These are a few summations from a book by Jean-Pierre de Caussade, a Jesuit ascetic writer who died in 1751. The book is called Abandonment to Divine Providence; I first heard about it from an article in Christian History magazine. I’ve read some of it online at www.ccel.org, but I’m thinking I might like to own a copy next time I have a few bucks to blow at Amazon.com. All of it is thought-provoking and some of it even shocks me. (Point 3, for instance.)
1. We must put all speculation aside and with childlike willingness accept all that God presents to us.
2. What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the best and holiest thing that could happen to us.
3. Any soul which has once and for all completely submitted itself to God should always interpret everything favorably.
4. There is absolutely nothing that gives more peace or does more to make us holy than obeying the Will of God. [The text implies that understanding God’s Will isn't necessary.]
5. If we see the Will of God in the most trifling affairs, in every misfortune, and in every disaster, we shall accept them all with an equal joy, delight and respect.
6. We must completely forget ourselves so that we regard ourselves as an object which has been sold and over which we no longer have any right. Once we have this foundation all we need to do is spend our lives rejoicing that God is God and being so wholly abandoned to his Will that we are quite indifferent as to what we do and equally indifferent as to what use he makes of our activities.
7. It is really useless to become agitated, for all that happens to us is like a dream. Shadowy images come and go and dreams passing through our sleeping mind give us both pain and pleasure. Our soul is the plaything of these phantoms, but when we awaken we know at once that they have not really affected it.
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