Chapter XIV: Resignation to the Will of God

The Merit of Resignation to the Divine Will.

St. John Chrysostom says that all the perfection of the love of God consists in resignation to the divine will. As hatred divides the wills of enemies, so love unites the wills of lovers, so that each wishes only what the other desires. “True friendship of persons consists in wishing and not wishing the same thing,”¹ says St. Jerome to Demetriades. Hence the Wise Man says: They that are faithful in love shall rest in him Souls that are faithful in loving God acquiesce in all that he wills.

¹ “Eadem velle et eadem nolle, firma amicitia est.”—Ep. ad Demetr.

Since nothing is more dear to us than self-will, the sacrifice of it is the most acceptable offering we can present to the Lord. This is the sacrifice that God himself continually asks of us with so much earnestness. My son, give me thy heart.² Son, give me your heart, that is, your will. Nothing else that we offer to God can content him as long as we reserve our own will. I explain myself by this example: If you had two servants, one of whom labored continually, but always according to his own will; the other performed less work, but was obedient to all your directions;—you would certainly entertain a great regard for the latter, and little or no esteem for the former. Oh! how often do we deceive ourselves by desiring to engage in certain undertakings³ in order to please ourselves without seeing that they are not conformable to the divine will. How often do we act through self-love, saying: But what I wish to do is conducive to the glory of God. But let us be persuaded that the greatest glory that we can give to God is to conform ourselves to his divine will. Blessed Henry Suso used to say: “God is not so much glorified when we abound in lights and spiritual consolations as when we submit to the divine will and pleasure.” Hence Blessed Stephana of Soncino saw among the seraphim certain souls whom she had known on earth; and she learned by revelation that they had attained that sublime elevation by the perfect union of their will in this life with the will of God.

² “Fideles in dilectione acquiescent illi.”—Wisd. iii. 9.

³ “Præbe, fili mi, cor tuum mihi.”—Prov. xxiii. 26.

All the malice of sin consists in wishing what God does not will; for then, says St. Anselm, we in a certain manner endeavor to rob God of his crown.¹ He who wishes to follow his own will against the will of God takes, as it were forcibly, from God his crown; for as the crown belongs only to the sovereign, so to do his own will (without dependence on others) belongs to God only. Samuel said to Saul that to refuse to conform to the divine will is a species of idolatry. It is like the crime of idolatry to refuse to obey.² It is called idolatry because, in refusing to conform to the divine will, man, instead of adoring the will of God, adores his own will. Now, since all the malice of a creature consists in contradicting the Creator, so all the goodness of the creature consists in a union with the will of the Creator. He who conforms himself to the divine will becomes, as the Lord said of David, a man according to God’s own heart. I have found David . . . a man according to my own heart, who shall do all my wills.¹ The Lord also says: a soul that is conformed to my will shall have for her name my will. Thou shalt be called my pleasure in it.² Yes, for in this happy soul, because self-will is dead, only the will of God lives.

¹ “When a man wills something by his own will, he takes from God, as it were, his crown; for just as the crown belongs to the king alone, so a will of one’s own belongs to God alone.”—De Similit. c. 8.

² “Quasi scelus idololatriæ, nolle acquiescere.”—1 Kings, xv. 23.

¹ “Inveni David, filium Jesse, virum secundum cor meum, qui faciet omnes voluntates meas.”—Acts, xiii. 22.

² “Vocaberis voluntas mea in ea.”—Is. lxii. 4.

Ah! happy the soul that can always say with the sacred Spouse: My soul melted when he spoke.³ My soul melted as soon as my beloved spoke. Why does she say melted? Listen: what is rendered liquid no longer retains its own shape, but takes the form of the vessel in which it is contained. Thus, loving souls do not retain their own wills, but conform them to whatever their beloved wills. This conformity implies a will docile and pliant in all things pleasing to God, compared with the obdurate will that resists the divine will. An instrument is said to be a good one when it is obedient to the person that employs it; if it refuse to obey, of what use is it? For example, were a pencil to resist the hand of the painter,—if, when drawn to the right, it should turn to the left; if, when drawn downwards, it should seek to move upwards,—what would the painter do? Would he not instantly cast it into the fire?

