Providence, prosperity, and purpose

“If the providence of God does not preside over human affairs,” wrote St. Augustine, “there is no point in busying oneself about religion.” But what is providence? It is sometimes confused with fate and blind destiny. Correctly defining it requires the recognition that God created all things for a purpose and he, as Frank Sheed stated in Theology and Sanity, “has made provision that each being should fulfill His purpose. This overruling provision which God has made, that His plan be not stultified or any way frustrated, is His Providence.”

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