03-18-2021, 08:07 PM
Exercise In Conformity to Divine Providence (page 131)
1. ACT OF FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY
2. ACT OF FILIAL SUBMISSION TO PROVIDENCE
3. USEFULNESS OF THIS EXERCISE
The practice of this exercise is of great importance because of the advantages it always confers on those who undertake it devoutly.
Act of Faith, Hope and Charity
First make an act of faith in God's Providence. Meditate well on the truth that God's continual care extends not only to all things
in general but to each particular thing, and especially to ourselves, our souls and bodies, and everything that concerns us. Nothing
escapes His loving watchfulness -- our work, our daily needs, our health as well as our infirmities, our life and our death, even the
smallest hair on our head which cannot fall without His permission. After this act of faith, make an act of hope. Excite in yourself a
firm trust that God will provide for all you need, will direct and protect you with more than a father's love and vigilance, and guide
you in such a way that, whatever happens, if you submit to Him everything will turn out for your happiness and advantage, even the
things that may seem quite the opposite.
To these two an act of charity should be added. Show your deep love and attachment for Divine Providence as a child shows for
its mother by taking refuge in her arms. Say how highly you esteem all His intentions, however hidden they may be, in the knowledge
that they spring from an infinite wisdom which cannot make a mistake and supreme goodness which can wish only the perfection of
His creatures. Determine that this feeling will have a practical result in making you ready to speak out in defense of Providence whenever
you hear it denied or criticized.
Act of Filial Submission to Providence
After repeating these acts several times with fervor, commit your soul lovingly to Divine Providence as a child rests and sleeps in
its mother's arms. Make your own the words of David: I will lie down and sleep in peace, for thou alone, O Lord, hast established me in
hope. 78 Or again in the words of the psalm:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff that give me courage.
You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
For years to come. 79
Filled with the joy these consoling words inspire, the soul can trustfully accept from Divine Providence whatever happens now or
in the future with tranquility and peace of mind. Its happiness is that of a child who feels protected and secure. Not that it lives in idle
expectation of what it needs or neglects to occupy itself with the affairs of daily life. On the contrary it does all in its power and
employs all its faculties in attending to them well.
But what it does it does under God's guidance and regards its own judgment as entirely subject to God's. It freely entrusts
everything to His governance without expecting any other result from its actions but what is in accordance with His will.
78 Ps. 4:9
79 id. 22:1-6
3. Usefulness of This Exercise
What honor and glory is given to God by the soul that acts thus!
It is a great glory for Him to have a creature so attached to His Providence, so dependent on Him, full of such firm hope and peace of
mind in the expectation of what He will send. His concern for such a one is redoubled, He watches over the slightest things that are of
interest to him and inspires those who are over him to act prudently; and if for any reason they try to act in a manner harmful to him, He
prevents them in the hidden ways of His Providence from carrying out their designs and compels them to do only what is to his
advantage.
Thus the Lord keeps those who love Him. 80 If the Scriptures speak of God as having eyes, it is in order to watch over them; as
having ears, to hear them; as having hands, to defend them. And those who touch them, touch the apple of His eye. I shall carry you in
my arms, He says by the mouth of the prophet Isaias, I shall caress you upon My knees. As one whom his mother caresses, so will I
comfort you 81 And in Osee: I was like a foster father to Ephraim, I carried them in my arms. 82 Long before Moses had said: In the
desert the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his child, all along your journey until you arrived at this place. 83 Again God says
in Isaias: You shall be nursed with the breasts of kings, and you shall know that I am the Lord your Savior and your Redeemer. 84
In the person of Noah we can find a figure of the happiness of the man who throws himself entirely upon God. While the floodgates
of heaven were opened and the world was laid in ruin Noah was safe and at peace in the ark because God was guiding him. Others
remained at the mercy of the waters, losing all they had, their families, their lives. Thus the man who entrusts himself to
Providence, lets God be the pilot of his bark, floats tranquilly on the ocean of life in the midst of storm and tempest, while those who try
to guide themselves are in continual unrest, and their only pilot being their own inconstant will, they are tossed about by sea and
wind until they end in shipwreck.
Let us then trust ourselves entirely to God and His Providence and leave Him complete power to order our lives, turning to Him
lovingly in every need and awaiting His help without anxiety. Leave everything to Him and He will provide us with everything, at the
time and in the place and in the manner best suited. He will lead us on our way to that happiness and peace of mind for which we are
destined in this life as a foretaste of the everlasting happiness we have been promised.
80 Ps. 144:20
81 Is. 66:12-13
82 Osee 11:3
83 Deut. 1:31
84 Is. 60:16
1. ACT OF FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY
2. ACT OF FILIAL SUBMISSION TO PROVIDENCE
3. USEFULNESS OF THIS EXERCISE
The practice of this exercise is of great importance because of the advantages it always confers on those who undertake it devoutly.
Act of Faith, Hope and Charity
First make an act of faith in God's Providence. Meditate well on the truth that God's continual care extends not only to all things
in general but to each particular thing, and especially to ourselves, our souls and bodies, and everything that concerns us. Nothing
escapes His loving watchfulness -- our work, our daily needs, our health as well as our infirmities, our life and our death, even the
smallest hair on our head which cannot fall without His permission. After this act of faith, make an act of hope. Excite in yourself a
firm trust that God will provide for all you need, will direct and protect you with more than a father's love and vigilance, and guide
you in such a way that, whatever happens, if you submit to Him everything will turn out for your happiness and advantage, even the
things that may seem quite the opposite.
To these two an act of charity should be added. Show your deep love and attachment for Divine Providence as a child shows for
its mother by taking refuge in her arms. Say how highly you esteem all His intentions, however hidden they may be, in the knowledge
that they spring from an infinite wisdom which cannot make a mistake and supreme goodness which can wish only the perfection of
His creatures. Determine that this feeling will have a practical result in making you ready to speak out in defense of Providence whenever
you hear it denied or criticized.
Act of Filial Submission to Providence
After repeating these acts several times with fervor, commit your soul lovingly to Divine Providence as a child rests and sleeps in
its mother's arms. Make your own the words of David: I will lie down and sleep in peace, for thou alone, O Lord, hast established me in
hope. 78 Or again in the words of the psalm:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff that give me courage.
You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
For years to come. 79
Filled with the joy these consoling words inspire, the soul can trustfully accept from Divine Providence whatever happens now or
in the future with tranquility and peace of mind. Its happiness is that of a child who feels protected and secure. Not that it lives in idle
expectation of what it needs or neglects to occupy itself with the affairs of daily life. On the contrary it does all in its power and
employs all its faculties in attending to them well.
But what it does it does under God's guidance and regards its own judgment as entirely subject to God's. It freely entrusts
everything to His governance without expecting any other result from its actions but what is in accordance with His will.
78 Ps. 4:9
79 id. 22:1-6
3. Usefulness of This Exercise
What honor and glory is given to God by the soul that acts thus!
It is a great glory for Him to have a creature so attached to His Providence, so dependent on Him, full of such firm hope and peace of
mind in the expectation of what He will send. His concern for such a one is redoubled, He watches over the slightest things that are of
interest to him and inspires those who are over him to act prudently; and if for any reason they try to act in a manner harmful to him, He
prevents them in the hidden ways of His Providence from carrying out their designs and compels them to do only what is to his
advantage.
Thus the Lord keeps those who love Him. 80 If the Scriptures speak of God as having eyes, it is in order to watch over them; as
having ears, to hear them; as having hands, to defend them. And those who touch them, touch the apple of His eye. I shall carry you in
my arms, He says by the mouth of the prophet Isaias, I shall caress you upon My knees. As one whom his mother caresses, so will I
comfort you 81 And in Osee: I was like a foster father to Ephraim, I carried them in my arms. 82 Long before Moses had said: In the
desert the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his child, all along your journey until you arrived at this place. 83 Again God says
in Isaias: You shall be nursed with the breasts of kings, and you shall know that I am the Lord your Savior and your Redeemer. 84
In the person of Noah we can find a figure of the happiness of the man who throws himself entirely upon God. While the floodgates
of heaven were opened and the world was laid in ruin Noah was safe and at peace in the ark because God was guiding him. Others
remained at the mercy of the waters, losing all they had, their families, their lives. Thus the man who entrusts himself to
Providence, lets God be the pilot of his bark, floats tranquilly on the ocean of life in the midst of storm and tempest, while those who try
to guide themselves are in continual unrest, and their only pilot being their own inconstant will, they are tossed about by sea and
wind until they end in shipwreck.
Let us then trust ourselves entirely to God and His Providence and leave Him complete power to order our lives, turning to Him
lovingly in every need and awaiting His help without anxiety. Leave everything to Him and He will provide us with everything, at the
time and in the place and in the manner best suited. He will lead us on our way to that happiness and peace of mind for which we are
destined in this life as a foretaste of the everlasting happiness we have been promised.
80 Ps. 144:20
81 Is. 66:12-13
82 Osee 11:3
83 Deut. 1:31
84 Is. 60:16