Divine Providence

There are many things in our lives that seem like such coincidences. I am grateful to Our Lord Jesus that today I am able to hang with a friend of mine from college, whose name is Joe. This friend was one who I was privileged to study abroad with in the Austrian Program through Franciscan University. In fact, after the Spring semester in 1999 my friend and I were able to spend a month and a half traveling to Fatima, Portugal to visit the Shrine of Mary at Fatima. We also visited the Eucharistic Miracle at Santarem, Portugal. As well, we traveled on to Paris to see the shrine of the Miraculous Medal and the incorrupt body of St. Vincent de Paul.

After these great experiences we also went on to Ireland and traveled through from the South to the North. We were able to spend the better part of a month with a friend of ours who owns a hotel in Northern Ireland - in a little town called Ballykelly, Northern Ireland. It is a beautiful hotel outside of Derry City.

After all of that I finished up my last year at Franciscan University, got married, and moved to Rome. After 2 years there I got a phone call from Joe. He had decided to come to Rome to study. He was there for one year and we had many the adventure around the streets of Rome. He returned to America, while my wife and I stayed in Rome to finish our degrees.

Just a few months ago I was able to meet up with Joe for a conference in Steubenville, Ohio where Joe was living and going to school to finish his MBA. He had decided to come to Denver to look for work. And so here he is today.

The Sacred Scriptures tell us that "A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter, and he who finds one is blessed (Sir 6:14)." I have been blessed to have a friend like Joe. God knowing my own sorrow from moving from California when I was 16, in 10th grade in public school, has given me the blessing of some very good friends who have been great shelters.

I think many of us if we thought about could see that God has provided for us in many ways. What we often forget, however, is that that providence was not something God is just cooking up as he goes along. In fact, Almighty God has planned all of history from the beginning - even the creation of the world. Nothing has gone unseen in God's plan.

Of course, that begs the question of how are we able to excercise free will which Catholics always go on about? If we can only remember that "time," as such, is a human invention and perspective, then we begin to realize that God allows for our freely willed decisions from before we were even created. He has cooperated with us and our desires and our choices, even before the first plant or animal existed. His Divine Plan and providence takes into account all those things which we will choose wisely and unwisely. But not only your choices, but every human being's choice. No one is forced! We all freely choose, but God constantly provides grace for us to choose to love and respond to Him. While we try to comprehend God's merciful plan from our earthly and time-driven perspective, God has given us all we need to find our greatest joy and peace. For this is the reason that Jesus came into the world. As he said, "I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly (Jn 10:10)."

Let us abandon ourselves to God's glorious will in our lives. Nevertheless, the wisdom of the saints reminds us, a la St. Ignatius of Loyola, "Pray as if everything depends on God, and act as if everything depends on you." The question we must ask ourselves is whether we act in accordance with the teachings of Holy Mother Church, which are the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.