Chapter LVIII. Of Oblation

TO the end that the oblation of yourself may be on all sides pleasing to God, two things are necessary. One is, union with the offerings which Christ made to the Father; the other is, that your will be detached from all irregular affection for the creature.

By the first thing, you must know that the Son of God, when living in this vale of tears, offered to His Heavenly Father not only Himself and His works, but with Himself us also and our works.

So that our offerings must be made in union with, and trustful dependence upon His.

For the second thing, consider well before you make your offering, whether your will has any attachment, for if so, it must first he disengaged from every affection; and have recourse to God, in order that He, with His right Hand, may loose you; so that, freed and delivered from all hindrance, you may be able to offer yourself to His Divine Majesty.

And be very watchful on this point; since, if you offer yourself to God, whilst some irregular affection for the creature remains, you do not offer yourself, but that which is another's, in that you are not your own, but belong to those creatures to whom your heart is given; a thing which is displeasing to the Lord—as if it were your desire to mock Him. Hence it is, that so many oblations of ourselves not only return to us void and fruitless, but afterwards we fall into various defects and sins.

We may offer ourselves to God, whilst still cleaving to the creatures, but it must be in order that by His Goodness we may be set free, so that we may be able to offer ourselves wholly to His Divine Majesty, and to His service; and this we should do often, and with great affection.

Let then your offering be without attachment, and without regard to your own desires, not aiming at earthly blessings or Heavenly, but purely at the Will and Providence of God, to which you ought entirely to submit, and to sacrifice yourself as a perpetual burnt-offering, and, weaned from all created things, say: "Behold, my Lord and Creator, each and every desire of mine is at the disposal of Thy Will and Eternal Providence; do with me as it pleases Thee, in life, in death, and after death; in time, and in eternity."

If you act thus in sincerity (which will be proved when some adversity arises) you will become from an earthly, a dealer in Heavenly and most blessed goods, for you shall be God's, and God shall be yours; since He always abides with those who, tearing themselves away from all creatures and from themselves, give themselves up entirely, and sacrifice themselves to His Divine Majesty.

Here then, beloved, you see a most powerful way of overcoming all your enemies; because if this offering so unites you to God, that you become wholly His, and He wholly yours, what enemy and what power can ever hurt you? And when you wish to offer to Him any of your works, as fasts, prayers, acts of patience, or any other good deeds, first turn your mind to the offering which Christ made to the Father of His fasts, prayers, and other works; and in trustful dependence on the worth and virtue of these, offer then your own.

When you wish to offer to your Heavenly Father the works of Christ, in satisfaction for your sins, you will do it in this manner. You will make a general, and sometimes a particular, review of your sins, and seeing clearly that it is not possible for you, of yourself, to appease the anger of God, nor to satisfy His Divine Justice, you will have recourse to the Life and Passion of His Son, and meditate upon some one of His actions; as, for example, when He fasted, prayed, suffered, and shed His Blood; here you will see that, in order to propitiate the Father, and to pay the debt of your iniquity, He offered Him these His Works, His Suffering and Blood,—as it were saying: "Behold, Eternal Father, what superabundant satisfaction I make to Thy Justice for the sins and trespasses of N. May it please Thy Divine Majesty to forgive them, and to receive that person into the number of Thine elect."

Then make the same offering, and offer these prayers for yourself, to the Father Himself, imploring Him that, by virtue of them, He would forgive you every debt. And this you can do, not only by passing from one Mystery to another, but also from one act to another in the same Mystery; and this mode of offering may serve not only for yourself, but also for others.