Simplicity and Trust

There is no prudence so great as that which offers no resistence to enemies, and which opposes to them only a simple abandonment.  This is to run before the wind, and as there is nothing else to be done, to keep quiet and peaceful.  There is nothing that is more entirely opposed to worldly prudence than simplicity...

The soul in the state of abandonment can abstain from justifying itself by word or deed.  The divine action justifies it....the divine action is nothing else than the action of divine love....it makes the soul understand by secret suggestions what it ought to say, or to do, according to circumstances....

Divine love then, is to those who give themselves up to it without reserve, the principle of all good.  To acquire this inestimable treasure the only thing necessary is greatly to desire it.  Yes, God only asks for love, and if you seek this treasure, this kingdom in which God reigns alone, you will find it....

To desire to love God is truly to love Him, and because we love Him, we wish to become instruments of His action in order that His love may be exercised in, and by us.

(--from Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean Claude de Caussade)

Both Mohandis Gandhi and Martin Luther King knew the secret of peaceful, passive, resistence to injustice---that of standing quietly before their accusers and of not fighting back, but trusting all outcomes---even their own death and suffering--to Divine Providence.  Gandhi and King were not perfect people, but they were able to lead "armies" of passive resistence to unjust laws and cruel governments.  Before they took a step in public, they had turned their very lives over to the Most High, trusting that He had given them the mission they were about to undertake.  Neither of them sought their own glory or interests, but only the will of God and justice for their people--and they earnestly desired to be used as instruments of God's reign on earth.  They did not need to justify their actions; justice was before them always, in their bones, in their scriptures, in their God.

Both men are great examples of yesterday's entry from Sirach:  I sought to water my own little garden, and behold, this rivulet of mine became a river, then this stream of mine, a sea.  Thus do I send my teachings forth shining like the dawn, to become known far off.  Thus do I pour out instruction like prophecy and bestow it on generations to come.