Chapter XIII

Caritas non cogitat malum, non gaudet super iniquitate, congaudet autem veritati.

He who loves Jesus Christ wills nothing but what Jesus Christ wills.

Charity is always united with truth; hence, knowing that God is the one and only true good, charity abhors all iniquity that opposes the divine will, and delights in nothing other than what God wills. Therefore the soul that loves God cares little about what others say of it and attends solely to doing what pleases God. Blessed Henry Suso said: "He truly stands well with God who studies to satisfy the truth, and then cares nothing about however he may be treated or regarded by men."

Already we have said more than once above that all the holiness and perfection of a soul consists in denying itself and following the will of God; but here it is fitting to speak of this more at length. This, then, must be our whole study, if we wish to become saints: never to follow our own will, but always the will of God; for the substance of all the divine precepts and counsels comes down to doing and suffering what God wills and as God wills it. Let us therefore pray the Lord to grant us the holy freedom of spirit: freedom of spirit makes us embrace everything that pleases Jesus Christ, despite any resistance from self-love or from human respect. The love of Jesus Christ places its lovers in a total indifference, whereby everything is the same to them — the sweet and the bitter. They want nothing that pleases themselves and want everything that pleases God. With the same peace they engage in great things and in small, in pleasant things and in unpleasant: it suffices them to please God.

St. Augustine says: Ama et fac quod vis — Love and do what you will. He who truly loves God seeks nothing but the pleasure of God, and in this alone finds his contentment — in giving pleasure to God. St. Teresa writes: "Whoever seeks nothing but the satisfaction of the beloved is content with everything that satisfies the beloved. Such is the power of love when it is perfect: it makes a person forget every personal advantage and satisfaction, and turns all thought to giving pleasure to the beloved and to seeking how to honor him for oneself and for others. O Lord, all harm comes to us from not keeping our eyes fixed on you! If we looked at nothing but how to walk, we would soon arrive; but we fall and stumble a thousand times and even lose the way, because we do not look attentively at the true path." Here, then, is what must be the sole aim of all our thoughts, actions, desires, and prayers: the pleasure of God. And this must be our path to perfection: to follow the will of God.

God wants each of us to love him with our whole heart: Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo (Matt. XXII, 37). That soul loves Jesus Christ with its whole heart which says to him with a true heart what the Apostle said: Domine, quid me vis facere? (Act. IX, 6): Lord, let me know what you want of me, for I wish to do it all. And let us understand that when we will what God wills, we will our own greatest good; for certainly God wills nothing but what is best for us. St. Vincent de Paul said: "Conformity to the divine will is the Christian's treasure and the remedy for all evils; for it contains self-denial, union with God, and all the virtues." Here, in short, is where all perfection lies: Domine, quid me vis facere? Jesus Christ promises us: Et capillus de capite vestro non peribit (Luc. XXI, 18). This means that the Lord repays us for every good thought we have of pleasing him and for every tribulation we embrace in peace by conforming ourselves to his holy will. St. Teresa said: "The Lord never sends a trial without repaying it with some favor, provided we accept it with resignation."

But our conformity to the divine will must be entire, without reserve, and constant, without revocation. Here lies the summit of perfection; and to this, I repeat, all our works, all our desires, and all our prayers must tend. Some souls given to prayer, reading of the ecstasies and raptures of St. Teresa, St. Philip Neri, and other saints, become eager to attain these supernatural unions. Such desires must be driven away, because they are contrary to humility. If we wish to become saints, we must desire the true union with God, which is the total uniting of our will with that of God. St. Teresa writes: "They deceive themselves who believe that union with God consists in ecstasies, raptures, and enjoyments of him. It consists in nothing else than subjecting our will to the will of God; and then this subjection is perfect when our will is found detached from everything and united solely to the will of God, so that its every movement is the will of God alone. This is the true and essential union I have always desired and continually ask of the Lord." And then she adds: "Oh, how many of us there are who say this, and it seems to us that we want nothing else; but, alas, how few of us arrive at it!" And this is the truth: many of us say, "Lord, I give you all my will; I want nothing but what you want"; but when adverse things happen to us, we cannot quiet ourselves with the divine will. And from this come our complaints that we have bad fortune in this world, and our saying that all the misfortunes are ours, and our leading an unhappy life.

