The Lettera Files: 04.06.2025

Wisdom from Jean-Pierre De Caussade

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My Olivetti Lettera 32

Dear reader,

Today’s Lettera File is a quote from the 300 year old writings of Jean-Pierre De Caussade, a French Catholic priest who acted, for a time, as the spiritual director of the Nuns of the Visitation.

Little is known about him. He only wrote one book about prayer that was, by all accounts, dry. What’s in the book quoted below, is a series of notes from letters to the nuns. They collected and preserved them, and 100 years later, the book was published. It is now a spiritual classic, with a sublime sense that was missing in the one book he wrote.

I got my hands on it because, recently, a penny dropped for me relating to a number of things I have thought about for many years. It happened while reading some work from Anthony De Mello, a Jesuit Priest. In the midst of reading De Mello’s book, designed for a wider audience, I wanted to get into the same topic through a more thoroughly Christian lens, and I saw someone else mention De Caussade’s book, The Sacrament of the Present Moment. It’s a beautiful read, and the below quote caught my attention as something that would be good to share here.

Today I will follow it up with a video from my chat on Life FM last week. It relates to the ah-ha moment that I had. The weird thing is that it’s nothing I haven’t thought about before… but we can know something without knowing it, if you know what I mean.

If you’re new here, I publish a Lettera File every Wednesday. They are typed on my Olivetti Lettera 32 (pictured above). Excuse any typos and formatting issues since I am using a typewriter where I can’t easily correct things.

This feature is always a short thought for contemplation whether you agree, disagree, or anything in between.

Here is today’s file followed by a transcription of the text in the image…