Overcoming anxiety, inquietude, and worry by Fenelon

XLIII. 
FOREBODINGS TO BE AVOIDED. 

CAMBRAI, June 10, 1701. 

I HAD hoped, Madame, to find you here, and was re- 
joicing in that hope, but God has sent you elsewhere. 
Well, the best place is wherever He sends one, and any 
other would be undesirable, all the more because it was 
our own choice. ... I am glad that the spiritual guide 
you have found seems likely to help you. I like and 
esteem him much, and am certain he might often do you 
good ; but I do not mean to give you up myself. We 
were brought together by God, and so our union must 
last. I see nothing likely to remove me from hence, and 
there is no foundation at all for what you heard. So do 
not dwell upon these unlikely events ; such forebodings 
as to the future are not wholesome for you. When God 
sends you help, try to see Him only in it, and take such 
help from day to day, as the Israelites their manna, with- 
out anxious thought for the morrow's provision. 

Two things are essential to the life of pure faith : first, 
it teaches you always to see God behind all the frail 
agents He uses ; and next, it keeps the soul ever in a 
state of suspense. One is, so to say, always in mid-air, 
without being able to touch the ground ; one can never 
calculate from moment to moment on the help that will 
be given. We must leave to God whatever depends upon 
Him, and only try to be faithful in whatever depends 
upon ourselves. This dependence from hour to hour, 
this shadow, this calm amid uncertainty, is a silent but 
real martyrdom like that of a slow fire. It is so slow 
and interior, that it is almost as imperceptible, even to 
the soul which endures it, as to those without. When 
God takes away that which once He gave you, He knows 
very well how to replace it, either through other means 
or by Himself. He is able to raise up children to 
Abraham from the stones.' When S. Paul the Hermit was 
in a solitary desert, a raven brought him half a loaf daily. 
If the Saint had been mistrustful, and wanted to secure 
his next day's bread, perhaps the raven would not have 
returned. Do you eat your half loaf quietly as your 
raven brings it " The morrow shall take thought for 
* Luke iii. 8. the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil 
thereof." 1 He Who feeds you to-day will feed you to- 
morrow; and manna will fall again, as in the desert, before 
God's children will be left hungry.

 http://archive.org/details/spiritualletters00fnuoft

French version   http://archive.org/stream/oeuversdefenelo00fenegoog#page/n15/mode/2up

 Evitez les prévoyances , et vivre de foi et d'aban- 
don á Dieu 

Ne songez poínt a des choses éloignées; cette 
inquiétude sur l'avenir est contraire a votre gráce. 
Quand Dieu vous donne un secours ne regardez que 
luí seul dáns le secours qui vous est donné , et prenez- 
le chaque jour comme les Israélites prenoient la 
manne sans en faire jamáis de provisión d'un jour 
a l'autre. La vie de pure foí a deux choses. La pre- 
miére est qu'elle fait voir Dieu seul sous toutes les 
enyeloppes imparfaites oü il se cache ; la seconde est 
de tenir une ame sans cesse en suspens. On est tou- 
jours comme en l'air sans pouvoir toucher du pied á 
terre. La consolation d'un moment ne répond jamáis 
de la consolation du moment qui suivra. Il faut laisser 
faire Djeu dans tout ce qui dépend de lui» et ne 
songer qu'á étre fidéles dans tout ce qui dépend de 
nous. Cette dépendance de moment á autre » cette 
obscurité et cette paix de l'ame dans I'incertitude 
de ce qui lui doit arriver chaque jour , est un vrai 
martyre qui s'opere sans bruit. C'est etre brülé a 
petit feu. Cette mort est si lente et si interne qu'elle 
est souvent presque aussi cachee á l'ame qui la souffre 
qu'aux personnes qui ignorent son état. Quand Dieu 
vous otera ce qu'il vous donne il saura bien le remplacer 
ou par d'autres instrumens, oupar lui-méme. Les 
ou par lui meme. Les pierres memes deviennent 
dans sa main des enfants d'Abraham. 
Un corbeau portoit tous les jours la 
moítié d'un pain á saint Paul ermite , dans un désert 
inconnu aux bommes. Si le saint eut hesité dans la 
foi et s'il eut youIu s'ássurer un jour d'un autre 
demi-pain pour le jour suivant, le corbeau ne seroit 
peut-étre point revenu. Mangez donc en paix le demi- 
pain de chaque jour que le corbeau vous apporte. ( i ) 
A chaque jour suffit son maL Le jour de demain 
aura soin de lui-méme. Celui qui nourrit aujourd'hui 
est le meme qui nourríra demain. On reverra la manne 
tomber du ciel dans le désért plutot que de laisser 
les enfants de Dieu sans nourriture.