Abandonment to Divine Providence - excerpt

8/9/2019 Abandonment to Divine Providence - excerpt

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Abandonment

to Divine

Providence

The Classic Text

with a Spiritual

Commentary by

Dennis Billy, C.Ss.R.


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The greatness o Abandonment to Divine Providence and the reason itshould be ranked among the classics o Christian devotion is its ability

simply and prooundlyto lead us to God. Caussade has read our souland spoken to our condition. But even more, he has taken us by thehand and led us to the twin paths o trust and obedience that convergeonto the highway o godliness.

Richard J. FosterAuthor oA Celebration of Discipline

Since its publication in 1861,Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-

Pierre de Caussade, S.J., has proven to be not only a spiritual classic,but also one o the nest expressions o French and Jesuit mysticaltheology. Fr. Dennis Billy, C.Ss.R., illuminates the depth and meaningoAbandonment with a commentary that is scholarly, insightul, andull o sound spiritual wisdom.

Robert L. FastiggiProessor o Systematic Theology

Sacred Heart Major Seminary

This book is a marvelous git. In a time that is practically dened bydistractions, we can all nd our way to God by reading both Fr. Billysluminous commentary and the classic text itsel. While reading thisbook, citizens o the renetic Western world will desire, and perhapseven know, the healing ound in receiving God as he comes to us atevery moment o our day.

James Keating

Director o Theological FormationInstitute or Priestly FormationCreighton University


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Christian Classics Notre Dame, Indiana

Abandonment

to Divine

Providence

Jean-Pierre de Caussade

The Classic Text

with a Spiritual

Commentary by

Dennis Billy, C.Ss.R.


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Scripture quotations are rom the New Revised Standard Version o the Bible, copyright 1993 and 1989 by the Division o Christian Education o the National Council o Churcheso Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.____________________________________

2010 by Ave Maria Press, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part o this book may be used or reproduced in any manner what-

soever, except in the case o reprints in the context o reviews, without written permissionrom Christian Classics, Ave Maria Press, Inc., P.O. Box 428, Notre Dame, IN 46556.

Founded in 1865, Ave Maria Press is a ministry o the Indiana Province o Holy Cross.

www.christian-classics.com

ISBN-10 0-87061-253-0 ISBN-13 978-0-87061-253-4

Cover and text design by John R. Carson.

Cover photo: Finsiel/Alinari / Art Resource, NY

Printed and bound in the United States o America.

Books in the series

The Imitation of Christby Thomas Kempis

Interior Castle by Teresa o Avila

Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament and to MostHoly Mary by Alphonsus de Liguori

Spiritual Friendship by Aelred o Rievaulx

Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade

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, a series in the Christian Classics

line devoted to rediscovering classic Christian literature, mines the

depths o the rich tradition o Christian spirituality. Critical transla-

tions, accompanied by timely and accessible commentary and probing

questions, revitalize these works or another generation o spiritual

pilgrims.

ClassiCswhCommentary


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O bread of angels, heavenly manna,

the pearl of the Gospel, the sacrament of the present moment!

Abandonment to Divine Providence

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Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................... 1

How to ReadAbandonment to Divine Providence ...................................... 9

Abandonment to Divine Providence ......................................................... 17

Book One ........................................................................................ 19Chapter 1 .................................................................................... 21

Chapter 2 .................................................................................... 47

Book Two ........................................................................................ 85

Chapter 1 .................................................................................... 87

Chapter 2 .................................................................................. 111

Chapter 3 .................................................................................. 139

Chapter 4 .................................................................................. 161

Notes ............................................................................................. 199

Suggested Readings ........................................................................ 203

Internet Resources .......................................................................... 205


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Abandonment to DivineProvidence

Jean-Pierre de Caussade

Translated by Algar Thorold

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19

Book One

On the Virtue oAbandonment

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Book One: An Overview

The rst book considers abandonment as an interior disposition othe soul that enables us to give ourselves over to Gods action in aconstant, habitual manner. As a virtue, abandonment has both active andpassive dimensions. It requires both the passive reception o Gods grace,as well as an active participation with it. This rst book deals with bothaspects and is composed o two chapters. The rst ocuses on the activedelity to Gods plan required by the virtue; the second, on the continualactivity o Gods grace in our lives and the importance o our being opento receiving it. As we will see later on in the treatise, the virtue o aban-donment is a necessary prerequisite or arriving at the state o completeabandonment.


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Chapter 1

Holiness Lies in Faithulnessto Gods Established Order

and in Abandonment

to His Action

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Introduction

In this chapter, the author introduces the notion o the sacramento the present moment. In nine sections, he ocuses on how Godreveals his will or us through the immediate duties presented to us ateach moment by our particular state in lie. He uses many metaphors

and numerous examples rom the Old and New Testaments to show thatGod speaks to us rom one moment to the next. Although holiness isnot dicult to achieve, it requires us to empty our hearts and to removewhatever obstacles stand in the way o Gods activity. Warning againstthe dangers o Quietisma sixteenth-century movement condemned by


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22 E Abandonment to Divine Providence

the Church or its promotion o complete passivity beore God, even tothe point o not desiring ones own salvationhe insists that we must do

our share in ullling the obligations o our state in lie. Gods will, hemaintains, lies hidden in the duties o present moment. To discover it, wemust abandon our sel-will and embrace whatever is asked o us rom onemoment to the next. Even such worthy activities as reading and spiritualdevotions are useless i they are not what God wants or us in the presentmoment. Holiness does not require an intricate knowledge o the truthso the aith, but simply a willingness to embrace Gods will in the present.

When properly understood and dutiully perormed, even the most trivialand otherwise unimportant tasks will sanctiy us and lead us into com-

munion with the divine.

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The holiness o the saints o old and especially

o our Blessed Motherconsisted o fdelity to the order established by God.

Introduction

In this section, the author states that God speaks to us today in muchthe same way as when he spoke to our orebears. It looks back to the

time beore there were spiritual directors and schools o spirituality, toa time when lie was much simpler and when people were guided by theduties o the present moment. The author likens those who are sensitiveto the Spirit to the hand o a clock that achieves its appointed task romone minute to the next. Under the constant infuence o divine grace, thesepeople aithully ulll their duties rom one moment to the next with littleuss or orethought. He cites Mary as an example o someone who ol-lowed Gods will at each moment o her lie, doing whatever was asked o


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Book One: Chapter 1 E 23

her in a spirit o humble surrender. She saw these tasks as gits rom theLord and received them with great joy.

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Text

God still speaks today as he spoke to our athers, when there

were no spiritual directors or set methods. Then, spiritualityconsisted in delity to the designs o God, or it had not yet beenreduced to an art and explained in a loty and detailed manner withmany rules, maxims, and instructions. Surely our present needsdemand this, but it was not so in ormer times when we were moreupright and simple. Then it was enough or those who led a spirituallie to see that each moment brought with it a duty to be aithullyullled. On that duty the whole o their attention was xed at each

successive moment, like the hand o the clock which marks eachmoment o the hour. Under Gods unceasing guidance their spiritturned without conscious eort to each new duty as it was presentedto them by God each hour o the day.

Such were the hidden springs o Marys conduct, or she was o allcreation the most utterly submissive to God. Her reply to the angelwhen she said, Let it be with me according to your word (Lk 1:38),contained all the mystical theology o our ancestors. Everything was

reduced, as it is today, to complete and utter abandonment to Godswill under whatever orm it was maniested.This beautiul and loty disposition o Marys soul is admirably

revealed in those simple words, Let it be. Note how perectly theyagree with those words which our Lord wishes us to have always onour lips and in our hearts: Your will be done (Mt 6:10). It is true thatwhat was asked o Mary at that moment was something glorious orher. But all the splendor o that glory would have had no eect on her

had she not seen in it the will o God, which alone was able to moveher.It was this divine will that ruled her every act. Whatever her occu-

pations, commonplace or loty, they were in her eyes nothing butexternal signs, sometimes clear, sometimes obscure, under which she


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and see Gods will behind their daily tasks and challenges. By living in thesacrament o the present moment, they were able to see the great things

God was accomplishing in their otherwise ordinary lives.

