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2. Practice of Self-Abandonment According to Jean-Pierre de Caussade (or Madame de Guyon).

These notes are a way for Meg to keep current her most extensive teaching on this practice. Over the years I have written extensively on these teachings, but this is a way to keep my most current notes in one place. Also, I had prepared many of these tools to be an appendix on the new book, Lectio Divina, but had to cut them to keep the book tightly written and focused.

Jean-Pierre de Caussade was born in 1675 in southern France near Toulouse. The work known as Abandonment to Divine Providence was believed to be a collection of de Caussade’s spiritual letters and conferences circulated privately by the Visitation Nuns.

Another version of this work is entitled The Sacrament of the Present Moment. Today there is some research that indicates that the author is Madame de Guyon. But rather than get caught up as to who is the author we can benefit from the teachings on this amazing practice.

The essence of the teachings:

Since God is present in the moment and I can see only the present, I need to forget the past, and care not about the future. Past thinking leads to discouragement and future thinking leads to anxiety and fear. Surrendering one's will to do the duty/necessity of the present moment is abandonment to God.

If I am looking for God's will I need to look at my life now. My state in life (vocation) now is Gods will. I can trust this because in each previous moment I did the necessity of the moment.

The teaching goes on to say that there is nothing small or trivial in the eyes of God. The moment itself holds the will of God for me.

This would be a risky statement unless we can presume we are leading a moral life. Confession is a natural beginning to have all conscious sin as a former way of life forgiven and absolved. From that moment on we practice abandoning self and make intentional our desire toward God. We can trust this practice because God is embodied in the present moment.

If God is in the present moment then we can trust that God is manifest in our duty. We participate in God through fidelity to necessity. This is a profound teaching.

Duty is passive and active: passive is to do only what is from the impulse of the Holy Spirit, active is to do it whenever new directives come to our attention. So we do not do anything but what the impulse of the Holy Spirit dictates and we do only what we understand as our duty in this instant.

The practice shifts our experience of God. At first we are in God then God is in us. We actually sense God in us acting through us and extending His presence with our actions that are ordinary duty.

This is such a profound distinction so let me try to explain it: If we act “In God” apostolic acts are required, a rule of life is prescribed, and direction is provided. It is hard work and we do our duty.

When the shift takes place and we experience “God in us”. We become like empty clay pots with no utility of our own design. We are broken pieces thrown in the corner.

From time to time we are reconstituted and called out for some assignment. We follow because God leads. Being present with full attention is the practice:

we do God's will moment by moment and we surrender wholeheartedly any concern about fruits of action (outcomes). We place ourselves in God's hands and have no inner commentary about how we did and how what we did unfolded. We know not if we will be of any benefit to ourselves or others. All interiority and exteriority is God.

In both levels of abandonment we disengage the intellect and affect from self-reflexiveness so that we attend to the necessity of duty. Prayer is not a conversation or a mantra. Prayer is no-thought, a self-less acting in faith. All will be well if we abandon ourselves to God. The abandonment is the prayer.

Our part is to be present to the moment. This mindfulness can be done because the present moment is offered to everyone. This wonderful practice, Abandonment to the Present Moment, avoids the problems of quietism since we take responsibility for right effort and performing our duty according to the prompting of the Holy Spirit moment by moment.

This Practice of Abandonment also avoids the distinctions offered through different prayer practices. It does not matter whether we prefer devotion in meditation or imageless prayer of contemplation. The actual present moment is the guiding method.

In the text the author writes with style and grace and repeats many times these recommendations. If we are to take up this practice:

We refrain from thoughts of past or future because the practice is faith in the moment. 

In faith we see God's signs in the present moment. 


In this very moment we see the hand of God and we submit to God's will rather than our will. We reduce our curiosity to see less and believe more. It is a practice of faith. We measure our results by abandonment and surrender rather than by outcomes. 


We humbly let God be the judge. I see only the now. God holds the big picture. 

For ourselves we expect mystery and limitations. It would be against the spirit and practice of this method to grumble, complain or show signs of non-verbal resistance. This discipline of acceptance is not only exterior but also interior. We refrain from inner murmuring and outer grumbling. 


The present moment delights us. We see the present moment as opportunity for grace and mystery. It is our source of holiness. 

The practice gains intensity and we begin to actually anticipate surrender and receive opportunities of surrender wholeheartedly. We practice docility and accept changes willingly. We ask no questions about Gods design for us. 


The test of this practice is to accept humiliations as part of the path. We disregard our natural resistance and apparent opposition to the demands of the present moment. We are confident and count on God's grace. We know this grace follows along with our willingness to undergo difficulties. Our job is to attend to the now wherein we do our duty, as it is God's will. 


In this path we prefer to be hidden and ordinary, as anonymity helps us replace self with faith. There's a freedom here and low stress as we learn to do only what is inspired by the impulse of grace___ no more and no less. All ambitions are ruled off the agenda. God's will, not our willfulness is our abiding desire.



There's also no need to discern one's state in life: duty names vocation. Doing our duty now in the moment is more salvific than moving toward higher states in life like becoming a religious or hermit. We actually bring together our will, our intellect and our imagination to a single point in the present moment. This one-pointedness leads to purity of heart. 

We do not become deadened with this practice because we are alert to change because each moment contains the Holy Spirit's guidance. Docility and supple readiness is our abiding disposition. 

In summary, we do our part and leave the rest to God. This one thing or thought at a time (done reverently) in this moment is God. We abandon ourselves and receive God.



Recommended Text: Practice of Self Abandonment to the Present Moment



Caussade, Jean Pierre de. Abandonment to Divine Providence. Trans. John Beevers. Garden City, NY: Image Books, 1975.