Abandonment to Divine Providence

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SECOND BOOK - ON THE EXERCISE OF THE VIRTUE OF ABANDONMENT

Letter I –Some General Principles

To Sister Marie-Antoinette de Mahuet (1731).

On the principles and practice of abandonment.

My dear Sister,

Our Lord has given me something better for you than that which you desire, something that it did not occur to you to ask for. It is a summary of some general principles to guide your conduct in life, with an explanation of the easiest way of putting them into practice.

1st Principle. The mainspring of the spiritual life is a good will, that is to say, a sincere desire to belong to God entirely and without reserve; consequently it is not possible to renew too frequently this holy desire in order to strengthen it, and to make it more lasting and efficacious.

2nd Principle. The firm resolution to belong to God should produce in you a determination to think only of Him, and this can be practised in two ways, first by accustoming yourself never voluntarily to entertain thoughts, or to reflect on subjects which do not concern God directly or indirectly as to the duties of your state in general, or in particular. The best way of dealing with idle thoughts is not to combat and still less to be anxious and troubled about them, but just to let them drop, like a stone into the sea. Gradually the habit of acting thus will become easy. The second way to think only of God is to forget everything else, and one arrives at this state by dint of dropping all idle thoughts, so that it often happens that for some time one may pass whole days without, apparently, thinking of anything as though one had become quite stupid. It often happens that God even places certain souls in this state, which is called the emptiness of the spirit and of the understanding, or the state of nothingness. This annihilation of one’s own spirit wonderfully prepares the soul for the reception of that of Jesus Christ. This is the mystical death to the workings of one’s own activity, and renders the soul capable of undergoing the divine operation. This great emptiness of the spirit frequently produces another void even more painful–that of the will; so that one has seemingly, no feeling, either for the things of this world, or even for God, being equally callous to all. It is often God Himself who effects this second void in the souls of certain people. One must not, then, try to get rid of this state, since it is a preparation for the reception of God’s most precious operations, and is the second mystical death intended to precede a happy resurrection to a new life. This two-fold void must therefore be valued and retained. It is a double annihilation very difficult for pride and self-love to endure, and must be borne with the holy joy of an interior spirit.

3rd Principle. We must confine our whole attention to fulfilling as perfectly as possible the holy will of God to its full extent, abandoning everything else to Him, such as, the care of all our temporal and also our spiritual interests, as, our advancement in virtue. The practice of this double abandonment is, first–every time we feel in our hearts a desire, or a fear, or have ideas and form projects regarding our own interests or those of our parents and friends, to say to God, “Lord, I sacrifice all this; I give up all my miserable interests to You. May all that You please, all that You wish, happen. However, as there may be occasions when it is reasonably necessary to think and to act, I beg You to give me the thought at the right time, and thus I shall do nothing but follow what You deign to inspire, and I accept in advance either good or adverse results.” Having made this interior act we should let all our fears and desires drop like a stone, without troubling ourselves any more about them, being assured that God will give us, in His own good time, the thought and impulse to act according to His holy will and divine intention.

As for the practice of the second kind of abandonment which is that of progress in perfection, it is a most difficult subject very badly set forth by spiritual writers, and one about which most mistakes are made, mistakes that produce nothing but trouble, and retard our progress in the ways of God. Here is a very simple method given by Jesus Christ to St. Teresa when He appeared to her: “Daughter,” he said to her, “never think of anything but how to please Me, to love Me, and to do My will, and I, on My side, will attend to all your affairs, both temporal and spiritual.” To thoroughly grasp this lofty precept look upon yourself as one who has entered the service of a king, like Solomon for example, the greatest, wisest and best of kings. However little nobility of feeling, refinement of heart, good sense or ability such a person might possess, he would doubtless address his master in these terms, “Lord, since I know that You are a Prince, as good as You are powerful, as liberal as You are magnificent, I give myself to You without reserve; I will serve You without knowing how much You will pay me by the day or the year, nor even at the end of my time. I promise to think only of Your interests, and mine I leave to Your discretion, or rather, to Your goodness and generosity.” Often apply this very imperfect and mean comparison to the great Master we serve and be assured that if the great King would not endure to see himself surpassed in liberality by one of his servants neither will the all-powerful and infinitely good God allow Himself to be outdone by His miserable creatures. The practice of this principle and the consequences to be deduced from it are:

1st. An intense desire takes possession of me to acquire the gifts of prayer, humility, sweetness, and the love of God. To this I answer, “Do not let me think so much of my own interests; my business is to occupy myself simply and quietly with God, to accomplish His will in all that He requires at present. That is my task, all the rest I leave to God; my progress is His business as mine is to busy myself for Him and to obey His orders.”

