Instead of resolutions, try acts of abandonment

This gorgeous prayer from St. Jane Frances de Chantal will help.

“Distrust self and trust only and continuously in God, persuaded that not able to do anything by yourselves, you can do all with His grace and powerful help”  St. Jane Frances de Chantal

It’s not fair. I’ll let God work it out.

I don’t get it. But I accept it. God please be in this situation.

This isn’t what I prayed for. But You know better.

These are what a holy friend of mine calls “little acts of abandonment.”

Each time we abandon ourselves to God’s plan, we are trusting in Divine Providence that His plan is better than ours.

For many of us, it doesn’t come naturally at first … or ever. It’s not my tendency to take the criticisms of a woman I work with and offer it up in an act of abandonment. It’s not my tendency to keep my mouth shut and offer it as a prayer.

Nor is it my tendency to stop worrying about this or that situation. Will my son come back to the Church? Will my friend stop smoking? Am I making the right decision? Will my cousin’s daughter keep her baby?

These are the situations I’ve had to train myself to turn into “acts of abandonment” to God, entrusting each one to His care, and asking the Blessed Mother to take on as the Mother of all prayers. I’ve found that the more I commit to this, the more the stressing and complaining are less and the abandonment comes more readily.

St. Jane Frances de Chantal wrote this beautiful prayer of abandonment:

O sovereign goodness of the sovereign Providence of my God!
I abandon myself forever to Thy arms.
Whether gentle or severe,
lead me henceforth whither Thou wilt;
I will not regard the way through which Thou wilt have me pass,
but keep my eyes fixed upon Thee,
my God, who guidest me.
My soul finds no rest without the arms
and the bosom of this heavenly Providence,
my true Mother, my strength and my rampart.

Therefore I resolve with Thy Divine assistance,
O my Savior,
to follow Thy desires and Thy ordinances,
without regarding or examining why Thou dost this rather than that;
but I will blindly follow Thee
according to Thy Divine will,
without seeking my own inclinations.

Hence I am determined to leave all to Thee,
taking no part therein save by keeping myself in peace in Thy arms,
desiring nothing except as Thou incitest me to desire,
to will, to wish.
I offer Thee this desire, 0 my God,
beseeching Thee to bless it;
I undertake all it includes,
relying on Thy goodness,
liberality, and mercy,
with entire confidence in Thee,
distrust of myself,
and knowledge of my infinite misery and infirmity.

Amen!