Jean-Pierre De Caussade Quotes & Sayings

God makes all chosen souls pass through a fearful time of poverty, misery, and nothingness. He desires to destroy in them gradually all the help and confidence they derive from themselves so that He may be their sole source of support, their confidence, their hope, their only resource. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

All created things are living in the Hand of God. The senses see only the action of the creatures; but faith sees in everything the action of God. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

I must not, like the quietists, reduce all religion to a denial of any specific action, despising all other means, since what makes perfection is God's order, and the means he ordains is best for the soul. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

God teaches the soul by pains and obstacles, not by ideas. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

We must offer ourselves to God like a clean, smooth canvas and not worry ourselves about what God may choose to paint on it, but at each moment, feel only the stroke of His brush. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

To escape the distress caused by regret for the past or fear about the future, this is the rule to follow: leave the past to the infinite mercy of God, the future to His good Providence, give the present wholly to His love by being faithful to His grace. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

There is not a single person who cannot easily reach the highest degree of perfection by performing every duty, no matter how commonplace, with eager love. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

God instructs the heart, not by ideas but by pains and contradictions. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

If the work of our sanctification presents us with difficulties that appear insurmountable, it is because we do not look at it in the right way. In reality, holiness consists in one thing alone, namely, fidelity to God's plan. And this fidelity is equally within everyone's capacity in both its active and passive exercise. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

If we wish to quench our thirst, we must lay aside books which explain thirst and take a drink. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the best and holiest thing that could happen to us. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

The soul, light as a feather, fluid as water, innocent as a child, responds to every movement of grace like a floating balloon. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

There is not a moment in which God does not present Himself under the cover of some pain to be endured, of some consolation to be enjoyed, or of some duty to be performed. All that takes place within us, around us, or through us, contains and conceals His divine action. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

Those who have abandoned themselves to God always lead mysterious lives and receive from him exceptional and miraculous gifts by means of the most ordinary, natural and chance experiences in which there appears to be nothing unusual. The simplest sermon, the most banal conversations, the least erudite books become a source of knowledges and wisdom to these souls by virtue of God's purpose. This is why they carefully pick up the crumbs which clever minds tread underfoot, for to them everything is precious and a source of enrichment. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

Souls who can recognize God in the most trivial, the most grievous and the most mortifying things that happen to them in their lives, honor everything equally with delight and rejoicing, and welcome with open arms what others dread and avoid. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

There is no peace more wonderful than the peace we enjoy when faith shows us God in all created things. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

That which I might endeavour to find in other ways seeks me incessantly and gives itself to me through all creatures. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

The duties of each moment are the shadows beneath which hides the divine operation. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

The present moment holds infinite riches beyond your wildest dreams. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

To love God in great things is not so perfect an act of faith as to worship them in small ones. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

(5) If we wish to be united to God we should value all the operations of his grace, but we should cling only to the duties of the present moment. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

God speaks to all individuals through what happens to them moment by moment. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

In the state of abandonment the only rule is the duty of the present moment. In this the soul is light as a feather, liquid as water, simple as a child, active as a ball in receiving and following all the inspirations of grace. Such souls have no more consistence and rigidity than molten metal. As this takes any form according to the mould into which it is poured, so these souls are pliant and easily receptive of any form that God chooses to give them. In a word, their disposition resembles the atmosphere, which is affected by every breeze; or water, which flows into any shaped vessel exactly filling every crevice. They are before God like a perfectly woven fabric with a clear surface; and neither think, nor seek to know what God will be pleased to trace thereon, because they have confidence in Him, they abandon themselves to Him, and, entirely absorbed by their duty, they think not of themselves, nor of what may be necessary for them, nor of how to obtain it. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

All simple souls must admire and respect one another, saying: 'Let us proceed each one along our path to the same goal, united in purpose and by means of God's order which, in its great variety, is in us all. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

The present moment is always full of infinite treasure. It contains far more than you can possibly grasp. Faith is the measure of its riches: what you find in the present moment is according to the measure of your faith. Love also is the measure: the more the heart loves, the more it rejoices in what God provides. The will of God presents itself at each moment like an immense ocean that the desire of your heart cannot empty; yet you will drink from that ocean according to your faith and love. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

In the shadow of death he produces life, and though the senses are terrified, faith taking all for the best, is full of courage and assurance. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

The books the Holy Spirit is writing are living, and every soul a volume in which the divine author makes a true revelation of his word, explaining it to every heart, unfolding it in every moment. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade

You would be very ashamed if you knew what the experiences you call setbacks, upheavals, pointless disturbances, and tedious annoyances really are. You would realize that your complaints about them are nothing more nor less than blasphemies - though that never occurs to you. Nothing happens to you except by the will of God, and yet [God's] beloved children curse it because they do not know it for what it is. — Jean-Pierre De Caussade