Further Reference to: Abandonment | Detachment

Resignation to troublesome things

  Letter to a woman who is ill

(Letters to Persons in the World, Illness can make you agreeable to God)

Consider in this illness the number of crosses and mortifications that you have neither chosen nor wished.  God has given them to you with His holy hand; receive them, kiss them, love them.  My God! They are all perfumed with the dignity of the place from which they come.

(Read further in Letter to an unnamed woman, Letters to Persons in the World)

Acceptance in sufferings

  Letter to a woman suffering with great physical pain

(Letters to Persons in the World, You are being crowned with His crown of thorns)

Know that your pains have been increased lately, and in the same measure has my sorrow for them increased, although I praise and bless Our Lord with you for His good pleasure exercised in you, making you share His holy Cross and crowning you with His crown of thorns.

(Read further in Letter to an unnamed woman, Letters to Persons in the World)

Often the world calls evil what is good

  Letter to Madame de Granieu

(Letters to Persons in the World, Often the world calls evil what is good)

Well then, leave it to be seen by the heavenly and eternal Providence of Our Lord whether these illnesses will be for the good of your soul or of his, both being exercised as they are by means of holy patience.

(Read further in Letter to Madame de Granieu, Letters to Persons in the World)

Rest in the arms of Providence

  Letter to Madame de Chantal

(Letters to Persons in the World, Rest in the arms of Providence)

We must await the result of this sickness as quietly as we can, with a perfect resolution to conform ourselves to the divine will in this loss – if absence for such a little time can be called loss, which, God helping, will be made up by an eternal presence.

(Read further in Letter to Madame de Chantal, Letters to Persons in the World)

Bearing the troubles of this life

  Letter to Madame de la Flechere

(Letters to Persons in the World, O good Cross! so loved by my Saviour)

It is the truth that nothing is more capable of giving us a more profound tranquillity in this world than often to behold Our Lord in all the afflictions that happened to Him from His birth to His death.  We shall see there such a sea of contempt and insults, of poverty and indigence, of objections, of pains, of torments, of nakedness, of injuries, and of all sorts of bitterness, that in comparison with it we shall know that we are wrong when we call our little mishaps by the names of afflictions, pains, and contradictions; and we shall see that we are wrong in desiring patience for such trifles, since a single little drop of modesty is enough for bearing these things well.

(Read further in Letter to Madame de la Flechere, Letters to Persons in the World)

True resignation of the spirit

  Letter to Madame de Chantal

(Letters to Persons in the World, You only want to bear the crosses that you choose)

A simple desire is not contrary to resignation, but this panting of heart, fluttering of wings, agitation of will, and multiplicity of dartings our – this, undoubtedly, is a fault against resignation. Courage, my dear sister: since our will belongs to God, doubtless we ourselves are His. You have all that is needed, but you have no sense of it; there is no great loss in that.

(Read further in Letter to Madame de Chantal, Letters to Persons in the World)

Real test of love

  Letter to a Wife and Mother

To love God when things go right is child’s play; to love him when things go wrong – that is the supreme test of true love.  The impetuous St. Peter had sufficient courage to say all for Jesus on Mount Tabor. … Accept the pain form his hand as though you could actually see him laying and pressing it on your head.  Offer to suffer more.

(Read further in Letters to a Wife and Mother)

Back to top