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Abandonment to Divine Providence

Jean Pierre de Caussade

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1. Page "Abandonment; OR, Absolute Surrender to Divine Providence.", para. 1. Abandonment; OR, Absolute Surrender to Divine Providence. Posthumous Work OF Rev. J.
2. Page 3. A PREFACE ON THE FOUNDATION AND TRUE NATURE OF THE VIRTUE OF ABANDONMENT, TO EXPLAIN
3. Page 4. I. Father Caussade explains very clearly in his “Letters” the two principles which fo
4. Page 6. This abandonment should extend, in fact, to everything—to the past, to the present, t
5. Page 7. In regard to facts of this order, whether of the past, present, or future, it is evid
6. Page 9. 2d. As for that which concerns us, on the contrary, we should regard as a blessing th
7. Page 10. 4th. If it is in our power to avert the consequences of malice and injustice, and if
8. Page 11. III. But should this abandonment extend equally to our acts of imprudence, to our fau
9. Page 12. And what we say of faults of the past applies equally to faults of the future. The pr
10. Page 14. To this point would Fénelon have carried the purity of love and the perfection of aba
11. Page 15. That which perfect abandonment asks is that we observe in our desires the order of Go
12. Page 17. II. We have no reason, therefore, to fear that in reading Father Caussade’s treatise
13. Page 18. This is a summary of the book we are re-editing to-day. To understand it we must bear
14. Page 20. This co-operation in our sanctification which God requires of us is composed of three
15. Page 22. Among these works common to the two ways of which we have just spoken, there are some
16. Page 24. Why, then, after making these reservations in some parts of his work does he seem to
17. Page 25. Thus Father Caussade does not suppress our active co-operation in the work of our san
18. Page 27. CONTENTS.
19. Page 31. Book First. The Nature and Excellence of the Virtue of Holy Abandonment.
20. Page 31. CHAPTER I. The Sanctity of the Righteous of the Old Law, and of Joseph and of Mary he
21. Page 31. God speaks to-day as He spoke to our fathers, when directors were not so numerous, no
22. Page 31. ivine will, alone capable of influencing her, had not arrested her attention. It was
23. Page 33. CHAPTER II. The Duties of each Moment are the Shadows which veil the Divine Action. “
24. Page 34. There are few extraordinary events in the exterior life of Mary. At least it is not t
25. Page 36. CHAPTER III. How much Easier Sanctity becomes when studied from this Point of View. I
26. Page 38. O you who aspire to perfection and are tempted to discouragement by what you read in
27. Page 39. Ask me not the secret of finding this treasure, for secret there is none. This treasu
28. Page 41. This is the spirituality of all ages and of all states, which cannot be more surely s
29. Page 42. CHAPTER IV. Perfection does not consist in knowing the Order of God, but in submittin
30. Page 43. That which comes to us each moment by the order of God is best and holiest and most d
31. Page 44. CHAPTER V. Reading and other Exercises only sanctify us in so far as they are the Cha
32. Page 46. If the divine will make reading the duty of the present moment, the reading will effe
33. Page 47. The will of God is the essential, the reality and virtue, of all things; it is that w
34. Page 49. CHAPTER VI. The Mind and other Human Means are Useful only in as far as they are the
35. Page 50. Thus seeing God alone in all things, she should take or leave them at His pleasure in
36. Page 52. CHAPTER VII. There is no Enduring Peace but in Submission to the Divine Action. The s
37. Page 53. If books, the example of the saints, spiritual discourses, destroy the peace of the s
38. Page 54. CHAPTER VIII. The Perfection of Souls and the Excellence of Different States are in P
39. Page 56. Besides the duties of each one’s state, God may further ask certain actions which are
40. Page 56. God makes saints as He chooses. They are formed by His divine action, to which they a
41. Page 58. But who are the most perfect? Vain and idle research! Each one must follow the path w
42. Page 59. I believe that if souls seriously aspiring to perfection understood this, and knew ho
43. Page 61. O dear souls who read this, let me repeat to you: Sanctity will cost you no more; do
44. Page 62. CHAPTER IX. All the Riches of Grace are the Fruit of Purity of Heart and Perfect Self
45. Page 63. O good will! O purity of heart! Well did Jesus know your value when He placed ye amon
46. Page 64. O purity of heart! O good will! Ye are the sole foundation of all spiritual states. T
47. Page 65. Let us fly then, dear souls, and plunge ourselves in that sea of love which invites u
48. Page 65. only because thou possessest us. For once thou possessest the heart, whether we read
49. Page 69. Book Second. The Divine Action and the Manner in which it unceasingly works the Sanct
