By God's Providence or Divine Providence, God carries out His plan. Creation has its own goodness and proper perfection but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created "in a state of journeying" (in statu viae) toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained to which God has destined it. We call "divine providence" the disposition by which God guides his creation toward this perfection:

By his providence God protects and governs all things which he has made, "reaching mightily from one end of the earth to the other and ordering all well". For "all are open and laid bare to his eyes" even those things which are yet to come into existence through the free action of creatures. - CCC 302 - Wis. 8:1; Heb. 4:13 -

The witness of Scripture is unanimous that the solicitude of divine providence is concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history. The sacred books powerfully affirm God's absolute sovereignty over the course of events: "Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases". And so it is with Christ "who opens and no one shall shuts and no one opens". As the book of Proverbs states: "Many are the plans in the mind of a man but it is the purpose of the LORD that will be established". - CCC 303 - Ps. 115:3; Rev. 3:7; Prov. 19:21 -

And as we see the Holy Spirit, the principal author of Sacred Scripture often attributing actions to God without mentioning any secondary causes. This is not a "primitive mode of speech", "but a profound way of recalling God's primacy and absolute Lordship over history and the world, and so of educating his people to trust in him. The prayer of the Psalms is the great school of this trusts. - CCC 304 - Is. 10:5-15, 45:5-7; Deut. 32:39; Sirach 11:14; Ps. 22, 32, 35, 103, 138 -

Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children's smallest needs: "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?'... Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be yours as well". - CCC 305 - Matt. 6:31-33, 10:29-31 -

God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures' cooperation. This use is not a sign of weakness but rather a token of almighty God's greatness and goodness. For God grants his creatures not only their existence but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other, and thus of cooperating in the accomplishment of his plan. - CCC 306 -

To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of "subduing" the earth and having dominion over it. God thus enables men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creation, to perfect its harmony for their own good and that of their neighbours. Though often unconscious collaborators with God's will, they can also enter deliberately into the divine plan by their actions, their prayers and their sufferings. They then fully become "God's fellow workers" and co-workers for his kingdom. - CCC 307 - Gen. 1:26-28; Col. 1:24, 4:11; 1Cor. 3:9; 1Thess. 3:2 -

The truth that God is at work in all the actions of his creatures is inseparable from faith in God the Creator. God is the first cause who operates in and through secondary causes: "For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasures". Far from diminishing the creature's dignity, this truth enhances it. Drawn from nothingness by God's power, wisdom and goodness. it can do nothing if it is cut off from its origin, for "without a Creator the creature vanishes". Still less can a creature attain its ultimate end without the help of God's grace. - CCC 308 - Phil. 2:13; 1Cor. 12:6; Matt. 19:26; John 14:13, 15:5 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -