Lectio et Oratio

Does the life of God in our souls, the life of following His inspirations, bear fruit for others? Yes. Like Christ, those who live in humility and submission to the Father's will bring forth much fruit. There is a hidden and unseen power in those who have been led to this state of having God living in our souls.

Does the state of abandonment help us? Yes. God is leading us to a perfect reliance on Himself. He is taking away from us all that cannot really sustain us. God wants to be All in all. He leads us by a dark path in which we can no longer rely on ourselves to guide us. We cannot really rely on anyone else, but God alone. In this state God fills us with all kinds of understanding and wisdom and love...

Does God always lead us by the same path? No. De Caussade distinguishes two states of soul. There is the state in which the soul lives in God, for God, in relation to God. The soul regulates everything as it seeks divine union. There is also the state that we are led to at times in which God lives in the soul. Instead of our directing ourselves to Him, he begins to direct every step we take. The w...

What is necessary for our being conformed to God's plan for us? Docility. Abandonment. Living in the present moment. Each of us is meant to be a unique artistic production produced by God the Father. He has in mind His Son, His Word, through whom we were created. He is making us like unto Him by all He allows to happen to us.

Do we have to be learned and eloquent to become saints?  No. Holiness is not in the intellect as much as in the will. God's love is at work. Our task to be willing to follow His lead.

Do I have to lean on creatures to become holy?  No created being can make us holy. God alone can. Gradually God teaches us that He alone can bring about our sanctification. He uses creatures as His instruments. But what He wants is for us to accept everything as from His hands.

What does God especially want from us?  Being content with his will. He does not ask of us great deeds that cause wonder in others. He does not even ask us to be martyrs (necessarily). We wants us to say yes to His will in each of our lives.

Is every event in our lives holy?  In a way, yes. All that happens involves God's creative activity. All that happens is allowed and directed by God. Thus, every moment has a kind of sacredness to it. This is why we can always be in union with God's will at every moment as we say yes to His will.

.

Is it still possible to become a saint in modern times? Yes. De Caussade tries to persuade us that saints can still exist. Sanctity is not limited to the time of the Apostles. There is one road to holiness: the will of God. God's will is still being made manifest in his divine operations. By our fidelity to that will, no matter the evil around us, we can become holy.

Why is gaining knowledge through experience so important? This was the one way in Christ gained knowledge. We are imitating Him. Unless we experience certain things, we will never be able to communicate them to others. Unless we go through certain things, we will never be able to understand those God sends us. And God unites people in this life. God sends people into our lives whom we are supposed...

What is the purpose of all that happens to us? God has one desire: to unite us to Himself. God is Love and wills to share His life with us. God only created the world because he wanted to unite us with His Son in the deepest possible unity. Through the Son, we are brought into communion with the Father. To make this sharing in the love of the Father and the Son possible, we receive the Holy Spirit...

How can God's will be so glorious when so many of us treat His will so badly? Think back to Christ's life. He did all things well. He went about doing good. And yet, how was he received? Even those closest to him, his Twelve, argued at the Last Supper who was the greatest. Ten of the Twelve fled at his arrest. Should we be surprised that God's will continues to be treated badly?

How can we learn to interpret the events of our life?  By the Holy Spirit. He is the author of the Sacred Scriptures. He is also the author of all that happens in creation. Veni Creator Spiritus, the Church sings, come Creator Spirit. As He is the author, so He can teach us the meaning of what He is writing in our souls. But what if it all seems a great contradiction? What if all that happens is s...

What is the meaning of the life of grace within us?  We are sharing in the life of Christ. The Son of God became man and lived a human and historical life. The life within his human soul is the life of the Son of God. He transformed what it means to be human. That life, that love, that obedience, that humility of the Son of God made man is what is flowing down through the centuries. The meaning of...

Does God speak to us in the Sacred Scriptures or the events of everyday life? In both ways! God has said in His Word, Christ himself, all that He has to say to us. That divine revelation is transmitted to us in the Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition. But the same Lord creates all things through His Word. God's creation and his action in history is his original way of speaking. By faith in Chri...

Where does eternity meet time? In the present moment. Think of eternity as a line and time as a rotating circle. Where does a line meet the edge of the circle? At one point. The present moment is where time and eternity meet. We must live not in the past or the future, but now. Here God is speaking to us. Here our duties and the inspirations of God show us His will.

What if events are ugly and hide God's beauty? Faith can penetrate below the surface of things. More is happening in history and our lives than the senses can discern. God is infinite and mysterious. If God the Son is present in the small Christ child, if he can make Himself present under the appearances of bread and wine, he can act when and where he wants.

If God's action is always at work in the world, how do we recognize it? By faith. Faith, St Paul says, is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen. God's actions are unseen, invisible. Faith allows us to be sure that despite appearances, God is at work in this and that situation. Even when others mean to hurt us, God can bring good out of the situation.

Is God's activity involved with every event in history?  Yes, God's providence extends as far as his causality, St Thomas tells us. All things are held in being by God. All things act through his enabled them to act. There is nothing that happens that God does not in some way allow. He is not the cause of sin. But he allows such things to bring some great good out of the evil.

What is the secret to sanctity?  Union with the will of God. God knows what He is doing. He is the craftsman; we are his handiwork. We have to will what He wills for us. We have to say "fiat" to all that he asks of us and all he allows us to suffer.

Can we become holy if we neglect our duties of our state in life?  No. God first and foremost asks us to be faithful in small things. We have to be faithful in all the responsibilities of our state in life. He will give us special inspirations. He will ask things beyond our normal duties. But we must walk before we can run. Let us be faithful in what our state requires of us. Let us do all these d...

What will faithfulness to God's will bring?  Besides perfection, faithfulness brings peace of soul. Peace arises from things being in order, in their proper place. We want to be in line with the order God has established. If we try to act outside his will, we will never find true peace.

What is the best spiritual practice? Whatever practice at a given moment is willed by God. De Caussade does not want us to be spiritually greedy. Instead of thinking what activity we most want at a given moment, we should tend to think about what God wants. Even attempts at prayer when God is asking us to do something else would be a mistake.

Is reading, even spiritual reading, sometimes bad? Reading in itself is good. But everything must be read at the right time and in the right way. De Caussade insists that reading for mere curiosity or outside of God's will for us can actually darken our minds. Spiritual reading is one of the greatest things we can do. But let us read what God really wants us to read.