50. Page 69. CHAPTER I. The Divine Action is everywhere and always Present, though only Visible to
51. Page 71. If we lived an uninterrupted life of faith we should be in continual communion with G
52. Page 72. All that our eyes behold is vanity and falsehood; in God alone lies the truth of all
53. Page 74. CHAPTER II. The Divine Action is all the more Visible to the Eye of Faith when hidden
54. Page 75. I have no words with which to portray the feelings of the heart when it receives this
55. Page 76. Mary sees the Apostles fly, but she remains constant at the foot of the cross; she re
56. Page 78. Oh, the ineffable peace that is ours when faith has taught us thus to see God through
57. Page 79. CHAPTER III. The Divine Action offers us at each Moment Infinite Blessings, which we
58. Page 81. The mountains which affright the eye are but atoms to the heart. The divine will is a
59. Page 82. CHAPTER IV. God reveals Himself to us as Mysteriously, as Adorably, and with as much
60. Page 82. The written word of God is full of mystery; His word expressed in the events of the w
61. Page 84. What does God teach us by Turks, heretics, and all the enemies of His Church? They pr
62. Page 86. CHAPTER V. The Divine Action continues in our Hearts the Revelation begun in Holy Scr
63. Page 87. The Holy Spirit has marked in infallible and incontestable characters certain moments
64. Page 89. Oh, the glorious history, the beautiful book, which the Holy Spirit is now writing! I
65. Page 90. Teach me, O divine Spirit, to read in this book of life! I would become Thy disciple,
66. Page 92. CHAPTER VI. Divine Love is communicated to us through the Veil of Creatures, as Jesus
67. Page 92. What sublime truths are hidden even from Christians who believe themselves most enlig
68. Page 92. wliness! O heavenly banquet! O never-ending feast! A God always given, and always rec
69. Page 94. CHAPTER VII. The Divine Action, the Will of God, is as unworthily treated and disrega
70. Page 96. What! Can that which is called the will of God work me harm? Shall I fear, shall I fl
71. Page 97. CHAPTER VIII. The Revelation of the Present Moment is the more Profitable that it is
72. Page 99. CHAPTER IX. The Revelation of the Present Moment is an Inexhaustible Source of Sancti
73. Page 101. Yes, adorable, eternal Love! Love eternally fruitful and always marvellous! Will of m
74. Page 101. CHAPTER X. The Present Moment is the Manifestation of the Name of God and the Coming
75. Page 103. To bless the name of God according to the expression of the Scriptures is to love Him
76. Page 104. Abandonment to the divine will contains the substance of that incomparable prayer whi
77. Page 105. Yes, Lord, let Thy kingdom come to my heart to sanctify it, to nourish it, to purify
78. Page 106. CHAPTER XI. The Divine Will imparts the Highest Sanctity to Souls; they have but to a
79. Page 107. But let me, O Lord, render glory, all glory, to Thy divine action! In it I find the h
80. Page 109. Yes, Lord, I would live to Thy honor as the worthy child of a true Father, infinitely
81. Page 110. Everything is a banner to guide you, a stay to uphold you, an easy and safe vehicle t
82. Page 112. Yes, my Beloved, all souls might attain supernatural, admirable, inconceivably sublim
83. Page 114. CHAPTER XII. The Divine Action alone can sanctify us, for it forms us after the Divin
84. Page 115. The wisdom of the simple soul consists in contentment with what is suitable to her, i
85. Page 116. The marvels of this work which gratify the curiosity of our readings serve only to di
86. Page 119. Book Third. The Paternal Care with which God surrounds Souls wholly abandoned to Him.
87. Page 119. CHAPTER I. God Himself guides Souls who wholly abandon themselves to Him. Sacrificate
88. Page 120. In all things, therefore, we must love God and His order; we must love it as it is pr
89. Page 122. Onward, my soul, through weariness, sickness, dryness, infirmities of temper, weaknes
90. Page 122. plendor of their form only after they have passed through many processes and suffered
91. Page 125. CHAPTER II. The more God seems to withdraw Light from the Soul abandoned to His Direc
92. Page 126. Thus the soul, after long exercise in the science and practice of perfection under th
93. Page 128. A life of self-abandonment is characterized by mystery; it is a life which receives f
94. Page 129. CHAPTER III. The Afflictions with which God visits the Soul are but Loving Artifices
95. Page 131. Truly, man disquiets himself in vain! All that passes within him is like a dream. One
96. Page 131. At their awakening, holy souls, restored to a clearer vision and fuller consciousness
97. Page 133. CHAPTER IV. The more God seems to take from a Soul wholly abandoned to Him, the more
98. Page 135. Let the soul that has wholly given herself to God walk fearlessly through all these t
99. Page 136. CHAPTER V. The less Capable the Faithful Soul is of defending Herself, the more Power
100. Page 138. The divine action marvellously adjusts all these things: there is neither too little