incomprehensible blessings. O happy souls who spare nothing to belong wholly to God! Happy religious who faithfully follow all the observances of their institute! Through this fidelity they die continually to self, to their own judgment, to their own will, to their inclinations and natural repugnances, and are thus admirably though unconsciously disposed for this excellent method of prayer. There is nothing more hidden than the life of a religious who follows in all things the observances and ordinary exercises of his or her community, giving no exterior manifestation of anything extraordinary: it is a life which is a complete and continual death; through it the kingdom of God is established in us, and all other things are liberally given us.

13th. We should not neglect the reading of spiritual books; but we should read with simplicity, and in a spirit of prayer, and not through curious research. We read in a spirit of prayer when we permit the lights and sentiments revealed to us through the reading to be imprinted on our souls, and when this impression is made by the presence of God rather than by our industry.

14th. We must be armed, moreover, with two or three maxims: first, that a devout person without prayer is a body without a soul; second, that there can be no true and solid prayer without mortification, without recollection, without humility; third, that we need perseverance, never to be disheartened by the difficulties to be encountered in this exercise.