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XVI. The Spirit of Abandonment to God’s Will

Summary. — The spirit of holy abandonment is the crowning point of the way of detachment. — I. Objective basis of this aban¬ donment: the Divine Will. — II. This spirit of abandonment is found in a high degree in the Rule of St. Benedict. — III. Practice of this virtue. — IV. Above all in trials. — V. Holy abandonment constitutes a very pleasing homage to God. -—VI. Special blessings flow from it for the soul.

The end of the whole life of the monk is " to seek God " : Si revera Deum quaerit 1 ; and on the day of our Profession, we promised to pursue with constancy this high and great end. In order to attain it we have left everything ; we have all made sacrifices ; like St. Peter we can say to our Lord : Ecce nos reliquimus omnia et secuti sumus te 2 ; “ Behold we have left all things, and have followed Thee. " jThe motive power of these sacrifices and acts of renuncia¬ tion is love which drew us in the footsteps of Christ Jesus. We said to Him : “ Good Master, Thou callest me, and I am here : I believe that Thou art so great, so powerful, so good, that Thou wilt not confound any of my hopes : Non confundas me ab exspectatione mea. I believe that Thou wilt make me to find in Thee the fount of all beatitude and of all life : Et vivam 3/ ” This is, on our part, an act of faith in Jesus Christ. We leave all, persuaded that in Him we shall find all. Faith is already, of itself, the giving of our whole being to the Truth Who is Jesus, the Incarnate Word. And our monastic existence is only to be the extension to our entire life of an initial act of faith and abandonment.

This act received its official consecration in the offering that we made of ourselves to God on the day of our religious profession.

When our whole life is maintained in this spirit of holy abandonment whereby we were animated when we pronounced our Vows, it becomes true and extremely pleasing to God. pjj R^e> E*1}1: ’ 2‘ Matth. xix, 27. — 3. Prayer borrowed from the

1 salmist, and that S‘ Benedict ordains to be sung thrice by the novice at the moment of his monastic profession.

All those virtues of which we have spoken until now : poverty, humility, obedience, are like the fruits of the monastic profession ; their practice is the logical consequence of that deed which yielded us up entirely to Christ under the Rule of the holy Patriarch ; all our Benedictine perfection flows from that as from its source. That donation to God on the blessed day of our profession can only be true, entire, complete, absolute, if it is afterwards manifested during our whole existence by these virtues of detachment, reverence and submission ; but these virtues, to be living and fruitful, must constantly draw their sap from that loving abandon¬ ment which marked our donation h

It is now the moment to speak of this spirit of abandon¬ ment : not only does it explain our existence, because, being at the very basis of religious profession, it inspires all the acts that are derived from this profession as from their point of departure ; but it also gives them their supreme fecundity. Indeed holy abandonment is one of the purest and most absolute forms of love ; it is the height of love ; it is love giving to God, unreservedly, our whole being, with all its energies and activities in order that we may be a veritable holocaust to God : when the spirit of abandonment to God animates a monk’s whole life, that monk has attained holiness. What in fact is holiness? It is substantially the conformity of all our being to God ; it is the amen said by the whole being and its faculties to all the rights of God ; it is the fiat full of love, whereby the whole creature responds, unceasingly and unfalteringly, to all the Divine Will : and that which causes us to say this amen, to utter this fiat, that which sur¬ renders, in a perfect donation, the whole being to God is the spirit of abandonment, a spirit which is the sum total of faith, confidence and love.

Let us try to see what is the basis of this spirit of aban¬ donment ; how it constitutes one of the characteristics of the inner life as it is understood by our Blessed Father St. Benedict ; we shall then show how we can practise it, and the excellent fruits to be gained from it.

I

The objective basis of holy abandonment is the Divine1

Will. All that God decides, all that He decrees, is absolutely perfect : Judicia Domini vera, justi ficata in semetipsa. Now God wills our holiness and our beatitude, but this holiness and this beatitude are not of some indefinite kind. There are two Divine utterances, — and these two utterances are the completing of one another, — which make known to us the ways of Providence as regards ourselves, and in the light of which we may comprehend the wherefore of the spirit of abandonment.

Christ Jesus pronounced the first of these utterances : “ Without Me, you can do nothing " : Sine me, nihil potestis facer e 2. We have often meditated upon these words, but it is sovereignly useful to penetrate into them anew. All the reunited efforts of nature cannot produce one supernatural act, one act which has any proportion with our end, which is the beatifying Vision of the Adorable Trinity.

This end is the only one assigned to us ; outside this one there is only damnation. God could have disposed things otherwise if He had so willed : He might have asked of us only a natural religion and a natural morality ; but He did not establish things thus. God is Master of His operations and of His gifts ; His will is supreme and it is in this will that our salvation and sanctification find their principle: Secundum beneplacitum ejus. It is from God that our sanctification first of all comes, because it is His infinitely free will which has fixed its laws ; and these laws make of our sanctification a supernatural work. It is impossible to attain perfection without acknowledging this Divine Plan established from all eternity.

But God, Who accomplishes all His works with infinite wisdom, has given us, in grace, the means of realising within ourselves His Divine designs. Without grace, which comes from God only, we are incapable of doing anything whatsoever in order to reach our supernatural end ; St. Paul tells us that without grace we cannot have a good thought to be counted worthy of eternal beatitude : Non quod sufficientes simus cogitate aliquid a nobis quasi ex nobis This is the echo of Christ’s words : “ Without Me you can do nothing, ” you cannot attain the supreme end ; you cannot become saints. Cfirist Jesus Himself has commented upon this truth : He has told us that He is the Vine and we are the branches; to bring forth fruit, we must abide united to Him through grace, in order that, drawing supernatural sap from Him, we may bring to His Father fruit pleasing to Him.2

You hence see the necessity for the soul of not separating itself from God, the Fount of grace, without Whom we can do nothing. But, much more than this, we ought to give ourselves to Him without reserve, for with this grace we can “ do all things ” : this is the second of the two utterances that show the reason of holy abandon¬ ment : Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat. There is no honest deed, however commonplace it be, that, done under the inspiration of grace, cannot contribute to make us reach that supreme exaltation which is the Beatific Vision, for all things work together unto good, to such as God calls to live in union with Himself : Omnia cooperantur in bonum Us qui secundum proposiium vocati stmt sancti 2. But why does God ordain all unto the good of His elect, why does He grant to them, through His grace, to do all things whereby they may reach Him ? For several reasons.

