To Abandon Ourselves

“.....To abandon ourselves, without any reserve, to Divine Providence but, when we do abandon all, Our Lord takes care of all and disposes of all. you can do so and see what will come of it!” St. John of the Cross

To appreciate what St. John said is not such an easy thing to do. Recently, I was given some advice about trusting in God’s will. Divine providence sounds so great, but do we really do it? Where I work, there are dangers of layoffs. No one is sure what might happen, but we can only wait and see.  Recently, a priest friend of mine in another city was moved to a new parish. It is not the best place to be and from what I understood, it is a bit sad. However, the answer I was given was – God wants me there. We cannot reduce our trust to sentimentality and think that it is simply all for the best. There are reasons for all this to happen in every circumstance.

"We must be positive, that the Divine Providence of God always watches over us, and arranges all circumstances for our benefit, even when they are unpleasant for us.” St. Leo the Great

I think of several saints who experienced God’s providence. St. John of Cupertino was sent away to a monastery by his mother in the hopes that he would fail, and she would be rid of him. He was dull, clumsy and likely could never work. In the end, he had to be protected because he had become so famous for his devotion and piety that he could not even say mass without distractions. He would levitate and have visions, and the other monks were jealous of course. He continued his work without fail. St. Damian of Molokai stayed with lepers in Hawaii. Known for its beaches and great scenery, he was there to help those who needed help. He succumbed to the disease himself. Did he expect his journey to be the way it was once he was ordained? Likely not because I would submit that God has other plans for us that we do not know about. Another saint who intrigued me was Luigi Scrosoppi. Scrosoppi worked with youth. He believed in the values that are developed through sport, such as fairness, perseverance, diligence, and determination. He raised funds for children centres and worked hard in his life to build up the local Church None of these saints would ever say it was their own will. We can find countless examples of saints who are always lifting our eyes up to heaven. Let’s us keep our gaze there.

“Let us remain unafraid in all dangers, trusting calmly in the Divine Providence, that watches over us day and night.” St. Joseph Freinademetz

Trusting in God in each moment of our lives is not something we can do so willingly and naturally. We are surrounded by distractions. Someone’s cell rings in church, a car cuts us off on the road, we are disappointed by friends and yet, we continue to trust in God. He loves us and we need to allow him to care for us.

“As to the past, lets us entrust it to God’s mercy, the future to divine providence. Our task is to live Holy the present moement.” St. Gianna Molla