Catholic during the Great Apostasy

Sacrificate sacrificium justitiae et sperate in Domino. “Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, and trust in the Lord,” says the prophet, meaning that the true and strongest foundation of spiritual life is surrendering oneself to God and His pleasure in everything, both external and internal; it is also complete divestment of one’s self, which relinquishes all rights to itself, to such a degree that God’s command becomes the only law, all joy, and the glory, happiness, and essence of God our only good.

Proceeding from this principle, the soul rejoices throughout its life that God is God, and leaves its own state to the Divine Will to such an extent that whether this or that happens, it joyfully accepts everything from God’s hand, without any personal considerations regarding the intentions of that Will.

Thus, after faithfully fulfilling the duties of one’s state, one great duty remains, which is complete surrender to the Divine Will. The more perfectly we fulfill this duty, the greater measure of holiness awaits us.

A holy soul is simply a soul perfectly surrendered to the Divine Will through grace; everything that happens in it is not human work but divine, and it should be accepted with blind submission and holy indifference to everything. God demands nothing more than this disposition; the rest He chooses and destines according to His intentions, like a builder selecting materials for the building he is to construct.

Therefore, in everything, let us love God and His command; let us love Him as He presents Himself, desiring nothing more; what He sends us is His affair, not ours, and it is certainly the best for the soul.

This principle of surrender to the Divine Will is a great simplification of spiritual life, as it leads to continual forgetting of self and constant occupation with love and the glory of God, without those turns, anxieties, considerations about one’s own perfection.

When God Himself decides to take care of our affair, let us entrust it to His infinite wisdom, and let us ourselves diligently attend to His holy cause.

So first, my soul, let it matter less what happens externally and internally to us; let us rejoice in God’s command, rejoice in everything He does in us and with us. Let us not wander along those treacherous paths of vain inquiries; that is a temptation of fruitless excursions; let us not entangle ourselves in those spider webs that have nothing real.

Let us go straight through weaknesses and dryness, through discouragements and doubts, through Satan’s ambushes and human obstacles, through prejudices, envies, and evil forebodings. Rising above it all, let us bathe in the rays of the divine sun, feel its warmth amid earthly cold, remembering, however, that our life should not be mere feeling. Indeed, let us live in that elevated sphere where God and His will create an unchanging eternity, always the same, unshakable, in that spiritual dwelling where uncreated, inexpressible things keep the soul far from earthly dust and darkness in unshakable peace, inaccessible to sensory storms. Then we will be freed from all anxieties; the subdued senses may still struggle and strive—they cannot bind us, like bad weather and changeable air.

God and His will—behold the object of our eternal adoration, both here in the state of faith and in the state of glory and eternal happiness, and this glorified state of our soul should influence our material side and dispel the mists and shadows that envelop it.

Divine action is capable of leading the soul to solar brightness even through these fleeting elements, for the faculties of the sensitive soul and the fallen body must mix and be shaped, and they will attain the purest form only after passing through many trials, many annihilations and losses, when groaning under God’s hand, they must proceed toward their perfection.

The believing soul possesses God’s secret, and that keeps it in peace; everything that happens in it increases this peace instead of disturbing it; most firmly convinced that God leads it, it takes everything as grace and lives in forgetfulness of the object on which divine work is performed, thinking only of supporting that work.

Love constantly urges it to faithfully fulfill obligations; the action of grace is continual in it, and small transgressions turn to good.

Of everything that happens in the soul, the most distinct are painful or consoling impressions arising from circumstances in which the Divine Will places the soul for its good; thus, to find God under these appearances is the task of faith, and to use everything for union with God constitutes its practice.

II. GOD LEADS THE SOUL DEVOTED TO HIM ALL THE MORE CERTAINLY THE MORE HE SEEMS TO KEEP IT IN DARKNESS.

On souls devoted to the Lord God, these words of St. John are fulfilled in a special way: “You have no need that anyone teach you, but as His anointing teaches you about everything.” Therefore, one must listen to this anointing to know what God demands of us; one must ask one’s heart what God says to it, for it receives inspirations and is their interpreter; for divine action reveals its intentions to it not in ideas, but in intuitions.

Sometimes it reveals itself as an irresistible necessity, compelling us to act this way and not otherwise; sometimes as a first impulse, a kind of supernatural attraction pushing toward action without reflection; at other times as a charm or aversion that, though not constraining free will, attracts or repels from certain things.

