Of the Paternal and Particular Providence That God Has over Us, and of the Filial Confidence That We Should Have in Him

ONE of the greatest riches and treasures that we enjoy who have the faith, is the providence so particular and so paternal that God exercises over us, so that we are certain that nothing can befall or happen to us but what is checked and registered by the hand of God. So says the Prophet David: Thou hast compassed us about and guarded us, O Lord, by thy good will as by a strong shield (Psalm v. 13).: We are surrounded on all sides by the good will of God, so that nothing can come in upon us without it and so there is nothing to fear, for God will not allow anything to gain entrance or reach us except it be for our greater good and profit. For God hath gathered me into his tabernacle, he hath hidden me in the most secret part thereof in the day of trouble, says the Royal Prophet (Psalm xxvi. 5). In the most secret part of His tabernacle and in the innermost of His secret chamber, God keeps us hidden; He guards us under the shadow of His wings. And more than this, he says: Thou wilt hide them in the most hidden and secret part of thy face (Psalm xxx. 21), which are the eyes. In the pupils of His eyes He hides us, and so another reading says, in the eyes of thy face (in oculis faciei tuae). God makes us as the pupils of His eyes, that so that may be well fulfilled which is said in another place: Guard me, O Lord, as the apple of thine eye (Psalm xvi. 8). As the pupils of His eyes, so are we guarded under His shelter and protection. Whoever shall touch you, God says, toucheth me in the apple of mine eye (Zach. ii. 8). Nothing can be imagined more sumptuous, more estimable and desirable, than that.

Oh, if we could thoroughly know this and understand it well! How sheltered and secured should we feel; how confident and consoled should we be in all our necessities and afflictions! If a son on earth had a very rich and powerful father, a great favorite at court, how confident and assured would he feel in all transactions and occurrences that the favor and protection of his father would never fail him! How much greater reason, then, have we to feel this confidence and security, considering that we have Him for our Father in Whose hands is all power in heaven and on earth and that nothing can happen to us but what passes first by His hand! If this is the sort of confidence which such a son has in his father, and therewith he sleeps secure, how much more should we have it in Him Who is more of a father than all fathers and in comparison with Whom the others do not deserve the name of fathers! There are no tendernesses of love to compare with what God feels for us, infinitely surpassing all the loves that all the fathers on earth can feel. Of such a Father and Lord we may well feel confident and secure that all He sends us will be for our greater good and profit because the love that He bears us in His only-begotten Son will not let Him do anything else but seek the good of one for whose sake He delivered over that Son to the torments of the Cross. He who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how can it be that with him he hath not given us all things? says the Apostle St. Paul (Rom. viii. 32). He Who has given us the greater, how shall He fail to give us the less?

And if all men ought to have this confidence in God, how much more religious, whom He has specially adopted for His own and given them the spirit and heart of sons and caused them to renounce and leave their parents according to the flesh and take Him for their Father! What heart and love of a Father and what care and providence will God have over such! For my father and mother have left me, but the Lord hath taken me to his keeping (Psalm xxvi. 10). Oh, what a good Father you have taken in exchange for him whom you have left! With all the more reason and all the more confidence may you say: The Lord is my shepherd, and nothing will be wanting to me (Psalm xxii. 1). God has taken upon Himself the charge and care of all my affairs; nothing will be wanting to me. I am a beggar and needy man, but the Lord hath care of me (Psalm xxxlx. 18). God has care of me; God is solicitous about me: who will not take comfort at this and melt away in love of God! Why, Lord, Thou hast charge of me and takest as much care of me as though Thou hadst no other creature to govern but me alone! Oh, that we could dig down and go right deep into this love and providence and protection, so paternal and particular, that God has over us!

Hence springs in the true servants of God a very familiar and filial confidence in Him, which in some cases is so great that there is no son in the world who in all his affairs has such confidence in the protection of his father as they have in that of God. For they know that He has for them more than the heart of a father and more than that of a mother, which is usually the more tender. So He says by Isaias: What mother is there that forgetteth her infant son, and hath not a heart of pity for him that came forth from her womb? But if it were possible that there should be any mother in whom this forgetfulness found place, it shall never find place in me, saith the Lord: for I bear thee written in my hands, and thy walls are ever before me (Isaias xlix. 15-16). As though He would say: “I carry thee in my hands and I keep thee ever before my eyes to shelter thee and defend thee.” And through the same prophet He declares this by another comparison, very comforting: J bear thee within my womb (Isaias xlvi. 3). As the woman who is with child carries her babe within her womb, and that serves for house, litter, wall, support, and all things, in the same way God says that He carries us in His womb. Hereby the servants of God live in such confidence and hold themselves so succored and provided for in all things that they are never troubled or disturbed by the various happenings of this life. In the season of drought he shall not be solicitous (Jerem. xvii. 8). The heart of the just, says the Prophet Jeremy, feels no anxiety, nor loses its tranquillity and repose under the variety of events and occurrences because they know that nothing can occur without the will of their Father. They rest in full assurance and confidence on His great love and goodness, believing that all will be for their greater good and that all that they lose on the one side will come back to them on the other in the shape of something of greater worth and value.

