You want me to show you the shortest and surest way to attain perfection which is the fulness of life eternal. Our good Master replied that he should keep the commandments, and when the young man answered that he had kept them faithfully from his youth, our Lord said, “If you would be perfect, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and come, follow Me.” Your request is exactly the same as that of the young man. Your letter, my dear Sister, put me in mind of the Gospel, where we see a young man approaching our Lord to ask Him the way to eternal life. This abandonment is the shortest way to arrive at perfect love and perfection. Let us imitate the holy Archbishop of Cambray who said of himself, “I endure all until the worst comes to the worst, and then, finally, I find peace in complete self-renunciation.” Letter II-A Short Way to Perfection. How can created things trouble a soul which neither desires nor fears them? Let us endeavour to arrive at this state and then our peace will be firmly established. The more we become accustomed to these thoughts, the more settled will be our peace and the fixed determination to seek God only, and to unite our will to His, is, in the best sense of the word that “goodwill’’ to which peace has been promised. It seemed to her that God took the place of director, of frigid and willed to be all things to her Himself. What a beautiful letter one of your Sisters has written to me on this subject! She says that for a whole month this one thought consoled, sustained, and encouraged her so strongly that instead of reluctance to practice this virtue, she felt it a source of peace, and of an inexplicable joy. Oh, what happiness! What grace! What a certainty as to the life to come, and what unalterable peace does she possess who belongs to God alone, who has no being out of God who has no other support, no other help, no other hope but God alone. Far from doing it harm, these storms will serve infallibly, not only to increase its merits, but also to strengthen more and more this union of the created will, with the divine will, and it is this which renders the peace of the soul unchangeable. In this lies for you all perfection, this is the straight path leading most quickly and surely to a profound and unchangeable peace it is also a secure safeguard to preserve this peace in the depths of the soul even in the midst of the most violent storms. You do well to give yourself up entirely and almost solely to the excellent practice of an absolute abandonment to the will of God. The happiness and peace of a soul entirely abandoned to God. To Sister Elizabeth Bourcier de Monthureux.

Book abandonment to divine providence