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Section 10 - We Must see God in all His Creatures.
In the state of abandonment the soul finds more light and
strength, through submission to the divine action, than all those
possess who resist it through pride.
Of what use are the most sublime
illuminations, the most divine revelations, if one has no love for
the will of God? It was because of this that Lucifer fell. The
ruling of the divine action revealed to him by God, in showing him
the mystery of the Incarnation, produced in him nothing but envy.
On the other hand a simple soul, enlightened only by faith, can
never tire of admiring, praising, and loving the order of God; of
finding it not only in holy creatures, but even in the most
irregular confusion and disorder. One grain of pure faith will
give more light to a simple soul than Lucifer received in his
highest intelligence.
The devotion of the faithful soul to its
obligations; its quiet submission to the intimate promptings of
grace; its gentleness and humility towards everyone; are of more
value than the most profound insight into mysteries. If one
regarded only the divine action in all the pride and harshness of
creatures, one would never treat them with anything but sweetness
and respect. Their roughness would never disturb the divine order,
whatever course it might take. One must only see in it the divine
action, given and taken, as long as one is faithful in the
practice of sweetness and humility. It is best not to observe
their way of proceeding, but always to walk with firm steps in our
own path.
It is thus that by bending gently, cedars are broken,
and rocks overthrown. Who amongst creatures can resist a faithful,
gentle, and humble soul? These are the only arms to be taken if we
wish to conquer all our enemies. Jesus Christ has placed them in
our hands that we may defend ourselves; there is nothing to fear
if we know how to use them.
We must not be cowardly, but generous. This is the only
disposition suitable to the instruments of God.
All the works of God are sublime and marvellous; while one's own
actions, when they war against God, cannot resist the divine
action in one who is united to it by sweetness and humility.
Who is Lucifer? He is a pure spirit, and was the most enlightened
of all pure spirits, but is now at war with God and with His rule.
The mystery of sin is merely the result of this conflict, which
manifests itself in every possible way. Lucifer, as much as in him
lies, will leave no stone upturned to destroy what God has made
and ordered. Wherever he enters, there is the work of God defaced.
The more light, science, and capacity a person has, the more he is
to be feared if he does not possess a foundation of piety, which
consists in being satisfied with God and His will.
It is by a
well-regulated heart that one is united to the divine action;
without this everything is purely natural, and generally, in
direct opposition to the divine order. God makes use only of the
humble as His instruments. Always contradicted by the proud, He
yet makes use of them, like slaves, for the accomplishment of His
designs.
When I find a soul which does all for God alone, and in submission
to His order, however wanting it may be in all things else, I say
"This is a soul with a great aptitude for serving God." The holy
Virgin and St. Joseph were like this. All else without these
qualities makes me fear. I am afraid to see in it the action
of Lucifer. I remain on my guard, and shut myself up in my
foundation of simplicity, in opposition to all this outward
glitter which, by itself, is nothing to me but a bit of broken
glass.
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