2nd. It occurs to me that I am still very imperfect, full of faults and defects, infidelities and weakness; when shall I be freed from these miseries? “By God’s grace I have no affection for my faults, I am determined to combat them, but I shall only be freed from them when God pleases; that is His business; mine is to hate these faults, and to make a point of combating them with patience, sorrow and humility till it shall please God to render me victorious.”

3rd. I begin to think that I am so blind that I cannot see my faults, even when I have to weep for them before God and to confess them. I reply without hesitation, “But I wish to know my sins, I no longer live in a state of voluntary dissipation, I quietly employ a little time in self-examination.” This is all that God requires, “He will give me more light and knowledge when He considers it necessary; that is His business. I have placed the affair of my spiritual progress entirely in His hands, it is therefore sufficient for the present to accuse myself of the daily faults that God reveals to me, and some sin of my past life.”

4th. It strikes me: Have I ever made a good confession? Has God forgiven me? Am I in a state of grace, or not? What progress have I made in prayer and in the ways of God? I at once answer: “God has willed to hide all this from me to make me abandon myself blindly to His mercy; I submit, and adore His judgments. I wish to know only that which He desires me to know, and to walk in darkness if such is His will; it is His business to know my state, mine to occupy myself about Him alone, to serve Him and to love Him as much and as well as I can; He will take care of all the rest, I depend upon Him.”

5th. But for a long time past I have asked Him for certain graces; to obtain them I have begged the intercession of those powerful advocates the ever-blessed Virgin, Saint Joseph, the Holy Apostles and all the Saints in heaven, and it seems as if nothing will move Him: “He is the Master, may His will be accomplished in all things; I desire neither graces, nor merits, nor perfections beyond those it pleases Him to give me, His will is enough for me and shall always be the rule of my desires.”


Letter II – The Three Degrees of Virtue

To Sister Marie-Therese de Viomenil (1731).

A general plan of the spiritual combat.

“God has left man in the hands of his own counsel; life or death, good or evil are before him, what he chooses will be given to him.” By these words holy Scripture makes us understand that man is a free agent, and that his salvation depends on the good use he makes of his liberty. It is true that since the fall of man his will has become weakened towards good, and turned towards evil, but with the help of grace which never fails him, it is always in his power to strengthen his will towards good, although naturally so weak; and to fortify it against evil towards which it is, unhappily, so much inclined.

There are three degrees of virtue which the liberty of our enfeebled will can practise only with great pain, and much difficulty. 1st. That virtue essential for salvation, the neglect of which constitutes a mortal sin. 2nd. That virtue enjoined by a less stringent precept the omission of which is a venial sin. 3rd. That perfect virtue that we cannot neglect without a diminution of merit.

All these inclinations which weaken in us the resolution to fulfil our essential obligations, such as, hate, revenge, anger, inordinate attachments, avarice, envy, etc., are so many sources of spiritual ruin. The same can be said, proportionately, of those inclinations which incite us to commit venial sin, or voluntary imperfections, because whoever neglects small faults will fall little by little into grave ones, says the Holy Spirit; and to be lax in the pursuit of perfection in but one point will prevent the acquisition of it for ever. Therefore, every victory by which our will is strengthened in the practice of virtue is a sign of predestination and of salvation. Our principal aim, then, ought to be to fortify continually our will towards virtue, and to overcome our inclination towards evil. We have three means to assure and hasten the success of this undertaking. The first is to make great sacrifices to God by overcoming all repugnance in that which costs us the most. The second is to make all those daily little sacrifices for which occasions are frequent and continual, and this with a constant generous and universal fidelity.

The third means and the greatest is prayer, but prayer that is humble, simple, and inspired by the Holy Spirit; because it is He, as St. Paul says, who teaches us to pray and who Prays in us “with unspeakable groanings.” The Publican is an excellent model of prayer: he prayed silently, with deep and humble compunction. The greatest sinners and the most imperfect can pray like him and thus from the depths of their misery will rise by degrees, if they remain faithful, to the highest sanctity.


Letter III – The First Work of God in the Soul

To Madame de Lesen (1731).

On the first work of God in the soul.

