"I believe," says Father de Causade, "that if souls seriously
aspiring to perfection understood this. and knew how direct is
their path, they would be spared much difficulty. I say the same of
souls living in the world, and of souls consecrated to God. If the
first knew the means of merit afforded them by their ever-recurring
daily duties and the ordinary actions of their state of life; if
the second could persuade themselves that the foundation of
sanctity lies in those very things which they consider unimportant
and even foreign to them; if both could understand that the crosses
sent by Providence which they constantly find in their state of
life lead them to the highest perfection by a surer and shorter
path than do extraordinary states or extraordinary works; and that
the true philosopher's stone is submission to the order of God,
which changes into pure gold all their occupations, all their
weariness, all their sufferings, how happy they would be What
consolation and what courage they would gather from this thought,
that to acquire the friendship of God and all the glory of heaven
they have but to do what they are doing, suffer what they are
suffering, and that what they lose and count as naught would
suffice to obtain for them eminent sanctity "O my God, that I might
be the missionary of Thy holy will, and teach the whole world that
there is nothing so easy, so simple, so within the reach of all, as
sanctity Would that I could make them understand that just as the
good and bad thief had the same to do and suffer to obtain their
salvation, so two souls, one worldly and the other wholly interior
and spiritual, have nothing more to do one than the other: that he
who sanctifies himself acquires eternal happiness by doing in
submission to the will of God what he who is lost does through
caprice; and that the latter is lost by suffering unwillingly and
impatiently what he who is saved endures with resignation. The
difference, therefore, is only in the heart. O dear souls who read
this, let me repeat to you: Sanctity will cost you no more; do what
you are doing; suffer what you are suffering: it is only your heart
that need be changed. By the heart we mean the will. This change,
then, consists in willing what comes to us by the order of God.
Yes, holiness of heart is a simple fiat, a simple disposition of
conformity to the will of God. And what is easier? For who could
not love so adorable and merciful a will? Let us love it, then, and
through this love alone all within us will become divine." ("
Abandonment to Divine Providence.") But what will enable us to
realize this ideal of a Christian and holy life? Prayer, or rather
a spirit of confidence and faith which must pervade all our
relations with God. I mean by this that disposition of the soul in
which it recognizes that God loves it, that He cares for it, and
that He desires in all things only the greater good of His little
creature. He who possesses the secret of this blessed science has
the secret of a good life, of true strength, and of perfect
happiness. "He lives well who prays well," says St. Augustine.
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