Live under God’s providence

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

 

WE have to remind ourselves strongly about this fundamental truth about ourselves. That’s because we are practically forgetting it and are increasingly suffering the dire consequences.

We have to live under God’s providence, understanding first of all what providence is. Many of us are ignorant of this basic truth, even if in the many fields of human endeavor, we have reached the highest limits.

As our Catechism puts it, providence are “the dispositions by which God guides his creation toward their perfection…By his providence God protects and governs all things which he has made…(n. 302)

Furthermore, the Catechism says 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.” (n. 303)

We need to understand that as God’s creatures, our creation is still in the making. We are still being formed and led to our perfection, which is none other than to be God’s image and likeness, children of his and sharers of his divine life in the eternity of heaven.

But precisely because of the way God has created us, endowing us with intelligence and will, and giving us his grace, we are meant to correspond to his creative work on us, a work that now includes a redemptive aspect since we messed up the original design God intended for us.

We have to realize then that God is constantly intervening in our lives, a reality that we should always acknowledge and correspond to properly. This is what is meant by God’s providence over us. Thus, we should be always aware that we ought to live under God’s providence, corresponding to it as best that we can.

We need to understand that God is always with us and is actively intervening in our lives. There is nothing in our life where God is not present or where he is inactive. This is the objective truth about God and us, whether we are aware of it or not, believe in it or not.

Obviously, we have to try our best to correspond to God’s constant presence and interventions. That is why, we need to cultivate our spiritual life, our relation with God which is otherwise called as our religion, that has to be constantly nourished through a life of piety that should be kept as vibrant as possible.

Otherwise, there is no other way but to fall into self-indulgence that has no other possible end than tragedy. We would be easy prey to our weaknesses, the many temptations around and sin itself.

That is why the Catechism tells us that “Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children’s smallest needs.” (n. 305). We should not dare to live solely on our own, something that we need effort to uphold, since our tendency is to think that we can simply be on our own.

This basic truth about our need to live under God’s providence should be inculcated on everyone as early as possible, giving out the appropriate means to make this ideal a reality. As the day wears on, we should be asking questions like, “Lord, what do you want me to do now, etc.?”

What definitely a wonderful world we would have if all of us learn to live under God’s providence!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com