I am not at all surprised at the effect of the first meditation on the great truths, and I thank our Lord for it, and congratulate you. You required these keen feelings, and I believe they are likely to last until they produce in you the spirit of compunction and of humility which should form the foundation of your spiritual structure, and the beginning of your spiritual infancy. The agitation which accompanied these feelings was too great, but if I am not mistaken, it was involuntary and perhaps necessary as an effect of divine justice. The same feelings when they recur will be quieter and more tranquil. I was aware before receiving your letter that God had given you great graces, and I guessed that you had not properly corresponded with them, and this I realise now better than before.

1st. Your soul is like a huge hall, quite bare, or at least very badly furnished.

2nd. It will never be a fit dwelling for our sovereign Lord if He Himself does not give and arrange the valuable furniture suitable for such a guest.

3rd. He will never make His arrangements nor bestow His gifts on your soul except in the silence of prayer. You have, therefore, only to keep the hall swept and clean with the help of grace, then let Him who takes care of the beautiful furniture with which it ought to be decorated, arrange it according to His own taste.

Do not meddle then without necessity in a work which your interference would spoil. Let it alone, and imagine yourself a canvas on which a great master is about to paint a picture, and arm yourself with courage because I foresee that it will take a considerable time to pound and mix the colours, and then to lay them on, arrange them and vary the tints. You must keep the canvas prepared and get it stretched and nailed to the frame; this is humiliation next to annihilation of self and an act of resignation and total abandonment inasmuch as you lose your own will in the will of God.


Letter IV – Practice of Abandonment

To Sister Marie-Henriette de Bousmard, on the general practice of abandonment.

You are quite right, my dear daughter, to say what you do and it was the favourite maxim of St. J.F. de Chantal, “Not so much talk, so much science, nor so many writings, but more good practice.” In fact with regard to those souls who have acquired the habit of avoiding all deliberate faults, and of fulfilling faithfully all the duties of their state, all perfection is contained in the exercise of a continual resignation to the will of God in all things, of a complete abandonment to all the arrangements of divine Providence whether exterior or interior, at present or in the future. A single “fiat,” or, as St. Francis of Sales said, “Yes, my heavenly Father, yes, always yes,” said and reiterated by the habitual disposition of the heart without even the necessity of pronouncing it interiorly, is the short and straight path to the highest perfection, because it is a continual union with the holy and adorable will of God.

To arrive so far it is not necessary to make a great deal of fuss, only two things are necessary: 1st, To be profoundly persuaded that nothing takes place in this world either spiritually or physically, that God does not will, or at least, permit; therefore we ought no less to submit to the permissions of God in things that do not depend upon us, than to His absolute will.

2nd, Believe firmly that everything that God wills or permits will, according to the purpose of an all-powerful and paternal Providence, turn always to the advantage of those who practise this submission. Resting on this two-fold assurance let us remain firm and immovable in our adhesion to all that God pleases to ordain in our regard. Let us acquiesce in advance in a spirit of humility, love and sacrifice, to all the imaginable decrees of His providence, let us assure Him that we shall be satisfied with all that contents Him. It is not always possible for us, doubtless, to feel this satisfaction in the inferior part of our soul, but we will, at least, keep it in the higher part of the spirit, in that highest point of the will, as St. Francis of Sales puts it; it will then be all the more meritorious.


Letter V – Means of Acquiring this Practice

On the means of acquiring abandonment.

You speak truly, my dear Sister, and it is indeed the Spirit of God who inspired your remark; one of the greatest obstacles to the reign of the divine Spirit in our hearts is our own miserable nature which recoils from the sort of captivity and death with which the holy abandonment enables us to purchase a share in the liberty and life of God.

But this same Spirit who has made you so well understand the evil, will assist you to apply a remedy for it. In a few words this is what you ought to do to arrive at pure love, and total abandonment. 1st, You must desire it ardently, and energetically will to acquire it, no matter at what cost. 2nd, Believe firmly and often say to God that it is absolutely impossible for you, left to yourself, to acquire such perfect dispositions, but that grace will make everything easy, that you hope for this grace through His mercy, and ask for it by and through Jesus Christ.

3rd, Humble yourself quietly and peacefully for as long as you are kept back from this holy captivity; do not be discouraged, but, on the contrary, protest to God that you are awaiting with confidence the moment when it shall please Him to grant you this decisive grace which will make you die to yourself to live a new life in Him, a life hidden with Jesus Christ our Saviour.

