QUOTATION: To Surrender Oneself to God

To surrender oneself is more than to devote oneself, more than to give oneself, it is even something more than to abandon oneself to God. In a word, to surrender oneself is to die to everything and to self, to be no longer concerned with self except to keep it continually turned toward God.

--St. Marie-Victoire Couderc

QUOTATION: Leave it in God's Hands

Let God dispose of our life, our reputation, and our honour as He pleases; they are all his.

--St. Francis de Sales

QUOTATION: The State of Grace

The greatest security we can have in this world that we are in the grace of God, does not consist in the feelings that we have of love to Him, but rather in an irrevocable abandonment of our whole being into His hands, and in a firm resolution never to consent to any sin great or small.

--St. Francis de Sales

QUOTATION: Resignation to God's Will

Cæsarius relates that in a certain monastery there was a Religious, upon whom God had so abundantly conferred the gift of miracles, that he cured the sick by the very touch of his habit or girdle. The abbot of the monastery taking notice of it, and not discerning any particular mark of sanctity in the Religious, took him aside, and forced him to discover whence it came, that God worked so many miracles by his means. I cannot conceive the reason, answered the Religious; for I do not fast more than others; I practice no more austerities and penances, than others; I neither work nor watch, nor do I spend more time in prayer and meditation than others do. All in reality I can say of myself is, that I am neither puffed up with prosperity, nor dejected with adversity; so that whatsoever happens, I am never discomposed, or troubled in mind; and in all the misfortunes which are annexed to this life, whether they fall upon me in particular, or my brethren in general, I always, notwithstanding, retain equal temper and peace of mind, as before. But were you not somewhat concerned, replied the abbot, when the enemy put fire to our farm and burnt it down? Not in the least, said the Religious; I was not at all troubled thereat: because I have long since resigned all things into the hands of God: and so, let whatever happen, whether good or bad, great or small, I receive them with equal thanksgiving, as coming from the hand of the Almighty. By this, the abbot clearly understood that doubtless this resignation was the cause of the many miracles which God wrought by this holy man. (Op. Cit. Volume I of III, The Eighth Treatise - Of Conformity to the Will of God).

--St. Alphonsus Rodriguez

QUOTATION: Resignation to God's Will

Let us throw ourselves into the arms of God, and be sure that if He wishes to accomplish anything by us, He will qualify us for all He desires us to do for Him. When the soul lies resignedly in the hands of God, and is contented with the Divine pleasure, she is in good hands, and has the best security that good will happen to her. Entire conformity and resignation to the Divine will is truly a road on which we cannot go wrong, and it is the only road which leads us to taste and enjoy that peace which sensual and earthly men know nothing of.

--St. Philip Neri

QUOTATION: Self-Surrender

There are very few people who realize what God would make of them if they abandoned themselves into his hands.

--St Ignatius Loyola

QUTOATION: Self-Surrender

The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self--all your wishes and precautions--to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call "ourselves," to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be "good."


-- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

QUOTATION: You cannot have two masters

You either belong wholly to the world or wholly to God.

--St. Jean Vianney (The Cure d’Ars)

QUOTATION: At Jesus' Disposal

We are at Jesus' disposal. If he wants you to be sick in bed, if he wants you to proclaim His work in the street, if he wants you to clean the toilets all day, that's all right, everything is all right. We must say, "I belong to you. You can do whatever you like." And this ..is our strength, and this is the joy of the Lord.

-- Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

QUOTATION: The Unconditional Yes

When you say Yes to God unconditionally, you have no idea how far this Yes is going to take you. Certainly farther than you can guess and calculate beforehand... but just how far and in what form? At the same time, this Yes is the sole, non-negotiable prerequisite of all Christian understanding, of all theology and ecclesial wisdom.

-- Hans Urs Von Balthasar

QUOTATION: Self-Will

The human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well with it.

--C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain