Often it is ignorant of its use, but God knows well. There, this soul, forsaken by creatures but in the enjoyment of God by a very real, true, and active love (active although infused in repose), does not attempt anything by its own impulse it only knows that it has to abandon itself and to remain in the hands of God to be used by Him as He pleases. The former soul undertakes an infinity of good works for the glory of God, the latter is often cast aside in a corner of the world like a bit of broken crockery, apparently of no use to anyone.

Everything that others discover with great difficulty this soul finds in abandonment, and what they guard with care in order to be able to find it again, this soul receives at the moment there is occasion for it, and afterwards relinquishes so as to admit nothing but exactly what God desires it to have in order to live by Him alone. God, who finds no purer disposition in His spouse than this entire self-renunciation for the sake of living the life of grace according to the divine operation, provides her with necessary books, thoughts, insight into her own soul, advice and counsel, and the examples of the wise. With eyes fixed on Heaven it waits peacefully and without anxiety for someone to come to its assistance. It feels keenly its wants and miseries without knowing from whence or when will come its relief. Its dwelling is in darkness, forgetfulness, abandonment, death and nothingness. No more books with marked passages for such a soul often enough it is even deprived of a regular director, for God allows it no other support than that which He gives it Himself. Nothing is provided for the future, no road is marked out, but it is like a child which can be led wherever one pleases, and has only feeling to distinguish what is presented to it. When God lives in the soul it has nothing left of self, but only that which the spirit which actuates it imparts to it at each moment. The guide is always at hand and everything is by rule, even the hours for conversation. The whole procedure is marked out the readings, the examinations, the resolutions. When the soul lives in God it is obliged to procure for itself carefully and very regularly, every means it can devise by which to arrive at the divine union. When God lives in the soul it ought to abandon itself entirely to His providence.

What is appropriate to one state is inconsistent with the other. There is a time when the soul lives in God, and a time when God lives in the soul.

Book abandonment to divine providence