Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure, S.J.
This book is by Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure, S.J. (1588-1657), with an added extract from the writings of St. Claude de la Colombiere, S.J. (1641-1682). Both men were eminent Jesuit thinkers and ascetical spiritual writers of the 17th century.
Perseverance in Prayer
If you want all your prayers to be answered without fail and oblige God to meet all your wishes, the first thing is never to stop praying. Those who get tired after praying for a time are lacking in either humility or confidence, and so do not deserve to be heard. You would think that…
Trustful Surrender in Poverty and Its Hardships
We ought to conform to God’s Will in poverty and all the inconveniences poverty brings in its train. It is not too hard to do so if we fully realize that God watches over us as a father over his children and puts us in that condition because it is of most value to us.…
When God Sends Us Trials
If you would be convinced that in all He allows and in all that happens to you God has no other end in view but your real advantage and your eternal happiness, reflect a moment on all He has done for you; you are now suffering, but remember that the author of this suffering is…
Advantages from Conformity to the Divine Will
Our sanctification is God’s aim in all His dealings with us. What would He not do for His own honor and our good if we would only let Him! The heavens make no resistance to the spirits that guide them and their motion is magnificent, orderly and useful; they declare aloud the glory of God…
Trials and Punishments are Blessings From God and Proof of His Mercy
Looking, St. Paul tells us, towards the author and finisher of faith, Jesus (the only begotten and beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased). . . .Consider then him who endured such opposition from sinners against himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. For you have not yet resisted…
God Controls All Events, Whether Good or Bad
Nothing happens in the the universe without God willing and allowing it. This statement must be taken absolutely of everything with the exception of sin. ‘Nothing occurs by chance in the whole course of our lives’ is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, ‘and God intervenes everywhere.’ I am the…
Practice of Conformity to God (PART II)
In Reverses of Fortune We should accept with the same conformity to the will of God the loss of employment or money and all other setbacks in our temporal affairs, repeating with faith the words of Job: “The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away; as it has pleased the Lord, so it…
Practice of Conformity to God (PART I)
The Practice of Conformity to the Will of God To the question, “In what things should we practice conformity to the will of God?” there can be only one answer: “In everything.” The first thing that God asks of us is that we should faithfully keep His commandments and those of the Church, humbly obey…