If we remained united with the divine will in all adversities, we would certainly become saints and would be the happiest people in the world. This, then, must be our whole attention: to keep our will united to that of God in everything that befalls us, whether pleasant or unpleasant. The Holy Spirit warns us: Non ventiles te in omnem ventum (Eccli. V, 11). Some people are like weathervanes that turn according to the wind. If the wind is favorable, as they desire, they are seen all cheerful and meek; but if the wind is contrary, when things do not go as they wish, they are seen all sad and impatient. And therefore they do not become saints, and they lead an unhappy life, because in this life there are far more adverse things than favorable ones to befall us. St. Dorotheus said that to receive all things from the hands of God, however they come, is a great means of preserving ourselves in a continual peace and tranquility of heart. And therefore the saint relates that the ancient Desert Fathers were never seen angry or melancholy, because they received everything that happened to them joyfully from the hands of God.

Oh, blessed is he who lives entirely united and abandoned to the divine will! He does not swell up at favorable events nor cast himself down at adverse ones, knowing that all come from the same hand of God. The will of God alone is the rule of his own will; and therefore he does nothing but what God wills and wills nothing but what God does. He does not busy himself with doing many things, but only with doing perfectly what he understands to be the pleasure of God. Hence he prefers the smallest obligations of his state to the greatest and most glorious actions, seeing that in the latter self-love may have a part, but in the former there is certainly the will of God.

So then, we shall be blessed if we receive from God all the things he ordains with perfect conformity to his divine will, without attending to whether they are agreeable or contrary to our inclination. St. Jane Frances de Chantal said: "When shall it be that we taste the sweetness of the divine will in all that befalls us, considering nothing but the divine good pleasure, from which it is certain that, with equal love and for our greater good, both adversities and prosperities are dealt out to us? When shall we abandon ourselves entirely into the arms of our most loving heavenly Father, leaving to him the care of our persons and our affairs, reserving for ourselves only the desire to please God?" The friends of St. Vincent de Paul used to say while he lived: "Monsieur Vincent is always Vincent." And they meant that the saint, in every event, prosperous or adverse, was always seen with a serene face, always the same — because, living entirely abandoned in God, he feared nothing and desired nothing but what pleased God. St. Teresa writes: "In this holy abandonment is born that beautiful liberty of spirit which the perfect possess, in which is found all the happiness that can be desired in this life; for, desiring nothing and wanting nothing of the things of this world, they possess all things."

Many, on the contrary, fashion holiness according to their own inclination: the melancholy person, in a solitary life; the busybody, in preaching and making peace; the person of harsh temperament, in penances and macerations; the generous person, in giving alms; others, in saying many vocal prayers; others, in visiting shrines — and here they make their whole sanctity consist. External works are fruits of the love of Jesus Christ, but true love consists in conforming ourselves in all things to the will of God, and consequently in denying ourselves and choosing what most pleases God, and solely because he deserves it.

Others wish to serve God, but in a particular assignment, in a particular place, with certain companions and other circumstances; otherwise they either abandon the work or do it grudgingly. These are not free in spirit but are slaves of self-love, and therefore they merit little even in what they do; and they live always in restlessness, because being attached to their own will, the yoke of Jesus Christ becomes heavy for them. The true lovers of Jesus Christ love only what pleases Jesus Christ, and solely because it pleases Jesus Christ; and when he wills it and where he wills it and in the way Jesus Christ wills it — whether he wishes to employ them in honorable affairs or in humble and lowly occupations, or in a life conspicuous before the world or hidden and neglected. This is what pure love of Jesus Christ means; and in this we must labor, fighting against the appetites of self-love, which would have us occupied only in works that are glorious or to our own liking. And what does it profit to be in this world the most honored, the richest, the greatest, without the will of God? Blessed Henry Suso said: "I would rather be a lowly little beast of the earth with the will of God, than a seraph of heaven with my own will."

