DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN GENERAL
God, Theotimus, has no need of many acts. A single divine act of his almighty will suffices to bring about the manifold variety of his works because of his infinite perfection. But we humans have to discuss about it with the mode and way of understanding our little minds are capable of. Accordingly, to speak about divine providence, I invite you to consider the reign of the great king Solomon as a perfect model of the art of governing.
This great king knew, by divine inspiration, that the organization of the affairs of the civil state belonged to religion as the body to the soul. Religion belonged to the state as the soul to the body. He arranged in his mind all the parts necessary for the establishment of religion as well as the state. As regards religion, he decided to build a temple with such and such length, breadth, height, with so many porticos and courts, so many windows as also all that which belonged to the temple. Then he decided on so many [priests] to offer sacrifices, so many singers and so many officers of the temple. As regards the state, he decided to construct a royal palace, and a court for his majesty. In it, he decided to appoint so many stewards, gentlemen-in-waiting and courtiers; for the people, judges and other magistrates to administer justice. For the security of his kingdom and strengthening the public peace which the state enjoyed, he planned to have a peace-time army. For this purpose, he decided to appoint 250 captains with different functions, 40000 horses and all the rest of the vast establishment attested by Sacred Scripture and historians (1Kings 4:2426; 2 Chr 8:10).
After deciding and planning all the important administrative units of his kingdom, he came to the act of providing for them. In his mind, he took stock of all that was necessary to build the temple, to maintain sacred ministers, the royal ministers and magistrates and to create the army which he wanted. He decided to get from Hiram the necessary wood and to enter into commerce with Peru in Ophir[1] (1 Kings 5:6; 9:26-28). In short, he took all the means suitable to procure all things necessary for the maintenance and the good management of his undertaking.
But, he did not stop there, Theotimus. After planning his project and reflecting on the means to accomplish it, he came to the execution of it. He appointed the officials as he had planned. By a good administration, he made all the provisions necessary for their upkeep and the fulfillment of their duties. Since he had knowledge of the art of governing well, he realized the plan he made in his mind for the creation of various officers. He put his providence into effect by his good administration. Thus his art of governing, which consisted in his planning and providence or foresight, was accomplished by the appointment of officers, by administration and good management.
Planning is useless without the recruitment and appointment of officers, and appointment is useless without providence which is related to providing what is necessary for the maintenance of the officers appointed or instituted. Finally, the upkeep which is done through good government is nothing else than providence realized. Hence, not only the planning but also the appointment and the good government of Solomon were called by the name of providence. So do we not say that a person has providence unless he governs well.
Now, Theotimus, we shall speak of divine realities keeping in mind the idea that struck us from our reflection on human affairs. We affirm that God had an eternal and very perfect knowledge of the art of creating the world for his glory. He planned in his Divine intellect, above all, the chief elements of the universe which could give him glory, namely, the angelic nature and human nature. In the angelic nature, he arranged the variety of hierarchies and orders which Sacred Scripture and the Doctors of the Church teach us. Similarly, among men he decided on the great variety that we see. Thus, from all eternity, he foresaw and mentally decided on all the means necessary for humans and angels to attain the end to which he had destined them. So he realized the act of his providence. He did not stop there. To put his plan into action, he really created angels and humans. To realize his providence by his governance, he supplied all that is necessary for rational creatures to attain glory. Thus, to put it briefly, supreme providence is nothing else than the act by which God wishes to supply humans and angels the means necessary or useful to reach their destiny. Since these means are different, we also differentiate providence. We say that there is a natural and a supernatural providence. In the supernatural providence, we distinguish, general, special and particular providence.
Soon, Theotimus, I will be advising you to unite your will with divine providence. Since I am discussing this subject, I like to say a word about natural providence. God wished to provide humans with natural means necessary for them to give glory to his Divine Goodness. So he created for human benefit all animals and plants. To provide for animals and plants, he produced varieties of soils, seasons, springs, winds, rains. Both for humans and other things which belong to them, he created the elements, the sky, the stars. He established a marvellous order so that almost all the creatures mutually serve one another. Horses carry us and we take care of them. Sheep provide us with food and clothing and we graze them. The earth sends vapours into the air and the air sends down rains to the earth. The hand serves the foot and the foot carries the hand.
If you would see this interdependence and interaction which creatures form among themselves with such reciprocity, how many loving emotions it would arouse in you towards this supreme Wisdom, making you exclaim: Your providence, O, Great eternal Father, governs all things (Wis 14:3). St. Basil and St. Ambrose in their Hexamerons, the good Louis of Granada in his Introduction to the Creed and Louis Richeome in several of his beautiful booklets give many motives to noble souls to benefit from this topic.
Thus, Theotimus, God’s providence extends to everything, rules over everything, and reduces everything to his glory. However, there are indeed chance happenings, unexpected events. They are sudden and unexpected only for us. No doubt, they are most certain for God who foresaw and destined them for the welfare of the universe. These accidents occur due to the coming together of several causes. These causes have no natural combination among themselves. Each produces its own particular effect of a different kind. All these different causes contribute to this new effect without foreseeing it.
For instance, it was reasonable to punish the curiosity of the poet Aeschylus. A diviner had told him that he would be crushed to death by the fall of some house. So he stood in the open country to avoid his destiny. He stood erect, bareheaded. A hawk holding a tortoise in its claws, seeing the bald, bare head like the top of a rock, dropped the tortoise right on to it. There and then, Aeschylus died in the field crushed by the house — the shell of a tortoise. It was indeed an unexpected event. For this man did not go to the field to die but to avoid death. The hawk did not want to crush the head of a poet but the shell of the tortoise in order to eat the meat later. Yet exactly the opposite happened. The tortoise remained safe and poor Aeschylus died. For us, this was unforeseen. But in the sight of providence who saw from above the combination of causes, it was an act of justice by which the superstition of this man was punished.
The adventures of Joseph of old were marvellous in variety, passing from one extreme to the other. His brothers sold him [into slavery] to ruin him. They were extremely astonished to see that he became the viceroy [of Egypt]. They were terribly afraid that he would take revenge for the wrong they had done to him (Gen 45:3; 50:15). But no, he told them, it was not you who sent me here but divine providence (Gen 45:8). Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good (Gen 50:20). Do you see, Theotimus, the world would have called it luck or a chance event. But Joseph affirmed it to be a plan of supreme providence which arranged and ordained things to its own service. It is so with all that takes place in the world. Even the birth of monstrosities gives greater value to accomplished and perfect works. It causes admiration, stimulates philosophizing and forms many good thoughts. In short, they occupy a place in the universe like shades in paintings, giving them elegance. They seem to make the painting appear more refined.
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[1] According to several exegetes of the 16th century, it is from Peru in South America that Solomon brought the gold destined for the decoration of the temple. For more details see AE IV, p. 95.