God's Will towards souls is full of love : “ God is Love ” : Deus caritas est 3. Not only does He possess love : He is Love, boundless, unfailing, indefectible Love. It has not entered into the heart of man to understand what is Infinite Love. Now the weight of this infinite love draws God to give Him¬ self : Bonum est diffusivum sui. All that God does for us has love as its motive power, and as God is not only Love, but Eternal Wisdom and Almighty Power, the works that Love causes this Wisdom and this Power to accomplish are ineffable. Love is at the foundation of the Creation and of all the mysteries of the Redemption.

This love bears moreover a particular character : that of being the love of a father for his children : Videte qualem caritatem... ut filii Dei nominemur et simusi. God loves us as His children. He is the Father essentially : all paternity is derived from His : Ex quo omnis paternilas in caelis et in terra nominatur 5. This is not a meaningless word. And as, in God, all is active, this paternity in relation to us is all that is most great, most solicitous, most constant : God acts with us as with His children, and leads us during our whole life in the light of His incomparable fatherly love.

How has He manifested this fatherly love ? In having destined us to His own beatitude as our inheritance. He loves us to the point of adopting us as His own children, of giving us a share in His own bliss ; of making us enter into the fellowship of His Blessed Trinity. All the graces given to the elect, all the mercies granted to sinners, all the blessings that raise, beautify and rejoice souls, had their dawn m this eternal act of our divine adoption : Omne datum optimum et omne donum perfectum desursum est, descendens a PaTre luminum. It is the first link in that interrupted chain of heavenly graces granted to souls throughout the centuries. Now this predestination comes forth from the Heart of God : Videte qualem caritatem habuit in nos Dcus ut fdii Dei nominemur et simus.3

This is not all ; for the marvels and manifestations of God’s love for us are inexhaustible. Divine Love shines out not only in the fact of our adoption, but in the admirable way chosen by God of realising it in us. God loves us with an infinite love, a fatherly love ; but He loves us in His Son. To make us His children, God gives us His Son Christ Jesus : that is love's supreme gift. “ God so loved the world, as to give His Only-begotten Son ” : sicDeus dilexit mundum ut F ilium suum uni geni turn daret. And why does He give Him to us ? That He may be our Wisdom, Sanctification, Redemption, and Justice ; our Light and our Way ; our Food and our Life : in a word that He may be the Mediator between Him and us. Christ Jesus, the Word Incarnate, fills that chasm separating man from God. It is “ in His Son ” and through His Son, that God pours down from Heaven upon our souls all divine blessings of grace that make us live as children worthy of this Heavenly Father: Qui benedixit nos in omni benedictione spiyituali in caelestibus in Christo. All graces come to us through Jesus, and God loves us in the measure in which we love His Son Jesus and believe in Him. Our Lord Himself tells us these consoling words : “ The Father Himself loveth you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God ” : Ipse enim Pater amat vos, quia vos me amastis et credidistis quia ego a Deo exivi 4. When the Father sees a soul full of love for His Son, He showers His most abundant blessings upon it. That is the order, the plan established from all eternity : Jesus has been constituted Head and King over all God's heritage because it is He Who, through His Blood, has restored to us the rights of this heritage : “ The Father... hath given all things into His hand ” : Omnia dedit Pater in manu ef us 5. We abide in Him by faith and love ; He abides in us by His grace and merits ;4

He offers us to His Father, and His Father finds us in Him.

Such are the foundations upon which holy abandonment rests. God wills our sanctification : Haec est voluntas Dei sanctificatio vestra; this Will in God is efficacious and full of love, therefore He has multiplied the means of sanctification. God giants us to find in the Son of His delight the well spring of all grace and all perfection : “ How hath He not also, with Him, given us all things ? ” Quomodo non etiam cum illo omnia nobis donavit? Shall we not, therefore, abandon ourselves in all confidence to this all-powerful Will, which is love itself and has not only fixed the laws of our perfection but is the principle and source of it ? Grace goes before, aids and crowns all the acts that we do. For, says St. Paul, “ I can do all things in Him Who strengtheneth me ” : omnia possum in eo qui me confortat 3. This qui me confortat shows us that holy abandonment does not consist in doing nothing ; let us guard ourselves against that false quietude, that “ jar niente ” falsely esteemed as mystical passivity. " By the grace of God, I am what I am, " says the Apostle again, “ and His grace in me hath not been void 4.” Grace acts sovereignly, it leads to a high degree of holiness, but only where it meets with no obstacles to its action ; the Spirit of God acts powerfully but only where it is not opposed, “ grieved, ” — speaking still in the language of St. Paul 5, — and where the created powers are surrendered to Him.

What is the part left to us in our seeking after God ? To put away generously — of course, with the help of grace — all the obstacles that are opposed in us to the action of this same grace, and to keep ourselves constantly in the dispo¬ sitions required by God in order that He may and will act. For supreme as is God's will, wide as is His power, infinite as is His love, God expects of us that we should remove all that impedes His grace, that the soul should remain in that attitude of humility and confidence whereby it hopes for everything from God. When the soul has reached that state where it is freed from obstacles : sin, imperfections, attach¬ ment to created things, and to itself ; where it has emptied itself of all that is not God ; where it no longer truly seeks anything but God ; then God, finding it entirely given up to His will, acts freely within it. Happy the soul to whom God grants such light and such generosity : the5

Lord will bring it, by His own ways, to the highest perfection.

II

The spirit of holy abandonment is to be found in a high degree in the Rule of our holy Patriarch.

It is true that all religious life leads the faithful soul to this constant union of its will with the divine will, a union which forms one of the chief elements of holy abandonment ; but this abandonment is particularly' realised in the form of life regulated by the holy Lawgiver ; his concept of poverty, humility, obedience, leads the faithful soul by a very sure path, to detachment from the creature and from self, in order to look for all good from God alone.

Call to mind what poverty is in this respect, and to what a radical degree our Blessed Father carries this virtue which detaches us from creatures. The monk is to have nothing of his own, since he has not power even over his own body. To this stripping of self, St. Benedict clearly links the idea of holy abandonment : the monk should hope to receive all that is necessary from the Abbot, the Father of the monas¬ tery : Omnia vero necessaria a patre sperare monasterii a. The practice of monastic poverty, as I have tried to show, is a very high form of the virtue of hope, without which there is no virtue of abandonment.

