Led Past Perils and Monsters

 

"Except in the case of a specific illness which, by its nature, requires lying in bed and appropriate treatment, all our languors and feebleness are mere illusions and fantasies which we must face courageously and with confidence. These are allowed or sent by God in order to exercise our faith and submission which is the true cure. We must bravely pursue our way through the tribulations and suffering ordained by God, recklessly using our bodies as hired hacks to be mercilessly worked to death. That is worth more than a lifetime of ease which weakens our strength of mind. This strength of mind has untold power to uphold a frail body, and one year of courageous endeavor, always trying to maintain the bearing of a child of grace and good will, is worth a century of timid caution. Ah! what is there to fear in following divine guidance? Led, upheld, protected, we need only to put a brave face on things. The terrifying objects put in our way are nothing. They are only summoned in order to embellish our lives with glorious adventures. It involves us in all kinds of difficulties in which human ingenuity, unable to discover or imagine a way out, realizes its own feebleness and finds itself at a loss and confounded. It is then that God's purpose is manifest in all its radiance, rescuing souls more miraculously than any writer of fantastic tales, who, straining every effort of his imagination in the seclusion of his study, unravels the intrigues and perils of his imaginary heroes and always brings their adventures to a happy conclusion. It leads souls far more ingeniously past mortal perils, past monsters, hell-fire, demons and their snares and carries them up to heaven. All are the subject of mystical tales far more beautiful and amazing than any invented by the crude imagination of mortal men."

de Caussade, Jean-Pierre. 1981. The Sacrament of the Present Moment; Translated by Kitty Muggeridge .Glasgow: Collins. 23, 24.