I understand well the devotion to the Providence of God, but do I know as well how to recognize this Divine Providence in all that happens to me? Is my spirit of faith deep enough to understand that nothing escapes God? Not that He wills directly and formally all that happens, as for example the actions of the wicked; but He permits it, and in this sense I ought to recognize His Divine Hand - and His Heart - even in painful events; in those which harm me; in the injustices which reign, and in the persecutions which rage.
"If God Himself appoints our masters," writes Pascal, in The Mystery of Jesus, "how necessary it is for us to obey them willingly. Unavoidable events and occurrences are infallibly from Him."
I surely may pray that certain events do not materialize. If inspite of my prayers, they do happen, then I must know how to recognize God in them; then arises the necessity of practicing patience, prudence, hope and charity. What is in truth an evil can become a good for me.
When Jane de Chantal was informed that her husband had been killed accidentally while hunting, she said, "This blow was struck from on high." That is the spirit of faith.
I will habituate myself always to look higher than the earth, beyond the hand that wounds me, to the heart which loves and only makes me suffer that I may mount to Him.
And if in the web of trifling events that envelop me, it pleases God to insert some rougher materials, which wound my soul or my body like a haircloth, I will thank God for having judged me worthy to unite myself more intimately thereby with Christ crucified, and to participate more fully in His redemptive suffering.
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)
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