Feb 18 Tue
Why do things happen?
God has absolute dominion over all creatures. Nothing happens without being wanted or allowed by God.
By faith, we know that God's Will extends to every circumstance of our life. Where many people see nothing but coincidence or chance, or even wonder whether they are at the mercy of blind fate, we Christians know that God's fatherly care, his most lovable will, his Providence, is directing everything that happens to us. “History is not the result of blind forces or chance; it is the manifestation of our Father God's mercy. God's thoughts are above our thoughts, as Scripture says."
Providence is the name we give to the care God shows in watching over us and giving each thing the direction it should take. Thus, everything that happens providentially must happen in the best possible way. “Hence trust in God means having faith, no matter what happens, going beyond appearances. The Love of God - whose love for us is eternal - lies behind every event, though, at times, in a manner that is hidden from us."
Our firm belief that God is caring for us leads us to be patient. “Things are never as we want them to be, but as God's providence allows: we must accept them gladly, no matter how they appear. If we see God behind everything, we will always be happy and peaceful and never get upset. That's how we show that our life is prayer."
We are right to trust completely in our Father God. We may not always understand why certain things happen; we may not grasp why they should be so, especially when they don't fit in with our way of thinking; but it is then that we need to offer filial surrender, abandoning ourselves to God's hands like a child who knows that his father always gives him what is best.
Sometimes a child is attracted by things that could do him harm; and his father, even though he knows the child is going to be disappointed, has to say no. The child may not understand, but it is for his own good. Everything that happens to us is good and right for us: for those who love God all things work together for the good.
If God's Providence encompasses all creatures, even the birds of the air, how much more watchful will He be over us, who have been chosen from all eternity? “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you." Our calling, our Christian vocation, is God's doing. He arranged everything with gentleness and strength. So gentle was He that He hardly allowed himself to be seen behind the chain of events that led up to it. Nevertheless, he definitively came into our lives, overcoming all resistance, and changing the plans we might have made for our future.
It matters little whether our Lord called us in this particular way or that. The decisive fact is that He has called us. Our Christian vocation is an extraordinary proof of the action of God's Providence in the life of each one of us. This fills us with security and confidence, as we realize that our weaknesses do not prevent us from committing ourselves, since “God usually seeks out deficient instruments so that the work can more clearly be seen to be his."
Illustration: Christ healing the Gerasene Demoniac, ancient ivory.
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