Trust in and Submission to Divine Providence

The loving care which Almighty God provides for each one of us individually is infinite and far
beyond the best and most attentive care that any dedicated parent has ever shown for his or her
children. From the very beginning, God arranges all things for our welfare and promises to help us
in all our needs, if only we turn to Him in our troubles and trust Him with childlike confidence. Our
Divine Lord said, “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be
opened to you.” (Matt. 7:7) God is true to His word but did not put a time limit as to how soon a
prayer will be answered or in what particular way. He wants us to keep asking and demonstrate
our love of Him and to persevere and trust in His Divine Providence, no matter what.

In this life, we are united to God in our intellect by faith, our heart by love and our will by our
conformity to His holy will. The more we unite our will to God’s, the holier we will become and the
more we will be pleasing to Him. God does everything with a definite purpose because He is
directed by His infinite love and wisdom. As the Physician of our souls He wants us to correct our
defects, strengthen our weaknesses and make up for the temporal punishment due to our sins.
God wants us to tame our rebellious will and conform it to His desires which are always best for
us.

During life, our love for someone whether spouse, child, family member, friend, or another, is
expressed by seeking their good. Our love for God is also expressed by seeking the good, which is
accidental and extrinsic to His fullness, by lovingly fulfilling His holy will. Archbishop Martinez has
written, “The will of God is to reflect Himself in creatures; it is to communicate Himself to them; it
is to fill them with His goodness and His happiness. The fulfillment of that will is His glory; the end
of all His works and the end of all His creatures. Their happiness consists in cooperating in its
accomplishment.” (The Sanctifier, p. 113)

St. Alphonsus said that our goal should be to unite our will with the will of God, “so that of two
wills we make one, in the sense that we never will anything but what He wills, our will being lost in
His. This is the summit of all perfection [to] which we must constantly aspire. The most holy Virgin
[Mary] was the most perfect among all the saints because her will was always the most completely
united to the will of God.” (Conf., 1; Am. Ehv. C. 9; Resume, 9.)

St. Alphonsus has also written that total abandonment to the holy will of God “is itself an act of
the most perfect love of God that can be produced; it is of more value than a thousand fasts…For
he who gives his... [money] in alms…his sustenance in fasting, gives but a portion of what he
possesses; whereas he who gives his will to God gives himself, gives all, so that he can say in truth:

‘Lord, I am poor, but I give Thee as much as I can; having resigned to Thee my will, I have nothing
more to offer.’” (Amour. Divin., 3.)
According to St. Francis de Sales, “Abandonment is the virtue of virtues; it is the cream of charity,
the… [beautiful fragrance] of humility, the merit…of patience, and the fruit of perseverance.
Great…is this virtue, and alone worthy to be practiced by the genuine children of God.” (Entret., 2)
Conformity to the holy will of God is the most perfect and pure form of love. True love is proven
by sacrifice. Our greatest proof of love for God is the abandonment of our soul and body, health
and material possessions to His loving care. In return for our sacrifice, God floods our soul with
grace and blessings and our union with Him is deepened.

Conformity to the holy will of God is the norm of perfection. It is the source of interior peace and
happiness. It removes obstacles to the action of grace, causes us to practice heroic virtue, and
establishes God’s absolute dominion over our will. Conformity to the holy will of God purifies our
souls and detaches us from those things that are dangerous and harmful to us. The circumstances
of our life and the crosses He permits are addressed to our personal needs. “We cannot show
greater faith in the goodness and love of God than by receiving with equal readiness from His
hands joys and sorrow, prosperity and adversity.” (Holy Abandonment, p. 419)

It is a proof of a very strong faith and trust in the goodness, justice and love of God that we
conform ourselves to His will in everything that befalls us. Since God has given everything to us, He
only wants our love and obedience. St. Paul said, “To those who love God all things work together
unto good.” Therefore, God uses various means, including crosses and temptations to direct our
will away from sin and harmful attachments and keep it in line with His plan for us.

Sin is disobedience to God’s laws. Evil consists in inordinately seeking self-satisfaction and placing
our own will before that of God’s. Such action leads to pride and sin. We have within us a strong
inclination to sin because of disordered passions, attachments and weaknesses; all of which lead
us away from God. St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori has written, “When the heart is full of affection
for worldly objects, it has no room for the love of God and the more attached it is to earth, the less
can divine love reign in it. For Jesus Christ wills to possess the whole heart and will not suffer it to
be shared by a rival.” (Reflex. Pieuses, 4,13,19.)

God’s grace and love flow into our souls according to the degree that we make room for them. The
more we empty our souls of self-seeking and conform ourselves to God’s will, the more He can
possess, govern and transform us. In addition, God imparts to us supernatural peace and joy.

