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Section 11 - Everything is Supernaturalised by the Divine
Action. It is only from
want of knowing how to make use of the divine action that so many
Christians pass their lives in anxiously pursuing a multitude of
methods which might prove useful if ordained by this divine
action, but which by preventing a simple union with it, become
positively harmful. All this multiplicity fails to impart that
which can only be found in the principle of all life, that which
is continually present with us, and which stamps each of its tools
with a character of its own and makes it work with an incomparable
fitness. Jesus is sent to us as a Master to whom we do not
sufficiently attend. He speaks to every heart, and to each He
utters the word of life, the only word applicable to us, but we do
not hear it. We want to know what He has said to others and do not
listen when He speaks to ourselves. We do not sufficiently regard
things as having been supernaturalised by the divine action. We
should always accept them with the perfect confidence they merit;
with an open mind and with generosity, and be sure that nothing
will harm those who act thus. This vast activity, which is in
itself ever the same from the beginning to the end of time, is
employed with every moment, pouring its immensity and virtue on
the souls which adore it, love it, and rejoice in it alone.
You say you would be delighted to find an opportunity of dying for
God, and would be completely satisfied with some such action, or
with a life leading to the same result. To lose all, to die
forsaken, to sacrifice your life for others, these are indeed
charming ideas! But as for me, Lord, I glorify in all things the
might of Your will in which I find all the happiness of martyrdom,
austerities, and good works for others. Your will is enough, and I
am content to live and to die as it decrees. In itself it is more
pleasing to me than all the attributes of the instruments of which
it makes use, or than their effects, because it pervades all,
makes all divine, and changes all into itself. It is all heavenly
to me, and every one of my moments is a genuine divine action, and
living or dying I shall always be satisfied with it. Yes, divine
Love, I shall no longer single out times or ways, but shall
welcome You always and in any fashion. It seems to me, O divine
Will, as if You had revealed Your immensity to me; I will
therefore take no steps save in the bosom of Your infinity, You
who are the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. The unceasing
torrent of graces has its rise in You. It is from You that it
flows, is carried on, and made active. Therefore it is not within
the narrow limits of a book, or the life of a saint, or in some
sublime idea that I ought to seek You. These are but drops of that
ocean which is poured out over every creature and in which they
are all immersed. They are mere atoms that disappear in this deep
abyss. I will no longer seek this action in the thoughts of
spiritual persons. I will no longer beg my bread from door to
door, nor pay court to creatures, but I will live as the child of
an infinitely good, wise, and powerful father whom I desire to
please, and to make happy. I wish to live according to my faith,
and since the divine action is applied by every single thing and
at every moment for my perfection, I will live on this immense
fortune, this certain income, and in the most profitable manner.
Is there any creature whose action can equal that of God? Why then
should I go to creatures for help since all that happens to me is
the work of His uncreated hand? Creatures are powerless, ignorant,
and without affection and I should die of thirst rushing like this
from one fountain to another, from one stream to another when
there is a sea at hand, the waters of which encompass me on every
side. All that happens to me therefore will be food for my
nourishment, water for my cleansing, fire for my purification, and
a channel of grace for all my needs. That which I might endeavour
to find in other ways seeks me incessantly and gives itself to me
through all creatures.
O Love of God! how is it that all creatures do not know how freely
you lavish Yourself and Your favours on them while they are
seeking You in byways and corners where You are not to be found?
How foolish to refuse to breathe the open air! to search for a
spot on which to place the foot when there is the whole
countryside before you; to be unable to find water when there is a
whole deluge at your service, nor to possess and enjoy God, nor to
recognise His action when it is present in all things. You search
for hidden ways of belonging to God, good people, but the only way
is that of making use of whatever He sends you. All leads to
union, to perfection, except what is sinful or not a duty. All
that is necessary is to accept everything, placing no obstacle in
the way of its action but letting it accomplish its work. All
things are intended to guide, raise, and support you, and are in
the hand of God whose action is vaster and more present than the
elements of earth, air, and water. Even by means of the senses God
will enter, provided they are used only as He ordains, because
everything contrary to His will must be resisted. There is not a
single atom that goes to form part of your being, even to the
marrow of the bones, that is not formed by the divine power. From
it all things proceed, by it all things are made. Your very
life-blood flows through your veins by the movement this power
imparts to it, and all the fluctuations that exist between
strength and weakness, languor and liveliness, life and death, are
divine instruments put in motion to effect your sanctification.
Under its influence all bodily states become operations of grace.
From this invisible hand come all your opinions, all your ideas on
whatever subject they may be formed. What this action will effect
in you, you will learn by successive experiences, for there is no
created heart or mind that can teach it to you. Your life flows on
uninterruptedly in this unsounded abyss in which each present
moment contains all that is best for you, and as such must be
loved and esteemed. It is necessary to have a perfect confidence
in this action which of itself can do nothing but what is good.
Yes, divine Love! to what heights of supernatural, sublime,
admirable and incomparable virtue would all souls arrive if they
would but be satisfied with Your action!
Yes, if they would leave the matter in this divine hand they would
attain to an eminent degree of perfection! Everyone would arrive
at it because it is offered to all. No effort is required because
the work accomplishes itself. Every soul possesses in You an
infinitely perfect model, and by your action which works
ceaselessly to this end, is rendered like this model. If all souls
were faithful copies of this divine example they would all speak,
act, and live divinely. They would not require to copy each other,
but would be singled out by the divine influence, and each would
be rendered unique by the most simple and ordinary things.
By what means, O my God, can I make your creatures appreciate what
is offered to them? Must I who possess so great a treasure with
which I could enrich the whole world, see souls perish in poverty?
Must I behold them withering like plants in a desert when I can
show them the source of living waters?
Come, foolish souls, you who have not an atom of sensible
devotion, you too who possess no talent nor even the rudiments of
education, you who cannot understand a single spiritual term, who
stand astonished at the eloquence of the learned whom you admire;
come, and I will teach you a secret which will place you far
beyond these clever minds. I will make
perfection so easy to you that you will find it everywhere and in
everything. I will unite you to God, and make you walk hand in
hand with Him from the moment that you begin practising what I
will teach you. Come, not to study the map of the spiritual
country, but to possess it, to walk in it at your ease without
fear of losing your way. Come, not to study the theory of divine
grace, nor to find out what it has accomplished in the past and
still continues to accomplish; but to become simply subject to its
operations. It is not necessary that you should understand what it
has said to others, nor to repeat the words intended only for them
and which you have overheard, but you, yourself, will receive from
it what is best for you.
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