Classics with Commentary

Abandonment to Divine Providence

The Classic Text with a Spiritual Commentary by Dennis Billy, C.Ss.R.

Jean-Pierre de Caussade

Christian Classics Notre Dame, Indiana

Classics with Commentary, a series in the Christian Classics line devoted to rediscovering classic Christian literature, mines the depths of the rich tradition of Christian spirituality. Critical translations, accompanied by timely and accessible commentary and probing questions, revitalize these works for another generation of spiritual pilgrims.

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1993 and 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

© 2010 by Ave Maria Press, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews, without written permission from Christian Classics™, Ave Maria Press®, Inc., P.O. Box 428, Notre Dame, IN 46556.

Founded in 1865, Ave Maria Press is a ministry of the Indiana Province of Holy Cross.

www.christian-classics.com

ISBN-10 0-87061-253-0 ISBN-13 978-0-87061-253-4

Cover design by John R. Carson.

Cover photo: Finsiel/Alinari / Art Resource, NY

In memory of

my father

Michael Billy, Sr.,

(1924–2009)

in gratitude

and appreciation

for his deep love

and fatherly care

O bread of angels, heavenly manna,

the pearl of the Gospel, the sacrament of the present moment!

Abandonment to Divine Providence

Contents

Introduction

How to Read Abandonment to Divine Providence

Abandonment to Divine Providence

Book One

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Book Two

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Suggested Readings

Internet Resources

Introduction

The popular spiritual treatise commonly known as Abandonment to Divine Providence is widely renowned as one of the great classics of Western spirituality.1 Written late in the first half of the eighteenth century, it first circulated only in manuscript form and did not find its way into print until well over a century later. Although recent scholarship has raised serious concerns about its authorship, it has generally been attributed to the French Jesuit spiritual writer Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675–1751). One of Caussade’s assignments during his varied career as a priest and religious was his appointment in 1733 to the Jesuit retreat house in Nancy. It has been argued (and, until recently, nearly universally accepted) that the work was compiled from letters of spiritual direction he had written from there to the superior of the Visitation convent in that city.2

Despite its profound insights into the life of abandonment3 and the sacrament of the present moment, the treatise did not make its way beyond a small circle of nuns. In time, it was filed away in a convent archive, where it collected dust and eventually fell into obscurity. It received wide acclaim only years later, when ...