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Rating: 
Summary: Caussade's Mystical Libretto for a Symphony of the Soul...
Review: Originally entitled SELF-ABANDONMENT TO DIVINE PROVIDENCE, Jean Pierre Caussade's brief, eighteenth-century, mystical masterpiece consists of a series of enlightening lectures--on the pains and pleasures of surrenduring one's will to God--that were first presented as spiritual direction to the Visitation nuns of Nancy, France, before finally being organized into this charming treatise on saintliness.
Much like the earlier, prayerful guidance offered through the meditations of St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, Father Caussade's study hails the virtue of 'utter self-surrender to the divine Center' as a requisite both to the authentic spiritual journey and true faith, but also as a prerequisite to conquering one's passions and to living a committed, religious life.
The work contains enough reasoning to stand on its own as a spiritual guide, but fulfills its purpose more splendidly as a theological supplement to those engaged in the actual practice of mystical prayer. In this capacity, it makes a faithful companion to Father Thomas Keating's book on the proper method of Christian contemplation called OPEN MIND OPEN HEART.
For those souls bold enough to embark upon 'the road less travelled' it serves as an existential map to the highways and byways of orison--pointing the surest direction to the Eternal City--while at the same time faithfully highlighting many important psychological and philosophical landmarks along the way. Each chapter acts as its own spiritual beacon--illuminating vast portions of the divine path--allowing one to sail further along currents of stillness, into deeper oceans of interior-silence, faster! In this manner, it proves indispensable toward the ultimate goal of every mystic or would-be spiritual master: that of Divine Union.
Entertain no doubt about it, though. The straight and narrow way is by far the most arduous and, despite its great simplicity, oftentimes the most perilous. However, it is not without pain but from within those intense moments of purest suffering that we can part, if only but for a brief moment in time, the veil of tears--to gaze directly into the heart of the matter--and distill the fitful fragments of truth behind all of the sorrow. And acting from the knowledge gained thereby, coupled with love, we can shape the disparate pieces of life's seemingly desperate puzzle into meaningful horizons of wholeness, salvation, and hope for tomorrow. This is the soul at its best!
Ultimately, it is when we recollect ourselves to the Divine Mystery that we can fully reap the ripened-fruits of our faith. For, when the spirit consents to rest in God--to say and truly mean 'Thy Will be Done'--then something wonderful happens: Alas, the divine action, infused with Grace, does its part to impart THE SACRAMENT OF THE PRESENT MOMENT.
*This review is dedicated to the memory of Cynthia Oti, talk show host and financial advisor extraordinaire, KSFO radio, San Franciso. She perished aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 261.
Rating:
Summary: Caussade's Mystical Libretto for a Symphony of the Soul...
Review: Originally entitled SELF-ABANDONMENT TO DIVINE PROVIDENCE, Jean Pierre Caussade's brief, eighteenth-century, mystical-masterpiece consists of a series of enlightening lectures--on the pains and pleasures of surrenduring one's will to God--that were first presented as spiritual direction to the Visitation nuns of Nancy, France, before finally being organized into this charming treatise on saintliness.Much like the earlier, prayerful guidance offered through the meditations of St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, Father Caussade's study hails the virtue of 'utter self-surrender to the divine Center' as a requisite both to the authentic spiritual journey and true faith, but also as a prerequisite to conquering one's passions and to living a committed, religious life. The work contains enough reasoning to stand on its own as a spiritual guide, but fulfills its purpose more splendidly as a theological supplement to those engaged in the actual practice of mystical prayer. In this capacity, it makes a faithful companion to Father Thomas Keating's book on the proper method of Christian contemplation called OPEN MIND OPEN HEART. For those souls bold enough to embark upon 'the road less travelled' it serves as an existential map to the highways and byways of orison--pointing the surest direction to the Eternal City--while at the same time faithfully highlighting many important psychological and philosophical landmarks along the way. Each chapter acts as its own spiritual beacon--illuminating vast portions of the divine path--allowing one to sail further along currents of stillness, into deeper oceans of interior-silence, faster! In this manner, it proves indispensable toward the ultimate goal of every mystic or would-be spiritual master: that of Divine Union. Entertain no doubt about it, though. The straight and narrow way is by far the most arduous and, despite its great simplicity, oftentimes the most perilous. However, it is not without pain but from within those intense moments of purest suffering that we can part, if only but for a brief moment in time, the veil of tears--to gaze directly into the heart of the matter--and distill the fitful fragments of truth behind all of the sorrow. And acting from the knowledge gained thereby, coupled with love, we can shape the disparate pieces of life's seemingly desperate puzzle into meaningful horizons of wholeness, salvation, and hope for tomorrow. This is the soul at its best! Ultimately, it is when we recollect ourselves to the Divine Mystery that we can fully reap the ripened-fruits of our faith. For, when the spirit consents to rest in God--to say and truly mean 'Thy Will be Done'--then something wonderful happens: Alas, the divine action--infused with Grace--does its part to impart THE SACRAMENT OF THE PRESENT MOMENT. *This review is dedicated to the memory of Cynthia Oti, talk show host and financial advisor extraordinaire, KSFO radio, San Franciso. She perished aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 261.
Rating: 
Summary: The best book I have ever read.
Review: This is the first "how-to" book on the "spiritual" life I have ever seen. My life changed by the end of chapter 1. But the title should have been left as "Self-abandonment to Divine Providence" or been changed to "Let go, let God!"
Rating:
Summary: The best book I have ever read.
Review: This is the first "how-to" book on the "spiritual" life I have ever seen. My life changed by the end of chapter 1. But the title should have been left as "Self-abandonment to Divine Providence" or been changed to "Let go, let God!"
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