CHAPITRE VI.
The Call to Abandonment
The author introduces the necessity and irrevocability of abandoning oneself entirely to the will of God.
1. 2. On abandoning oneself to God: its fruit, and its irrevocability.1 3. What it consists in, and that God exhorts us to it. 4. Its practice. 1. This is where the abandonment and the gift of our whole self to God must begin: by becoming firmly convinced that everything that happens to us from moment to moment is God's order and will, and everything we need. This conviction will make us content with everything, and will make us look at everything that happens to us in God, and not from the creature's side. I beg you, my dearest brothers, whoever you are who truly want to give yourselves to God, don't take yourselves back once you've given yourselves to him, and remember that a thing given is no longer at your disposal.
The Key to the Interior Life
Abandonment is presented as the essential key to perfection and the interior life, sustained by faith.
2. Abandonment is what matters throughout the whole journey, and it's the key to the entire interior life.2 Anyone who knows how to abandon themselves well will soon be perfect. You must hold firm to abandonment, without listening to reasoning or reflection. A great faith makes for a great abandonment; you have to put your trust in God, (a) hoping against all hope. (a) Rom. 4. v. 18.
Scriptural Foundations for Trust
The author provides biblical support for the practice of abandoning all care for oneself to God's providence.
3. Abandonment is stripping away all concern for ourselves, so that we can leave ourselves entirely to God's guidance.3 All Christians are urged to abandon themselves, for it is said to everyone: (a) Don't be anxious about tomorrow, because your heavenly Father knows everything you need. (b) Think of Him in all your ways, and He will guide your steps. (c) Lay your works before the Lord, and He will make your thoughts succeed. (d) Commit all your conduct to the Lord, and hope in him, and he himself will act. (a) Matt. 6. v. 32. 34. (b) Prov.✦ 3.✦ v.✦ 6.✦ (c) Proverbs✦ 16✦ verse✦ 3✦ (d) Ps.✦ 36.✦ v.✦ 5.✦
Living in the Present Moment
The practical application of abandonment involves living in the present moment and renouncing self-will.
Abandonment, then, must be, as much for the outward as for the inward, a total leaving of oneself in God's hands, forgetting oneself a great deal, and thinking only of God. In this way, your heart stays free, content, and unburdened. 4. As for the practice of it, it must consist in continually losing every self-will in the will of God; in renouncing all personal inclinations, however good they may seem, as soon as you feel them arising, so that you can remain indifferent and will only what God has willed from eternity; in being indifferent to all things, whether for the body or for the soul, for temporal goods or eternal ones; in leaving the past in forgetfulness, the future to Providence, and giving the present to God; in contenting ourselves with the present moment, which brings with it God's eternal order concerning us and serves as a declaration of God's will that is as infallible as it is common and inescapable for everyone; in attributing nothing of what happens to us to any creature, but looking at all things in God and regarding them as coming infallibly from His hand, except for our own sin.4 So let yourself be led by God however He pleases, whether inwardly or outwardly.
Read the original French
1. 2. De l’Abandon de soi à Dieu, son fruit, & son irrévocabilité.
3. En quoi il consiste, & que Dieu nous y exhorte.
4. Sa pratique.
1. C’EST ici que doit commencer l’abandon & la donation de tout soi-même à Dieu, par se convaincre fortement, que tout ce qui nous arrive de moment en moment est ordre & volonté de Dieu, & tout ce qu’il nous faut.
Cette conviction nous rendra contens de tout, & nous fera regarder en Dieu, & non du côté de la créature, tout ce qui nous arrive.
Je vous conjure, mes très-chers freres, qui que vous soyez, qui voulez bien vous donner à Dieu, de ne vous point reprendre lorsque vous vous serez une fois donnés à lui, & de penser qu’une chose donnée n’est plus en votre disposition.
2. L’abandon est ce qu’il y a de conséquence dans toute la voie, & c’est la clef de tout l’intérieur. Qui sait bien s’abandonner, sera bientôt parfait.
Il faut donc se tenir ferme à l’abandon sans écouter le raisonnement ni la réflexion. Une grande foi fait un grand abandon : il faut s’en fier à Dieu, (a) espérant contre toute espérance.
(a) Rom. 4. v. 18.
