Life in God’s Now

Jean Pierre de Caussade, the author of the classic which came to be known as Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence, was known as a good preacher. Between 1731 and 1749 he was directing a retreat house in Nancy. Notes were taken of his conferences but they were not published in book form for a wider readership until 1860, more than a hundred years later. They were eventually edited and published by Henri Ramiere who gave it the title: Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence.

In his teaching de Caussade hones in upon the ‘littleness’ and ordinariness’ of the daily routine in which God must be found. God is NOW and God is HERE, otherewise God is NOWHERE. If God is not found in the here and now, we will not find him in musings about the future or futile regrets over the past.

Elizabeth Ruth Obbard was born into an army family and educated in England and Germany. After completing her schooling, she entered the Carmelite Order where she has been a contemplative nun for many years and is currently living in the Carmelite monastery in Quidenham, Norfolk. She has written and illustrated many books, particularly on the lives of saints.