Jesus Christ says: Many will say to me, Lord, in your name we have cast out devils and done great things: Domine, nonne in nomine tuo prophetavimus, et in nomine tuo daemonia eiecimus, et in nomine tuo virtutes multas fecimus? (Matth. VII, 22). But the Lord will answer them: Nunquam novi vos; discedite a me qui operamini iniquitatem (Ibid. 23): Depart, I never knew you for my disciples, since you chose to follow your own inclination rather than my will. And this is said especially for those active priests who labor for the salvation and perfection of others while they themselves remain always mired in their own imperfections.

Perfection consists: first, in a true contempt for oneself; second, in a total mortification of one's own appetites; third, in a perfect conformity to the will of God. Whoever falls short in any of these virtues is off the path of perfection. Therefore a great servant of God said that it is better in our actions to propose the sole end of doing the will of God than the glory of God; because in doing the will of God we also seek his glory, but in proposing the glory of God we often deceive ourselves, doing our own will under the pretext of God's glory. St. Francis de Sales writes: "Many are those who say to the Lord: I give myself entirely to you without reserve; but few are those who embrace the practice of this abandonment. This consists in a certain indifference to receive all sorts of events, as they come, according to the order of divine providence — afflictions as well as consolations, contempt and reproach as well as honor and glory."

In suffering, then, and in embracing with joy the things displeasing and contrary to our self-love, one shows whether he truly loves Jesus Christ. Thomas a Kempis says that he cannot be called a worthy lover who is not prepared to suffer all things for the beloved and to stand in all things by the will of the beloved: Qui non est paratus omnia pati et ad voluntatem stare dilecti non est dignus amator appellari. On the other hand, Father Balthasar Alvarez said that whoever resigns himself in peace to the divine will amid trials "runs to God by the post-road." And the holy mother Teresa wrote: "And what greater gain can there be than to have some testimony that we are pleasing God?" And I add that we can have no more certain testimony of pleasing God than that of embracing with peace the crosses God sends us. The Lord is pleased that we thank him for the benefits he grants us in this life, but the Venerable John of Avila says that "one 'Blessed be God' in times of adversity is worth more than six thousand thanksgivings in times of prosperity."

And we must here observe that we should receive with resignation not only the adverse things that come to us directly from God, such as infirmities, limited talents, and accidental losses of goods, but also those that come to us indirectly from God but directly from men, such as persecutions, thefts, and insults — because in truth all come from God. One day David was reviled by a vassal named Shimei, who mistreated him not only with insults but also with stones. One of his men wished to cut off the head of that insolent man, but David answered: Dimitte eum ut maledicat; Dominus enim praecepit ei ut malediceret David (II Reg. XVI, 10). He said: Let him curse, for the Lord has commanded him to curse David. That is, God is using this man to punish my sins, and therefore he permits him to insult me so.

St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi therefore said that all our prayers should be directed to no other end than to obtain from God the grace to follow his holy will in all things. Certain souls greedy for spiritual delights in prayer seek nothing but pleasant and tender feelings to delight in; but strong souls who truly desire to be entirely God's seek from God nothing but light to understand his will and strength to fulfill it perfectly. To arrive at purity of love, it is necessary to submit our will in all things to the will of God. "Never believe," said St. Francis de Sales, "that you have arrived at the purity you ought to have, until your will is completely, even in the most repugnant things, joyfully submitted to the will of God." For, as St. Teresa says, "the gift of our will to God draws him to unite himself with our lowliness." But this can never be obtained except through mental prayer and through continual petitions made to the divine Majesty, and without a true desire to be entirely Christ's without reserve.