From this so familiar and filial confidence that the just have in God there arises in their soul that great peace, tranquillity, and sense of security which they enjoy, according to the word of Isaias: My people shall sit down in the beauty of peace and in tabernacles of confidence, and in a resting-place well furnished in all sufficiency of good things (Isaias xxxii. 18). The prophet joins peace and confidence together. And in reality peace of mind is but a necessary effect of confidence; and he who confides in God fears nothing, nor troubles himself at whatever occurs, since he knows God is his protector. I will repose and sleep in peace, says the psalmist, because it is you, O Lord, who out of your singular goodness have confirmed me in hope (Psalm iv. 9-10). And this filial confidence causes not only great peace, but great joy and gladness, as says St. Paul: The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope and the power of the Holy Ghost (Rom xv. 13). This belief that God knows what He is doing and that He does it for our good, makes us insensible to those disturbances and disappointments and distresses that they feel who look at things with eyes of flesh; nay, further, it makes us feel great joy and gladness on all occasions. And the more this confidence abounds, the more will abound also this joy and spiritual gladness, because the more a soul trusts and loves, the calmer and more assured she is that all must turn to good; she cannot believe or hope anything less of the infinite goodness and love of God.

This it is that made the saints so quiet and unconcerned in the midst of labors and dangers that they feared neither men nor devils nor wild beasts nor any other irrational creatures, because they knew that they could not touch them without the permission and will of God. St. Athanasius relates of the blessed St. Anthony that one time the devils appeared to him in various fearful shapes, in the form of wild beasts, lions, tigers, bulls, serpents, and scorpions, surrounding and threatening him with their claws, teeth, and dreadful roarings and hissings, so that it looked as though they were going to eat him up. The saint mocked them and said to them: “If you had any strength, one alone of you would be a match for one man; but because you are weak and God has taken away your strength, you contrive to band together in a great rout to frighten me. If the Lord has given you any power over me, you see me here— eat me up; but if you have no power or permission from God, why do you labor in vain?” Here we see well the great peace and fortitude that was due in that saint to his conviction that they could do nothing without the will of God, and his perfect conformity to that will. Of this we have many examples in ecclesiastical history.

Of our blessed Father Ignatius we read a similar example in the fifth book of his Life; and in the second book it is told of him how on a voyage he once made to Rome there arose a frightful tempest which broke the mast by the force of the wind and caused the loss of much tackle. All were afraid and prepared for death, thinking that their last hour had come. In this so dangerous plight, when all were struck with terror of death, it is said that he felt no fear; the only thing that grieved him was the thought that he had not served God so well as he should have done. But for the rest he found nothing to be afraid of, because the winds and the sea obey him (Matt. viii. 27) ; they obey God, and without His leave and will waves and storms do not arise and can do no harm to anyone. This is the familiar and filial confidence in God, this is the tranquillity and sense of security to which we should endeavor to arrive by the grace of the Lord through this practice of conformity with the will of God. We must dig down and go deep by means of meditation and consideration in this most rich mine of the providence, so paternal and particular, that God exercises over us. I am certain that nothing can do anything to me, neither men, nor devils, nor any creature whatsoever, beyond what God wishes and gives leave for; let it be done, then, in God’s name, since I refuse nothing nor seek anything else but the will of God.

We read of St. Gertrude that nothing could ever drive away or darken in her the constant and secure confidence which she ever had in the most bounteous mercy of God —no danger, no tribulation, no loss of goods, or other impediments, not even her own sins and defects; because she kept the most assured confidence that all things, prosperity and adversity alike, were turned by Divine Providence to her good. On one occasion the Lord said to this holy virgin: “This absolute confidence which a man has in Me, believing that I really can, know how, and will faithfully help him in all things, captivates My heart and appeals so strongly to My mercy that in dealing with such a man, so to speak, I can neither show him favor, for the satisfaction that I take in seeing him so attached to Me notwithstanding and for the increase of his merit; nor yet can I leave him in the lurch and favor him not, considering Who I am and the great love that I bear him.” He speaks in human style like one who is held in suspense by love.

Of St. Mechtildis it is related that the Lord said to her: “It gives Me much pleasure when men trust in My goodness and rely upon Me; for whoever shall humbly confide in Me, and trust Me well, I will do him favors in this life and in the next I will reward him beyond his deserts. The more a man shall trust and count upon My goodness, the more he shall obtain; for it is impossible for a man not to obtain that which he piously believes and hopes that he shall obtain, when I have promised it; and for this reason it is advantageous for a man to expect of Me great things and trust Me well.” And when the same Mechtildis asked the Lord what it was that it was right for her chiefly to believe of His unspeakable goodness, He replied: “Believe with certain faith that I will receive thee after thy death as a father receives his long-sought son; and that never did father so faithfully divide his estate with his only son as I will impart to thee all My goods and myself. Whoever shall firmly and with humble charity believe this of My goodness, shall attain to bliss.”