Posted on 01/29/2010 4:57:48 AM PST by GonzoII
All wisdom comes from the Lord God we find in the Book of Ecclesiasticus, and with him it remains forever, and is before all time . . . and he has poured her forth upon all his works.1 How manifold are your works, O Lord! exclaims the Psalmist, In wisdom thou hast wrought them all2 It could not be otherwise, for God, being infinite wisdom and acting by Himself, cannot act except in an infinitely wise manner.
For this reason many of the Doctors of the Church hold that, having regard to the circumstances, His works are so perfect that they could not be more so, and so good that they could hot be better. 'We ought then' says St. Basil, 'to ponder well on this thought, that we are the work of a good Workman, and that He dispenses and distributes to us all things great and small with the wisest providence, so that there is nothing had, nothing that could even be conceived better.' The works of the Lord are great the Psalmist again says, exquisite in all their delights.3 His wisdom is especially shown in the right proportion between the means He employs and the end He has in view.
She reaches from end to end mightily and governs all things well.4 She (Wisdom) governs men with admirable order, she leads them to their happiness mightily but without violence or constraint, with sweetness and not only with sweetness, but still more with circumspection.
But though you have might at your disposal, says the Sage, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us.5 You are endowed with an infinite strength that nothing can resist but with us you do not use the absolute power of your sovereign authority. You treat us with extreme condescension and adapting yourself to the weakness of nature, design to place each one of us in the best and most suitable situation for working out our salvation. You dispose of us with great favor as persons who at your living image and of noble origin and who, because of their condition, are not to be ordered in the voice of a master as if they were slaves, but with care and consideration. You treat us with the same circumspection as one handles a vase of precious crystal or fragile pottery for fear of breaking it. When it is necessary for our good for you to afflict us or send us some illness or make us suffer some loss or pain, you always do so with a certain respect and a kind of deference.
As a surgeon who has to operate on a person of importance takes extra care to cause him as little suffering as possible and only what is strictly necessary for his recovery, or as a father unwillingly punishes a son he loves dearly only because he is obliged to do so for his son's good, so God treats us as noble beings for whom He has the highest regard, or as beloved children whom he chastises because he loves them.6
Looking, St. Paul tells us, towards the author and finisher of faith, Jesus (the only begotten and beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased) .... Consider then him who endured such opposition from sinners against himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. For you have not yet resisted unto blood (as He did) in the struggle with sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation that is addressed to you as sons, saying, My son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord, neither be thou weary when thou art rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loves he chastises, and he scourges every son whom he receives. Continue under discipline, for God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not correct?7 In short, the purpose for which God acts is a high and holy one, His own glory and the good of His creatures. Infinitely good -- Goodness itself -- He seeks to make them all perfect by drawing them towards Him and making them sharers in His divinity as far as they are capable. But because of the close ties He has established with us by the union of our nature with His in the person of his Son, we in a still more special manner are the object of His benevolence and tender care. A glove is not more fitted to a hand or a sword to a scabbard than what He does and ordains in us and for us is suited to our strength and capabilities, so that everything may serve to our advantage and perfection if we but cooperate with the designs of his providence.
Do not let ourselves be troubled when we are sometimes beset by adversity, for we know that it is meant for our spiritual welfare and carefully proportioned to our needs, and that a limit has been set to it by the wisdom of the same God who has set a bound to the ocean. Sometimes it might seem as if the sea in its fury would overflow and flood the land, but it respects the limits of its shore and its waves break upon the yielding sand. There is no tribulation or temptation whose limits God has not appointed so as to serve not for our destruction but for our salvation. God is faithful says the Apostle, and will not permit you to be tempted (or afflicted) beyond your strength,8 but it is necessary for you to be so, since through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God9 in the steps of our Redeemer who said of Himself, Did not the Christ have to suffer all these things before entering into his glory?10 If you refused to accept these tribulations you would be acting against your best interests.
You are like a block of marble in the hands of the sculptor. The sculptor must chip, hew and smooth it to make it into a statue that is a work of art. God wishes to make us the living image of Himself. All we need to think of is to keep still in His hands while He works on us, and we can rest assured that the chisel will never strike the slightest blow that is not needed for His purposes and our sanctification; for, as St. Paul says, the will of God is your sanctification.9
1. THE WILL OF GOD MADE AND GOVERNS ALL THINGS
2. GOD DOES EVERYTHING WITH SUPREME WISDOM
1. THE WILL OF GOD MADE AND GOVERNS ALL THINGS
2. GOD DOES EVERYTHING WITH SUPREME WISDOM
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