Abandonment
one
The Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph lived through uncertain and dramatic events:
Mary conceived a son by the power of the Holy Spirit – explain that to nosy neighbors – they probably said she was a conspiracy theorist…
By government mandate Joseph must take his 9-month pregnant wife by donkey and foot to Bethlehem to be enrolled in the Government program.
She gives birth in a cave in which they live for at least 40 days.
Herod orders her son executed, sends out his troops and the Holy Family must flee under cover of the night to Egypt where they live as refugees for at least three years. They lose everything – home, profession and cliental, relatives and friends.
Yet God protects and provides for them without giving them an advanced plan. God revealed things step by step so that they had to live in the present moment in reliance and relationship with Him.
And look at the marvelous ways of providence – God sends three Kings from Persia with gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh to provide for their earthly needs.
Its hard to put that one in your strategic plan ahead of time.
Ok here is our plan and at this step three Kings will show up with extravagant gifts – yeah, right…
In fact, the more uncertain and dangerous life became, the more God cared for them, the more they grew in happiness, holiness and peace and they more they flourished.
two
Nothing can happen except what God wills or allows. God is the Sovereign Master of his plan. But to carry it out, he also makes use of the free choices and actions of all His creatures. He makes use of both the good and the evil choices of angels, demons and humans and then turns them all to carry out His grand plan. God does not want angels and humans to do evil, but He made us free, and He turns all things for good for those who love him.
Here is the key: God is at work in all the actions of his creatures to carry out His plan and nothing can stop it. God is the first cause, giving existence and the dignity of acting on their own to all secondary causes. Philippians 2:13 For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Jean-Pierre De Caussade writes in Abandonment To Divine Providence
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.,.
Therefore, we must learn to see the Providential Hand of God, hidden behind the actions of people and events of life, in order to cooperate with God and His will and not fight against Him.
three
The best way to cooperate with God is to learn to live in the present moment and follow His lead. God is eternal which means there is no past and no future, only the present moment. God lives and acts in the present moment. Mary and Joseph lived in the present moment. They did not take part in sinful activities. They prayed, they fulfilled their responsibilities and abandoned the rest to God. And God revealed to them what He wanted them to do through their duties, through inspirations, through circumstances and through crosses to be born.
God inspired them by sending an angel to Mary at the Annunciation and twice sending an angel to Joseph telling him to take Mary as his wife and to flee to Egypt.
God showed them the way through the circumstances of life that were out of their control. Through Caesar’s decree they went to Bethlehem to fulfill God’s plan for the Messiah to come from that village. Through the murderous decree of Herod, they fled to Egypt to fulfill God’s plan that His Son would come out of Egypt.
God has a plan. He shows us His will and plan in the present moment by the duties we have to fulfill, the inspirations He gives us, by the circumstances out of our control and by the crosses he allows us to bear.
De Caussade writes: O, all you who thirst, learn that you have not far to go to find the fountain of living waters; it flows quite close to you in the present moment; therefore hasten to find it.
four
We are entering a time of great adventure. This will not be a time of the same old same old or ground hog day. But no one likes that anyway. This is a time of spiritual war; therefore, it will be a time of uncertainty and danger, much like the Holy Family faced.
But God in His Providence saw this moment in history from eternity. He knew the dangers of this time and He designed you precisely with the gifts to meet the challenge. There is more to you than meets the eye.
De Caussade writes:
If the divine action is hidden here below under the appearance of weakness, it is in order to increase the merit of souls which are faithful to it; but its triumph is none the less certain. The history of the world from the beginning is but the history of the struggle between the powers of the world, and of hell, against the souls which are humbly devoted to the divine action. In this struggle all the advantage seems to be on the side of pride, yet the victory always remains with humility… Every wicked man, who, from the time of Cain, up to the present moment, has declared war against God, has outwardly been great and powerful, making a great stir in the world, and being worshiped by all. But this outward show is an illusion. In reality they are beasts which have ascended from the pit of Hell one after another to overthrow the order of God.
As fast as hell vomits them forth, Heaven at the same time creates fresh heroes to combat them. History…is but a record of this war. The order of God has ever remained victorious and those who have taken the side of God have shared His triumph, and are happy for all eternity.
five
Those who practice evil imagine themselves invincible. O God! who can resist You? If a single soul has the whole world and all hell against it, it need have no fear if, by abandonment, it takes its stand on the side of God and His order. The monstrous spectacle of wickedness armed with so much power, the head of gold, the body of silver, brass, and iron, is nothing more than the image of clay; a small stone cast at it will scatter it to the four winds of Heaven. How wonderfully has the Holy Spirit illustrated the centuries of the world! So many startling revelations! so many renowned heroes following each other like so many brilliant stars! So many wonderful events! All this is like the dream of Nebuchadnezzar , forgotten on awaking, however terrible the impression it made at the time. All these monsters only come into the world to exercise the courage of the children of God, and if these are well trained, God gives them the pleasure of slaying the monsters, and sends fresh athletes into the arena. And this life is a spectacle to angels, causing continual joy in Heaven, work for saints on earth, and confusion to the devils in hell. So all that is opposed to the order of God renders it only the more to be adored. All workers of iniquity are slaves of justice, and the divine action builds the heavenly Jerusalem on the ruins of Babylon.