1) God has foreseen and willed all things from eternity, permitting evil but ensuring all contributes to spiritual welfare.
2) When difficulties arise, one should abandon themselves to God's will through prayer and fidelity to grace, seeking solutions through God rather than introspection.
3) God's providence governs all things through secondary causes for His glory and the good of His people.
1) God has foreseen and willed all things from eternity, permitting evil but ensuring all contributes to spiritual welfare.
2) When difficulties arise, one should abandon themselves to God's will through prayer and fidelity to grace, seeking solutions through God rather than introspection.
3) God's providence governs all things through secondary causes for His glory and the good of His people.
1) God has foreseen and willed all things from eternity, permitting evil but ensuring all contributes to spiritual welfare.
2) When difficulties arise, one should abandon themselves to God's will through prayer and fidelity to grace, seeking solutions through God rather than introspection.
3) God's providence governs all things through secondary causes for His glory and the good of His people.
1) God has foreseen and willed all things from eternity, permitting evil but ensuring all contributes to spiritual welfare.
2) When difficulties arise, one should abandon themselves to God's will through prayer and fidelity to grace, seeking solutions through God rather than introspection.
3) God's providence governs all things through secondary causes for His glory and the good of His people.
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DIVINE PROVIDENCE which is the manifestation of His goodness and infinite
perfections, and the glory of the God-man-Jesus Christ, His only
By Father Reginald Garrigou Lagrange, O.P. Son. As St. Paul says, "All are yours. And you are Christ's. And Christ is God's." (1 Cor. 2: 23) In times of great affliction not a few interior souls have found peace and even joy, though circumstances continued to give In addition to these two principles, there is a third, which St. Paul immense pain, when through God's inspiration they have states thus: "We know that to them that love God all things work conceived the idea of making a vow of self-abandonment to together unto good: to such as, according to His purpose, are Providence. called to be saints." (Rom. 8: 28) Almighty God sees to it that everything contributes to their spiritual welfare, not only the grace When a soul is prompted by grace to make such a vow and is He bestows on them, not only those natural qualities He endows firmly resolved not to divorce self-abandonment from fidelity to them with, but sickness too, and contradictions and reverses; as St. daily duties, this form may be used. Renew it daily during a prayer Augustine tells us, even their very sins, which God only permits in of thanksgiving. order to lead them on to a truer humility and thereby to a purer Whenever the will of God is expressed in a cross, I will yield love. It was thus He permitted the threefold denial of St. Peter, to myself to it entirely and with a note of joy, paying no regard to make the great Apostle more humble, more mistrustful of self, and what was instrumental in bringing it about. In difficulties that in by this very means become stronger and trust more in the divine any way distress me I will avoid all self-probing introspection and mercy. idle pre-occupations; I will steep myself more deeply in confidence, and seek to solve my difficulties through the action of N.B. grace. I will take up this attitude of mind and heart and plunge Providence literally means foresight, but is generally used to denote Almighty myself in God the instant something occurs to wound me. And all God's preserving and governing all things by means of second causes (Ps. this I will do with an exceeding great love. 18:35; 63:8; Acts 17:28; Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3). Almighty God's providence extends to the natural world (Ps. 104:14; 135:5-7; Acts 14:17), the brute This self-abandonment, should be accompanied by close fidelity to creation (Ps. 104:21-29; Matt. 6:26; 10:29), and the affairs of men (Ps. 47:7; grace and illuminations received in prayer. Prov. 21:1; Job 12:23; Dan. 2:21; 4:25), and of individuals (1 Sam. 2:6; Ps. 18:30; Luke 1:53; James 4:13-15). It extends also to the free actions of men The first principle is that everything which comes to pass has been (Ex. 12:36; 1 Sam. 24:9-15; Ps. 33:14, 15; Prov. 16:1; 19:21; 20:24; 21:1), and foreseen by Almighty God from all eternity and has been willed things sinful (2 Sam. 16:10; 24:1; Rom. 11:32; Acts 4:27, 28), as well as to their by Him or at least permitted by Him. Nothing comes to pass either good actions (Phil. 2:13; 4:13; 2 Cor. 12:9, 10; Eph. 2:10; Gal. 5:22-25). As in the material or the spiritual world, but God has foreseen it from regards sinful actions of men, they are represented as occurring by Almighty all eternity; because with Him there is no passing from ignorance God's permission (Gen. 45:5; 50:20. Comp. 1 Sam. 6:6; Ex. 7:13; 14:17; Acts 2:3; 3:18; 4:27, 28), and as controlled (Ps. 76:10) and overruled for good (Gen. to knowledge as with us, and He has nothing to learn from events 50:20; Acts 3:13). Almighty God does not cause or approve of sin, but only as they occur. Not only has God foreseen everything that is limits, restrains, overrules it for good. The mode of Almighty God's providential happening now or will happen in the future, but whatever reality government is altogether unexplained. We only know that it is a fact that and goodness there is in these things He has willed; and whatever Almighty God does govern all his creatures and all their actions; that this evil or moral disorder is in them, He has merely permitted. Holy government is universal (Ps. 103:17-19), particular (Matt. 10:29-31), efficacious (Ps. 33:11; Job 23:13), embraces events apparently contingent Scripture is explicit on this point, and, as the councils have (Prov. 16:9, 33; 19:21; 21:1), is consistent with his own perfection (2 Tim. declared, no room is left for doubt in the matter. 2:13), and to his own glory (Rom. 9:17; 11:36). The second principle is that nothing can be willed or permitted by God that does not contribute to the end He purposed in creating,