Does not humility, in its turn, lend its " ladder ” to the virtue of abandonment ? Its divers degrees are so many ever-widening acts of abandonment to God’s Will. We have seen that the very root of this virtue is reverence towards God, “ the Father of incommensurable majesty ” : Patrem immensae majestatis. This reverence towards God, the Sove¬ reign Master of all things and unique Fountainhead of every good, keeps the soul in habitual submission to all that God wills. It consequently leads the soul to avoid all that can displease God, (i8t degree) ; constantly to seek after the Divine Will, (2 nd degree) ; to abandon oneself to this will in the person of a Superior, (3rd degree) ; even if this man’s will imposes upon us hard things, contrary to our tastes, exposing us to the worst injuries : this is the 4th degree in which abandonment goes as far as heroism, for everything is to be accepted silently, tacita conscientia, as with victims destined for the slaughter : Aestimati sumus ut oves occisionis. Abandonment is to go even to the yielding up of the secrets of the heart to the one who holds the place of God with us6

(5th degree) ; to be contented with the worst of every thing, to perform the meanest tasks, because of the feeling of unworthiness which makes one humble himself before God (6th degree) and before men (7th degree). Is not this recognition of God’s rights the underlying reason of entire self-surrender and complete detachment ? Each degree of humility itself only increases with faith and confidence in God. With every degree of inward humility, our Blessed Father gives hope of a special correspondence of Divine grace. Have we not shown how with him humility finds its completion in invincible confidence in the merits of Christ Jesus Who brings grace to us ? It is for God then to direct us by His will, by that of His Church, by events ; it is for us to do this will each time that it is manifested to us, trusting ourselves to God, for the rest, and holding ourselves assured that we shall infallibly come to perfect charity : Mox ad caritatem Dei perveniet... perfecta[ni]... This is the whole aim of the asceticism of humility.

The practice of obedience, such as St. Benedict understands it, has no other aim. Why does the monk come to the monastery ? Is it to accomplish such or such special work ? To give himself to some occupation that he prefers ? No, it is solely to follow Christ in obedience, relinquishing all that is his own : Relinquentes statim quae sua sunt 1. The monk, faithful to the ' spirit of his Rule, “ relinquishes ” himself literally by obedience ; he gives up his will to that of God. He says to God : “ I lay down my will into Thy hands ; I wish henceforward to listen only to Thee. ” To act thus is to follow Him Who, by essence, is the principle of all things ; it is to will to be guided by Eternal Wisdom.

We make this act of self-surrender on the day of our religious profession, which is the most perfect expression of the full surrender of ourselves into God’s hands. The inner life of the monk who remains faithful to his vows infallibly evolves into this spirit of abandonment which is one of the greatest graces for the soul.

This is because, in a soul thus yielded up unreservedly, God’s action, the source of all holiness, is supreme. The Rule which we promise to follow is like a sacred and beneficial mill-wheel : when we allow ourselves to be taken up into this “ mill of God, ” the soul is ground like wheat and set free from all that is displeasing in God’s sight. Our holy Legislator gives us to understand this in remarkable terms, at the end of the chapter on humility. When he has led his disciple, by successive acts, to the last degree of self-abnegation, he no longer gives him any direction : he leaves him to the action of the Holy Spirit, Who makes the soul altogether yielded up to Him, His abode full of delights, and brings it, if such be His design, to the most sublime perfection, to the height of contemplation ; in this soul there is no longer, as it were, any other life than that of love l.7

We see how St. Benedict leads the soul to the spirit of self-surrender. For him this is not a negative state of immobility or mistaken indifference. To arrive at holy abandonment, the soul labours to put away a crowd of obstacles, then to keep itself faithfully in this fundamental disposition of humility and of submission in regard to grace ; it accepts all the Divine Will, even in things most contrary to its tastes, even those that make it suffer the most ; but, this done, the soul has fulfilled its task, it no longer looks to anyone except God for what is necessary to enable it to come to Him, and it looks to Him with invincible confi¬ dence and unshaken faith in His word, in His power, in His goodness, and in the merits of Christ. This state of aban¬ donment is the purest and sweetest fruit of the practice of humility and obedience, upon which the holy Patriarch has founded our inner life.

III

It is from the very nature of holy abandonment that the means we have of practising it are derived.

Abandonment is first of all the consecration of one’s self, in faith and love, to God's will. The will of God is not dis¬ tinct from Himself ; it is God intimating to us His wishes ; it is as holy, as powerful, as adorable, as immutable as God Himself.

In relation to us, this will is in part manifested, and in part hidden. God’s will is revealed, is manifested to us by Christ. “ Hear ye Him ” : Ipsum audite ; this is what the Father said in sending us His Son. On His side. Our Lord tells us that He has made known to us all that His Father has given Him to reveal : Omnia quaecumque audivi a Patre meo nota feci vobis. The Church, the Bride of Christ, has received the deposit of these revelations and these precepts, whereto are joined the voice of Superiors, the precepts of the8

Rule : these are so many manifestations of the Divine will.

What ought to be the attitude of the loving soul with regard to this will ? The soul ought to feel itself fire and flame to fulfil it. Every energy of our being should be employed, with fidelity and constancy, to carry out this will. The more intimate we are with anyone, the more careful we are not to displease him ; in regard to God, our fidelity ought to be absolute : “ I do always the things that please Him ” : Quae placita sunt ei facia semper l. Such ought to be the passion of a soul that seeks God solely ; his eyes, as the Psal¬ mist says, should be " ever towards the Lord ” : Oculi mei semper ad Dominum, thereby to learn His will and to do it.

Souls differ from one another in the fulfilment of the Divine will, in the intensity of love wherewith they acquiesce in it. None of us would do what God forbids, act in oppo¬ sition to the Divine law, transgress, however slightly, the Lord's commandments. But can we testify that we do every¬ thing solely because God wills it ? Are we totally detached from ourselves and given up unreservedly to the good pleasure from on high ? Are we always ready to bow down before the Divine will, however painful it be to our nature ? As far as it depends upon us we ought always to be ready to execute this will perfectly, whatever it be, with the greatest love possible. Is it not written : “ Thou hast commanded Thy commandments to be kept most diligently ” : Tu mandasti mandata tua custodiri nimis. Whenever this Divine law commands, we must be ready to let ourselves be cut in pieces rather than hesitate, for to transgress this will is to wish that God did not exist. Love serves as the measure of this self-surrender, and the deeper love is, and the more intense and active, the more complete and absolute it renders self-surrender. St. Benedict intends to carry us to the furthest limits of self-surrender. Do we not see him bidding the monk whom the Superior commands, in the name of God, to do impossible things “ to obey for love, trusting solely in the help of God ” : Ex caritate confidens de adjutorio Dei obediat i? That is perfect abandonment which, for love’s sake, totally forgets self, and confides only in the Divine Power and Goodness.

The loving soul does not only adhere to the will of God manifested ; it yields itself also, and especially, to the hidden r. Joan. VIII, 29. 2. Ps. XXIV, 15. — 3. Ibid, cxvm, 4. — 4. Rule, ch. XLVIII. will of God ; this enwraps our natural existence and our supernatural life, in the whole as in detail. The state of health or sickness, the events in which we are involved, the success or failure of our undertakings, the hour and circum¬ stances of our death, the degree of our holiness, the particular means which God wills to employ to lead us to this degree, these are so many things whereof we are ignorant, that God wills to keep hidden from us.

In regard to this will, two attitudes are possible.

There is that dictated by the wisdom of the world, merely human wisdom, which always wants to be ruled by itself, to do everything only according to merely natural lights ; it wants to arrange life in its own fashion ; it is irritated by all that is contrary to what it seeks, contrary to the concep¬ tions of perfection that it forms for itself. But what is “ the wisdom of this world ” in God’s sight ? “ Foolishness,” replies St. Paul : Sapientia enim hujus mundi stultitia est apud Deurn x. It has not understood that God willed to redeem the world not by riches or brilliant deeds, nor by the prestige of science or of eloquence, but in taking the weakness of our nature, and in leading a poor and hidden life ; it has not comprehended that during thirty years God put “ under a bushel ” that ineffable plenitude of perfection which is the Sacred Humanity of Jesus ; it has not com¬ prehended that it behoved Christ to die a bitter death upon the gibbet. The Cross is “ a stumbling-block and foolishness 2 ” to the world's wisdom. But God has willed to confound this wisdom by the folly of His impenetrable decisions.

We must not let ourselves be guided by this natural wisdom. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts ; His ways are not ours. What are our ways, those that we should ourselves suggest ? What would be our own ideal ? To be the master of our life, to arrange our existence, even super¬ natural ; not to suffer, never to be subject to temptation, never to feel any repugnance in obedience. Human ways are these,^ leading up to an extraordinary increase of our pride. What are God’s ways ? the thoughts of Eternal Wisdom ? " Without Me you can do nothing 3 ; if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross 4 ; no man... looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God; blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the pure, the merciful, those who mourn, those who suffer persecution for justice’ sake 6. ” And so many other thoughts that each x. I Cor hi, io. — 2. I Cor. i, 23. — 3. — 5. Luc. ix, 62. — 6. Matth. v, 3-1 1. page of the Gospel yields to us ! But their application to each one of us often remains veiled.9

In face of God s designs, our attitude will be one of aban¬ donment ; to give ourselves to God, to place within His hands our personality, our own views, in order to accept His, in all humility : such will be the order we follow. In this matter, true wisdom is not to have any wisdom of our own but to trust entirely in the infallible word, the eternal wisdom and ineffable tenderness of a God Who loves us.

At present God hides from me certain of His designs over me ; I ought to find it well that He hides them from me, without troubling myself as to wherefore. I do not know if I shall live a long time, or if I shall die soon ; if I shall remain in good health, or if sickness will weigh me down ; if I shall keep my faculties, or if I shall lose them long before my death ; I do not know whether God will lead me by one particular path or by another. In this domain God keeps the sovereign right of disposing everything both as concerns my natural existence and my supernatural perfection ; for He is the Alpha and Omega of all things. And what am I to do ? To lose myself in adoration. To adore God as Principle, as Wisdom, as Justice, as Infinite Goodness ; to throw myself into His arms, like a child in the arms of its mother, letting itself be swayed with her every movement. Are you afraid of throwing yourself into your mother’s arms ? Certainly not, for what mother, unless a monster, has ever betrayed the confidence of her child ? And where has a mother derived her tenderness, her goodness, her love ? From God. Or rather, these virtues of a mother are but the pale reflection of the perfections of goodness, love, and tenderness, that are in God. Has He not compared Himself to a mother ? " Can a mother forget her infant... and if she should forget, yet will I not forget thee 1. ” Therefore whether this Divine will leads me by wide paths strewn with roses, or draws me along rugged ways bristling with thorns, it is still the adorable and loving will of God, of my God.

But I know that this Will wills my holiness, that, guided by love, it works ever and mightily to this end ; beyond the means that God has officially established to lead me to perfection, such as the sacraments, prayer, the practice of virtue, He possesses a thousand particular means for realising in me, little by little, the special form of holiness that He wills to see in my soul. The whole thing for me, in this hidden domain, is to surrender myself entirely to His action, with faith, confidence, and love. All is salutary for me that comes from God : — joys and sorrows, light and darkness, consolations and aridities, for "all things work together unto good ” for those whom God calls to holiness. Ihis is what our Lord said to His faithful servant, St. Gertrude : " Make an act of abandonment to My good pleasure, leaving Me the full disposal of all that concerns thee, in the spirit of obedience which dictated to Me this prayer : ‘ Father, not My will, but Thine be done. ' Be resolved to receive adversity or prosperity from My hand for My love it is that sends them to thee for thy salvation. In all things, unite thy thoughts and desires to those of My Heart. My love it is that gives thee days of dilatation and of joy, out of indul¬ gence to thy weakness, and in order to raise thine eyes and hopes towards Heaven ; welcome these joys with gratitude and unite this gratitude to My love. Again it is My love that sends thee days of weariness and sadness that they may gain for thee everlasting treasures ; accept them, uniting thy resignation to My love. u10

IV

It is above all on days of weariness, sickness, impatience, temptation, spiritual dryness, and trials, during hours of sometimes terrible anguish which press upon a soul, that holy abandonment is pleasing to God.

More than once we have considered this truth, namely, that there is a sum total of sufferings, of humiliations and sorrows, which God has foreseen for the members of Christ’s Mystical Body in order to “ fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ 2. ” We cannot reach perfect union with Christ Jesus unless we accept that portion of the chalice which our Lord wills to give us to drink with Him and after Him.

Our Lord knew all about the terrible way along which His Father had ordained that He should travel ; did He refuse to accept the Divine will or refuse to fulfil it ? No, He embraced it. “ Behold I come, O Father ; I have placed this law of suffering in My Heart, and I accept it for love of Thee. ” The Word of God, Eternal Wisdom, Christ likewise foresaw the part that we should have in His Passion, What is there better than to surrender ourselves, with Him, to our Father and accept this participation in the sufferings and humiliations of His Son Jesus ? " O Father, I accept all the sorrows, all the humiliations, all the sufferings that it shall please Thee to send me, all the misunderstandings to which it shall please Thee to subject me, all the painful obediences that it shall please Thee to impose upon me ; and all this for love of Thee, in union with Thy beloved Son. ”11

If we could always keep ourselves in these inward disposi¬ tions, never stopping at secondary causes, never asking, murmuringly, when annoyed and contradicted : “ Why has this happened ? Why do they treat me in this manner ? " If we could lift ourselves up to that supreme Will which permits everything, and without the permission of which nothing happens ; if we could always look up above creatures with hearts uplifted, sursum corda, to see only God, to aban¬ don ourselves to Him, we should constantly abide in peace.

