This is a great talk from Sensus Fidelium on youtube called Abandonment to Divine Providence. Stress, worry and anxiety are chronic in modern america, and they are all self imposed, many times because we want to impose our will upon our lives rather than submit to the will of God. Read the full transcript of the talk below (all bold is mine).
Here are some choice quotes:
A soul abandoned to Providence will consider everything else as good, for it is God’s will that it is so. Thus it is God’s will for me that I get this many green lights and this many red lights. And so the soul conformed to Divine Providence will always be at peace for it always has just what it needs and everything it desires.
On living in the moment: “God desires this matter of me, what more is necessary? While I do this I am not obliged to do anything else.”
“He never impels anyone Beyond his strength nor Any Way Beyond his aptitude.”
Passive abandonment is to see all that befalls us as fulfilling God’s will for us. “Consider this will in regard to yourself,” writes Saint Francis de Sales, “in everything good or ill that happens or can happen to you except sin then approve, praise, and love it, protesting that you wish ever to honor, cherish, and adore this Sovereign will. Committing to it your person and all that belongs to you. Finally, conclude with great confidence in this holy will that it will do everything necessary for your good and happiness.”
For as soon as things happen not according to our expectations and anticipations a sudden desolation seizes upon our souls? Why is this unless because we are not resigned with indifference into the hands of God.
Abandonment is not then in never feeling sadness but rather in suffering it and in embracing it as we ought to embrace any and every cross which is given us by The Loving hand of God our Father. Finally, if you want a visual image we need but consider the child Jesus, as carried about by Mary, as a perfect example. Does He follow His own will or is He the God man Himself abandoned to the will of His mother carried about wherever she places to go? And if He can so abandon Himself to Mary’s will what have we to fear by abandoning ourselves to His?
Full Transcript:
Today we shall study the easy path to sanctity – abandonment to Divine Providence. Abandonment to God is the virtue of virtues says Saint Francis de Sales. How happy should we be if we faithfully practice this virtue? Undoubtedly we should arrive at the highest Perfection of a Saint Catherine of Sienna or of a Saint Francis and of many others. This is because abandonment to Divine Providence is nothing less than the Conformity of our will to the will of God. Saint Francis continues, “Oh if the holy will of God reigned in us how happy should we be? We should never commit any sin or live according to our irregular inclinations for that Holy will is the rule of all excellence and the sanctity.” Abandonment to Divine Providence is an easy path open to all – the very young and the Very Old, the intelligent and the simple. It is a path as open to religious as it is to every humble husband going to his job or weary mother attending the house. It is as accessible to the missionary who travels the whole world as it is to the sick man who cannot even leave his bed anymore without Aid. Abandonment to Divine Providence requires no education or physical ability. It needs no special spiritual lights or gifts. It is a path equally open to the innocent as it is to repentant sinners.
How then do we practice abandonment to Divine Providence? John Pierre Cossad has written a little book on this in which he says ,“If the work of our sanctification presents apparently the most insurmountable difficulties it is because we do not know how to form a just idea of it. In reality sanctity can be reduced to one single practice: Fidelity to the duties appointed by God. Now this Fidelity is equally within each one’s power whether in its active practice or its passive exercise. The active practice of fidelity consists in accomplishing the duties which devolve upon us whether imposed by the general laws of God and of the church or by the particular State we may have embraced. It’s passive exercise consists in the loving acceptance of all that God sends us at each moment. To pursue this abandonment actively then, we need only strive to do what God sets before us that is to follow the Commandments and to fulfill the duties of our state in life as Faithfully as we can.”
“Our Center is the will of God,” says Saint Francis de Sales. God wishes that I should do this action now, God desires this matter of me, what more is necessary? While I do this I am not obliged to do anything else. Sometimes the Great accomplishments of the Saints appear an intimidating standard set next to our own little lives but this is only so if we take it upon ourselves to determine that sanctity must consist in baptizing thousands and thousands or founding hundreds of schools. But again here is where we precisely need faith in God’s Providence. That God’s Providence includes those Saints who are great like Towering Oaks just as much as it includes the little violets who nestle in close to the ground taking their own little space doing just what God intends them to do. “Can there be anything more reasonable?” Jean-Pierre asks. “What excuse can be made that this is all that God requires of the soul for the work of its sanctification? It is true then that it requires on our part only simple and easy things since it is only necessary to employ this simple method to attain to an eminent degree of sanctity. If over and above the Commandments, He shows us the councils as a more perfect aim He always takes care to suit the practice of them to our position and character. He bestows on us as the principal sign of our vocation to follow them the attractions of Grace which make them easy. He never impels anyone Beyond his strength nor Any Way Beyond his aptitude.”
