Spirituality: "God's Veiled Purpose"

All creatures live by the hand of God. The senses can only grasp the work of [man], but faith sees the work of divine action in everything. It sees that Jesus Christ lives in all things, extending his influence over the centuries so that the briefest moment and the tiniest atom contain a portion of that hidden life and its mysterious work. Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, surprised the disciples when he appeared before them in disguise, only to vanish as soon as he had declared himself. The same Jesus still lives and works among us, still surprises souls whose faith is not sufficiently pure and strong. There is no moment when God is not manifest in the form of some affliction, obligation, or duty. 

Everything that happens to us, in us, and through us, embraces and conceals God’s divine but veiled purpose, so that we are always being taken by surprise and never recognize it until it has been accomplished. If we could pierce that veil and if we were vigilant and attentive, God would unceasingly reveal himself to us and we would rejoice in his works and in all that happens to us. We would say to everything: “It is the Lord!” And we would discover that every circumstance is a gift from God; that human beings, frail creatures though we are, will never lack anything; and that God’s unceasing concern is to give them what is best for them. If we had faith, we would be grateful to all creatures, we would bless them and inwardly thank them for contributing, under God’s hand, so favorably to our perfection.

Jean Pierre de Caussade, S.J., Sacrament of the Present Moment, page 44.