The providence of God and the purity of man

- reflections on the Gospel of the third Sunday after Pentecost -

The Savior's exhortation, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6, 33) on the third Sunday after Pentecost is a reminder to every Christian of the goal, the mission and the means according to which his way of being retains an ecclesial character in our concrete history.

The text tells us about the priorities of the one who wants to distinguish himself from the ‘nations’, who wants to draw nearer to the image and likeness of God according to which he was created. The words of the Savior Christ are the compass. They contain the exigencies according to which, if someone guides his life, he begins to get closer and closer to the model planted in him from birth.

“In this sentence (Matthew 6, 33 – n.t.) He clearly shows the difference between a good that ought to be sought as an end and a value that ought to be seen as a means. Our final good is therefore the kingdom of God and his justice. We ought to seek this good and fix our aim upon it. Let us perform all our actions for the sake of it. Yet, since we are waging war in this life in order to be able to reach this kingdom and since this life cannot be maintained unless those necessities are supplied, He says ‘These things will be given you besides, but seek you first the kingdom of God and His justice.’”[1] The Christian's priorities are two: (1) the Kingdom of God as the finality of the path or the purpose of his life; (2) the justice as the means that he uses throughout his life to achieve that purpose through its fulfillment or its practicing required by God in everyday life. The two are linked and ensure consistency and coherence to the Christian's life. What the Savior actually communicates to us is the fact that between life here and beyond there is at the same time a difference of level but also a continuity  of life, which we see in the teaching about the resurrection of bodies to the last judgments and the reunion with the soul. The bodies will be transfigured, but they will also preserve the characters and the identity from earth.

Salvation is a gift of God and for our redemption and renewal it was necessary the coming of the Son of God, our Savior Jesus Christ, in the flesh because man could not by his own power fulfill the path that would have led him back to the paradisiac state.

God by His providence or care bears on His shoulders the whole responsibility of creation and its return to the former beauty. In the Old Testament we see the most important moments of this holy history and of God's intervention in such a way that man can choose a path that brings him closer to Him. The end of this path was the union of human nature with the divine nature in the hypostasis or the divine person of the Son of God through the incarnation. This human nature became God's abode again. God exhorts man by word, gives him signs of His presence beside him, guide him, and reveals Himself to him through miracles which are just as many elements that are part of God's active pedagogy made out of love for His creation.

God's providence has in view the two coordinates we spoke of above: the kingdom of God as finality or end and the justice of God as a state of progressive fulfillment starting in this life as an objective that can lead to that finality.

Understanding the words and actions of God in their true light in history, however, has some exigencies. Man must have a state of purity that will give him a clarity of understanding and action.

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6, 22-23). In fulfilling God's providence, man is an active element. He receives all the inspiration and guidance from God who knows best the way to go. However, the man remains active and open to this synergistic work with by the grace of God through faith. And the choice of the most suitable way and means can be made by man if he has this inner purity. The light that comes from faith and makes man alive in his mind and heart, if he integrates it in his own effort. This helps him to understand and follow the path God opens to him because this is the path to the Kingdom of God.

In God, there is no confusion about the plans, the priorities and the unique principle of life and decisions that man has to make: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6, 24). God is the master of this world and of the eternal kingdom. That is why there must be no division in the heart and the choices of man because the foundation of his being and therefore the way in which he must act must be in perfect harmony with the only author of this world and of the eternal one, that is, God. The will of the One who planted in the depths of the human person the seed of his particular vocation or calling is only God. The other creatures are just more perfect or less than man but are part of the same universe as man.

Man, from the point of view of his creation, is not a neutral nature, person or entity. He has a vocation to eternity planted in him by God from birth. And this understanding that we find in the Church corresponds to a specific way of being and acting in the different cultural contexts or epochs in which each person lives. This vocation remains as a constant, as a compass, as a point of orientation of the human person beyond the changes, ideologies or currents of thought of different eras.

Man's discernment is genuine when he considers these fundamental elements. He may ignore them or imagine other bases or principles of human nature, but they remain artificial and the consequences of the decisions made based on them are best seen in the immediate or more distant historical developments.

The example in the Gospel is clear - the birds of the air, the stature of man, the beauty of the flowers of the field - are just as many examples of the fact that they have an internal law independent of human will, which is God's working grace, and which is the most obvious proof of existence and acting of the providence of God, under whose protection all exist and evolve. Does the existence and action of God's providence annihilate man's involvement or active participation? Should man abandon any initiative in terms of the world, society? The answer is no. It is just a matter of understanding how far man's responsibility to act goes and where God's action begins or exists permanently. From where man cannot ontologically do anything because this is neither in his power nor among the elements of his vocation granted to him by God.

Only God has a full knowledge of all things and of man: “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (Matthew 6, 32). The real needs of man are those that are in accordance with his vocation to eternity. Man cannot remain on the safe path of the Kingdom of heaven if he does not have it permanently in mind as a creed of life and does not practice its exigencies, including the justice that keeps man on the path to it and brings him closer and closer to God. These human priorities make him understand how to follow the inspiration of God's providence because his eye is clean and so his mind and conscience are clear and can certainly work in making decisions in order to follow his way.