³ “Anima mea liquefacta est, ut locutus est.”—Cant. v. 6.

Some place their sanctity in works of penance, others in frequent Communion, others in reciting many vocal prayers. But, no: St. Thomas says that perfection consists not in these things, but in submission to the divine will. “The perfection of the human soul consists in its subjection to God.”⁴ Works of penance, prayers, Communions, are good, inasmuch as God wills them; hence they serve only as means to unite us to the divine will. But all perfection and sanctity consists in doing the will of God. In a word, the divine will is the rule of all goodness and virtue. Because it is holy, it sanctifies all, even the most indifferent actions, when they are done to please God. The will of God is your sanctification;¹ says the Apostle. The accomplishment of the divine will is the sanctification of your souls.

⁴ “Through the fact that we honor God, our mind is subjected to him; and in this consists its perfection.”—2. 2, q. 81, a. 7.

¹ “Voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra.”—1 Thess. iv. 3.

I know well that men cheerfully conform to the will of God in prosperity, but are afterwards unwilling to submit to it in adversity. But this is great folly; for they thus suffer doubly and without merit from the evils that befall them, since, whether they wish or wish not, the will of God shall be accomplished. My counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done.² When, then, a person in sickness does not accept his pains with patience, but gives way to anger, and complains of every one, what does he do? Does he by his impatience get rid of his pains? No: on the contrary, he increases them, because by resisting the will of God he loses his peace, and still endures the same pains. Who hath resisted him, and hath had peace?³ But were he to embrace his sufferings in peace, he would feel his pains less sensibly, and would derive consolation from the thought of pleasing God, by accepting crosses from his divine hands.

² “Consilium meum stabit, et omnis voluntas mea fiet.”—Is. xlvi. 10.

³ “Quis restitit ei, et pacem habuit?”—Job, ix. 4.

Oh! what pleasure does he give to the Lord, who in the time of tribulation says with David: I was dumb, and I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it.⁴ My God, I have shut my mouth, and have not dared to speak, because I know that Thou hast done it. No; there is no one that is better able than God to promote our welfare, or that loves us more than our Creator. And let us be persuaded that whatever he does, he does for our good, and because he loves us. Many things appear to us to be misfortunes, and we call them misfortunes; but if we understood the end for which God sends them, we should see that they are graces. It appeared a calamity to King Manasses to be deprived of his kingdom, and to be made a slave of the prince of the Assyrians: but these misfortunes were blessings; for after his downfall he returned to God, and did penance for the wickedness of his life. And after that he was in distress, he prayed to the Lord his God; and did penance exceedingly before the God of his fathers¹ We labor under a vertigo, and therefore many things appear to us to go to ruin; and we know not that it is our giddy head that makes them appear to us different from what they are in reality. Such a nun may say: How does it happen that everything goes astray with me? No, sister, but you go astray: your will is crooked; for all that happens comes from God. He does all for your welfare, but you know it not.

⁴ “Obmutui, et non aperui os meum, quoniam tu fecisti.”—Ps. xxxviii. 10.

¹ “Qui, postquam coangustatus est, oravit Dominum Deum suum, et egit pœnitentiam valde coram Deo.”—2 Par. xxxiii. 12.

And whom can we ever find more solicitous for our welfare and for our salvation than God? To make us understand this truth, he likens himself at one time to a shepherd, going through the desert in search of his lost sheep;² at another to a mother who cannot forget her own child. Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb?³ Again, to a hen gathering and sheltering her chickens under her wings, that they may suffer no injury: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, . . . how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wing, and thou wouldst not.⁴ In a word, according to David, God surrounds us with his good-will, in order to save us from all the assaults of our enemies. Lord, thou hast crowned us with a shield of thy good will.¹ Why, then, do we not abandon ourselves entirely into the hands of this good Father? Would it not be folly in a blind man, placed in the midst of precipices, to reject the guidance of a father who loves him, and to follow the way suggested by his own caprice?