Archbishop Martinez has written, “For worldly people, the will of God is often a tragic hardship; for
souls beginning their spiritual journey, it is a motive for resignation; for the saints, it is Heaven.
Why so many diverse effects from one thing? [This is] simply because each soul receives the will of
God according to its relations with the Holy Ghost.
The world neither knows nor loves the will of God. Souls beginning their spiritual journey already
possess the Holy Ghost, but since their love is imperfect they receive the will of God with
resignation; a mixture of joy and sorrow.” (Martinez, p.115) Since they are so attached to worldly
things and/or sinful desires, their heart is divided and they do not enjoy that fullness of peace and
harmony which the intense love for God brings. Because the saints are so closely united to God,
they surrender themselves to His holy will. They receive supernatural light and peace which help
them to conform themselves to God’s will through love.

In the Our Father, Jesus Christ taught us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” In
order for us to fulfill this desire of Christ, we must remove obstacles to grace and allow the Holy
Ghost to have full possession of our heart and soul. Then, God will unite us in His divine will so that
we conform ourselves to His desires and His plan for us.

“All forms of acceptance of the will of God, from the most imperfect resignation to the purest joy…
[indicate] the different degrees of possession that the Holy Ghost can achieve in souls…The
blessed souls who let themselves be possessed and moved by [God, Who is] Eternal Love share in
this divine unity, according to the prayer of Jesus to the Father: “That they may be one, even as
We are one.” (John 17:22)

What makes such abandonment difficult for us is that our lower nature succumbs to fear so easily.
We search for security in all things, and the promptings and advice of the world only aggravate the
situation. We have no lasting security in life except in God. No matter how secure we try to make
ourselves in worldly ways, we will find that at any time we may be exposed to danger, temptation,
persecution, spiritual dryness, misunderstanding, losses, injury, poor health, natural disasters,
wars and many other crosses. We will never have peace here on earth unless, like a child who
trustingly is led by a loving parent, we let our entire life be directed by the loving will of our
Heavenly Father, in spite of the sufferings we must endure.

Bishop Morrow said, “Physical evil is partly a punishment for actual sin. It serves to sanctify the
good, and helps them attain eternal salvation. God often sends physical evil to sinners in order to
bring them back into the right way. It serves as a warning to them.

Among those who were converted through bodily sickness, we…[find] St. Francis of Assisi and St.
Ignatius of Loyola. [Thus, when viewed with the proper perspective, suffering can be a blessing in
disguise]. By sufferings patiently accepted, the punishment due for sin is diminished or cancelled.”
(Bishop L. Morrow, My Catholic Faith, p.11) In addition, by patiently bearing our crosses, we may
atone for all the temporal punishment due to our sins and thereby avoid Purgatory altogether.
Most importantly, suffering brings us much closer to God than we would otherwise be.
Some people erroneously think that if they are good, then no suffering should befall them.
Suffering comes to everyone – it is the human condition of a fallen nature. It can lead us to heaven
or hell depending on the degree of our obedience and abandonment to the will of God.

We need to look to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph as our perfect models of total
abandonment to the holy will of God. They were God’s dearest children, and yet they were heavily
burdened with the crosses of life. There is scarcely any kind of human suffering and difficulty that
they were spared. Let us briefly look upon a few of the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary for
inspiration in our daily life.

At the Annunciation, Mary experienced joy because the Redeemer had finally come. Nevertheless,
with joy comes sorrow. The Blessed Virgin’s words Fiat and handmaid denote total obedience and
loving servitude. Rev. Dr. Ildefonso Villar writes that they imply: “a total renunciation, a complete,
perfect and absolute surrender of [Our Lady’s] being. Neither self-will, nor freedom, nor choice;
only what God wants and orders…This servitude must not halt in the face of any sacrifice, heavy
and painful though it be…This is real servitude, real sanctity, the only way we can overcome self-
love…especially when self-love rises in rebellion” (Marian Meditations, pp. 96-97)

The Blessed Virgin was not shown the details of God’s plan for her nor the path which lay before
her. She knew well the prophecies regarding Jesus but not exactly her part in total. For example,
she did not know ahead of time of the decree of Caesar Augustus ordering a general registration in
the whole of his empire. What a tremendous cross this was for St. Joseph and Our Lady when she
was so close to giving birth to Jesus.

In their poor dwelling in Nazareth, they had all they needed. Mary had prepared with the greatest
love all the things required for the fast approaching birth of Jesus. She embroidered and hand
stitched His baby clothes and had everything ready for Jesus, even the little cradle which St.
Joseph had made.

What a trial it was to make an arduous journey of five days to Bethlehem, with Our Lady riding on
a donkey over rocky roads in the dead of winter, while enduring its bitter winds. They had to leave
at home in Nazareth all the things they had prepared because there was no room to take them on
that long journey.

Nevertheless, Our Lady exercised the virtues of submission, obedience and abandonment to the
will of God for she spoke not a word of criticism or protest. Neither she nor St. Joseph criticized or
cursed mighty Caesar’s order. But, with a heavy heart (not knowing any of the details of God’s
plan) she trustingly submitted to His will and threw herself into His Arms in obedience. St. Joseph
did the same and abandoned himself obediently to God’s holy will.
For a moment, let us put ourselves in the position of Our Lady and St. Joseph. We would begin to
object and feel that we could justifiably question God’s decision in this case asking: Why now?
Why after all our plans and hopes? Is this what you want for your Son and is this our reward for
always doing your will? Might something go wrong along the way? Will we make it?

