the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Dictionaries
Providence
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
or
(Latin: providere, to foresee, provide)
Adapting means to an end, God in His Wisdom ordering every event so that the purpose of creation may be realized, and, in particular providing for every human being the means of working out his destiny and of serving and glorifying his Creator, Ruler, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Saint John Damascene calls it: "The will of God by which all things are ruled by right reason." It leaves no room for chance or for fate. It is the personal act of God in regard to man. It is the expression of His relation to us as Father. "For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things." (Matthew 6) It is our reason and motive for prayer, as taught by Christ in the "Our Father." It is God's hand leading us on, invisible especially in moments of trial and darkness, but visible, as Cardinal Newman says in Parochial Sermons I, when we can look back and account for the happenings that have influenced our lives and enabled us to go on in God's service. In volume V he says it is nearly the only doctrine held with real assent by the mass of religious Englishmen, which seems to be true generally of Christians who are not members of the Church Christ founded.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Entry for 'Providence'. 1910 New Catholic Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ncd/p/providence.html. 1910.
