86th subject, Trust in Providence

It is I, fear ye not.—ST. MATT. xiv. 27.

Is a child alarmed at anything when he is in the arms of his father? Has he any fear of being in want of shelter, of food, of raiment?

It should be the same with us: do we not know that the Lord watches over us, that He is with us by day and by night, in health and in sickness, in prosperity as in adversity? Not a hair falls from our head without His permission; not an enemy will have power to harm us if we have recourse to His assistance; even Hell itself, with all its demons, will be powerless to work us evil; for as soon as we invoke His holy name, a thousand of those spirits of darkness shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand.

This God, of infinite grandeur, loves us sincerely; He desires our welfare and our happiness, more ardently than we ourselves.

We are led to believe that God forgets us when we are afflicted, persecuted, tempted, tried by sickness, sufferings, sorrows, when our friends abandon us and human aid fails us; but it is then, above all, that this good and tender Father comes to our assistance, and makes Himself known to us: Because thou wast acceptable to God, said the Angel to Tobias: it was necessary that temptation should prove thee. How many sinners would never have been converted, had they not been afflicted!

How many of the Saints would have been raised to less glory in Heaven, if they had been more happy on earth St. Augustine understood that well when he said: "Oh my God, wound, cut, burn me in this world, so Thou dost spare me in the next." Let us be persuaded, then, that it is not without reason that Jesus Christ says: Be not solicitous about to-morrow. Blessed are they that mourn. Woe to you that are rich, for you have your consolation!

No, nothing that happens to us on earth, in the order of Providence, can be hurtful to us.

Is it thus we have understood confidence in God? Have we considered that, being our Father, He can never abandon us? that He who adorns the flowers with their most beautiful colors, who feeds the birds of the air, who makes His sun to rise upon the just and the unjust, will never forsake His children? that He who seeks after the lost sheep will not repulse the one who seeks Him? that He who for our sake gave Himself up to a cruel death, will never refuse His grace to those that ask it? Let us, then, hope in Him, and never be dismayed; let us repeat with confidence those beautiful words: Not my will, but Thine, be done; and say with Job: Although He should kill me, I will trust in Him.—JOB xiii. 15.

Pause.

ACT OF CONTRITION.—O my God, my Father! how could I fail to confide in Thee, knowing that Thou art infinitely good, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful! O! how I detest these hesitations which wrong Thy paternal love! I ask pardon for them, by the merits of Jesus Christ, and by the intercession of Mary, my tender Mother. To prove my confidence, I make the resolution to......