A great nun, the Blessed Bonomo, wrote to her father, at a time when she was exposed to sharp persecution through an unenlightened confessor : “ I say to the Lord, all is for Thee, I will not be troubled : Fiat voluntas tua in aeternum. I let everything pass, as the water passes returning to the sea ; if things come from God, I at once return them to God ; and I live in my state of peace ; if I am tempted, I commend myself to God and await His help and light ; and thus all goes well. Let your Lordship then have no trouble on my account, even when you hear that I am sick and in anguish ; for I know not what trouble is, because all is love, and I fear but one thing : to die without suffering x. ”

A like state of soul requires strong and generous faith. If we only had this faith ! If we could hear our Lord saying to us : “ I, Who know the Divine secrets ; I, Who see all that My Father does, say to you that not a hair of your head falls without the permission of your Heavenly Father. Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed in splendor to be compared to that of the lilies of the field. The birds of heaven sow not neither do they spin, and your Father does not leave them without food. And you, with your immortal souls, who have been purchased with My Blood, you think that God does not concern Himself about you ? Modicae fidei, men of little faith, what do you fear ? All the suffer¬ ings, all the humiliations and annoyances that may come upon you, come from the hand of your Father Who knows what is most expedient for you. He knows by what road, by what winding paths, He will bring you to beatitude ; x. D. du Bourg, La Bienheureuse J. M. Bonomo, moniale bdnedictine, p 134.

He knows the form and the measure of your predestination. Give yourself up to Him, for He is a Father full of goodness and wisdom Who wills to lead you to closest union with Himself. ”

Do not then let us be afraid of the sufferings, humiliations, temptations and desolations that come upon us ; let us try to “ support God ”, Sustine Dominum 1, that is to say to accept everything, absolutely everything, that He would have us accept. The Father is the Vinedresser Who purges the branch, says Christ Himself, “ that it may bring forth more fruit 2. ” He wishes to enlarge our capacity ; He wishes to make us sound the depth of our weakness, our insufficiency, so that, convinced of our powerlessness to pray, to work, to advance, we may place all our trust in Him. Only let us remain docile, generous, faithful : Viriliter age ; the hour will come when having emptied us of ourselves, God will fill us with His own fulness : Ut impleamini in omnem plenitudinem Dei*.

One of the most important and most fruitful practices of the virtue of abandonment is to have immediate and persever¬ ing recourse to God, to our Lord, in our sorrows and tribula¬ tions, in order to confide them to Him.

It is recounted of St. Mechtilde that in her sorrows, she had the custom of taking refuge with our Lord and of aban¬ doning herself to Him in all submission 5. Christ Jesus Him¬ self had taught her to do this : “ If a person wishes to make Me an acceptable offering, let him seek refuge in none beside Me in tribulation, and not complain of his griefs to anyone, but entrust to Me all the anxieties with which his heart is burdened. I will never forsake one who acts thus 6. ” We ought to accustom ourselves to tell everything to Our Lord, to entrust to Him all that concerns us. “ Commit thy way to the Lord, ” that is, reveal to Him thy thoughts, thy cares, thy anguish, and He Himself will guide thee : Revela Domino viam tuam, et spera in eo, et ipse iaciet. How do most men act ? They talk over their troubles either within themselves, or to others ; few go to pour out their souls at the feet of Christ Jesus. And yet that is a prayer so pleasing to God, and so fruitful a practice for the soul ! Look at the Psalmist, the singer inspired by the Holy Ghost. He discloses to God all that happens to him ; he shows Him all the difficulties that beset him, the afflictions that come to him through men, the anguish that fills his s°ul. “ Look upon my weariness, mv miseries, my sufferings ! Why, O Lord, are they multiplied that afflict me ? Damme quid multiplicati sunt qui tnbulant ms ... ^ ? 1, 00k upon me and have mercy on me, for I am alone and poor. The troubles of my heart are multiplied : deliver me from my necessities... 2 ! Bow down Thy ear to me : make haste to deliver me. Be Thou unto me... a house of refuge to save me... 3 I am afflicted and humbled exceedingly... my groan¬ ing is not hidden from Thee... 4 ! Withhold not Thou, O Lord, Thy tender mercies from me,... for evils without number have surrounded me... I am a beggar and poor, but the Lord is careful for me... 5 ”12

Whether our troubles come from men, from the devil, or arise from our fallen nature or from circumstances, we ought to confide everything to God. Let us recall our own experience. Is it not true that when we pour out our heart into that of men, to every comer, or turn over within our¬ selves our difficulties, especially those that arise from obe¬ dience, we are enervated, weakened, and each time reel our heart more empty ? While if we address to God “ those plaints full of reverence that a sorrow full of submission pours out before Him in order to make them die away at His feet,” or if we confide our difficulties to the one who represents Our Lord in our regard, we find light, strength and peace. Evidently, we may also at times open our heart to a faithful and discreet friend ; did not our Blessed Saviour, the Divine Model of every virtue do so Himself, in the Garden of Olives ? Did He not confide to His Apostles the supreme anguish of His Sacred Heart ? “ My soul is sorrowful even unto death ” : Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem :. This is not forbidden ; but to be ever craving from creatures what they are unable to give us, leaves us weak and restless ; while there is no light and strength that we cannot find in Christ Jesus : He is the surest Friend ; He is, as He Himself said again to St. Mechtilde, "essential fidelity.” Let us then say to Him: "Lord

I. Ps. Ill, 2. - 2. Ps. XXIV, 16-17. — 3. Ps. xxx, 3. — 4. Ps. XXXVII,

9-10. — 5. Ps. xxxix, 12-13 et 18. — 6. Bossuet. — 7. Matth. xxvi, 38. — 8. “ The heart, " writes S* Francis of Sales (Love of God, b. IX, ch. 3 and letter 391) " is permitted by love to bemoan itself... and to sigh out all the lamen¬ tations of Job and Jeremias, yet with the condition that a sacred place be still preserved in the depths of the heart, in the highest and most delicate point of the spirit. " But the holy bishop blames us “ if we do not cease lamenting, if it seems as if we cannot find enough people with whom to bewail ourselves and recount our sorrows in detail. " — 9. The Book of Special Grace, 3ld Part., ch. 5. All the last part of this chapter should be read ; Our Lord shows the saint how pleasing abandonment and confidence are to Him.