² Luke, xv. 4.

³ “Numquid oblivisci potest mulier infantem suum, ut non misereatur filio uteri sui?”—Is. xlix. 15.

⁴ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! . . . how often I wished to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling!”—Matt. xxiii. 37.

¹ “Domine, ut scuto bonæ voluntatis tuæ coronasti nos.”—Ps. v. 13.

Happy the soul that permits itself to be conducted in the way in which God leads it. Father St. Jure² relates that a certain young man, desirous of entering the Society of Jesus, was rejected because he had only one eye. Who would not have said that the defect was a great misfortune to the poor young man? But that defect was the occasion of the happiest end that he could meet; for on account of it he was received into the Society only on the condition that he would consent to go on the Indian mission. He went to India, and had the happiness of dying for the faith. The Venerable Balthazar Alvarez used to say that “the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of the lame, the tempted, and the abject.” Let us then, as if blind, permit ourselves to be guided by God, through whatever level or steep road by which he may be pleased to conduct us, secure of finding in it eternal salvation. St. Teresa used to say, “Our Lord never sends a cross without rewarding it with some favor, when we accept it with resignation.”³

² Filles de J. ch. 5, § 11.

³ Life, ch. 30.

Oh, how great the peace of the soul whose will is in all things conformed to the will of God! Because she wishes only what he wills, she always obtains whatsoever she desires; for all that happens in the world, happens by the will of God. Panormitano relates that King Alphonsus, called the Great, being asked whom he esteemed happy in this life, wisely answered: “He who abandons himself entirely to the divine will of God.” And, in reality, does not all our inquietude arise from this cause—that things do not happen according to our wishes, and that we resist the divine will? St. Bernard says: “God justly ordains that they who refuse to be governed by him in peace should rule themselves amid difficulties and troubles.”¹ But, on the other hand, they who wish only what God wills, always find their wishes accomplished, and therefore are always in peace, as well in prosperity as in adversity. When, then, you see a person in sadness, tell her that she is sad because she is not resigned to the will of God. The saints, even in the midst of persecutions the most severe and torments the most painful, knew not what it was to be sad. And why? Because they were united to the divine will. Whatsoever shall befall the just man, it shall not make him sad.² Hence, Cardinal Petrucci has wisely said that this frail and fleeting world is but a scene of woes. Its most pleasing amusements and pleasures have the appearance of joys, and they are torments. But to follow Christ suffering appears painful and gives true joy.

¹ “It belonged to God’s just law that he who was unwilling to be ruled gently by God should be ruled by himself punitively.”—Epist. 11.

² “Non contristabit justum, quidquid ei acciderit.”—Prov. xii. 21.

Speaking of the saints, Salvian says: “If they are humbled, they desire their humiliations; if they are poor, they delight in their poverty: hence in every misfortune which befalls them they are content, and therefore they begin even in this life to enjoy beatitude.”³ Crosses will certainly be painful to the senses, but this pain is in the inferior part: in the superior part of the soul peace shall reign. The saints, says Father Rodriguez, are like Mount Olympus: at the base there are showers of rain and thunderstorms, but at the summit, which is raised above the middle region of the atmosphere, there is a perpetual calm. In a word, they are like Jesus our Saviour, who, in the midst of all the sorrows and ignominies of his Passion, suffered no diminution of his peace. The more the saints suffer, the more they rejoice in spirit, knowing that in accepting their sufferings they please their Lord, whom only they love. This David experienced when he said: Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me.¹ St. Teresa says: “And what greater good can we acquire than a testimony that we please God?” Father Avila has written: “One Blessed be God, in adversity, is of greater value than a thousand acts of thanksgiving in prosperity.”²

³ “They are humble: they will this; they are poor: they delight in poverty; and so, whatever it may have been, they are to be called blessed.”—De Gub. D. l. 1, n. 2.