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Text

The power o the Most High will overshadow you (Lk 1:35), saidthe angel to Mary. This shadow, in which the power o God

conceals itsel to bring Jesus Christ to us, is whatever duty, temptation,or trial that comes with every moment. These are in act but shadowssimilar to those in nature that spread over visible objects and hidethem rom us. Thus in the moral and supernatural order the dutieso each moment conceal under their outward appearances the truereality o the divine will, which alone is worthy o our attention. It was

in this light that Mary regarded them. As these shadows spread overher aculties, ar rom causing her any illusion, they lled her withaith in him who is ever the same. Draw back, archangel, you are only ashadow. Your moment passes and you disappear. Mary moves beyondyou. She goes orward unceasingly. From now on you are behind her.The Holy Spirit has entered her under the visible orm o this missionand will never leave her.

There are ew extraordinary eatures in the external lie o the

Blessed Virgin. At least Holy Scripture does not record any. Her lie isrepresented as exteriorly very simple and ordinary. She acts and experi-ences the same things as others in her state o lie. She goes to visither cousin Elizabeth, as her other relations do. She takes shelter in astable, a natural consequence o her poverty. She returns to Nazarethater having fed rom the persecution o Herod. Jesus and Joseph livethere with her, supporting themselves by the work o their hands.This provides their daily bread, but what is the divine ood with which

this material bread eeds the aith o Mary and Joseph? What is thesacrament o each o their sacred moments? What treasures o graceare contained in each o these moments underneath the ordinaryappearance o the events that ll them? On the surace, these eventsare no dierent rom those that happen to everyone, but the interior,


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invisible element discerned by aith reveals God himsel perorminggreat works. O bread o angels, heavenly manna, the pearl o the

Gospel, the sacrament o the present moment! You present God insuch lowly orms as the manger, the hay and straw! But to whom doyou give him? You ll the hungry with good things (Lk 1:53). Godreveals himsel to the humble in the humblest things, while the greatwho never delve beneath the surace do not discover him even in greatevents.

Living in the Present Moment

Do you believe that Gods will is hidden in the circumstances odaily lie?

In what way do the duties and obligations o the present momentreveal Gods will to you? Can they obscure it in any way?

What does the author mean by the sacrament o the present

moment?

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How much easier it would be to become holy i it were

understood in terms o fdelity to Gods plan.

Introduction

In this section, the author tells us that holiness is not dicult but easy

to attain and that it lies in being completely aithul to Gods will. Hedraws an important distinction between active and passive delity. Activedelity means ollowing the laws o God and o his Church and ulllingthe duties o our station in lie. Passive delity has to do with the lovingembrace o whatever God sends rom one moment to the next. The author


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insists that neither active nor passive delity is dicult, since God nevertests us beyond our limits. The secret to holiness is to view everything that

happens to us as a maniestation o Gods will and to embrace whateveris required with every ber o our being. God is our true spiritual directorwho guides us through the specic tasks and challenges that come to usrom one moment to the next.

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Text

I the work o our sanctication presents us with diculties thatappear insurmountable, it is because we do not look at it in theright way. In reality, holiness consists in one thing alone, namely, del-ity to Gods plan. And this delity is equally within everyones capacityin both its active and passive exercise.

The practice o active delity consists in accomplishing the dutiesimposed on us by the general laws o God and the Church and theparticular state o lie that we have embraced. Passive delity consistsin the loving acceptance o all that God sends us at every moment.

Which o these two requirements o holiness is beyond our strength?Not active delity, since the duties it imposes cease when they arereally beyond our powers. I the state o your health, or example, doesnot allow you to hear Mass, then you are under no obligation to do so.

It is the same with all positive precepts, namely, those which lay downduties to be done. The only precepts to which no exceptions can bepermitted are those which orbid the doing o things that are evil inthemselves, or it is never permissible to do evil.

Can anything be easier or more reasonable? What excuse can wegive? Yet this is all that God demands o us in the work o its sancti-cation. He demands it rom the high and the low, rom the strong andthe weak; in a word, rom all, always and everywhere. It is true then

that he asks rom us only what is simple and easy, or it is enoughto possess this simple und o goodwill in order to attain to eminentholiness.

I over and above the commandments he puts beore us thecounsels as a more perect goal or our endeavor, he is always careul

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Abandonment to Divine Providence - excerpt