The hardest part of Our Lady’s obedience is that she had ample reasons to excuse herself but with
the Blessed Virgin, God came first and obedience was everything; without that there was nothing.
Once again, upon arrival in Bethlehem God provided no inns, no friends and closed all doors to
them. This was the eve of Our Lord’s birth. In like circumstances it is likely that we would, in some
way, despair or challenge God as to why this all happened.

How differently did Our Lady and St. Joseph react! There was not a word of complaint as she
trustingly abandoned herself and her Child into the arms of God and waited for the manifestation
of His Holy Will. When we carry our cross, we should tell ourselves that if in the end God’s will
must prevail, we should accept it with resignation and joy no matter what. God finally directed
them to a miserable cave which was used in the cold of winter to stable animals. Our Lady’s
maternal love, delicate sentiments, and concern for her divine Child may have caused her pain.

It also pained St. Joseph that after such a long and arduous journey he found no shelter for the
Blessed Virgin at such a critical time. Nevertheless with serenity and joy and without complaint,
both accepted all this as the will of God. Never once did they question or go against God’s
judgment or plan.

A short while later, in the middle of the night God asked Our Lady and St. Joseph to flee with the
Infant Jesus into the pagan land of Egypt in order to escape the hands of the tyrant Herod. This
journey was full of dangers, bad weather and fatigue. For seven years in Egypt they lived in
poverty. We are edified by their total trust and abandonment to the will of God.

The examples given here are only a few of the many in the lives of the Holy Family. They should be
an incentive and prompt us to trust in God and practice the virtue of total abandonment. By
joyfully resigning ourselves to the will of God in sickness, death, poverty, persecution, loss and
other misfortunes, we can obtain true peace of heart and be blessed even on this earth. There are
some practical ways in which we can develop this virtue of abandonment:

First of all, when things go wrong or turn out not as planned, instead of complaining to our friends
or looking for human consolation, we should immediately turn to God and ask for the grace to
humbly accept His will even though it is not according to what we want.
Second, we should keep silence for often our complaints lead to gossip, detraction, calumny or
murmuring against God.

Third we should pray for the grace to surrender ourselves with love and humility to His holy will.

Fourth when the storm has lessened a bit, ask Jesus and Mary to plead our case and turn all our
affairs over to them. Sometimes these prayers may be necessary for many days, months or even
years. Remember, God’s ways are not ours for we do not have spiritual eyes to see things as He
does.

Fifth a good confessor can be of help with advice and direction.

Sixth remember that all things are the direct or permissive will of God and that circumstances,
things or people are instruments which He uses to bring about our salvation and His glory.

In addition we should practice a little more patience with the shortcomings, faults and
inconsideration of others.

Trust in God is strengthened when we practice the virtues of patience and perseverance. Patience
represses excessive sadness while perseverance helps us continue no matter how slowly time may
pass. We must stop complaining and questioning God’s plans lest we become like a spoiled child
who constantly challenges his parent’s authority and claims that they don’t love him because he
does not get his way or get what he wants. His unhappiness is not due to the fact that his parents
are not loving or good but is rather the result of his lack of trust in their love and in the fact that
they know what is best for him.

God knows all that we suffer and all that we will have to suffer in the future. He wills and allows
these sufferings as proof of our constancy, perseverance and love of Him. The only thing He is not
responsible for is the malicious will of the sinner; wherein lays the evil in the world. Too many
people point to the evil in the world and foolishly accuse God as not being loving or good.

The following true story explains this well.

The university professor challenged his students with this question. “Did God create everything
that exists?”

A student bravely replied, “Yes, he did!” “God created everything?” the professor asked. “Yes,” the
student replied. The professor answered, “If God created everything, then God created evil since
evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.”

The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor was quite pleased with himself
and boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth. At
that point, another student raised his hand and said, “Can I ask you a question professor?” “Of
course,” replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, “Professor does cold exist?” “What kind of question is this? Of
course it exists. Have you never been cold?”

The students snickered at the young man’s question. The young man replied, “In fact sir, cold does
not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat.
Absolute zero (-460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable
of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe “the
absence of heat.”

The student continued. “Professor, does darkness exist?” The professor responded, “Of course it
does.”

The student replied, “Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in
reality the absence of light. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a
world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure
the amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what
happens when there is no light present.”

Finally the young man asked the professor. “Sir, does evil exist?” Now uncertain, the professor
responded, “Of course! We see it every day.

It is in the daily example of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence
everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.”

To this, the student replied, “Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist in itself. Evil is
simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to
describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist just as
does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present
in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when
there is no light.” The professor sat down.

The young man’s name – Albert Einstein.

Original article:

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