3. L’abandon est un dépouillement de tout soin de nous mêmes, pour nous laisser entierement à la conduite de Dieu.
Tous les Chrétiens sont exhortés à s’abandonner : Car c’est à tous qu’il est dit : (a) Ne soyez pas en souci pour le lendemain : Car votre Pere céleste sait tout ce qui vous est nécessaire. (b) Pensez à lui dans toutes vos voies, & il conduira lui-même vos pas. (c) Exposez vos œuvres au Seigneur, & il fera réussir vos pensées. (d) Remettez au Seigneur toute votre conduite, & espérez en lui & il agira lui-même.
(a) Matth. 6. v. 32. 34.
(b) Prov. 3. v. 6.
(c) Prov. 16. v. 3.
(d) Ps. 36. v. 5.
L’abandon doit donc être, autant pour l’extérieur que pour l’intérieur, un délaissement total entre les mains de Dieu, s’oubliant beaucoup soi-même, & ne pensant qu’à Dieu.
Le cœur demeure par ce moyen toujours libre, content & dégagé.
4. Pour la pratique, elle doit être de perdre sans cesse toute volonté propre dans la volonté de Dieu ; renoncer à toutes inclinations particulieres, quelques bonnes qu’elles paroissent, sitôt qu’on les sent naître, pour se mettre dans l’indiférence, & ne vouloir que ce que Dieu a voulu dès son éternité : être indifférent à toutes choses soit pour le corps, soit pour l’ame, pour les biens temporels & éternels ; laisser le passé dans l’oubli, l’avenir à la Providence, & donner le présent à Dieu ; nous contenter du moment actuel qui nous apporte avec soi l’ordre éternel de Dieu sur nous, & qui nous est une déclaration autant infaillible de la volonté de Dieu, qu’elle est commune & inévitable pour tous : ne rien attribuer à la créature de ce qui nous arrive ; mais regarder toutes choses en Dieu, & les regarder comme venant infailliblement de sa main, à la reserve de notre propre péché.
Laissez-vous donc conduire à Dieu comme il lui plaira, soit pour l’intérieur, soit pour l’extérieur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Prov.3.6 — In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
- ↩Prov.3.6 — In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
- ↩Prov.3.6 — In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
- ↩Prov.3.6 — In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
- ↩Prov.16.3 — Commit your works to the LORD, and your plans will be established.
- ↩Prov.16.3 — Commit your works to the LORD, and your plans will be established.
- ↩Prov.16.3 — Commit your works to the LORD, and your plans will be established.
- ↩Prov.16.3 — Commit your works to the LORD, and your plans will be established.
- ↩Ps.36.5 — Iniquity is plotted upon his bed; he stations himself on a way that is not good; evil he does not reject.
- ↩Ps.36.5 — Iniquity is plotted upon his bed; he stations himself on a way that is not good; evil he does not reject.
- ↩Ps.36.5 — Iniquity is plotted upon his bed; he stations himself on a way that is not good; evil he does not reject.
- ↩Ps.36.5 — Iniquity is plotted upon his bed; he stations himself on a way that is not good; evil he does not reject.
Notes
- 1 ↩Abandon here is the technical act of handing the whole self over to God, not mere emotional resignation.
- 2 ↩French abandon is kept as the spiritual term abandonment (self-surrender to God), not ordinary desertion. de conséquence is rendered as what matters / is of weight, not as a later result.
- 3 ↩dépouillement is kept as stripping away (divestment), not a mild letting-go. soin is care/solicitude for ourselves, not mere practical self-maintenance.
- 4 ↩indiférence / indifférent: Guyon's holy indifference — not apathy, but a will that does not cling to particular outcomes, even seemingly good ones.
Moyen court et très facile de faire oraison companion
A prayer for every moment, already on your phone
Chosen Portion puts a curated historic prayer in front of you each day — so the words are there before the moment arrives.
Chosen Portion is the digital descendant of the carried prayer book: the short daily prayers this collection preserves, delivered one a day to your pocket.
- One short, memorable prayer delivered daily — build your repertoire a card at a time
- Prayers matched to real situations: fear, gratitude, decisions, grief, sleep
- Save favourites into your personal pocket collection you can open anywhere