At first glance, it would seem that it is a great moral deficiency to let oneself go on such uncertainties, and from a human perspective, there can be nothing certain, stable, or deliberate in such an arrangement; in essence, such a state is the highest degree of perfection and is achieved only as a result of long practice.

The property of such a state is perfection and the purest virtue. Just as a musician artist, besides great proficiency, possesses perfect knowledge of his art, and everything he creates in his profession, even thoughtlessly, bears the mark of his artistry, similarly a soul that has long trained in the science and practice of perfection, under the guidance of reasoning that helped it cooperate with grace, such a soul develops in itself a habit of acting without method, but by divine inspiration.

Then one can boldly fulfill everything that presents itself without hesitation and assumptions that were initially necessary; act blindly, surrendering to the infallible guidance of grace, and it will produce, in this state of simplicity, wonders for eyes that can see and for minds that do not shy away from truth. Then everything will become precise without any rules; everything moderate, without measure; everything profound without the need for inquiry; everything thought out without reflection; effective without efforts; everything adapted to events without a planned scheme.

Spiritual reading often gives the reader illuminations that the writer did not have at all; this is the action of grace. The Lord God then uses human words and deeds to reveal truths that were not discovered, and when He enlightens in this way, it must be accepted, for every way of visitation through divine action possesses efficacy far surpassing the natural property of those ways.

The characteristic feature of surrender is a life full of mysteries, receiving from God unusual and wonderful gifts in the use of natural, common, everyday things, in which nothing else participates except ordinary human influences and the course of usual events.

In this way, the simplest sermons, the most ordinary conversations, books written without elevation, become for these souls, through the power of the Divine Will, a source of light and knowledge; they gather crumbs rejected by the wise, rejoice in them, see treasures in them, enrich themselves with them; indifferent to everything, they despise nothing, respect everything, and draw benefit from every thing.

Using everything when God is in everything is not using created things, but divine action communicating itself through these instruments, which in themselves do not sanctify, but as conductors of divine action impart His graces to simple souls, although these means sometimes seem directly opposite to the effects they are to produce.

The coarsest means will produce the same effect as the most subtle, and when the Lord God uses it, it will always be effective; for in His hand, everything is equal. The believing soul never complains about the lack of means for progress on the spiritual path, for it knows in whose hand these means are and knows whose Will can replace all means. This holy Will constitutes the entire virtue of creatures.

III. THE ABANDONMENT IN WHICH THE SOUL DEVOTED TO GOD OFTEN FINDS ITSELF IS A SACRIFICE FROM WHICH IT WILL REJOICE IN ETERNITY.

Souls living in light sing hymns of light, while souls plunged in darkness sing the hymn of darkness. Let each hold to the end in the state destined for it by God, let it add nothing of its own, let it drain the cup of divine bitterness to the last drop, to intoxication. Thus did Jeremiah and Ezekiel; every word of theirs was a sigh or groan, and their whole consolation was the endurance of these hardships. He who would dry their tears would deprive us of the most beautiful passages of Holy Scripture. The Spirit that crushes us is the one that alone can lift us up—these two streams flow from one source.

Let the soul tremble when God terrifies it, let it fear when God threatens, let the divine work unfold in the soul; it carries with it both illness and remedy; even if you die of anxiety, do not try to change or calm this divine fear, this heavenly longing; accept with joy a drop from that cup from which God drank a sea of bitterness. Your tears are pressed out by grace; the same breath will dry them; the clouds will part, the sun will emerge, spring will bloom, and in the further course of your surrender to Providence, you will know in full extent the wonderful variety of divine action.

Truly, man worries unnecessarily, for everything that happens in him is very much like a dream; dream images change, one sad, another joyful; one phantom chases another, the soul is at the mercy of these illusions devouring each other; awakening only shows their vanity, dispels impressions, and a sober man no longer cares about happiness or misfortune experienced in sleep.

Yet You, O Lord, keep us asleep on Your bosom amid the darkness of this night of faith, You pass thousands of images through our souls, and their great and immense variety is in essence only a dream vision, holy and mysterious. In the midst of this night and in this state of sleep, we experience real sufferings and are often strongly shaken or consumed by longing: but on the day of awakening, on the day of eternal glory, You will transform our affliction into true and lasting joy.

In the moment of this awakening and in its continuation, souls endowed with self-knowledge and the power of discernment will admire the loving stratagems of the Bridegroom, His skill and ideas in hiding Himself. They will then understand how inscrutable His ways are, how difficult it was to solve His riddles, to recognize Him when He wanted to veil Himself, how hard it was to draw consolation when He decided to sow terror and fear. Jeremiahs and Davids will see in this hour of awakening that what they wept over is the joy of God and angels.