O most lovable Heart of my divine Savior, Heart enamored of men, who loves us with such tenderness — Heart, in short, worthy to reign over and possess all our hearts — oh, that I could make everyone understand the love you bear them and the tender favors you bestow on those souls who love you without reserve! Ah, accept, my Jesus, my love, the offering and the sacrifice I make to you today of all my will! Make me understand what you want of me, and I wish to do it all with your grace.

On Obedience

But in order then to know and be certain in our actions what God wills of us, what is the most secure means? There is no means more secure and more certain than attending to the obedience we owe to our superiors or directors. St. Vincent de Paul said: "The will of God is never better carried out than by obeying superiors." The Holy Spirit says: Melior est obedientia quam victimae (Eccl. IV, 17). The sacrifice we make to God of our own will by subjecting it to obedience pleases him more than all other sacrifices we can offer him. For in other things, such as alms, abstinences, macerations, and the like, we give God our possessions; but in giving him our will, we give him ourselves. In giving him our goods and our mortifications, we give him a part; but in giving him our will, we give him everything. Hence when we say to God: "Lord, make me understand through obedience what you want of me, for I wish to do it all," we have nothing more to offer him.

Whoever, then, has dedicated himself to obedience must detach himself in all things from his own opinion. "Everyone," says St. Francis de Sales, "has his own opinions, but this is not opposed to virtue. What is opposed to virtue is the attachment we have to our own opinions." But alas, this attachment is the hardest thing to leave; and therefore there are so few souls who give themselves entirely to God, because few submit themselves in everything to obedience. There are some so attached to their own will that when some obedience is imposed on them, even if the thing is to their liking, nevertheless, because they must do it out of obedience, they lose their affection for it and the desire to do it — since they find pleasure only in doing what their own will dictates. But the saints do not act this way; they find peace only in those tasks that obedience imposes on them. The holy mother Jane de Chantal one recreation day told her daughters to spend that day however they pleased. When evening came, they went to beg her earnestly never again to give them that permission, because they had not experienced a day of greater tedium than the one in which they had found themselves freed from obedience.

It is a deception to think that any other work can be better than the one that obedience imposes on us. St. Francis de Sales says: "To leave the task where obedience places us in order to unite ourselves with God through prayer, reading, or recollection, would be to withdraw from God in order to unite ourselves with our self-love." St. Teresa adds that whoever does any work, even a spiritual one, contrary to obedience, certainly acts at the instigation of the devil, not by divine inspiration, as he perhaps flatters himself; because, says the saint, "The inspirations of God all go united with obedience." Hence she writes elsewhere: "From a soul that is resolved to love him, God wants nothing other than that it obey." "A work done out of obedience," writes Father Rodriguez, "is worth more than any other we can think of. Picking up a straw from the ground out of obedience is worth more than a long prayer and a discipline to the point of blood done by one's own choice." Therefore St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi said that she desired more to be in some exercise of obedience than in prayer, since "in obedience," she said, "I am certain of the will of God, but I am not so certain in any other exercise." And according to all the masters of the spiritual life, it is better to leave some devout exercise out of obedience than to perform it without obedience. The Blessed Virgin revealed to St. Bridget that whoever leaves a mortification out of obedience gains a double reward, since he already obtains the merit of the mortification by desiring to do it, and additionally obtains the merit of the obedience for which he leaves it. One day the famous Father Francis Arias went to visit the Venerable John of Avila, his dear friend, and found him pensive and sad. He asked the cause, and Father John answered thus: "O blessed are you who live under obedience and are certain of doing what God wills! Speaking of myself, who assures me that it is more pleasing to God to go through the villages instructing poor farmers, or to sit all day in a confessional hearing the confessions of whoever comes? But whoever lives under obedience is certain that whatever he does in obedience is all according to the will of God — indeed, it is the thing most pleasing to God." Let this serve as consolation for all those who live under obedience.