God is the Creator and the One who is in charge of everything, because He is the One who laid the foundation of the universe and man and is also the One who takes care of them like the gardener of his plants so that they reach full maturity and beauty. This purity is a result of faith: “The Word of God is our faith. The Word of God is the light, and faith is the lamp. ‘That was the true Light, that enlightens everyone that comes into the world’ (John 1, 9). The lamp cannot shine unless it has received the light from elsewhere. The lamp that is lit is the virtue and perception of our mind, so that the woman can find the coin that she lost. (Luke 15, 18) … The church standing on the highest mountain of all, that is, on Christ, cannot be hidden in the darkness and ruins of this world (Mathew 5, 14). Shining with the splendor of the eternal Sun, it enlightens us with the light of spiritual grace.”[2] Man's purity comes from the presence of faith. According to St. Ambrose of Milan in faith, the very Word of God, the Savior Jesus Christ, is present. He, being the light of the world, wherever He enters, He illuminates everything. He removes the darkness to indwell as light. Man's faith is like a lamp whose lights does not come from itself but is received from the One who is the light Himself. Man cannot by himself imprison the light; he cannot appropriate himself this light. He can participate in the light, remain in the light. The spiritual light of God is His incomprehensible grace that springs from His being. Man may or may not remain in the light of grace but cannot carry it as something material with him. It cannot be used selfishly because it is not possible to contain it but only to participate into it. The Church abiding in Christ, which is her head, remains in the light. She remains in the light through the presence of the Eucharistic Christ in her. She also remains in the light of Christ through the Holy Sacraments and other blessings and through the grace of the prayers that are made in her. Every member, every Christian participates in this light that drives away the darkness from his life, mind and conscience. In this way the Christian sees everyone and himself in the light of God's design. He understands the world and himself not from the perspective of a created, limited and earthly ideology, creation of the human mind, but from the perspective of the light of divine thinking which is light. He sees them in their true identity, vocation and depth. He sees them in their intrinsic connection with their Creator.

How does this enlightenment, this moving away from darkness, takes place? St. Ambrose shows us that virtue which is embodied in the life, mind and consciousness of man ignites the whole being of man, thinning and spiritualizing perception. Virtue is the very presence of God, of Christ, by His grace which is light in the concrete life of man, and which dispels darkness, doubt, obscurity, bringing clarity, good and settled spirit, peaceful and obedient to God, which make the human person simple. “The simple light is Christ – says St. Symeon the New Theologian. He who has his light shining in his mind is said to have the mind of Christ (1Corinthinans 2, 16). When your light is this simple, then the whole immaterial bod of your soul will be full of light.”[3] The great mystic of the Byzantine Church shows that nothing can be simpler than light because light is Christ. The light radiates from God and is uncreated carrying God in it. It is like fire that warms up through heat and illuminates through light any matter it comes in contact with. All three - heat, light, matter - become at some point one and inseparable. They make up a whole that includes all the characters of the three elements separately but also together. This is also the personal experience of St. Symeon when he lives the encounter with God in the light. It is immaterial and illuminates everything in the middle of the night. Likewise, the mind ignites and participates in this light which is Christ.

We now better understand Christ's reference to the impossibility of serving two lords. The mind, the understanding, and through them the body, the person, reach simplicity, following a single path, that of God, who is the only Master of all.

“Therefore, whoever wishes to love God and to beware of offending Him, let such a one cleanse the upright intention of his heart from all duplicity. In this way, he will ‘think of the Lord in goodness and seek Him in simplicity of heart’ (Wisdom 1, 1).”[4] Man is created in the image and likeness of God which is simplicity and goodness. So, man cannot be different from the original model, that is, from God. His vocation is simplicity. Or serving two lords presupposes duplicity, lack of simplicity, falsity and hypocrisy because his decisions will be divided between the two.

In order to see God's providence and understand the way to go, it takes simplicity and purity on the part of man. The providence of God bring everything to their final goal according to the will of God for the good of all, not according to man’s desires and plans. “Hence it is clear that it is not our diligence but our providence of God, even where we seem to be active, that finally accompanies everything. In the light of God’s providence, none of our cares, anxieties, toils or any other such things will ever come to anything, but all will utterly pass away.”[5]

The understanding of what is happening in the world and with the human life and the role of divine grace played in the existence of them is seen only by the person who has acquired purity. The spiritual man sees the whole abundant work of God in all things because of a lucid and pure sight and mind. He thus becomes a true son of God.

† Ioan Casian

[1] St. Augustine. St. Augustine. Sermon on the Mount 2.16.53 in Thomas C. Oden (ed.). Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (New Testament Ia)/ Matthew 1-13) Ed. InterVarsity Press 2001: Downers Grove, Illinois, USA, p 145 col.2   

[2] St. Ambrose of Milan. Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 7.98-99 in Thomas C. Oden (ed.). Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (New Testament III/Luke). Ed. InterVarsity Press 2003: Downers Grove, Illinois, USA, p 196 col. 2  

[3] St Symeon the New Theologian. Discourses 33.2 in Thomas C. Oden (ed.). Ancient Christian Commentary … p 197 col. 1  

[4] St. Augustine. Sermon on the Mount 2.14.48 in Thomas C. Oden (ed.). Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (New Testament Ia)/ Matthew 1-13) … p 144 col.1   

[5] St. John Chrysostom. The Gospel on Matthew, Homily 21.3 in Thomas C. Oden (ed.). Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (New Testament Ia/ Matthew 1-13) … p 144-145 col.2/1