¹ “Virga tua et baculus tuus, ipsa me consolata sunt.”—Ps. xxii. 4.

² Life, ch. 10.

But such a religious says: I accept all the crosses that come to me from God, such as losses, pains, and infirmities; but how can I bear so much maltreatment and such unjust persecutions? They that thus persecute me are certainly guilty of sin, and God does not will sin. But, dear sister, do you not know that all comes from God? Good things and evil, life and death, . . . are from God.” Prosperity and adversity, life and death, come from the Lord. It is necessary to know that in every action there is a physical entity which belongs to the material part of the action, and a moral entity that appertains to reason: the moral entity of the action, or the sin of the person who persecutes you, belongs to his malice, but the physical entity appertains to the divine concurrence; so that God wills not the sin, but he wills that you suffer the persecution, and it is he that sends it. When his cattle were taken away from Job, God did not will the sin of the plunderers, but he willed that Job should suffer the loss. Hence, Job said:³ The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; as it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done; blessed be the name of the Lord.¹ St. Augustine remarks that Job did not say: The Lord gave and the devil has taken away; but the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.² The Lord did not wish the sin of the Jews who crucified Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ said to St. Peter, The chalice which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?³ By these words he showed that his death was caused by the hands of the Jews, but that it was sent to him by his eternal Father. St. Dorotheus⁴ says that they who when maltreated seek revenge against the man who maltreats them, imitate the dog that bites the stone by which he is struck, without attending to the hand by which it was thrown. In all the injuries that we receive from others, we should recognize the hand of God, that sends the evil to us, and thus resign ourselves to his holy will.

³ “Bona et mala, vita et mors, . . . a Deo sunt.”—Ecclus. xi. 14.

¹ “Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit; sicut Domino placuit, ita factum est; sit nomen Domini benedictum.”—Job, i. 21.

² “Dixit: Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit. Non dixit: Dominus dedit, diabolus abstulit.”—In Ps. xc. s. 1.

³ “Calicem quem dedit mihi Pater, non bibam illum?”—John, xviii. 11.

⁴ Doctr. 7.

Prayer.

My beloved Saviour, Thou hast suffered so many sorrows and reproaches for my sake, and I, on account of the miseries of this life, have so often turned my back on Thee. I thank Thee for having waited for me till the present moment. Had I died in my sins, I could never more love Thee. Since I am now able to love Thee, I wish to love Thee with my whole heart. Accept me, O my love, now that I return to Thee, full of tenderness and sorrow for the offences I have given Thee. But if, when I despised Thy love, Thy didst not cease to seek after me, how can I fear that Thou wilt cast, me off, now that I desire nothing but Thy love. Thou hast borne with me so long that I might love Thee. Yes, I wish to love Thee. I love Thee, my God, with my whole heart, and I feel greater sorrow for having hitherto offended Thee than if I had suffered every other evil.

0 love of my soul! I wish never more to give Thee any deliberate displeasure; and I wish to do all that Thou dost wish me to do. Thy will shall henceforth be my only love. Make known to me what I must do in order to please Thee: I wish to do it.

I wish to love Thee with a true love, and therefore I embrace all the tribulations that Thou wilt send me. Chastise me in this life, that I may be able to love Thee for eternity! My God, give me strength to be faithful to Thee.

Mary, my mother, to thee I recommend myself: do not cease to pray to Jesus for me.

In what Things we Ought, in a Special Manner, to Resign Ourselves.

We have already seen the great efficacy of resignation to the divine will, to render us dear to God and to procure for us great good. Let us now come to the practice. In what things in particular must we resign ourselves?