4th, If you are submissive to the inspirations of the Spirit of God you will beware of making your progress depend on the vividness and sensible sweetness of interior impressions. This divine Spirit on the contrary will make you set more value on operations that are almost imperceptible, because the more subtle and profound they are and the more withdrawn from the senses, the more divine they become. Then it is that you become more entirely for God, because you will tend to Him with your whole being and with all your powers, uniting yourself to Him without particularising anything, as every being seeks its centre. Be persuaded besides that you still have a great way to go. You will have to work and to grow for a long time, but concerning this as about all other things you ought to say “Oh my God, Your holy and most amiable will shall always be the exact measure of my desires however holy, just, or apparently perfect they may be. I desire neither grace nor sanctity but at the time appointed and in the precise degree You will, nothing more, nothing less. If all the Saints and holy Angels prostrated themselves before Your throne to ask You for a single degree more of grace or of glory than You have destined for me I should refuse it, because I prefer to remain exactly and simply, Oh my God, in the position You have been pleased to ordain for me.” I implore You, and this is my last word, never to have, in any of your actions any other motive than the pure love of God and His greater glory. At the same time you need not exclude motives of hope, and of fear, and whenever the Holy Spirit inspires you with these do not hesitate to entertain them, but pure love should reign in your heart above every other sentiment. You should desire, and very ardently, your salvation and perfection; but, even in this desire have the glory of God at heart much more than your own happiness. Nothing is more likely than this habit of mind to enable you to make great strides in virtue, and great merit. The smallest actions inspired by this love are beyond comparison, of more value than the greatest performed with other good motives. But do not forget that you will make the more certain progress the more pure love induces you to renounce yourself even in the smallest things. If it did not lead to this it would not be pure love.

Be carefully on your guard against the snares that the enemy will lay in your path to make you forsake your good intentions. Do not seek for, nor expect from creatures anything but forgetfulness and contempt, and may the joy of resembling Jesus Christ your divine Example make this contempt dearer to you than all the glory of the world. Let no occasion escape, however slight it may be, of perfecting in you this divine likeness, and after having faithfully profited by these slight trials humble yourself for not being judged worthy of greater ones.


Letter VI – Rules for General Direction

To Sister Marie-Therese de Viomenil.

General direction.

My dear Sister,

1st. Do not burden yourself with vocal prayers besides those that are of obligation, but apply yourself especially to acquiring interior perfection and to mental prayer.

2nd. It is very useful to try and prevent faults by acts of penance, but it would be better still to endeavour to expiate them after having committed them, than to multiply your penances in advance without real necessity.

3rd. Moderate and supernaturalise your affection for those who are dear to you.

4th. In order to excite yourself to fervour profit by the good examples and conservations of spiritual persons; but do not ever show contempt for, nor give way voluntarily to any dislike of others.

5th. Do not be so much vexed with yourself for being so often at war with your miserable nature; heaven is worth all these combats. Perhaps they will soon end, and you will speedily gain a complete victory. After all, they pass away and our rest will be eternal. Remain then in peace and let your humility be always united to confidence.

6th. Profit by bodily infirmities to strengthen your soul by the spirit of resignation to the will of God, and of union with Jesus Christ.

7th. Be careful to die to yourself; to renounce your natural inclinations; to stifle on every occasion human passions and tenderness. This kind of mortification is most essential; it does not injure the health, and is more efficacious than corporal austerities in multiplying merits, and in realising the designs of God, Who desires you to belong to Him entirely and without reserve.

8th. Labour to profit faithfully but peacefully by all the different states through which it pleases our Lord that you should pass for His glory, and your own perfection.

9th. It is necessary that zeal for one’s own advancement and for that of others under one’s care should be earnest and energetic, but never restless, nor accompanied with anxiety and distrust.

10th. Apply yourself to becoming more and more interior and aspire to all the perfection of your holy state by a perfect regularity. Humble yourself unceasingly before God so that He may render you victorious over yourself. You have need of a very powerful assistance to overcome your sensitiveness, and to destroy the fastidiousness natural to you, before you die, because these defects are the result of your character and temperament. True, this consideration somewhat excuses the faults, and excites the good God to compassion for His poor spouse, but nevertheless you must continue to fight so that even if your miserable pride and self-love are not absolutely destroyed before your last hour, death will, at any rate, find you at war with them, and trying to destroy them. Your principal weapons should be divine love, an infinite gratitude for Gods grace, complete confidence in Him and a profound contempt for yourself, but without discouragement, and in peace.

You will derive ever-increasing strength in Holy Communion, in prayer, in humility, sweetness, patience, obedience, mortification, and above all in interior abnegation.

