God's Providence

SCRIPTURE
- Romans 11:33  
“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his ways!”  

REFLECTION
- Fr. Jason

MUSIC
- "Night Rain" by Ola Gjeilo
- "O God, You Search Me" by Bernadette Farrell

NOTES
-

PRAYER OF LETTING GO
To You do I belong, O God,
into Your hands I surrender my life.
Pour out Your Spirit upon me
that I may love You perfectly,
and serve You faithfully
until my soul rests in You.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_03 0:29

There are some places where we can show up without having to explain ourselves. No backstory, no catching anyone up, no trying to put into words what we're feeling. Prayer is one of those places. God already knows what brought you here today and what you're carrying with you. So for these next few minutes, we can simply be here with him. Welcome to the God Minute. Let's pray. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_04 1:11

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Psalm 32. You are my guide. Blessed are you whose wrongdoings have been forgiven, whose shame has been forgotten. Blessed are you in whom love divine finds a home, and whose spirit radiates truth.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

O my beloved God, you are my guide. You teach me to walk in the light. Be watchful of me. Counsel me as I listen to you in the silence.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

I pray for the gifts of inner peace and wisdom, for the grace to reverence all of your creation.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Many are the heartaches of those separated from love. Steadfast love abides with those who surrender their lives into the hands of the beloved.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Be glad and rejoice. Let your life give witness to God's presence in your life. Shout for joy, all you upright of heart.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

How unsearchable his ways. The word of the Lord. As you consider the omniscience of God, as you consider that God is indeed all-knowing, what emotions arise in your heart. As you consider that God knows the depth of your heart, that God knows everything about you even more than you know yourself. What emotions arise in your heart? It can be admittedly a bit unnerving to consider that God knows us just that well, that nothing escapes the notice of God. But we always have to remember that God's omniscience, that God's omnipotence, his knowledge and his power are coupled with his love. Indeed, God sees the depth of our heart. And in seeing us and knowing us, God loves us. It's from the loving heart of God that God also then has a plan for us. We call this plan God's providence, that God, indeed, as a loving father, wants to provide for us his sons and daughters. In our little scripture passage for today, we hear Saint Paul marvel at the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, he says, how unsearchable his ways. You can sense the gratitude in Saint Paul as he writes and proclaims these words. Indeed, our hearts too can be filled with gratitude as we notice all of the wonderful and marvelous ways that God has provided for us right in the concrete circumstances of our daily lives. What are we to make of that? Are his wisdom and knowledge so marvelous after all? We speak oftentimes of God willing everything that happens, and that's true theologically. God has a perfect will. God sees and he lays out a plan for all of us, for all of humanity, and for us individually. But we too have a free will. Those around us have a free will. Original sin has entered into the human experience. And so many things that happen are not part of God's perfect will, but instead part of his permissive will. You see, he permits these things to happen, he allows them. But the beauty of our loving God is that even these things that he permits, things that we could say are not good. God in the end can somehow in his love make good come from them. Things that at first might seem tragic or difficult. God can be present, he is present in them, and he can reveal his love through them. I experienced this myself in a profound way several years ago when I became very sick. And in the midst of that sickness, that struggle, the surgeries, the recovery, I felt so deeply the presence, the accompaniment of a loving God. I felt so deeply seen and known and loved by Jesus Himself, who knows the brokenness of our human condition. So in your own life where you find there to be difficulties, and you find God there, in faith we indeed know that God is there, that God is present, that God has a plan. Trust the Lord, surrender to Him, for His ways are marvelous and unsearchable.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

Trusting that He already knows what you need. With faith we pray. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Let us pray. Faithful Father, there is so much we cannot see, and so much we do not understand. Yet nothing in our lives is hidden from you. Meet us in the places that feel uncertain. Stay close when the road takes a turn we never expected. And give us the grace to trust that even there you are present. When we cannot trace your ways, help us to rest in your love and to surrender what we cannot control. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

SPEAKER_04 9:31

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 9:35

And together to you do I belong, O God. Into your hands I surrender my life. Pour out your Spirit upon me, that I may love you perfectly and serve you faithfully until my soul rests in you. Sometimes faith means being able to say, God, I don't understand this, but I trust that you are here. Let's rest in the care of the God who knows us better than we know ourselves. And may God bless us with his presence in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_04 10:18

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

Look for Christ in the small things until we pray again tomorrow.