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"Wonderful providence indeed which is so silent, yet
so efficacious, so constant, so unerring. This is what baffles the power of
Satan. He cannot discern the Hand of God in what goes on; and though he would
fain meet it and encounter it, in his mad and blasphemous rebellion against
heaven, he cannot find it.
Crafty and penetrating as he is, yet his thousand eyes and his many
instruments avail him nothing against the majestic serene silence, the holy
imperturbable calm which reigns through the providences of God. Crafty and
experienced as he is, he appears like a child or a fool, like one made sport
of, whose daily bread is but failure and mockery, before the deep and secret
wisdom of the Divine Counsels.
He makes a guess here, or does a bold act there, but all in the dark. He knew
not of Gabriel's coming, and the miraculous conception of the Virgin, or what
was meant by that Holy Thing which was to be born, being called the Son of
God. He tried to kill him, and he made martyrs of the innocent children; he tempted
the Lord of all with hunger and with ambitious prospects; he sifted the
Apostles, and got none but one who already bore his own name, and had been
already given over as a devil.
He brought into the world the very salvation which he feared and hated. He
accomplished the Atonement of that world, whose misery he was plotting.
Wonderfully silent, yet resistless course of God's providence! 'Verily, Thou
art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour;' and if even
devils, sagacious as they are, spirits by nature and experienced in evil,
cannot detect His hand, while He works, how can we hope to see it except by
that way which the devils cannot take, by loving faith?"
John Henry Newman, PS 17
"Some may then ask, why did He not manifest Himself by means of other
and nobler parts of creation, and use some grander instrument, such as the
sun or moon or stars or fire or air, instead of appearing as a mere man?
The answer is this. The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal
and to teach suffering humanity. For one who wanted to make a display the
thing would have been just to appear, and dazzle the beholders.
But for Him Who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely to dwell
here, but to place Himself in the service of those who needed Him, and to be
made known as they could bear to accept it, not misappropriating the value of
the Divine appearance by exceeding their capacity to receive it.
Moreover, nothing else in creation had erred from the path of God's purpose
for it, save only man. Sun, moon, heaven, stars, water, and air, none of
these had swerved from their place in His order, but knowing the Word as
their Maker and their King, remained as they had been made.
Men alone rejected what is good, having cherished nothings, demons and men,
instead of the truth."
Athanasius, On the Incarnation
What could be less intimidating to the dark powers of this world than a baby?
And one born to poor people answering the command of an earthly power
to travel to a place where they had no home and no welcome?
Do not be afraid, do not despair in not understanding all things and fully,
for this is both our nature and our necessity. Be serene and happy in the
grace to know our next step, but none further. For this is a part of our protection
against the forces of darkness of this world.
We know what to do next, having been told plainly and many times by His
messengers and the promptings of our conscience. We are to love the Lord our
God, with our whole hearts, our whole minds, our whole soul, and our whole
strength, and our neighbors as ourselves.
This is both the heart of the law, and the rule of our warfare.
The mystery of Providence is a grace that gives those who accept it a power
that is incomprehensible to the calculating mind of this world, that knows
only what it can see and measure according to its own pride and willfulness.
And it confounds the ever-fading powers of the restless servants of
wickedness in high places. This is the love of God, which is inexplicable and
cannot be seen, except in cherished glimpses and with a limited
understanding, by those who are already His through their continuing
faithfulness.
He speaks to us in our hearts, if we will but listen. And those who do
not hear Him, cannot even begin understand what appears to them to be mere
foolishness.
This is no complacency, no retreat from the world, no quiet acceptance of
evil, but rather a call to action. We are directed not to linger, to watch
and wait for ever more signs and wonders, gifts and consolations, not an
endless menu of comforts so that we may be carried effortlessly to heaven,
but to bear up with what we have been given, and to do His work, with love.
We are called to a love which is transformative when it is living for others,
but a vain preoccupation and a kind of twilight of lingering misery and
despair when it is not.
His call occurs, but we must rise and follow. His yoke, though gentle, both
constrains our natures and leads us through inevitable periods of dryness and
confusion, which are often put most heavily on those He calls out ahead to be
His lights.
And as we may need them, unexpectedly, there are the consolations, His gentle
and tender mercies.
We will contemplate the face of God in the next world, but in this, we are called
to action and His work in His creation and among His creatures. This is
the implication of the Incarnation.
Nothing is wasted in God's economy. He knows us, and He knows what He is
about.
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