I. Let it be remembered, in the first place, that it is very useful to resign ourselves in small things; for example, to suffer a painful word, an importunate fly, the barking of a dog, a trip in walking, the extinguishing of a candle, the tearing of a garment, and the like. It is of greater importance to bear these trifles than to submit to great crosses. First, because they are more frequent; secondly, because we thus more easily acquire a habit and facility of resigning ourselves in things that are difficult.

II. Let us be careful to practise resignation in our infirmities. They that desire to please God should desire the occasions of pleasing him, and therefore what the world calls misfortunes, holy souls call graces; and graces so much the more valuable as they are painful and burdensome. The condition of the sick that suffer and are not conformed to the divine will is most pitiable and deplorable, not so much on account of their pains, as because they know not how to appreciate the riches that God offers them in their sufferings. Miserable souls! they convert into poison the remedy of their evils; for bodily maladies are the most efficacious remedies for the cure of spiritual diseases. The blueness of a wound, says the Wise Man, shall wipe away evils.¹ But, Father Balthazar Alvarez says that they who are resigned in afflictions and pains run to a union with God, or draw God to a union with them, as the Lord himself revealed to St. Gertrude, saying, that when he sees a soul in tribulation he feels himself drawn to it, and that his delights consist in remaining with the sick and afflicted. Of this David assures us in several places: The Lord is nigh to them that are of a contrite heart.² God rejoices in being near to those who are in tribulation. The Lord himself says: I am with him in tribulation.³ I am united with those who are in affliction.

¹ “Livor vulneris absterget mala.”—Prov. xx. 30.

² “Juxta est Dominus iis qui tribulato sunt corde.”—Ps. xxxiii. 19.

³ “Cum ipso sum in tribulatione.”—Ps. xc. 15.

In the time of sickness it is lawful, and even a duty, to take the remedies prescribed by the physician, because this is also the will of God; but we should afterwards resign ourselves entirely to the divine will. We may also pray to God for health, in order to employ it in his service; but we should leave ourselves in his hands, that he may do with us what he pleases: and this is the best means of obtaining the restoration of health. They that seek in their prayers not God, but themselves, shall not be heard; but, on the other hand, he who in his petitions seeks God and the divine will, shall certainly obtain what he asks. I sought the Lord and he heard me.⁴ Our Lord appeared one day to St. Gertrude, who suffered great torture from fever, and asked if she wished for health. She embraced his heart and said: “This is what I wish for; I desire nothing but Thy holy will.”¹

⁴ “Exquisivi Dominum, et exaudivit me.”—Ps. xxxiii. 5.

¹ Insin. l. 3, c. 54.

Oh! how efficacious a remedy for all infirmities is that beautiful prayer, Thy will be done! St. Lidwina,² nailed, as it were, to a bed, all sores and pains, used to say: “Lord, my pleasure is that you load me with pains; because my only consolation is to accomplish Thy will.” A tepid soul cannot attain to this perfect spirit of resignation, but loving souls easily attain it. Oh! how consoling the sufferings that are borne with love! This is the sour sweet, so palatable to souls enamoured of that God who rendered scourges, racks, and red-hot plates sweet to the martyrs. When, by order of the tyrant, the flesh of St. Epictetus was torn with hooks of iron and his sides burned with lighted torches, the holy martyr repeated unceasingly: “Lord, Thy will be done in me! Lord, Thy will be done in me!” Thus he endured all his torments with peace. St. Bonaventure relates³ that at a time when St. Francis was greatly afflicted with pains, a simple-minded brother said to him: Father, ask of God to treat you with a little more tenderness, for his hand appears to be very heavy upon you. St. Francis answered: “Brother, listen to me: did I not know that what you have said comes from simplicity, I would never see you more; for you wish to censure what God does.” After these words the saint threw himself on the ground from the bed on which he lay, and kissing the floor, said: “My God, I thank Thee for these pains, and I beseech Thee to increase them, if it be pleasing to Thee; for I desire nothing else than to do Thy will.”

² Vit. Patr. l. 1, c. 12.

