Part III, Chapter X

That We Must Treat Our Affairs with Diligence, but without Eagerness or Solicitude

The care and diligence with which we should attend to our concerns must never be confounded with anxiety and solicitude. The angels are careful of our salvation, and procure it with diligence, yet they are never agitated by anxiety and solicitude; for care and diligence naturally result from their charity, whereas solicitude and anxiety are utterly incompatible with their felicity; because the former may be accompanied by a calm and tranquil state of mind, whereas the latter never can.

Be careful and attentive, then, O Philothea! to all those affairs which God has committed to your care, for such a disposition in you is agreeable to the will of his divine Majesty, without suffering your care and attention to degenerate into inquietude or anxiety; be not flurried about them, for an over-solicitude disturbs the reason and judgment, and prevents us from doing that properly for the execution of which we are so eager and anxious.

When our Lord reprehended Martha, he said: “Martha, Martha, thou art solicitous, and art troubled about many things.” You must here observe, that she would not have been “troubled,” had she been but merely diligent; but, being over-concerned and disquieted, she hurried and troubled herself, and therefore received this reprehension from our Lord. As rivers, that flow slowly through the plains, bear large boats and rich merchandise; and the rain, which falls gently in the open fields, makes them fruitful in grass and corn; or, as torrents and rivers, which run rapidly, and overflow the grounds, ruin the bordering country, and render it unprofitable for culture; so, in like manner, vehement and tempestuous rains spoil the fields and meadows. That work is never well executed which is done with too much eagerness and hurry. We must listen leisurely, according to the proverb. “He that is in haste,” says Solomon (Proverbs 19:2), “is in danger of stumbling.” We perform our actions soon enough when we perform them well. As drones, although they make more noise, and are more eager at work than bees, make only wax, and no honey, so they that hurry themselves with a tormenting anxiety, and eager solicitude, never do much, and the little they do perform is never very profitable.

As flies do not trouble us by their strength, but by their multitudes, so affairs of importance give us not so much trouble as trifling ones, when they are in great number. Undertake, then, all your affairs with a calm and peaceable mind, and endeavor to despatch them in order, one after another; for, if you make an effort to do them all at once, or in disorder, your spirit will be so overcharged and depressed, that it will probably sink under the burden without effecting anything.

In all your affairs rely wholly on Divine Providence, through which alone you must look for success; labor, nevertheless, quietly on your part, to cooperate with its designs, and then you may be assured, if you trust, as you ought, in God, the success which shall come to you shall be always that which is the most profitable for you, whether it appear good or bad, according to your private judgment. Imitate little children, who, as they with one hand hold fast by their father, with the other gather strawberries or blackberries along the hedges; so you, gathering and handling the goods of this world with one hand, must with the other always hold fast the hand of your heavenly Father, turning yourself towards him, from time to time, to see if your actions or occupations be pleasing to him; but, above all things, take heed that you never leave his protecting hand, nor think to gather more; for, should he forsake you, you will not be able to go a step further without falling to the ground. My meaning is, Philothea, that amidst those ordinary affairs and occupations, that require not so earnest an attention, you should look more on God than on them; and when they are of such importance as to require your whole attention, that then, also, you should look, from time to time, towards God, like mariners, who, to arrive at the port to which they are bound, look more up towards heaven than down on the sea on which they sail; thus will God work with you, in you, and for you, and your labor shall be followed with consolation.

About ReligiousBookshelf.com · A Supernerd Media project