11th. Illness and infirmities accepted in submission to the will of God with humble thanksgiving, and in union with Jesus Christ, are very useful to expiate the past and to weaken the old Adam; they help also to make us die spiritually to all things before having to die naturally, which death in ending our transient ills will make us enter, let us hope, into the enjoyment of eternal happiness. As this kind of penance is sent to us by God Himself, and as we are thus unable to mortify ourselves exteriorly, we must make up for it by interior mortification, applying ourselves more earnestly to the destruction of self-love, pride, fastidiousness, and criticism of others, all of which are its bad fruits. Finally endeavour to become humble and simple as a little child for the love of our Lord, in imitation of Him, and in a spirit of peace and recollection. If God finds this humility in us He will prosper His work in us Himself. Persevere in being faithful to grace for the greater glory of God and for the pure love of Him. All consists in loving well, and with all your heart and in all your employments, this God of all goodness.

12th. According to our advance in the course of our earthly pilgrimage let us endeavour to increase in solid fervour, the perfection of our holy state, and the particular designs of God to our regard. When He grants us attractions and sensible devotion let us profit by them to attach ourselves more firmly to Him above all His gifts. But in times of dryness let us go on always in the same way, reminding ourselves of our poverty and also thinking that, perhaps, God wishes to prove our love for Him by these salutary trials.

13th. Let us be really humble, occupied in correcting our own faults, without reflecting on those of others. Let us see Jesus Christ in all our neighbours, and then we shall have no difficulty in excusing them as well as helping them and taking care of them. His example ought to be sufficient; look at His patience with His disciples who were so rough and ignorant. Let us turn all our energies to glorifying God in ourselves and in those who think well of us. Let us live hidden in Jesus Christ and dead to all created things and to ourselves; without this, Jesus Christ will not deign to dwell in us, at any rate, not in the way He aims at, which is in absorbing all our human life in His divine life. Besides we must bear with ourselves also out of charity as we put up with others, humbling ourselves and punishing ourselves for our faults as soon as possible. While praying for ourselves, let us also pray for sinners who are our brethren.


Letter VII – Rules for Direction

To Sister Marie-Therese de Viomenil (1731), on the same subject. Rules, etc.

My dear Sister and very dear daughter in our Lord, may the peace of Jesus Christ be always with you.

1st. I thank God for all the good thoughts with which He inspires you. As long as you keep this good intention of belonging to God without reserve, resigning yourself entirely to His good pleasure, and fearing neither dryness, darkness, temptation, nor destitution, all will turn to your spiritual profit.

2nd. The fear of being mistaken about being at peace in the midst of interior troubles is very useless. What you unwittingly disclose to me proves that this peace is very real; it is the foundation of all else and a great grace which you must preserve at all costs. All the attacks and stratagems of the devil are aimed to make you lose it, or to diminish or, disturb it; but keep firm in faith and confidence through abandonment. Take care not to pledge yourself by vow to anything whatever.

3rd. To be completely severed from creatures in the intention and the affections is a great favour which infallibly leads to pure love and divine union.

4th. The secret presentiment of approaching death may come either from God or from the devil. If it detaches you more completely from all things, without disturbing you or creating discouragement and distrust, it comes from God; if not, it must be rejected, because all that comes from God has a good effect, and it is entirely from the effects that the spirit it proceeds from is discerned. All the repugnance that you feel is intended to detach you more completely from all human support, so that you may have none but God alone; your interior practices about this are very good. But I am surprised that you have not yet learnt that when God permits this darkness all feeling for good disappears like the sun during the night. All that can be done then is to remain firm and peaceful, waiting for the return of the sun and the dawn of day when all will be as usual. I give you permission to write one, two, three, or four letters during the year, and whenever, after imploring the help of God, you deem it necessary, and if I should think the same, I shall be very particular to reply to you.


Letter VIII – Advice on Prayer

To Sister Marie-Anne-Therese de Rosen. Excellent advice on prayer, to souls called to a life of abandonment.

1st. Apply yourself to prayer by a simple glance at the subject, that is to say by a single apprehension of its object, by faith without any reasoning.

2nd. I advise you to pause longer on that which is most likely to humiliate you, and to destroy self-love. The more distressed you feel, and penetrated with a sense of your misery, the more disposed you will be to receive the gifts of God.

3rd. Do not be uneasy about distractions, but when you perceive them, collect your mind and, above all, your heart by an act of faith in the presence of God, and in a holy repose. If that does not succeed you can only resign yourself. The state of distraction is often a cross more meritorious than the prayer itself, for it unites our will with the will of God Who is all our good.

4th. The result of the prayer will prove its efficacy. Solid faith is incomparably better than faith that is sensibly felt, under its guidance the soul makes more rapid progress, and proceeds with greater certainty.

5th. Hear Holy Mass with great recollection, and give yourself up to a boundless confidence in the divine goodness, while relying on the merits of the divine victim, Jesus Christ.

6th. The way of dryness and aridity is greatly preferable to that of consolations, although it is painful. It is only in this way that solid virtue can be acquired; in the other way, the most apparently, perfect dispositions are subject to failure at the slightest breath of aridity or of temptation. God usually sends trials to those souls who have enjoyed for some time spiritual sweetness and consolation.

7th. When it pleases the divine goodness to make a soul advance in the way of pure love, fear makes no impression on it. As fear is the forerunner of love, perfect love casts out fear, as St. Augustine says, following St. John. Those who are charged with the guidance of such a soul should carry out the designs of God by conducting it in the ways of love and confidence. If the occasion arises where fear is necessary for the avoidance of evil, God will certainly bestow it. Let this soul continue then to love without troubling about other things, and above all let it avoid all anxiety and perplexity, for this temptation is more to be feared than any other by those who follow this way. One must then always recommend them to keep, at all costs, interior peace, and to reject as an envoy of hell everything which tends to disturb, or diminish it. For the rest, know that the most perfect, is that which is the most simple, and the most simple, is that which contains the least of our own, the fewest ideas, imaginations and reasonings; in which one single feeling continues longer than the rest. The longer the feelings inspired by grace continue in the soul, the more will it become impressed with them, and the more easily will it act under their influence. That of divine love which contains in an eminent degree all other virtues should form its ordinary food; when it masters all the affections of the soul it will effect in it an enthusiasm and a sort of enchantment which will make it run in the ways of holiness.


Letter IX – Danger of Delusion Explained

To Sister Marie-Anne-Therese de Rosen (1731), on the same subject. The danger of delusion in the prayer of recollection.

My dear Sister,

Always listen to that great interior Director, who alone can give light and strength to us in our necessities. Do not use books when He speaks interiorly. Let your main point be a holy repose in the divine presence; never leave it, do not break the sacred silence unless God gives you an attraction for some holy and useful colloquy, after which re-enter your fort and sanctuary which is no other than recollection and interior silence in the presence and the sight of your Beloved. In Him alone, and in this simple and sweet repose in God will you find all light, courage, strength, sweetness, patience, humility, resignation, peace and rest for your soul. I wish you all this to the highest perfection. Do not be afraid of darkness and dryness in prayer; when one knows how to unite one’s will to the holy will of God, accepting all that He wills, one is safe and has everything. This is, according to St. Teresa, the most perfect prayer and the most perfect love. You did very wisely in explaining to the Rev. Fr.–––the subject about which you write to me. I have so much respect for his views that I should consider myself mistaken, if mine were opposed to his. I have always thought, with him, that no one ought to meddle with the prayer of recollection unless he be called to it, and also that this grace cannot be merited by good works, nor can anyone succeed in it by any effort of his own. I have only added, with Fr. Surin and other authors, that one can, indirectly and beforehand, dispose oneself to receive this great gift of heaven by removing obstacles, first by a great purity of conscience, secondly by purity of heart, thirdly of spirit, and fourthly of intention which will carry a soul very far on the road to it; and that having so far disposed oneself, one ought by short and frequent pauses, as if waiting to listen, give free course to the interior spirit.

Will you read this to the Rev. Fr., or send him this little paper if you are not able soon to see him to speak to? Tell him when you see him, I beg of you, that I consider him bound in conscience to disabuse in my name all those persons whom he considers to have been misled, and that I depend upon him in this matter as I do not know whom it concerns.

But in order to proceed with all due discretion and the prudence necessary, I beg him first to be good enough to consider these two points.