For obedience to be perfect, moreover, one must obey with the will and with the judgment. To obey with the will means to obey willingly and not by force, as slaves do. To obey with the judgment means to conform our judgment to that of the superior, without examining what is imposed on us or how it is imposed. Hence St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi said: "Perfect obedience requires a soul without judgment." St. Philip Neri likewise said that to obey well it is not enough to do what obedience commands; one must do it without reasoning, holding it for certain that what is commanded is the most perfect thing we can do, even if the contrary would be better before God.

And this applies not only to religious but also to laypeople who live under the obedience of their spiritual fathers. They should have their director assign them all the rules by which they are to conduct themselves in both spiritual and temporal exercises, and so they will always be certain of doing what is best. St. Philip Neri said: "Those who truly desire to make progress in the way of God should place themselves entirely in the hands of a learned confessor, whom they should obey in the place of God. Whoever does this is assured of not having to render an account to God for the actions he performs." He further said: "That one should have faith in the confessor, because the Lord would not let him err; that there is nothing more certain to cut the snares of the devil than to do the will of another in what is good; and that there is nothing more dangerous than to wish to govern oneself by one's own judgment." Likewise St. Francis de Sales, speaking of spiritual direction as the safe path in the way of God, wrote: "This is the admonition of admonitions: however much you search, says the devout Avila, you will never find the will of God so securely as by the path of this humble obedience, so recommended and practiced by all the ancient devout souls." The same is said by St. Bernard, St. Bernardine of Siena, St. Antoninus, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa, John Gerson, and all the theologians and masters of the spiritual life; and to doubt this truth, wrote St. John of the Cross, is nearly to doubt the faith. "Not to be satisfied," these are the saint's words, "with what the confessor says, is pride and a lack of faith." Hence among the maxims of St. Francis de Sales there are these two, which greatly console scrupulous souls: first, a true obedient person has never been lost; second, one should be content to know from the spiritual father that one is walking well, without seeking further knowledge of it.

Many doctors teach — Gerson, St. Antoninus, Cajetan, Navarro, Sanchez, Bonacina, Corduba, Castropalao, and the Salamancan theologians among others — that the scrupulous person is bound under grave obligation to act against his scruples when there is reason to fear that such scruples may cause grave harm to his soul or body, through loss of health or of his mind. And therefore scrupulous persons should have a greater scruple about not obeying their confessor than about acting against the scruple.

So then, to conclude all the things said in this chapter, here is where the whole sum of our salvation and perfection consists: first, in denying ourselves; second, in following the will of God; third, in always praying him to give us the strength to fulfill both.

Affections and Prayers

Quid... mihi est in caelo? et a te quid volui super terram?... Deus cordis mei, et pars mea Deus in aeternum (Ps. LXXII, 25, 26). My beloved Redeemer, O infinite loveliness, since you have descended from heaven to give yourself entirely to me, what else should I go seeking on earth or in heaven apart from you, who are the supreme good, the only good worthy of being loved? Be you, then, the sole Lord of my heart; possess it entirely; and may my soul love you alone, obey you alone, and seek to please you alone. Let others enjoy the riches of this world; I want you alone. You are and will be my riches in this life and for all eternity. I give you, then, my Jesus, my heart entirely and all my will. It was once rebellious against you, but now I consecrate it all to you. Domine, quid me vis facere? (Act. IX, 6). Tell me what you want of me and give me your help, for I wish to do it all. Dispose of me and of all that is mine as you please; I accept all and in all I resign myself.

O Love worthy of infinite love, you have loved me to the point of dying for me; I love you with all my heart; I love you more than myself; and into your hands I abandon my soul. Today I renounce every worldly affection; I take leave of all created things and give myself entirely to you. Accept me, by the merits of your Passion, and make me faithful until death.

My Jesus, my Jesus, from this day forward I wish to live for you alone; I wish to love nothing but you; I wish to seek nothing but to do your will. Assist me with your grace.

And help me with your protection, O my hope, Mary.