No less important is the passive part of Abandonment which Cossad says “consists in accepting that which we very often have no power to prevent and in suffering lovingly that is to say with sweetness and consolation those things that too often cause weariness and disgust.”
Now this is very easy in one sense that it requires no external action on our parts. But it does require great internal restraint as well as great faith. Passive abandonment is to see all that befalls us as fulfilling God’s will for us. “Consider this will in regard to yourself,” writes Saint Francis de Sales, “in everything good or ill that happens or can happen to you except sin then approve, praise, and love it, protesting that you wish ever to honor, cherish, and adore this Sovereign will. Committing to it your person and all that belongs to you. Finally, conclude with great confidence in this holy will that it will do everything necessary for your good and happiness.” This is easier said than done. For he continues: “We sometimes see persons who coming to the service of God say, ‘Lord, I commend my spirit into Thy hands but on condition that Thou Wilt always give me consolations without anything to contradict my will and will give me superiors in all respects according to my liking. Alas, what are you doing? Do you not see that this is not to resign your soul into the hands of God as our Lord did? Do you not know that this is only one of those reserves from which all our troubles, disquietudes and other imperfections usually arise? For as soon as things happen not according to our expectations and anticipations a sudden desolation seizes upon our souls? Why is this unless because we are not resigned with indifference into the hands of God. Is this not just what our Savior tells us today and is it not in following his commands that we are saved? How much of our time and energy is spent on useless anxiety? Yes, we must use our mind and our strengths to fulfill God’s will for us in things that we can change. In doing things as much as we are able and that is the key. As much as we can for God does not ask us to do the impossible. In fact, He forbids us to waste our energies pursuing it.
How often do people ring their hands about some evil politician or Churchman or something like that and weighs all that time examining evil pursuing its correction without being able to affect it one bit? When that energy could be spent examining the own evil in their own hearts. Or perhaps another example driving. So long as you do your part to go to a good place, to leave yourself the time you need to get there, to be courteous to other drivers while you are getting there, then what else matters? Spend a little energy you need to pursue that which is within your power and no more. A soul abandoned to Providence will consider everything else as good, for it is God’s will that it is so. Thus it is God’s will for me that I get this many green lights and this many red lights. And so the soul conformed to Divine Providence will always be at peace for it always has just what it needs and everything it desires. If the red light makes me upset why? Why does it trouble me? Because it contradicts my will. But it does not contradict God’s will. By worrying about it, can you make the light change any faster? Will it looked down upon you and see that you are in a hurry to get somewhere, unlike everyone else and take pity on you and change the green for your sake? Is this not then that simple Pride which presumes that all things should be conformed to my will and thus is angered or saddened when they are not. See the results: your soul is now disquieted. It is troubled by the red light. You are now more irritable, unpleasant to be around. You have wasted energy on what you cannot affect and then suffer the want of it in the things that you can affect. You lose your self-restraint. Snap at your family. Become gloomy and morose, all because you wasted effort resisting God’s will in this tiny little thing. John Pierre states, “If that which God himself chooses for you does not content you, from whom do you expect to obtain what you desire? Do you know better than God? As He ordains it thus, why do you desire it differently? Do imagine you will find peace in resisting the Almighty? Is it not on the contrary this resistance which we too often continue without owning it even to ourselves which is the cause of all our troubles?”
Now we should note though that in all this what matters is the Conformity of the higher part of the soul to the will of God. Any at all present evils and obstacles prompt in our lower nature displeasure, and produce these effects in the lower part of our soul but we do know wrong to will to get somewhere as quickly as we may and are therefore with some reason unhappy in the lower part of the soul if something impedes this Pursuit. Abandonment to Divine Providence does not mean that one must always feel peaceful, that he is never beset with irrational emotions or that he never feels anger or sadness rise up in Rebellion against him. Indeed it is actually part of Divine Providence that we must suffer these lower emotions within our soul as well. Suffer them without engaging them, without embracing them, meditating on them or acting on them. Sadness is a natural and thus good emotional response willed by God Himself when our soul meets with some present evil. And thus our good Lord and our Blessed Mother experience great sadness in the very depths of their souls. Abandonment is not then in never feeling sadness but rather in suffering it and in embracing it as we ought to embrace any and every cross which is given us by The Loving hand of God our Father. Finally, if you want a visual image we need but consider the child that Jesus, as carried about by Mary, as a perfect example. Does He follow His own will or is He the God man Himself abandoned to the will of His mother carried about wherever she places to go? And if He can so abandon Himself to Mary’s will what have we to fear by abandoning ourselves to His?
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