Jesus, behold I come to Thee, with such or such a sorrow, difficulty, suffering, or affliction ; I unite it to those which Thou didst endure here below, when Thou wast in Gethsemane ; I abandon myself to Thee, assured that Thou wilt accept this sacrifice in expiation of my sins : Vide humilitatem meam et laborem meum, et dimitte universa delicta mea. In return Thou wilt give me strength, constancy and joy. ” This confidence will not be deceived ; a virtue goes out from Christ Jesus which heals all the wounds of tliose who unite themselves to Him in this way : V irtus de illo exibat et sanabat omnes. Indeed, says St. Teresa, “ this Divine Master will behold you with those eyes, so beauteous and compassionate, big with tears ; He will forget His own sorrows to comfort yours, and that only because you went to seek consolation from Him and turned to look upon Him. ”

Once more we shall experience how, in every circumstance of our life, it is good for the soul to keep the eyes ever fixed upon the Divine Ideal. Is He not moreover the most perfect example of holy abandonment ?

When the Precursor announces to the world the coming of the Saviour, in what terms does he designate Him ? “ Behold the Lamb of God ” : Ecce Agnus Dei 4. And is it not the characteristic of the lamb to let one do with it as one will, to let itself be immolated without resistance ? It was thus that the prophet Isaias symbolised the Messias. And how truly Christ verified this symbol especially during the time of His Passion ! He does not seek to escape from the unheard of treatment of which He, Eternal Wisdom and Sovereign Master of all things, is the object. He keeps silence : Jesus autem tacebat 5 ; He is “ dumb as a lamb before his shearer " : Quasi agnus coram tondente se obmutescet 6. But in the sanctuary of His blessed soul, what a prayer of abandonment to His Father ! What an entire donation of Himself to justice and love 1

“ Christian, ” Bossuet admirably says, “ imitate this God ; adore the decrees of the Father, whether He strikes or con¬ soles ; whether He crowns or chastises thee, adore, embrace His holy will. But in what spirit ? Ah ! there lies perfectiontion : in the spirit of the IncarnateGod... Let there be accord, consent, eternal acquiescence, an eternal “ yes, " so to speak, not of our lips but of our heart, in response to His adorable13

Will... ” But it is especially when it concerns hard, humiliat¬ ing. painful things, that this “ yes ” ought to come from the bottom of the heart, that our eyes ought to be kept fixed on Christ nailed to the Cross. Then, continues the great orator, “ imitate, O Christian, this Man-God, our Exemplar, desolate and forsaken. Who after His bitter complaint, ' My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me 1 ? ' casts Himself once more, with a last effort, into the hands that repulse Him : ‘ Father, ’ he says, * into Thy hands I com¬ mand My spirit.’ Thus, be obstinate, Christian, with a holy obstinacy, however forsaken, in throwing thyself again with confidence into the hands of thy God ; yea, even into these hands that strike thee with their thunder-bolts ; yea, even into these hands that repulse thee, that they may draw thee the closer. If thy heart does not suffice thee in the making of such a sacrifice, take the Heart of an Incarnate God, of a God overwhelmed with sorrow, of a God forsaken ; and with all the strength of this Divine Heart, lose thyself in the abyss of holy love. Ah ! this losing of thyself is thy salvation, and this death is thy life 3. ”

V

In this spirit of holy abandonment there is a perfect and continual homage of faith, confidence and love ; “ it is com¬ posed of a rich store of acts of most perfect faith, most entire and trustful hope, the purest and most faithful love. " Therefore God is truly delighted by it.

It is an act of faith. To put our confidence in God, is it not indeed to believe in His word ? to be assured that in listening to Him we shall attain to holiness, that in abandoning ourselves to Him, He will bring us to beatitude ? This faith is easy when we meet with no difficulty, and walk in a way of light and consolation : it is a little like the case of those who read the account of expeditions to the North Pole while comfortably sitting by the fireside. But when we are struggling with temptation, with suffering and trial, when we are in dryness of heart and spiritual darkness, then it needs a strong faith to abandon ourselves to God and remain entirely united to His holy will. The more difficult the exercise of this faitn is for us, the more pleasing to God is the homage that flows from it.

Holy abandonment likewise bears with it an act of confi- dence in God’s goodness and almighty power. Sometimes, it seems to us as if God does not keep His promises, that we are mistaken in confiding ourselves to Him. Let us however learn how to wait patiently. Let us say to Him : “ My God, I know not where Thou art leading me, but I am sure that if I do not separate myself from Thee, if I remain generously faithful to all that Thou askest of me. Thou wilt be solicitous for my soul and for my perfection. Therefore, though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, even if all should seem to be lost, I will fear nothing for Thou art with me, and Thou art faithful. ” This is an admirable, heroic act of confidence in God, suggested by the spirit of abandonment; an act which glorifies God’s Almighty Power, and forces from Him, as it were, the most precious favours. Of this faith and hope, of which abandonment is composed, we find a memorable example in Abraham. God had promised him a numerous posterity ; yet the years pass by ; Abraham reaches extreme old age, still without having any children. But, as St. Paul, who glorifying the faith and confidence of the father of the faithful, says so well : Abra¬ ham “ against hope believed in hope. ” His faith unshaken, he did not consider that he was almost a hundred years old and that Sara was beyond the usual age for having children ; but “ in the promise also of God he staggered not by dis¬ trust ; but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God ; most faithfully knowing, that whatsoever He has promised, He is able also to perform. And therefore it was reputed to him unto justice 2. ” Later, when Isaac was grown, God commanded Abraham to go forth and immolate this only son upon a mountain. And Abraham immediately obeyed, without murmur or complaint. He did not ask : What posterity will then be given me if I must sacrifice my only son ? No, he abandoned himself to God, to His truly mys¬ terious ways, convinced that God is able to fulfil His pro¬ mises, despite all appearance to the contrary : Contra spem in spem credidit. What glory this full abandonment gave to God I Therefore God rewarded him by saving Isaac and keeping His most magnificent promises : the Father of believers truly received a posterity numberless as the stars of heaven.14

Holy abandonment also and especially includes deep and entire love ; it is love’s last word. Consider how brides behave in the world. They very rarely know what the future has in store for them ; and yet they leave all to give them- selves up to the one they love ; this affection honours the bridegroom : he is proud to see this confidence. What is the motive of this confidence ? Admiration, love. And the object of this love is but a poor human creature who may sometimes deceive the confidence placed in him. Yes, this trustfulness of the bride who leaves family and home to follow one who perhaps but a short time ago was unknown to her, is absolute. But admirable though this trust may be, how groundless is it compared to ours : the One to Whom we give ourselves we have long known, even from the first awakening of our intelligence and our power of loving ; we have already received in profusion the pledges of His love ; He is God, a God Who cannot deceive us, Who is wisdom itself, boundless power and infinite tenderness. Who is there amongst us who cannot appropriate to himself the words of St. Paul : “ I know Whom I have believed " : Scio cui credidi?15