IV. THE MORE STRIPPED THE SOUL DEVOTED TO GOD FEELS, THE MORE GENEROUSLY IT IS ENDOWED.

Let us proceed further in knowing the merciful hiding of divine action, which, though with one hand it seems to take away, with the other secretly gives, like that true friend who, in order not to spoil his beloved, suspends his generosity in his interest, but does not cease to care for him and supports his misery secretly through others; however, not knowing that it is only an appearance of rejection, he feels it painfully and grieves over this conduct. But let the secret be revealed, what tenderness, what gratitude, love and adoration, and at the same time what shame that one doubted for a moment! From then on, trust increases, zeal doubles; this trial strengthens attachment and prevents similar illusions in the future.

It is the same with God. The more we seem to lose, the more we gain; He strips nature to endow us supernaturally. We loved Him for His gifts; He hid them, therefore, so that we might love Him for Himself, and by taking away these gifts, He wants to give us the greatest and most precious gift of all, for it contains all within itself.

Souls that have once completely surrendered to divine action should interpret everything for the good, even if it is the loss of the best spiritual director, even if it is distrust toward the one they are forced to accept out of necessity, or who imposes himself on them. In general, imposed spiritual guidance can rightly be suspected; for those guided by God’s thought usually do not show such haste, they come only upon request and always with some fear.

Therefore, let the soul completely devoted to God boldly pass through these trials and let nothing constrain its freedom. If it remains faithful to divine action, that action will work wonders in it despite all obstacles. God and the soul work in holy communion on one and the same work, whose success depends entirely on the divine master, but through the soul’s infidelity it can be thwarted.

When the soul is well, everything is well, for divine action is only a reflection of the soul’s fidelity. Wonderful is the arrangement of this work, similar to those huge tapestries that are made from the wrong side; each worker knows only his part and does not know the whole; only after completion does the magnificent whole appear in clarity, and the astonishing patterns composed of these individual stitches.

The soul devoted to God sees only two things: God and its duties. Fulfilling the duties of each moment—these are those tiny stitches from which God draws His wonders, sensed by us in time, but understood only in the great light of the eternal day!

How full of goodness and wisdom is God’s conduct toward us! Everything great, elevated, worthy of adoration in perfection and holiness, He has left to His action and His grace, and to our souls, supported by that grace, He has left everything easy, small, clear, so that there is no one in the world who is not capable of reaching the highest perfection by simply fulfilling with love the quietest and most ordinary duties.

V. GOD IS A POWERFUL DEFENDER OF THE SOUL DEVOTED TO HIM, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT IS UNABLE TO DEFEND ITSELF.

Divine action is infallible in applying its activity to the simple soul, and it responds faithfully to this confidential guidance; it wants nothing other than what happens, does not desire to feel otherwise than what it feels, agrees to everything except sin. Sometimes this happens intentionally, sometimes unknowingly; in the latter case, the soul is instinctively driven to speak, to perform, to leave things as they are, without any other reason.

Sometimes the circumstances influencing this are entirely natural; the simple soul sees nothing in them except the accident of necessity or social requirements; neither in its eyes nor in the eyes of others is there anything else, and yet divine action, being the reason and counsel of its beloved, utilizes even these small circumstances for its benefit; it applies them, opposes them so artfully to those who want to use them for harm, that they never achieve the intended goal.

Divine action frees the soul from all those small and feverish means used by human prudence.

Such means are suitable for Herod and the Pharisees;—let the three kings calmly follow the star; let the Holy Child rest without care on His mother’s bosom; Jesus’ enemies with their efforts will help more than harm His cause; the more they try to ensnare it, the freer and more at ease it will be. He will not strive to win them over or basely appease them; indeed, all their malice, stubbornness, envy are necessary to Him. Thus Jesus lived in Judea, and thus He lives today in simple souls; such is His magnificence, sweetness, simplicity, and freedom; He does not look back at anyone, He feels that all are in the Father’s hand to serve Him, some through wild passions, others through holy deeds; some through resistance, others through obedience.

Divine action arranges all this wonderfully; there is nothing too much or too little; good and evil have only the proper measure.

