Catholic Thought discussion

On the State of Abandonment
Chapter 1: On the Nature and Excellence of the State of Abandonment

I. - The life of God in the soul: There is a time when the soul lives in God, and a time when God lives in the soul.

II. - The most perfect way: In this state the soul is guided by the divine action through every kind of obscurity.

III. - Abandonment a Pledge of Predestination: The state of abandonment contains in itself pure faith, hope, and charity.

IV. - Abandonment a Source of Joy: The state of abandonment comprises the most heroic generosity.

V. - The Great Merit of Pure Faith: By the state of abandonment and of pure faith the soul gains more merit than by the most eminent good works.

VI. - Submission a Free Gift to God: The state of abandonment includes the merit of every separate operation.

VII. - Divine Favors Offered to All: Every soul is called to enjoy the infinite benefits contained in this state.

VIII. - God Reigns in a Pure Heart: All these treasures of grace are the fruit of purity of heart and perfect abandonment.

Way behind but I'm simply overwhelmed. Every sentence, so simple, yet so densely potent. I need to buy a copy and live with it.

I feel the same way, lol!

I agree. It is profound. I’m starting book II now. My only mild criticism is that it seems to rehash the same point every so often. Or perhaps it’s a finer and subtle understanding of that same point. Is that me or are you noticing it too?

Manny, my first thought after reading a few pages was that it was unnecessarily repetitive. That makes it harder to get through, although I think the author's intent was to emphasize.

interesting. I'm not having that experience at all. To me it's like overlaying a lightly tinted transparency sheet on another and another. each time the tint gets a little darker and a little darker. or another analogy, like a classic sitcom. each episode begins at normal, chaos happens, then resolves back to normal but there's an ever so slight change due to what happened. at the end of the season everything is a little different.

This is like that for me. Each pass is etching deeper and deeper. getting richer and richer. clearer and clearer. And I think that's important and intentional because a leap to abandonment seems impossible.

Manny wrote: "I agree. It is profound. I’m starting book II now. My only mild criticism is that it seems to rehash the same point every so often. Or perhaps it’s a finer and subtle understanding of that same poi..."

I find that too. This makes it very hard to pull together what he is saying. The segments seem to me more like individual contemplations.

Casey wrote: "To me it's like overlaying a lightly tinted transparency sheet on another and another. each time the tint gets a little darker and a little darker. or another analogy, like a classic sitcom. each episode begins at normal, chaos happens, then resolves back to normal but there's an ever so slight change due to what happened. at the end of the season everything is a little different.."

That is an interesting way to put it. I do roughly agree with it. The overlay however is so subtle that I think I'm missing the point. Of course, my reading of it is so spread out that it's probably my fault I'm missing the subtlety Thanks Casey. I do like that analogy..

Manny wrote: "Casey wrote: "To me it's like overlaying a lightly tinted transparency sheet on another and another. each time the tint gets a little darker and a little darker. or another analogy, like a classic ..."

My reading is spread out as well. I almost think that's the nature of it. Almost like reading Proverbs. Read one line and you can contemplate it all day but trying to read the whole thing in one go would be tedious.

I find myself reading a bit and then sitting on the idea which eats up my reading time and then not getting back to it for a few days.