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We may well believe that the most sacred Virgin Our
Lady received so much pleasure in carrying her little
Jesus in her arms, that delight beguiled weariness,
or at least made it agreeable; for if a branch of
agnus castes can solace and unweary travellers, what
solace did not the glorious Mother receive in
carrying the immaculate Lamb of God?And though she
permitted him now and then to run on foot by her, she
holding him by the hand, yet this was not because she
would not rather have had him hanging about her neck
and on her breast, but it was to teach him to form
his steps and walk alone.
And we ourselves, Theotimus, as little children of
the heavenly Father, may walk with him in two ways.
For we may, in the first place, walk with the steps
of our own will which we conform to his, holding
always with the hand of our obedience the hand of his
divine intention, and following it wheresoever it
leads, - which is what God requires from us by the
signification of his will; for since he wills me to
do what he ordains, he wills me to have the will to
do it: God has signified that he wills me to keep
holy the day of rest; since he wills me to do it, he
wills then that I will to do it, and that for this
end I should have a will of my own, by which I follow
his, conforming myself and corresponding to his.
But we may on other occasions walk with our
Saviour without any will of our own, letting
ourselves simply be carried at his divine good
pleasure, as a little child in its mother's arms, by
a certain kind of consent which may be termed union
or rather unity of our heart with God's; - and this
is the way that we are to endeavour to comport
ourselves in God's will of good-pleasure, since the
effects of this will of goodpleasure proceed purely
from his Providence, and we do not effect them, but
they happen to us. True it is we may will them to
come according to God's will, and this willing is
excellent; yet we may also receive the events of
heaven's good pleasure by a most simple tranquillity
of our will, which, willing nothing whatever, simply
acquiesces in all that God would have done in us, on
us, or by us.
If one had asked the sweet Jesus when he was carried
in his mother's arms, whither he was going, might he
not with good reason have answered: I go not, 'tis my
mother that goes for me: And if one had said to him:
But at least do you not go with your mother? might he
not reasonably have replied: No, I do not go, or if I
go whither my mother carries me, I do not myself walk
with her nor by my own steps, but by my mother's, by
her, and in her: But if one had persisted with him,
saying: But at least, O most dear divine child, you
really will to let yourself be carried by your sweet
mother? No verily, might he have said, I will nothing
of all this, but as my entirely good mother walks for
me so she wills for me; I leave her the care as well
to go as to will to go for me where she likes best;
and as I go not but by her steps, so I will not but
by her will; and from the instant I find myself in
her arms, I give no attention either to willing or
not willing, turning all other cares over to my
mother, save only the care to be on her bosom, to
suck her sacred breast, and to keep myself close
clasped to her most beloved neck, that I may most
lovingly kiss her with the kisses of my mouth.
And be it known to you that while I am amidst the
delights of these holy caresses which surpass all
sweetness, I consider that my mother is a tree of
life, and myself on her as its fruit; that I am her
own heart in her breast, or her soul in the midst of
her heart, so that as her going serves both her and
me without my troubling myself to take a single step,
so her will serves us both without my producing any
act of my will about going or coming.
Nor do I ever take notice whether she goes fast or
slow, hither or thither, nor do I inquire whither she
means to go, contenting myself with this, that go
whither she please I go still locked in her arms,
close laid at her beloved breasts, where I feed as
amongst lilies. O divine child of Mary! Permit my
poor soul these outbursts of love: Go then so, O most
amiable dear little babe, or rather go not but stay,
thus holily fastened to your sweet mother's breast;
go always in her and never without her, while thou
remainest a child! O how blessed is the womb that
bore thee, and the breasts that gave thee suck!(1)
The Saviour of our souls had the use of reason
from the instant of his conception in his Mother's
womb, and could make all this discourse; so could
even the glorious S. John his forerunner, from the
day of the holy visitation, and though both of them,
as well in that time as all through their infancy,
were possessed of liberty to will or not to will,
yet, in what concerned their external conduct, they
left to their mothers the care of doing and willing
for them what was requisite.
Thus should we be, Theotimus, pliable and tractable
to God's good-pleasure, as though we were of wax, not
giving our thoughts leave to wander in wishing and
willing things, but leaving God to will and do them
for us as he pleases, throwing upon him all our
solicitude, because he hath care of us,(2) as the
holy Apostle says: and note that he says all our
solicitude, that is, as well that which concerns the
events, as that which pertains to willing or not
willing, for he will have a care of the issue of our
affairs, and of willing that which is best for us.
Meanwhile let us affectionately give our attention
to blessing God in all his works, after the example
of Job, saying: The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken
away, the name of the Lord be blessed!(3) No, Lord; I
will no events, for I leave you to will them for me
at your pleasure, but instead of willing the events I
will bless you because you have willed them.
O Theotimus! what an excellent employment of our
will is this, when it gives up the care of willing
and choosing the effects of God's good-pleasure in
order to praise and thank this good-pleasure for such
effects.
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