1st, That he ought to certify himself of the fact by gaining some knowledge of the interior state of the persons in question, because only to hear about it at second hand does not throw much light on a secret and altogether interior subject. But it may be said that these persons are known to be very imperfect and have been seen to commit many faults at which others have taken scandal. My reply to this is the second point. Experience in direction teaches us that beneath very imperfect appearances God often hides great interior virtues known only to Himself. Therefore I do not believe that these persons can be accused of being misled and mistaken in their manner of prayer, especially as it often happens that their faults and imperfections are grossly exaggerated by a want of charity or by still worse motives. I remember now that St. Teresa said, speaking of herself that this method of prayer was a subject of suspicion in her; and that what made it seem a mistake and delusion of the devil was that the most enlightened persons whom she consulted could not reconcile in their minds such a gift of prayer with her conduct at that time; that is to say, with her eagerness to go to the parlour, to know, to see, and to be seen, to chatter with relations and worldly acquaintance, thus losing a great deal of time and neglecting her soul; for she herself tells us that this was, then, her state: “And this,” she adds, “is why all who knew me considered my prayer to be nothing but delusion.” With regard to this I have come across directors who have had experience about it, and they said that God sometimes gives this prayer. 1st, To great sinners at the beginning of their conversion, in order that this work of their conversion should be more speedily and completely effected.

2nd, To very imperfect souls to enable them to correct their failings more easily and promptly. But what is added, and what I believe to be very true and correct is, that it is extremely rare to find this gift retained at the same time as faults, and considerable imperfections, especially if these be habitual, frequent, and recognised, without any efforts being made to correct them.


Letter X – Delusions in Prayer

On the same subject.

This is my reply about the person in question. It seems to me that her prayer of recollection is more from the mind than from the heart. It is the opposite of what it should be, for in order that prayer be fruitful the heart should have a greater share in it than the intellect, in fact it is entirely a prayer of love; the soul resting in God loves Him without the knowledge of that which it loves, nor how this love is produced in it. But the reality of it is manifested by a certain warmth it feels in the heart, by an irresistible attraction to this divine centre, which it seeks without seeing distinctly what it pursues, and to which it yields, and from which nothing can distract it. From this arises the great facility of this prayer which is a sweet rest for the heart, and continues without effort for as long as it is desired. Therefore, if the person of whom you speak experiences as a preliminary, a great exertion of the mind, it is a sign that her recollection is not yet what it should be. The remedy for this seems to me to be, 1st, When carried away by this great recollection to concentrate the attention on the movements and affections of the heart, as if to retain and enjoy this delightful repose; there is such a charm about this feeling of sweetness and joy that it engrosses the whole attention of the soul, which thus understands better that it loves; while the mind without effort, and almost without voluntary application, finds itself captivated by this feeling which is, as it were, the food of the heart.

2nd, If, notwithstanding all efforts to the contrary, the intensity of thought continues, forbid this person to spend more than two hours, at most, in prayer; and during her reading, and at other times, tell her not to purposely try to get recollection, but only to give herself up to it when God impels her, remembering always to fix her attention interiorly on the affections of her heart, to enjoy in them, at leisure, this sweetness, delightful repose and interior peace. 3rd, Tell her always to employ a little time to examine how her prayer was made; at its beginning, in its progress and at its conclusion; that is to say, firstly, what form did the recollection take? secondly, if it produced in her distinct thoughts and feeling, or, if this sweet sleep was too profound to enable her to remember anything? thirdly, how she felt when this state ceased; for example did it leave her in a state of great recollection, with a great desire to act rightly, to attach herself entirely to God, and to please her divine Master only? Let us be thoroughly persuaded that we can find God everywhere without the least effort; because He is truly present to those who seek Him with all their hearts, although they may not be always aware of His presence.

Therefore whenever you are no longer occupied with created things so that you have ceased to think any more about them, know that your soul is then occupied by God, and in God without your knowledge. And this is the reason: God, being that hidden and invisible object to which tend all the desires of a right heart; from the moment it turns its desires away from creatures, they then find their natural centre, which is God; and by continually dwelling in this centre they gradually increase until they become very distinctly felt and produce strong outbursts of love. Therefore the true presence of God is, to speak plainly, but a kind of forgetfulness of creatures with an interior desire to find God. You thus perceive in what consists the divine interior and exterior silence, so precious, so desirable, and so advantageous; true earthly paradise in which souls who love God already enjoy a foretaste of heavenly happiness.


Letter XXI – Things Painful to Nature

To Sister Marie-Therese de Viomenil (1731). Things painful to nature are good for the soul.