³ Vit. S. Franc. c. 14.

III. We should practise conformity to the divine will with regard to our natural defects; such as want of talent, defective memory, bad sight, bad hearing, bad health, little abilities for the offices of the Community. To them who upbraid us with these defects we should say: He made us, and not we ourselves.¹ And thus let us resign ourselves to the divine will. We are poor; we should be content with the alms which the Lord gives us. What would you think of a beggar who should complain that the garment which you give him is not as rich as he wishes, or that the food is not as delicious as he desires. Let us, then, be content with what God has given us, and seek nothing else. Could he not have left us in our nothingness? Could he not ordain that, instead of being men, we should be toads, flies, or blades of grass? Oh! how often has the want of mental acuteness, of corporal beauty, or of other natural gifts contributed to the salvation of many! For to many the possession of such qualifications might be the occasion of their damnation. To how many have great talents, beauty, nobility, and wealth been the cause of pride and haughtiness, and of running headlong into a multitude of crimes? Let us, then, desire only the goods that God wishes to give us, and no more. Blessed Henry Suso used to say: “I would rather be the vilest animal on earth in conformity with the will of God than be a seraph with my own will.” And though, on our part, we ought to aspire to the highest sanctity that we can attain, we should be content with that degree of perfection which God gives us.

¹ “Ipse fecit nos, et non ipsi nos.”—Ps. xcix. 3.

IV. We ought in a special manner to practise resignation in spiritual desolations, which are the severest trials to a soul that loves God. But be not disturbed at them, nor say: I would not be troubled if I knew that I am in desolation because God wills it; but I fear that the Lord has withdrawn from me in punishment of my sins. Though your desolation be a chastisement, it is the will of God that you bear it; accept it, then, and you shall enjoy peace.

To remove disquietude, it is necessary to know that there are two sorts of aridity—one in the sensible part of the soul, the removal of which does not depend on us. This kind of aridity is not displeasing to God. The other is in the will (this is, properly speaking, voluntary tepidity), and this we can remove. It is needless to treat here of this second kind of aridity, for I have said enough about it.¹ But with regard to the first we should not be disturbed, though we see ourselves unable to raise the heart to God, to make acts of love, of contrition, and of conformity. It is enough to wish to perform them with a prompt will; and though they be made with dryness, without relish, and without feeling, God accepts them, and is pleased with them. When in our darkness we can do nothing else, let us at least annihilate ourselves before God; and confessing our miseries, let us cast ourselves into his hands as we cast a stone from a mountain into a valley without knowing where it may go, and we shall find peace. But in every state in which we find ourselves, whether of darkness or of light, let us pray to God, saying, Lord, conduct me in any way Thou pleasest; make me do Thy will: I wish for nothing else. The soul that is disturbed in aridity shows that it has not entirely abandoned itself to the divine will. St. Teresa used to say: “The sole end of those who practise mental prayer should be to conform their will to the will of God; and let them be persuaded that in this consists the highest perfection. They who practise it best shall receive the greatest gifts from God.” Hence St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi has well said that “the accomplishment of the divine will should be the object of all our prayers.”

¹ Chaps. V. and VI.

O blessed spouse of the Lord, accustom yourself in meditation to offer yourself always to God, to suffer for the love of him every spiritual or bodily pain, every desolation, every sorrow, infirmity, dishonor, or persecution; and beg of him always to give you strength to do in all things his holy will. Attend to the excellent admonition given by spiritual masters: When any serious calamity befalls you, there is no better subject for your mental prayer than the tribulation that has come upon you; and in your meditation be careful to make repeated acts of conformity to the divine will. The union of the will with God has been the continual exercise of the saints. Even in going to sleep St. Peter of Alcantara would imagine himself at the point of death, and would repeat: “Lord, Thy will be done in me.” He would desire that every respiration during his repose should be an act of resignation. Oh! how pleasing to the Lord are such oblations and acts of conformity; not because he rejoices in our sufferings, but because he then knows how much we love him. When God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, he did not wish the death of the son, but he wished to know if Abraham was ready to do his will.

