The Human Will.
True virtue and pure love reside in the will alone. The question is not, What is the state of our feelings? But, What is the condition of our will? Let us will to have whatever we have, and not to have whatever we have not. We would not even be delivered from our sufferings, for it is God’s place to apportion to us our crosses and our joys. In the midst of affliction we rejoice, as did the apostles; but it is not joy of the feelings, joy of the will. The faithful soul has a will which is perfectly free; it accepts without questioning whatever bitter blessings God develops, wills them, loves them, and embraces them; it would not be freed from them if it could be accomplished by a simple wish; for such a wish would be an act originating in self and contrary to its abandonment to Providence; and it is desirous that this abandonment should be absolutely perfect.
The important question is, not how much you enjoy religion, but whether you will whatever God wills. The essence of virtue consists in the attitude of the will. That kingdom of God which is within us consists in our willing whatever God wills, always, in everything, without reservation. Thus nothing can ever come to pass against our wishes; for nothing can happen contrary to the will of God. The interior life is the beginning of the blessed peace of the saints, who eternally cry, Amen, Alleluia! We adore, we praise, we bless God in everything; we see Him incessantly, and in all things His paternal hand is the sole object of our contemplation. There are no longer any evils; for even the most terrible that can come upon us work together for our good. Can the suffering that God designs to purify us and make us worthy of Himself be called an evil?
Happy is he who never hesitates; who fears only that he follows with too little readiness; who would rather do too much against self than too little. Blessed is he who, when asked for a sample, boldly presents his entire stock and suffers God to cut from the whole cloth. It is thought that this state is a painful one. It is a mistake; here is peace and liberty; here the heart, detached from everything, is immeasurably enlarged, so as to become illimitable; nothing cramps it; and, in accordance with the promise, it becomes, in a certain sense, one with God Himself.
True progress does not consist in a multitude of views, nor in austerities, trouble, and strife; it is simply willing nothing and everything, without reservation and choice, cheerfully performing each day’s journey as Providence appoints it for us: seeking nothing, refusing nothing, finding everything in the present moment, and suffering God, who does everything, to do His pleasure in and by us without the slightest resistance.