CONFIDENCE REJOICES EVEN AT BEING DEPRIVED OF HUMAN HELP

[Dawn Marie]

CONFIDENCE REJOICES EVEN AT BEING DEPRIVED OF HUMAN HELP

 

 

Don’t be discouraged when the mirage of human assistance fades away.  To count on nothing but the help of heaven, is this not already a most high virtue?

 

Even so, the vigorous wings of true confidence rise to even more sublime regions.  It reaches them by a kind of refinement of heroism.  Then it attains the highest degree of perfection.  This degree consists in the soul rejoicing when it finds itself stripped of all human support, abandoned by its relatives, its friends, and all the creatures who do not wish to or cannot help it, who cannot give it counsel or assist it with their talents or credits, who have no means left to come to its aid.

 

What a profound wisdom this joy denotes in such cruel circumstances!

 

To intone the Canticle of Alleluia under blows which are, naturally speaking, sufficient to break our courage, one must know the Heart of Our Lord to its depth; one must believe blindly in His merciful and fatherly love and His omnipotent goodness; one must have absolute certainty that He selects for His intervention the hour of the desperate situations.

 

[…] You souls wounded by misfortune do not murmur over the abandonment in which you find yourselves reduced.  God does not ask of you a sensible joy, impossible to your weakness.

 

[…] Providence will eventually give you the right sign by which you shall recognize Its hour; It deprived you of all support.  Now is the moment to resist the distress of nature.  You have reached the hour in the office of the interior of the soul in which you should sing the Magnificat and put incense to burn.

 

[…] If the Divine Master did not allow Himself to be touched by such confidence, He would not be the same Person shown by the Gospel to be so compassionate, the One who trembled with painful emotion at the sight of our suffering.

 

 Our Lord once said to a saintly religious, who died in the odor of sanctity:  “If I am good to all, I am very good to those who confide in Me.  Dost thou know which souls take the greatest advantage of My goodness?   They are those who hope the most.  Confident souls steal My graces.”

 

Taken from:  The Book of Confidence

 

[Tania M]

O most Sacred Heart of Jesus let me always confide in You alone!

[Mary Ellen]

"Saint Peter had worked the whole night; he had endured in his labours; he had a profound knowledge of the secrets of his difficult occupation. Nevertheless, his movements over the gentle waves of the lake had been in vain; he had caught nothing. Then he receives the Master into his boat; upon casting his net in the name of the Saviour, he attains an undeniably miraculous catch; the nets break, such is the number of fish.
Following the example of the Apostle, let us cast our nets with untiring patience; but let us hope only in Our Lord for the miraculous catch.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola used to say: “In everything you do, behold the rule of rules to follow: Trust in God, acting, nevertheless, as if success in everything depended entirely on you and not at all on God; but, employing your efforts to attain this good result, do not count on them, but proceed as if everything were done by God alone and nothing by you."

[Mary Ellen]

"as if everything were done by God alone and nothing by you..."

[bernadette szczepkowski]

But proceed as if everything were done by God alone and nothing by you.....words to truly ponder!

[Dawn Marie]

Confidence Counts on Nothing but God

Unshakable firmness is, then, the first characteristic of confidence.

The second quality of this virtue is even more perfect. It leads a man not to count on the help of creatures, whether such help be drawn from himself, from his own intelligence, from his judgement, from his knowledge, from his skill, from his riches, from his friends, from his relatives, or from any other thing of his; or whether it be assistance that he might perhaps hope to receive from someone else: kings, princes, or any creature in general, because he senses and knows the weaknesses of all human help. He considers human helps to be what they really are. How right Saint Teresa was in calling them “dry branches that break under the first pressure.”

But, some will say, does not this theory proceed from false mysticism? Will it not lead to fatalism or, at least, to perilous passivity? Why should we multiply our efforts in trying to overcome difficulties if all human support must crumble in our hands? Let us simply cross our arms and await divine intervention!

No, God does not wish us to sleep; He demands that we imitate Him. His perfect activity has no limits. He is pure act.

We must act, then, but from Him alone must we expect the efficacy of our action. “Help thyself that heaven may help thee.” Behold the economy of the providential plan.

To your posts then! Let us work with our spirit and heart turned on high. “It is vain for you to rise before light,”says the Scripture; if the Lord does not aid thee, thou shalt attain nothing.

Indeed, our impotence is radical. “Without Me you can do nothing,” says Our Saviour. In the supernatural order, this impotence is absolute. Heed well the teachings of the theologians.

Without grace, man cannot observe the commandments of God for a long time or in their totality. Without grace, he cannot resist all the temptations, sometimes so violent, that assault him.

Without grace, we cannot have a good thought; we cannot even make the shortest prayer; without it, we cannot even invoke with piety the holy name of Jesus.

Everything that we do in the supernatural order comes to us from God alone.Even in the natural order, it is still God who gives us victory.

Saint Peter had worked the whole night; he had endured in his labours; he had a profound knowledge of the secrets of his difficult occupation. Nevertheless, his movements over the gentle waves of the lake had been in vain; he had caught nothing. Then he receives the Master into his boat; upon casting his net in the name of the Saviour, he attains an undeniably miraculous catch; the nets break, such is the number of fish.

Following the example of the Apostle, let us cast our nets with untiring patience; but let us hope only in Our Lord for the miraculous catch.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola used to say: “In everything you do, behold the rule of rules to follow: Trust in God, acting, nevertheless, as if success in everything depended entirely on you and not at all on God; but, employing your efforts to attain this good result, do not count on them, but proceed as if everything were done by God alone and nothing by you.^"

[Dawn Marie]

It is so true. I needed the reminder!

[Cathleen]

That is very profound.  Thank you for posting this.