You need not to remind me to pray for you. I never forget to do so, especially since I became aware that you are in a state so painful to nature, although so good for your soul. However, I assure you I have never thought of asking God to grant you anything but patience, submission, resignation to His holy will, and total abandonment to His kind providence; and I do this through the conviction I have of the great grace God is giving you, and the great need you are in of these virtues; a need all the greater because you do not acknowledge it. When this storm is past you will understand these two things so keenly and distinctly that you will not know how, sufficiently, to thank God for having been so good as to put His own hand to the work, and to operate within your soul in a few months, what with the help of ordinary grace would have taken you, perhaps, twenty years to accomplish, namely, to get rid of a hidden self-love, and of a pride all the more dangerous in being more subtle and more imperceptible. From this poisonous root grows an infinite number of imperfections of which you are scarcely conscious; useless self-examinations, still more useless self-complacency, idle fears, fruitless desires, frivolous little hopes, suspicions unfavourable to your neighbour, little jokes at her expense, and airs full of self-love. You would have run a great risk of remaining for a long time subject to all these defects, filled, almost without suspecting it, with vanity and self-confidence without either power or will to sound the profound abyss of perversity and natural corruption that you had within your soul. It is this collection of miseries that God now makes you feel, not in particular, for if you experienced them in this way one by one, it would not affect you, but by viewing them in general, in a heap, and in a confused manner. This mass of imperfections is like an overwhelming weight. Do not search your conscience, therefore, for the great sin that you imagine must be there; what is actually there is still more alarming, and this is a chaotic mass of interior miseries, weakness, imperfections, and little faults which are almost imperceptible and continual and are produced by that amount of self-love of which I am speaking. God has given you a great grace in giving you light to recognise this, for never would you have been able to discover it yourself, not even from its consequences, being in this respect as blind and callous as are vicious men in regard to certain gross sins the habit of which renders them hardened to their gravity. You also were unconscious of that leaven of corruption that was within you and which spoilt and poisoned all your works, even those which had their origin in grace.

The heavenly Physician has therefore treated you with the greatest kindness in applying an energetic remedy to your malady, and in opening your eyes to the festering sores which were gradually consuming you, in order that the sight of the matter which ran from them would inspire you with horror. No defect caused by self-love or pride could survive a sight so afflicting and humiliating. I conclude from my knowledge of this merciful design that you ought neither to desire nor to hope for the cessation of the treatment to which you are being subjected until a complete cure has been effected. At present you must brace yourself to receive many cuts with the lancet, to swallow many bitter pills, but go on bravely, and excite yourself to a filial confidence in the fatherly love which administers these remedies. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, annihilate yourself without ceasing and allow this work to be accomplished. Do not lose sight for one moment of the contempt and horror of yourself with which your present state inspires you. Think only of your infidelities and ingratitude. When you look at yourself let it not be in the flattering mirror of self-love, but in the truth-telling one that God, in His mercy, presents to your eyes to show you what you really are. This sight so frequently presented produces a forgetfulness of self, humility, and respect for your neighbour. “Come and see,” the Holy Spirit says to you, which means, come to our Lord and behold by that new light with which He has enlightened you what you have been, what you are, and what you would, infallibly, have become. Be careful never to give up prayer and Holy Communion, for it is in these that you find help and defence. As for sin, you do not commit any, at any rate, none that are serious. As long as you fear, as you do now, to offend God, this fear should reassure you; it is a gift from that same hand which invisibly supports you in your trials. Have patience! you will be consoled in good time, and your consolation will last, while the time of trial passes very rapidly. Poor human nature in its dislike of suffering looks longingly for the end. The important matter is to gather the fruit of the Cross. Let us pray, then, and sigh for that power which we do not possess and should never find within ourselves. This is a fundamental truth of which you have an entire conviction based on your own experience; and it is for this reason that God prolongs your trial until you become so thoroughly convinced that the memory of it may never be effaced from your mind. You speak of pure love; no soul has ever yet attained to it without having passed through many trials and great spiritual labour. In order to arrive at this much-desired goal you must learn to love those labours which alone can lead you to it. The more generous you are the sooner the end of these trials will come and the more fruit will they produce.

Continue your way, then, courageously. Rejoice every time you discover a new imperfection. Look forward to the happy moment in which the full knowledge of this abyss of misery completes within you the destruction of all self-confidence and foolish self-satisfaction. Then will it be that, flying in horror from the putrefaction of this tomb you will enter with joyful transports the bosom of God. It is after having completely cast off self that God becomes the sole thought, the only joy; that on Him alone you will rely, and that nothing will give you any pleasure out of Him. This is the new life in Jesus Christ, this is the life of the new man after the old has been destroyed. Hasten then to die like the caterpillar, so that you may become like a beautiful butterfly, flying in the air, instead of crawling on the ground as you have hitherto done.