Live 4 The LORD

DIVINE PROVIDENCE 

Providence in general, or foresight, is a function of the virtue of prudence, and may be defined as the practical reason, adapting means to an end. 

As applied to God, Providence is God Himself considered in that act by which, in His wisdom, He so orders all events within the universe, that the end for which it was created may be realized. 

That end is that all creatures should manifest the glory of God, and in particular that man should glorify Him, recognizing in nature the work of His hand, serving Him in obedience and love, and thereby attaining to the full development of his nature and to eternal happiness in God. 

The universe is a system of real beings created by God and directed by Him to this supreme end, the concurrence of God being necessary for all natural operations, whether of things animate or inanimate, and still more so for operations of the supernatural order. 

God preserves the universe in being; He acts in and with every creature in each and all its activities. In spite of sin, which is due to the wilful perversion of human liberty, acting with the concurrence, but contrary to the purpose and intention of God and in spite of evil which is the consequence of sin, He directs all, even evil and sin itself, to the final end for which the universe was created. 

Even for an act of sin, Divine concurrence is necessary. For in spite of the wicked, God's counsels are never changed or thwarted. Evil He converts into good; and suffering He uses as an instrument whereby to train men up as a father traineth up his children. 

God is the sole ruler of the world. His will governs all things.  God made the universe and is its supreme Lord; 

He sustains the universe in its existence, giving life and breath to all things. 

He has directed the growth of nations and their distribution. 

Man should seek Him, in Whom we live and move and have our being, and whose offspring we are. 

Hence God in His anger gives man over to the desires of his heart, to a reprobate sense. Some day He will vindicate Himself, rendering to every man according to his works. 

He forbears and is ready to justify all men freely through the redemption of Jesus Christ; for all men stand in need of God's help. 

Christians, moreover, having already received the grace of redemption, should glory in tribulation, knowing that it is but a trial which strengtheneth patience and hope. For the graces that are to come are far greater than those already received and far more abundant than the consequences of sin. Life everlasting is promised to us. It is the grace of Christ that delivers us and makes us co-heirs with Him. Yet we must also suffer with Him and be patient, knowing that all things work together for good to them that love God; for God in His Providence has regarded us with love from all eternity, has predestined us to be made conformable to the image of His Son. 

All these operations on God's part, with the exception of creation, are attributed in Catholic theology to Divine Providence.

Questions about sin

Sin is not ordained by the will of God, though it happens with His permission. It can be ascribed to Providence only as a secondary result.

Sin is due to the abuse of free will; an abuse which was certainly foreseen by God, but could have been prevented only by depriving man of his most noble attribute. 

In this world man has to learn by experience and contrast, and to develop by the overcoming of obstacles. One reason therefore why God permits sin is that man may arrive at once at a consciousness of righteousness and of his own inability to attain it, and so may put his trust in God. God would not permit evil at all, unless He could draw good out of evil. Evil and suffering thus tend to the increase of merit, and in this way it becomes an agency for goodness. Evil, therefore, ministers to God's design. 

The council of Trent defines that evil is in the power of man, and that evil deeds are not to be attributed to God in the same sense as good deeds, but permissive only. 

The term "Providence", however, must not be taken too literally. It is not merely sight, or fore-sight. It involves more than mere vision or knowledge, for it implies the active disposition and arrangement of things with a view to a definite end; but it does not involve succession. God beholds all things together in one comprehensive act. 

All things, whether due to necessary causes or to the free choice of man, are foreseen by God and preordained in accordance with His all-embracing purpose.

He has created a universe, not a number of isolated beings. Whence it follows, according to St. Thomas, that natural operations tend to what is better for the whole, but not necessarily what is better for each part except in relation to the whole. 

Sin and suffering are evils because they are contrary to the good of the individual and to God's original purpose in regard to the individual, but they are not contrary to the good of the universe, and this good will ultimately be realized by the omnipotent Providence of God.