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 TOPIC 5
GOD’S PROVIDENCE

References: Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 302-324

Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 55-58

Supplementary reading: https://opusdei.org/en/article/topic-5-gods-providence/

 GOD’S PROVIDENCE

Divine Providence
– its nature and properties

God carries out His Providence

Providence through the and the scandal of evil
actions of creatures.
 Nature
of Divine Providence
◦ consists in the dispositions by which God guides all of
creation with wisdom and love
towards its ultimate end
cf CCC 302

◦ Goal of Creation: the creation of a family of men and women

sharing in the love, goodness,
and happiness of the Blessed Trinity

◦ Our destiny from all eternity:

to be sons in the Son through the Holy Spirit

◦ God created the world good

but “in a state of journeying” (in statu viae)
towards an ultimate goal still to be attained

Properties of Divine Providence
EXERCISED
UNIVERSAL, CONCRETE CARRIED OUT WITH THE CO- CARRIED OUT ESPECIALLY
WITH ABSOLUTE GOD ALWAYS GIVES US
& IMMEDIATE, LOVING, WISE
(cf CCC 303-305)
SOVEREIGNTY
(cf CCC 303)
OPERATION OF HIS CREATURES
(cf CCC 306)
WITH THE FREE COOPERATION
OF MAN
THE HELP OF HIS GRACE

• ”the very hairs of our head
are numbered”
Lk 12:7
• “Not a single sparrow falls to
the ground without
the Father’s leave;
you are worth more
than many sparrows”
Lk: 7
• “if God takes care
of the birds of the air
and the grass and lilies
of the field…
how much more you,
of you of little faith”
cf Mt 6:25ff
• “Our God
is in the heavens;
he does whatever
he pleases”
303 note 162
• need for childlike
abandonment
to the providence of God who
loves and cares for us
• “Therefore, do not be
anxious, saying,
“What shall we eat?’
or ‘What shall we drink’…
Your heavenly Father knows
that you need
them all. But seek first
his kingdom
and his righteousness, and all
these things
shall be yours as well.”
Mt 6:31-33
• God -- the “first cause” who God has given man to “become his fellow
operates
in and through dominion over workers”
“secondary causes” the material world and for building
over his fellow men: the kingdom
• God grants his creatures not cf Gen 1:27-28 of heaven
only their existence, but also 1 Cor 3:9
the dignity of acting on their
own, being causes and
principles for each other, and
thus co-operating in the
accomplishment of his
plan…
• some as necessary causes
(non-rational beings); others
as free causes (angels and
men)
• hence, the mutual
interdependence among all
creatures
• hence, the creation of the
world “in a state of
journeying”
 Providence
and the mystery
of evil

◦If God’s Providence is universal, good, loving,

wise and absolutely sovereign,
why evil?

◦the story of Job, a foreshadowing

of Christ’s Death and Resurrection
 Providence
and the mystery
of evil
Only the Christian faith as a whole offers the answer:
CCC 309

◦ the goodness of creation as created by God

cf Gen 1-2

◦ God is never the cause of moral evil or sin,

nor tempts us to sin

◦ God always gives us grace to “become his fellow workers”

to build the family of God’s children
1 Cor 3:9

◦ “Carry out your salvation with fear and trembling, for God
is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Phil 4:23
 Providence
and the mystery of evil
Why did God permit the fall of Adam and Eve,
and the Crucifixion and Death of His Son Jesus?
◦ nothing every happens without God’s permission, at least

◦ St. Augustine: God permits moral evil because He respects our freedom

◦ God permits sin only because He foresees He mysteriously will draw good
from it (sin still remaining the greatest evil).

◦ the fall of Adam occasioned the Incarnation

◦ the Death of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins brought about the greatest
good: His Resurrection and our redemption (cf. Phil 2:3-6)

◦ Rom 5:20: “Where sin has abounded, grace has abounded all the more.”

◦ humility, vigilance, prayer

◦ Rom 8:12: “For those who love God, everything works together unto good.”
 God’s Providence
◦ CCC 314: “God is master of the world and of its history.
But the ways of His Providence are often unknown to us.

◦ Only at end, when we see God ‘face to face’ (1 Cor 13:12),

will we fully know the ways by which -even through
the dramas of evil and sin—God has guided His creation
to that definitive sabbath rest (cf. Gen 2:2)
for which He created heaven and earth.”

◦ St Josemaria: on earth, we only see the tapestry

from the wrong end

◦ humility, faith, trust, charity, and responsibility

in cooperating in the fulfillment of God’s loving plan
through our actions, prayers and suffering
 TOPIC 5
GOD’S PROVIDENCE

References: Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 302-324

Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 55-58

Supplementary reading: https://opusdei.org/en/article/topic-5-gods-providence/