What God wishes from us all is that we keep our will united to his. Some religious by reading books on mystic theology become desirous of the supernatural or passive union; I would wish that they should desire the active union, that is, perfect conformity to the will of God; in which, according to St. Teresa, the true union of the soul with God consists. They, adds the saint, who have only the active union, may have much greater merit, because this is accompanied with labor on their part, and the Lord conducts them as strong in virtue: he reserves what they do not enjoy here to give it to them all at once in heaven. Cardinal Petrucci also says that without the gift of infused contemplation a soul may, only with the ordinary grace, succeed in annihilating its own will and in transforming it into the will of God. Hence he concludes, that we should neither desire nor ask of God any other favor than the accomplishment of his will, in which all sanctity consists. We thus die to ourselves, that is, we renounce all our gratifications and desires in order to make only the divine will live in us. This is what the Apostle said: And I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me:¹ I live no longer in myself, but Jesus Christ lives in me; because I wish only what he wishes.

¹ Way of Perf. ch. 18.

Endeavor, then, dear sister, in every occurrence, particularly in things that are painful to the senses, to have always in your mouth the words of our Saviour: Yea, Father, for so hath it seemed good in thy sight.² Lord, let what has happened be done, for so it has pleased Thee. A holy monk, as Cesarius relates,³ performed many miracles; being asked by his Superior what were the extraordinary works for which God had bestowed upon him the gift of miracles, he answered: “I do nothing, except that I endeavor to wish only what God wishes, and to accept everything from his hands.” But, said the abbot, were you not disturbed at the great injury we sustained from such an enemy a few days ago? No, replied the monk, because I regarded it as permitted by the divine will. From this the abbot perceived why the good religious was so dear to God. Thus, also, when tormented with the fear of any grievous calamity that may befall you, say immediately: Lord, I wish what Thou wishest; do what Thou pleasest⁴ with me, and with all I possess. St. Gregory relates¹ that the devil in the form of a serpent tormented a religious for three years; the religious, though he suffered a great deal, never lost his peace, but would say to the enemy: “Do with me what you wish if such be the will and pleasure of God.” Let your continual prayer be: “Thy will be done.” At rising in the morning, in going to bed at night, in meditation, at Communion, at the visit to the Most Holy Sacrament, and always, say: “Thy will be done—thy will be done.” St. Gertrude used to say three hundred times in the day: “My Jesus, let not my will but Thine be done.”

² “Vivo autem, jam non ego; vivit vero in me Christus.”—Gal. ii. 20.

³ “Ita, Pater, quoniam sic fuit placitum ante te.”—Matt. xi. 26.

⁴ Dial. l. 10, c. 6.

¹ Dial. l. 3, c. 16.

Happy you if you do the same—that is, if you are always resigned to the divine will. Truly happy shall be your life, and still more happy your death. Blosius says that he who, at the moment of death, makes an act of perfect conformity to the divine will, shall be delivered not only from hell, but also from purgatory, though he had been guilty of all the sins of the whole world.² The reason is, that he who accepts death with perfect resignation acquires merit similar to that of the holy martyrs who spontaneously gave their lives for Jesus Christ. Moreover, he who dies with perfect conformity to the divine will dies in peace and joy, even in the midst of pains. A Cistercian monk was seized with his last illness; his flesh became rotten, and his pains were so excruciating that he suffered a continual death; but the good religious unceasingly thanked the Lord, and enjoyed uninterrupted tranquillity and consolation. When near his last breath, and racked with increased torture, he began to sing. The monks that stood round his bed were astonished to see such joy amid so many pains; but his cheerfulness continued to the last moment, and thus, with joy and jubilation, he happily closed his life.

² “If he could truly do this, he would undergo neither hell nor purgatory, even if he had committed the sins of the whole world.”—Cons. pus. c. 34, § 2.