The love which this abandonment supposes, is so great that it honours God perfectly. Is it not equivalent to this declaration : “ I love Thee so much, O my God, that I want none but Thee ; I only want to know and do Thy will ; I lay down my will before Thine, I wish to be directed only by Thee. I leave to Thee all that is to befall me. Even if Thou shouldst leave me the choice of Thy graces, the liberty of arranging all things according to my will, I would say: No, Lord, I prefer to commend myself wholly to Thee ; dispose of me entirely, both in the vicissitudes of my natural life, and in the stages of my pilgrimage towards Thee ; dispose of everything according to Thy good pleasure, for Thy glory. I desire one thing alone : that all within me may be fully subject to Thy good pleasure, to Thyself and to those who hold Thy place, — and this, whatever be Thy will, whether it leads me by a flower-bordered path, or makes me pass by the way of suffering and darkness. ” Such language is the translation of perfect love ; the spirit of self -surrender which is nourished with such dispositions of love and complacency and makes us find in them the rule of all our conduct is likewise the source of a continual homage to the wisdom and power of God.

It is related that during the last days of St. Gertrude’s life when she “ was sick of a violent fever, ” our Lord came to her radiant with beauty and holding health in one hand and sickness in the other. He bade her choose between them. But she would have neither. She only cast herself

X. II Tim. 1, U, upon His Sacred Heart, desiring nothing but what He chose to give her. And turning her face away from Him she said : ‘ See, dear Lord, I turn my face away from Thee, desiring with my whole heart that Thou wilt not consider my wishes but wilt accomplish Thine own adorable Will in all that concerns me. ' In return for her generosity our Lord caused two streams of grace to flow from His Heart to hers, saying : ‘ From the moment when, in turning your face from Me, you renounced your own will, I have poured out upon you all the sweetness of My Heart 1 ”

VI

Such indeed is the way God leads the soul that gives itself entirely to Him. He pours out singular and immense blessings upon it ; we can never repeat often enough how sovereignly God acts in such a soul and how it advances in holiness. He leads it by sure ways to the height of perfec¬ tion. Sometimes, it is true, these ways appear to go quite in a contrary direction, but God attains His ends, ordering all things with strength and sweetness : Attingit ergo a fine usque ad finem jortiter, et disponit omnia suaviter 2. “All things, " said Christ Jesus again to His faithful servant Gertrude, “ are ordered by the wisdom of My Providence 3. "

Is not the story of the Patriarch Joseph a striking example of this Providence which leads men by wonderful ways, wherein God makes all work together for the good of the soul ? Jacob sends Joseph, his beloved son, to find out how his brothers are faring. This is a detail, an act of slight importance ; it becomes precisely the first link in a chain of memorable events. Joseph goes to his brethren ; but they are jealous of him because of Jacob’s affection for him. They want to be rid of him, by means of a crime if need be ; however, at the entreaty of one of them, they content themselves with casting him into a dry cistern ; then some merchants happening to pass by on their way to Egypt, they sell Joseph to them. Human wisdom would tnink that this man’s destiny is now fixed ; nothing more would be heard of him, but it is just the circumstance that God awaits to make him the saviour of Egypt and of his own brethren. In Egypt, after being for some time in favour with his master, the chief captain of Pharaoh's army, the youth is thrown intoprison. We might still think that now his career is broken ; but no, from this circumstance, God brings all success to Joseph ; he is to come forth from his adversity that he may reach the very step of the throne of the Pharaohs, and all Egypt is to be subject to him.16

It is thus that God acts. Even when all seems lost, He shows Himself and comes to our aid. God leads the just man through right wavs, and shews him His kingdom ; and gives him the science of the saints ; He makes him giorioas in his labours and crowns bis works : Justum deduxit Dominus 'per vias rectas et ostendit illi regnum Dei ; et dedit illi scientiam sanctorum; honestavit Mum in laboribus, et complevit labor es illius. These words may be perfectly applied to the soul that gives itself utterly to God.

Per vias rectas : God’s ways are straight, however winding and crooked they may appear to human eyes. Is not God infinite wisdom and power Whom nothing holds back ? “ All things are equal in My sight, ” He said to Catherine of Siena, “ for My power equally reaches to them all. It is as easy for Me to create an angel as a worm ; it is written of Me that all that I have willed, I have done... Why trouble thyself as to how ? Thinkest thou that I know not or cannot find the way of carrying out My plans and My decrees 2 ? Let us then trust God. Our own ways seem to us to be sure and certain, but, says St. Benedict, “ there are ways which to men seem right, but the ends thereof lead to the depths of hell. ” Only souls who let themselves be led by God as children do not go astray.

Ostendit illi regnum Dei. There are many souls in the world who have not understood the Kingdom of God. They have formed a kingdom of their own ; but it is God Who is to show us His Kingdom : He is the architect of our spiritual edifice. What is this kingdom ? The perfect union with God in our heart : Regnum Dei intra vos est 3. In the concrete, the souls wherein God is entirely the master compose His Kingdom. Believe me, if we did but embrace God’s will in its entirety, Our Lord would take upon Himself the care of uniting us to Him despite our miseries, despite our absorbing occupations and all that we deem to be distractions and obstacles. While if we do not give ourselves up entirely to God’s Will and to His ways, we shall never reach intimate union with Him. Souls who do not give themselves do not understand this ; they put obstacles in the way of God’s supremacy ; while a soul who surrenders itself to Him recognises in all things no other power than His own.17

Dedit illi scientiam sanctorum. What is this “ science o the saints ” that God gives to the soul whom He leads It is the knowledge of the truth of things. Every man is a liar, Scripture says. When a man leads himself, by the wisdom of the world, by ways that are merely human, he goes astray because he follows false maxims which are so widespread in this world of darkness. But when he gives himself to God, God enlightens him, because God is the Truth and the Light. The soul comprehends the truth concerning God, itself, and the world ; little by little, it sees all things as Eternal Wisdom sees them, it possesses this science which is the only true one, because it leads us to our supernatural end.