The divine command uses the appropriate tool at each moment, and the soul, raised simply in faith, desires nothing more, satisfied with what it has received. It blesses in each moment this heavenly source springing at its bottom, and accepts its friends and enemies with equal sweetness, for that was the way Jesus treated everyone, considering each as a divine instrument. Properly speaking, no one is necessary, and yet one would want to embrace everyone; divine action utilizes every thing, and from Him every thing should be accepted, taking it according to its qualities and nature, cooperating with it in sweetness and humility, dealing simply with the simple, and gently with the rough. St. Paul taught this, and Christ did it even more perfectly.

Only grace can impart this supernatural mark, adapting wonderfully to the nature of each person; this cannot be learned from books. It is the effect of internal, prophetic revelation; it is the teaching of the Holy Spirit. To understand this, one must be completely devoted to God, must completely divest oneself of all intentions and plans, even the holiest; one must have only one matter in view, that is, passive surrender to divine action while strictly fulfilling the duties of one’s vocation, leaving to the Holy Spirit the management of our internal state, not worrying or looking at His work; indeed, rejoicing that one sees nothing. Then we will be safe, for everything that happens in the world happens exclusively for the benefit of souls devoted to God.

VI. THE SOUL THAT SURRENDERS TO GOD, INSTEAD OF RESISTING ITS ENEMIES, FINDS IN THEM PRECISELY EFFECTIVE HELP.

One’s own action and the action of friends are far more dangerous than the action of enemies; there is therefore no greater prudence than not to resist enemies, but to oppose them only with surrender to Providence; then the ship has the wind behind it and sails forward, and the wicked, like galley slaves, must row. The ambushes of the flesh are repelled by nothing so much as by simplicity; all their efforts shatter against peace!

To associate with a simple soul is to some extent to associate with God! Who can penetrate the Eternal, whose ways are inscrutable? He stands on the side of simple souls, and then they do not need to strive and inquire, to respond to anxiety with anxiety; the Bridegroom has taken the whole burden on His shoulders; they stand behind Him as behind a shield, full of peace.

Divine action provides them with means so appropriate that they astonish those who desire to ensnare them. All the efforts of enemies turn to the benefit of the soul devoted to God; it benefits from those who want to benefit from it, rises by what they want to humiliate it; all adversities turn to its good, and by allowing enemies to act, it receives from them such services that it should fear only one thing: taking personal part in the battle that God Himself wages, in which enemies are only tools; thus nothing remains for it but to watch in peace the divine work and take divine consolations in simplicity. The supernatural prudence of the divine spirit, which is the source of these consolations, infallibly penetrates the most secret circumstances and pushes the soul in the enlightening direction so surely that everything opposing this enlightenment disappears.

THE SOUL DEVOTED TO GOD CAN BOLDLY DO NOTHING FOR ITS JUSTIFICATION; DIVINE ACTION JUSTIFIES IT.

The safe harbor and refuge where the soul devoted to God shelters from the storms of life is that command of the Divine Will, presenting itself every moment in the form of crosses or the most ordinary events. The hand of God hides in them to support and lead those who have surrendered to it, and this should incline the soul to childlike surrender to God, for then it will stand beyond all contradictions, needing nothing for its defense.

Since God and not someone else acts, why seek justification elsewhere? It will show itself in the effects; one need only allow them to develop. Dies diei eructat verbum. Not following one’s own thought, there is no need to defend oneself with words; words are superfluous. And what good would they do? To give an account of what we do? But that is not our affair; it is only a cover for a higher Will that prompted action and whose pressure we feel in an inexpressible way.

Therefore, let the consequences explain their own causes, for everything connects perfectly in this divine order; everything is consistent; the reason for previous things appears as an effect in subsequent ones. The soul devoted to God no longer lives in the world of thoughts, imagination, or many words; that does not occupy, animate, or sustain it; it perceives nothing in all that for itself, does not see its path and does not try to foresee where it will arrive, does not use deliberation that would support it in fatigue or indicate a less difficult pilgrimage—but it accepts and fulfills everything in the feeling of its immense weakness. The road before it is open; it enters it boldly and simply, in peace, truth, and simplicity proceeds along it, walking in God’s commandments step by step after Jesus, whom it meets at every step, seeking Him alone; He reveals His presence to it and Himself thunders against its enemies.

REV. J. P. CAUSSADE, S.J. – ABANDONMENT TO DIVINE PROVIDENCE! Translated from the sixth edition of the original French, revised and abridged by Rev. H. RAMIERE, S.J. KRAKÓW 1935. PUBLISHED AND OWNED BY THE CATHOLIC BOOKSTORE