The Joy of Divine Surrender: Insights from a Short Encounter with an Octogenarian Jesuit Priest

In 2005, when I was in the Ateneo de Manila University during my doctoral studies in Philosophy, I came to meet an old Jesuit priest whose inner joy was so profound and so serene that I could feel his spiritual warmth radiating on me just by being with him even in a room filled with people. I was present when one of my Philosophy professors asked this holy priest the secret of his inner peace and joy. The latter sincerely responded to the query by saying: “Naisuko ko na ang lahat at wala na akong anuman o’ iba pang hiling… (I have surrendered everything and there is nothing I desire anymore). How I wish that I can also say these simple words from the bottom of my heart! It is this sort of freedom, this self-surrender, this kind of detachment and equanimity that made this holy priest maintain his inward joy and inner equipoise that can be palpably felt even by those who simply come to his presence.

This octogenarian Jesuit priest’s secret to inner peace and joy has so many precious things to teach us. Real happiness is one that is not dependent on what we have, or on what we are, or on what others may think or say about us. True happiness, for this holy priest, is one that is not achieved by having the world’s most sought-after possessions, is not dependent upon our social and professional status, is not gained by external acclaims coming from our career-life. This priest’s happiness is not tied to being popular or successful or rich; nor does it depend on what is mundane, tangible and ephemeral but on what is inward, spiritual and eternal. This kind of happiness comes from interior contentment brought about by “letting-life be” and by “letting-go” of the obsessive urge to be always in control with every circumstance and with every situation in life. When we have surrendered everything, then nothing can be taken away from us, we have become free like the wind. When one does not hanker for anything, then there is nothing that makes us envy others or covet what they have. Nothing can prevent us from experiencing genuine happiness when our joy is deeply hidden within our very being instead of expecting our happiness from people, events and things.

I must honestly confess that I am no big fan of those Post-Reformation English Puritans in their religious rigidity, narrow fundamentalism, intolerant judgmentalism and ethical dogmatism. But I really like one of the choruses they had for their children in Sunday School because this song can teach us a lot about what I want to refer here in my present essay as “holy emptiness and sacred resignation to the Joy beyond our joys”. The song goes like this:

“Oh, the joy of having nothing,
Being nothing, seeing nothing;
But just this living Christ in glory.
Oh, the joy of having nothing,
Being nothing, seeing nothing;
And being careful for nothing,
But only for this living Christ in glory
And His Interest here on earth!”

(See: J. N. Darby, Selected Hymns for Children in the Reformed Church of Scotland. Hymn #39.)

When that old holy Jesuit priest said: “Naisuko ko na ang lahat at wala na akong anuman o’ iba pang hiling”, he is in effect saying that this transcendental holy emptiness is a free choice coming from our freedom to make ourselves totally and fully available to the Lord. If we abandon ourselves and all of our affairs to God and empty ourselves of everything except Him and Him alone, then we have chosen the best of all choices, for it is God and His Kingdom that we ultimately choose to become our portion in this life—and this choice is an everlasting portion, and this choice for God is the best choice to be!

Reminiscing the beautiful yet frail face of this holy priest made me realize this very important truth: real happiness is such that it can never be taken away from us, and if we are truly contented with our life, there is no event or circumstance that can rob us of the innermost joy that comes from divine surrender, equanimity and detachment. By letting go and by letting be, we rid ourselves of all our unnecessary attachments to all that is untrue, trivial, superficial and ephemeral in our lives—in short, we remove all those things that weigh us down and all things that bind us to this mundane existence so that we can be truly free to respond to the Lord’s invitation and follow His leading in our lives… May the Lord have mercy upon us and may His grace enable us to let-go and let-be, so that we will be wholly surrendered and absolutely available to Him and Him alone—beginning today and for the remaining days of our life on earth. Amen, a thousand times, Amen!