Upper reaches

"Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles."

Isaiah 40:31

NOTE: One final excerpt from Jean-Pierre de Caussade's
Abandonment to Divine Providence

A holy soul is one, which, by the help of grace, has freely submitted to God's will, and all that follows this free consent is the work of God and never that of man. That is all God asks of us.

So come! Never mind weariness, illness, lack of feeling, irritability, exhaustion, the snares of the devil and of men, with all that they create of distrust, jealousy, prejudice and evil imaginings. Let us soar like an eagle above these clouds, with our eyes fixed on the sun and its rays, which are our duties. We cannot help being aware of all these evils, of course, and we cannot be indifferent to them, but let us never forget that ours is not a life governed by feelings.

We must live in those upper reaches of the spiritual life where God and his will are active in a process which is eternal and unchanging. There, he who is uncreated, immeasurable and cannot be described by human words, will keep us far removed from all the shadows and turmoil of the world. We shall feel through our senses countless disturbances, it is true, but they will disappear like the clouds in a windswept sky. God and his will are the eternal objects which captivate every faithful soul; and when the day of glory arrives, they will be our true happiness.