Honestavii ilium in laboribus suis et complevit labor es illius. Wisdom enriches the just man in his labours and crowns his works. The more we come in contact with souls, the more we see that God is our holiness. We shall never be holy if we wish to become so in our own way, and not in God’s way. We do not altogether know what is good for us ; we do not understand the utility of temptations, trials and sufferings. But God is wisdom and He created us. He sees everything in our soul. He beholds with an infinite intensity and in light incomparable. The soul that leads itself by its own sense of what is fitting, easily thinks that all it does must be right, and is very astonished that others do not think the same. This soul builds up its own plan ; but what would happen if all succeeded according to its views and desires ? It would grow so full of self that it would become insupportable to God and the neighbour. When God sees a soul, He sees its good will, but also its mi¬ series. He allows this soul to be tempted. What is the result of this Divine treatment ? That self-love begins to die in the soul in order to give place to the Love of God. We may speak in analogous terms of sufferings or of success in our work. Certainly we must do everything as perfectly as possible, for the glory of God, and, for our part, neglect nothing in order to do so ; but we must not wish for success for the sake of success : this is often to meet with a stumbling block. A soul left to itself wishes to succeed, but God permits that it does not succeed, so that it may say to God : “ Take me and guide me. ” Then God replies : “ Very well, now that you know how weak and powerless you are, I will lead you. ” And the more this soul gives itself, the more God acts and blesses its works, doubtless not always according to human foresight, but according to the good of this soul and the interests of His glory. The influence of such a soul in the supernatural world is immeasurable, because its action participates in some way in the very infinity of God’s action.18

God acts towards us as we act towards Him ; God, as it were, measures His Providence according to our attitude in relation to Him : and the more we give ourselves to Him, the more we look upon Him as our Father, as the Spouse of our souls, the more His Providence enters into the least details and circumstances of our life. For a soul totally surrendered to Him, God has ineffable delicacies which show that His gaze is ever fixed upon it ; never has mother cared for her child, never has friend gladdened his friend, as God cares for and gladdens this soul.

When God sees a soul utterly given up to Him, He would move the whole world for it, He encompasses it with a special and intimate protection. Read the Psalm, Qui habitat in adjutorio altissimi, and you will have an idea of the singular protection with which God covers a soul who “ dwelleth " — habitat — in absolute confidence in Divine aid.

This soul is perfectly free and detached from self and from creatures. It is the captive of nothing whatsoever, neither of an employment, nor of a charge. It seeks and desires God, Rcvera quaerit Deum, and when it has found Him, its every desire is fulfilled. God is the sovereign Master of this soul ; nothing in it disputes this sovereignity : it procures Him incomparable glory by the continual homage of utter self -surrender ; the Lord works great things through it, and its life has the most wonderful repercussion in the spiritual world.

The liberty possessed by souls thus given to God, brings them great peace and deep joy : they know that God is a Father full of goodness, that He loves them and wills to bring them to Himself. What have they to fear ? God guides them, nothing is wanting to them, neither light nor grace : Dominus regit me, et nihil mihi deentz. They live in the abundance of Divine gifts and in an inward peace passing all understanding. It is enough to come near them to feel the sweetness of the influence which flows from them and has its well-spring in their unshaken confi¬ dence in God, and in the close intimacy which unites them to Him. The Lord has become for them their wisdom, strength and glory, and even “ in the midst of the shadows of death, " they taste the peace of God and an inalterable joy, because they know they are in the hands of the best of fathers, the most faithful of friends, the most tender of spouses : Et si ambuiavero in medio umbrae mortis, non timebo mala, quoniam tu mecum e's.19

Footnotes

    1. The spirit of holy abandonment can be considered as being the last expression of detachment or the summit of the life of union: these two aspects are correlative, but it is chiefly the first that we are here considering. — 2. In the beautiful book by the Right Rev. Abbot Lehodey, Le Saint Aban¬ don, 1919, is to be found a complete exposition of the teaching relative to this important subject.
    ↩
    1. Ps. XVIII, 10. — 2. Joan, xv, 5. — 3. Eph. 1, 9. — 4. II Cor. m, 5,
    ↩
    1. Philip, iv, 13. — 2. Rom. vin, 28. — 3. I Joan, iv, 16. — 4. Ibid, in, 1. — 5- Eph. hi, 15.
    ↩
    1. Jac. i, 17; — 2. Joan, hi, 16. — 3. Eph. 1, 3. — 4. Joan, xvi, 2 7. — 5. Joan, in, 35.
    ↩
    1. I Thess. IV, 3. — 2. Rom. vm, 32. — 3. Philip, iv, 13. —4-1 Cor. xv, 10. — 5. Eph. iv, 30.
    ↩
    1. Rule, ch. xxxiii. — 2. Ibid. — 3. Ibid. ch. vii.
    ↩
    1. Rule, ch. v.
    ↩
    1. Rule, ch. vii. — 2. Matth. xvii, 5. — 3. Joan, xv, 15.
    ↩

  9. Joan, xv, 5. — 4. Matth. xvi, 24. ↩

    1. Isa. xlix, 15.
    ↩
    1. Cf. Rom. viii, 28. — 2. Col. 1, 24.
    ↩
    1. Ps. xxvi, 14 ; Rale, ch. vii. — 2. Joan, xv, 2. — 3. Ps. xxvi, 14. — 4. Eph. in, 19. — 5. Book of Special Grace, 2n(1 Part, ch. 8. — 6. The Book of Special Grace, 4th Part, ch. 7. — 7. Ps. xxxvi, 5.
    ↩
    1. Ps. xxiv, 18. — 2. Luc. ci, iq. — 3. Way 0/ Per/eclion, ch. xxvt. — 4. Joan. 1, 29. — 5. Matth. xxvi, 63. — 6. Isa. un, 7.
    ↩
    1. Matth. xxvii, 46. — 2. Luc. xxm, 46. — 3. Sermon for the Feast oj the Annunciation. — 4. Bossuet, Etats d’or.iison , x, 18,
    ↩

  15. |. Cf. Ps. xxn, 4. — 2. Rom. iv, 18-22. ↩

    1. D. Dolan. S* Gertrude the Great, ch. 13. The Joy of Pain. p. 208-209. — 2. Sap. vm, 1. — 3. D. Dolan. 1. c. p. 218.
    ↩
    1. Sap. x, 10. — 2. Life by Bl. Raymund of Capua. — 3. Luc. xvii, 21.
    ↩
    1. Ps. CXV XX.
    ↩
    1. Ps. xc, 1. See also Ps. xxvi, a true song of confidence for the soul that is given to God : “ The Lord is my light and my salvation ; whom shall I fear?... For He hath hidden me in His tabernacle; in the day of evils, He hath protected me in the secret place of His tabernacle. He hath exalted me upon « rock. ” — 2. Ps. xxii, 1,
    ↩

Chapter 17 of 19