Welcome to our new series, "Holy Stratagem!". This will be a weekly
series on the spiritual strategies given us by God to make us holy through: His
sacred scripture, His Sacred Tradition or through His Holy Saints.
Holy Stratagem! # 1: Surrender to God
Surrender to God is the
first strategy. Surrender comes first in all the major philosophies about
giving oneself over to God: The parable of the rich young ruler is about
surrender to God in lieu of other "riches", Step One of the twelves
steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is admitting our powerlessness over our lives
(surrender) and today, this blogs patroness, St. Thérèse Couderc,
teaches us a lesson about surrender.
The surrendered soul has found paradise on earth, since she enjoys that sweet peace which is part of the happiness of the elect.
Her words:
I was preparing to begin
my meditation, when I heard the pealing of the church bells calling the
faithful to attend the divine Mysteries. At that moment the desire came over me
to unite myself with all the masses which were being said, and to that end I
directed my intention so that I might participate in them.
Then I had an overall
view of the whole Catholic world and a multitude of altars upon which at one
and the same time the adorable Victim was being immolated. The blood of the
Lamb without stain was flowing abundantly over every one of these altars, which
seemed to be surrounded by a light cloud of smoke ascending toward heaven. My
soul was seized and penetrated with a feeling of love and gratitude on
beholding this most abundant satisfaction that Our Lord was offering for us.
But I was also greatly
astonished that the whole world was not sanctified by it. I asked how it could
be that the sacrifice of the Cross having been offered only once was sufficient
to redeem all souls, while now being renewed so often it was not sufficient to
sanctify them all.
This is the answer I
thought I heard: The sacrifice is without any doubt sufficient by itself, and
the Blood of Jesus Christ more than sufficient for the sanctification of a
million worlds, but souls fail to correspond, they are not generous enough. Now
the great means by which one may enter into the path of perfection and of
holiness is to surrender oneself to our good God.
But what does it mean to
surrender oneself?
I understand the full
extent of the expression to surrender oneself, but I cannot explain it. I only
know that it is very vast, that it embraces both the present and the future.
To surrender oneself is
more than to devote oneself, more than to give oneself, it is even something
more than to abandon oneself to God. In a word, to surrender oneself is to die
to everything and to self, to be no longer concerned with self except to keep
it continually turned toward God.
To surrender oneself is,
moreover, no longer to seek oneself in anything, either for the spiritual or
the physical, that is to say, no longer to seek one's own satisfaction, but
solely the divine good pleasure.
It should be added that
to surrender oneself is also to follow that spirit of detachment which clings
to nothing, neither to persons nor to things, neither to time nor to place. It
means to adhere to everything, to accept everything, to submit to everything.
But perhaps you will
think that this is very difficult to do. Do not let yourself be deceived. There
is nothing so easy to do, nothing so sweet to put into practice. The whole
thing consists in making a generous act once and for all, saying with all the
sincerity of your soul: "My God, I wish to be entirely thine; deign to
accept my offering." And all is said. But from then on, you must take care
to keep yourself in this disposition of soul and not to shrink from any of the
little sacrifices which can help you advance in virtue. You must always
remember that you have surrendered yourself.
I pray to our Lord to
give an understanding of this word to all souls desirous of pleasing him and to
inspire them to take advantage of so easy a means of sanctification. Oh! If
people could just understand ahead of time the sweetness and peace that are savored
when nothing is held back from the good God! How he communicates himself to the
one who seeks him sincerely and has known how to surrender herself. Let them
experience it and they will see that here is found the true happiness they are
vainly seeking elsewhere.
The surrendered soul has
found paradise on earth, since she enjoys that sweet peace which is part of the
happiness of the elect.
Saint Thérèse Couderc
June 26, 1864
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