To them that love God, all things work together unto good.¹ To him who loves God all things are an occasion of merit and consolation; for it is certain that God sends us crosses only for our welfare. This he himself said one day to St. Catharine of Sienna: I can wish only what is useful to you. As I have freely created man, so I have loved him infinitely. Hence you will infer that I ordain tribulations for your own good, which I desire more ardently than you yourself wish it. Another holy woman died consumed by an ulcer, which had entirely changed her appearance. The bishop who assisted her in her last moments could not restrain his tears when he saw her agony; but she smiled, and was surprised to see the bishop weeping. The prelate, on the other hand, was astonished to see her smiling, and said to her, Why do you smile? She answered, Tell me, were a princess confined in a dungeon, informed that she could not return to her palace till the prison was destroyed, how great should be her joy at seeing its walls falling to the ground? Thus, because I find myself near my deliverance from this prison of my body, I rejoice and smile.

¹ “Diligentibus Deum, omnia cooperantur in bonum.”—Rom. viii. 28.

I do not dilate much on the subject of conformity to the will of God, on which I would never cease to speak, because I have already written a little treatise on it,^* which I pray you to procure, and to read several times: for it is certainly in uniting ourselves to the divine will that all our salvation, peace, and perfection consist. And life in his good-will.²

² “Et vita in voluntate ejus.”—Ps. xxix. 6.

Lastly, I entreat you to perform all that you do for

• See Vol. II. the sole motive of doing the will of God, for thus you will never be disturbed when things do not happen according to your wishes. Thus you will be always in peace, and will always give pleasure to God. Oh! how delightful a thing it is to please God! Do you wish to know what is meant by giving pleasure to God? I will tell you, in the words of the Venerable Father Anthony Torres: “It means to please that loving heart to which we owe so much; to gratify those divine eyes, always solicitous for our welfare; to satisfy that will, always employed with the love of us. To give pleasure to God is the end for which he has created us, the goal to which our desires should tend; the rule that ought to be the measure of our existence. To give pleasure to God is that which is most ardently sought by the saints; that which moved so many holy virgins to consecrate themselves to him in the cloister, that sent so many anchorets to the deserts. This made the persecuted insensible to calumnies and reproaches, and rendered sweet to the martyrs torments and death. To give pleasure to God is that for which an enlightened soul offers itself to every kind of spoliation, to all sorrows—to all, even the worst, calumnies; to all deaths the most painful, and to hell itself. To give pleasure to God is such, that every one should prefer it to all self-interest, to all felicity. It is such, that if the very blessed in paradise knew that it would give greater pleasure to God that they should be in hell than in heaven, they would all (and the first should be the Most Holy Virgin) cast themselves into hell, there to find, in the midst of these eternal torments, the greater pleasure of God. That is what is meant by giving greater pleasure to God.”

Prayer.

My Jesus have mercy on me, miserable that I have been! How often, in order to follow my own will against Thine, have I voluntarily condemned myself to hell? Hadst Thou then taken me out of life, I should now remain in that pit forever, to curse and hate Thy will. But no; I now bless it, I love it; I wish always to love it. My Redeemer, pardon me; I will not contradict Thee any more; tell me what Thou wishest from me, and give me strength; I wish to do Thy will. Thy will be done. Make me do Thy will perfectly during the remainder of my life, and I ask nothing more. Ah! my sweet love, what else dost Thou wish but my welfare and my salvation? Eternal Father, for the love of Jesus Christ, who has taught me to pray to Thee in his name, I ask this grace of Thee: Thy will be done in me! Thy will be done in me! Thy will be done in me! O happy shall I be if I live and terminate life doing Thy will.

O Mary, happy thou who hast always done the will of God perfectly. O my mother! obtain for me by thy prayers the grace that I may fulfil the divine will during all the remaining moments of my life: this grace I hope for through thy intercession.