We must needs yield to God when He urges us to let Him reign within us.
Did you hesitate or resist so much when the world sought to seduce you through its passions and pleasures ? Did you resist evil as stoutly as you resist what is good ? When it is a question of going astray, being corrupted, lost, of acting against the inmost consciousness of heart and reason by indulging vanity or sensual pleasure, we are not so afraid of "going too far;" we choose, we yield unreservedly: But when the question is to believe that we, who did not make ourselves, were made by an All-wise, All-powerful Hand -- to
acknowledge that we owe all to Him from Whom we received all, and Who made us for Himself; then we begin to hesitate, to deliberate, to foster subtle doubts as to the simplest, plainest matters; we are afraid of being credulous, we mistrust our own feelings, we shift our ground, we fear to give too much to Him for Whom nothing can be too much, though we never gave Him anything yet; we are actually ashamed of ceasing to be ungrateful, and of letting the world see that we want to serve Him ! In a word, we are as timid, shrinking, and shy about what is good, as we were bold and unhesitatingly decided concerning what is evil.
All I would ask of you is simply now to follow the leadings of your inmost heart towards what is good, as you once followed those of your worldly passions towards evil. Whenever you will examine the foundation of your religion, you will easily see that there is nothing substantial to be said against it, and that those who oppose it do so only to evade the rules of holy living, rejecting God out of self-seeking. But in all honesty, is it fair to be so broad on behalf of self, and so narrow where God is concerned ?
Do not argue. Either listen to your own heart, in which God, so long forgotten, is now speaking lovingly, notwithstanding past unfaithfulness; or consult such friends as you know to be right-
minded and sincere. Ask them what they find God's service to be; whether they repent having pledged themselves to it, and whether they think they
were too credulous or too bold in their conversion ? They, like you, were in the world; ask whether they regret having forsaken it, and whether the intoxication of Babylon is sweeter than the peace of Zion ? No, indeed ! Whatever crosses may attend the Christian's life, he need never lose that blessed peace of heart through which one accepts
every suffering, desiring no happiness which God denies. Can the world give as much ? You can tell. Are men of the world always satisfied with everything that comes to them, content without all they have not ? Do they do all out of love and with their hearts ?
What are you afraid of ? Of leaving that which will soon leave you ? What are you afraid of ? Of following too much goodness, finding a too-loving God; of being drawn by an attraction which is stronger than self, or the charms of this poor world ?
What are you afraid of ? Of becoming too humble, too detached, too pure, too true, too reasonable, too grateful to your Father which is in
heaven ? I pray you, be afraid of nothing so much as of this false fear--- this foolish, worldly wisdom which hesitates between God and self, between vice and virtue, between gratitude and ingratitude, between life and death.
The Royal Way of the Cross
Letters and Spiritual Counsels of Francois de Salignac de la Mothe-Fenelon
Concerning a real conversion, pg. 19-21
Published by the Community of Jesus, Inc
Distributed by Rock Harbor Press