How to Make Your Plan Fit Into God's Plan - Part 3
We continue to discuss how to fit our plan into God's plan. But let's take a deep breath now. We don't want to miss something quite wonderful that Father Ramiere told us last time.
If you remember, Father first explained that nothing happens in this world without God's knowledge and permission:
But before we continue to what Father calls his "Third Principle," this important note: Not everything that we witness in this world can easily be understood as serving God's greater glory. It's a problem that pastors, spiritual directors, and theologians have attempted to explain for centuries, and we're not likely to resolve it here and now. However, we might remind ourselves of something all Catholics should know: They happen because God made us with free will and He does not force us to do good. So when we don't, we - not Him - bring evil into the world. It's been so since Adam and Eve. With that in mind, let's just accept the fact that such things happen and that in some mysterious way they do indeed serve God's plan.
Now to something wonderful: Father Ramiere's Third Principle:
What this means is that our happiness is central to fitting our plan into God's plan. It's not about conceiving or calculating just how this or that task we perform at work somehow carries out God's will. It's not about reviewing our thoughts, words, and actions at the end of the day to determine what was good and what was bad. Yes, we're morally culpable for our thoughts, words, and actions. But even that which we've done that's not good, indeed that which we might have done that's sinful, somehow will serve God's design. And fundamental to that design is our happiness.
Happiness!
We'll talk more about fitting our plan into God's plan next time. But as you begin your work today, remember that not only will your work somehow fit into God's plan, but, wondrous to behold: "in God's designs the interests of man's sanctification and happiness is inseparable from the interest of the divine glory."
In other words, it's not just that your work will fit into God's plan that should captivate and enthrall you, it's that your working for the glory of God is intimately bound to - according to His Plan - your happiness.
If you remember, Father first explained that nothing happens in this world without God's knowledge and permission:
Nothing is done, nothing happens, either in the material or in the moral world, which God has not foreseen from all eternity, and which He has not willed, or at least permitted.He referred to this as "First Principle," to which he adds a "Second Principle":
God can will nothing, He can permit nothing, but in view of the end He proposed to Himself in creating the world; i.e., in view of His glory and the glory of the Man-God, Jesus Christ, His only Son.Father's first two "principles" describe the reality of Divine Providence. We Catholics need to understand and accept this awesome and mysterious reality. And we should do our best to see our personal efforts every day as somehow part of God's Plan, as playing their part in Divine Providence. That's in a nutshell why we need to fit our plan, including our work plan, into God's plan.
But before we continue to what Father calls his "Third Principle," this important note: Not everything that we witness in this world can easily be understood as serving God's greater glory. It's a problem that pastors, spiritual directors, and theologians have attempted to explain for centuries, and we're not likely to resolve it here and now. However, we might remind ourselves of something all Catholics should know: They happen because God made us with free will and He does not force us to do good. So when we don't, we - not Him - bring evil into the world. It's been so since Adam and Eve. With that in mind, let's just accept the fact that such things happen and that in some mysterious way they do indeed serve God's plan.
Now to something wonderful: Father Ramiere's Third Principle:
As long as man lives upon earth, God desires to be glorified through the happiness of this privileged creature; and consequently in God’s designs the interests of man’s sanctification and happiness is inseparable from the interest of the divine glory."Can you possibly imagine anything more wonderful than this? God, our Heavenly Father, Creator of the universe, "desires to be glorified through the happiness of this privileged creature." (That's us.) Emphasis on "happiness."
What this means is that our happiness is central to fitting our plan into God's plan. It's not about conceiving or calculating just how this or that task we perform at work somehow carries out God's will. It's not about reviewing our thoughts, words, and actions at the end of the day to determine what was good and what was bad. Yes, we're morally culpable for our thoughts, words, and actions. But even that which we've done that's not good, indeed that which we might have done that's sinful, somehow will serve God's design. And fundamental to that design is our happiness.
Happiness!
We'll talk more about fitting our plan into God's plan next time. But as you begin your work today, remember that not only will your work somehow fit into God's plan, but, wondrous to behold: "in God's designs the interests of man's sanctification and happiness is inseparable from the interest of the divine glory."
In other words, it's not just that your work will fit into God's plan that should captivate and enthrall you, it's that your working for the glory of God is intimately bound to - according to His Plan - your happiness.
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