The Silent Guide

When God becomes our guide He insists that we trust Him without reservations and put aside all nervousness about His guidance. We are sent along the path He has chosen for us, but we cannot see it, and nothing we have read is any help to us. Were we acting on our own we should have to rely on our experience. It would be too risky to do anything else. But it is very different when God acts with us. Divine action is always new and fresh, it never retraces its steps, but always finds new routes. When we are led by this action, we have no idea where we are going, for the paths we tread cannot be discovered from books or by any of our thoughts. But these paths are always opened in front of us and we are impelled along them. Imagine we are in a strange district at night and are crossing fields unmarked by any path, but we have a guide. He asks us no advice nor tells us of his plans. So what can we do except trust him? It is no use trying to see where we are, look at maps or question passers-by. That would not be tolerated by a guide who wants us to rely on him. He will get satisfaction from overcoming our fears and doubts, and will insist that we have complete trust in him.
     God's activity can never be anything but good, and does not need to be reformed or controlled. It began at the creation of the world and up to now has continued with the same energy which knows no limits. Its fertility is inexhaustible. It does one thing today, another tomorrow, yet it is the same activity which every moment produces constantly fresh results, and it will continue throughout eternity. It produced Abel, Noah, and Abraham -- all different types. Isaac is also original. Jacob is not a duplicate of him, nor is Joseph a facsimile of Jacob. Moses is different from his ancestors. David and the prophets bear no resemblance to the patriarchs. John the Baptist stands alone. Jesus Christ is the first-born, and the Apostles are moved more by guidance of His spirit than by imitating His works. Jesus Christ did not restrict Himself, for He did not follow all His own precepts literally. His most holy soul was always inspired by the Holy Spirit and always responsive to its slightest breath. He never had to consult the moment that had passed to know what to do in the coming one, for His every moment was conditioned by the breath of grace according to those eternal truths contained in the invisible and unfathomable wisdom of the Holy Trinity. His sould received its orders constantly and carried them out in His daily life. The Gospel lets us see the effect of these truths in the life of Jesus Christ, and it is this same Jesus Christ, always alive and active, who continues to live and work fresh wonders in the souls of those who love Him.
     If we wish to live according to the Gospel, we must abandon ourselves simply and completely to the action of God. Jesus Christ is its source. He "is the same today as He was yesterday and as He will be forever" (Heb 13:8). What He has done is finished, what remains to be done is being carried on every moment. Every saint shares in this divine life, and Jesus Christ, though always the same, is different in each one. The life of each saint is the life of Jesus Christ. It is a new gospel.
                                                        Jean-Pierre De Caussade, S.J.