Abandonment to Divine Providence (Paperback)

~ Jean-Pierre de Caussade (Author), John Beevers (Translator) "Today God still speaks to us as he used to speak to our ancestors at a time when there were neither spiritual directors nor any..." (more)
Key Phrases: abandoned soul, pure faith, faithful soul, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Song of Songs (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This is a book of profound spirituality that the 18th century author did not know he had written. It was compiled and published over a century after his death by Visitation nuns who, fortunate for the world, saved his letters and conference notes.

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Image (April 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385468717
• ISBN-13: 978-0385468718
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #218,120 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A reader from Dayton, OH, March 15, 2000

By	Fr. Jim Van Vurst, OFM (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews

There are just a few books that a person will keep on his or her shelve over the years and read again and again. It takes a special quality. I have found that unique quality in DeCaussade's "Abandonment to Divine Providence." It is the simple gospel message that Jesus lived each and every moment of his life. "My meat is to do the will of my Father in heaven." DeCaussade has a way of saying the same basic truth in so many ways but it never seems to tire the reader. I believe the reason is simply because one never gets tired of hearing the truth. In fact, for all its simplicity, it serves as a companion to the gospel itself. When the reader is open, DeCaussade's words touch the heart urge the person to take the words of Jesus to the young man...."give up everything and follow me." It is the decision that doesn't bring instant transformation; it gives the direction for the journey and the words to pray each moment. "All is your's Lord. I want what you want in all things." I would recommend this classic for anyone who has felt a growing desire to make the self offering to the Lord. DeCaussade's words are not just the theology of self-giving but they also treat the specific joys and struggles that come with that self-giving to the Lord. It is a book which will never grow stale or old.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple but filled with profound wisdom, October 17, 2001

By A Customer

Jean-Pierre de Caussade, a French priest born in 1675, never knew he wrote this book. It is an edited collection taken from letters and from notes on talks he had given. This translation is very good - full of life and not dry.

This book has deeply blessed me. In the absence of opportunity for spiritual direction, I have taken this book as my main guide for many years. It always has something that speaks directly to my journey, and is full of the heart of God.

Here is a quote from the translator's introduction: "Caussade combines intense practicality with profound mysticism - as did St. Teresa of Avila. This is nothing extraordinary. True mystics are always much more practical than the ordinary run of people. They seek reality; we, the ephemeral. They want God as he is; we want God as we imagine him to be."

Aldous Huxley, in his book, "The Perennial Philosophy," compares a quote from de Caussade with a quote from The Third Patriarch of Zen. Huxley writes in chapter 4, "The seventeenth-century Frenchman's vocabulary is very different from that of the seventh-century Chinaman's. But the advice they give is fundamentally similar. Conformity to the will of God, submission, docility to the leadings of the Holy Ghost - in practice, if not verbally, these are the same as conformity to the Perfect Way, refusing to have preferences and cherish opinions, keeping the eyes open so that dreams may cease and Truth reveal itself."

This is a short book, about 120 pages. It is one of those books that help you to KNOW God, rather than to know ABOUT God. Bless you on your journey.

47 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's about TRUST, November 4, 2002

By A Customer

My review is definitely influenced by the other reviews that I read. You can certainly tell those folks who live in their heads from those folks who live in their hearts. If you live in your head, you live in your own will. These folks have points and counterpoints, categories and subcategories, notes of historical interest, arguments and objections. Though they are just the ones who need the message of this book, they are the ones most resistant, the ones to completely miss the point. Our wills are not easily subdued. We identify our being with "our doing," "our opinions," "our judgments." We think that "me" equals "my will," "my way," "my view." These folks line up to inform God just how His Creation should run and, no doubt, they have very good arguments. ...This is not to demean the life of the mind, although it may sound that way. ... As Jean-Pierre de Caussade says, "The use of our reason and other faculties is profitable only when it serves as an instrument of God's activity." All too often the mind wants to serve as the instrument of its own and solely its own activity. So this book is not about fatalism or passivity. It's about TRUST. It's about believing that although all appears to be lost, God is working. It's about HOPE. It's about faith in yourself, though you appear to be a pretty poor instrument of goodness, God is using you---as much as you allow yourself to live in your heart. We fight, we struggle, we lose, or so we think. There are more than enough knocks in the most humdrum life. But everyday we get up, dust our bruised bodies off, and say a small prayer under our breath, "Not my will, But Yours." ...