I’ve stumbled upon more than a few Catholics who say that if we truly pray, and believe in the power of God, he will provide for our temporal needs. We just need faith and stay close to the sacraments-also pray the Rosary-and He will provide.
However, I’m believing more and more that this is a faulty way of thinking. God will ALWAYS provide when we need spiritual help, and ask. However, for temporal or material needs-even if we truly need them, He might not give it to us.
I’m thinking of the millions of good Catholics killed under Stalin, or the French Revolution. Many probably died from hunger, begging Mary for food. But it wasn’t in God’s plan, and even though they asked, they weren’t granted their wish. The only think God will give us for sure if we ask is spiritual help.
Is this a logical way of thinking? Thoughts?
This is not a very Catholic way of thinking. It contradicts Sacred Scripture, both in the Old Testament but especially in the New Testament as in Matthew 6:25-34 where we read:
That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. Surely life means more than food, and the body more than clothing! Look at the birds of the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are? Can any of you, for all this worrying, add one single cubit to his span of life? And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his regalia was robed like one of these. Now if that is how God clothes the grass in the field which is there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you men of little faith? So do not worry; do not say, What are we to eat? What are we to drink? How are we to be clothed? It is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righteousness, and all these other things will be given you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
The account of the Wedding at Cana is also worth mentioning in this regard. At this wedding we read that Jesus was not yet ready to perform public miracles (“Woman…my hour has not yet come”) but at the intercession of Mary, Jesus changed the water into wine.
God has promised that he will provide for us. When we turn to God in prayer for our needs, we should first remember the Old Testament lesson that the just man will be rewarded but the wicked man will have their fill of troubles. As long as we are living in sin or refusing to acknowledge God, we should not expect His favors or help. Once we reform our lives and start following God’s paths, then the proper way to approach Him is through His Mother. I found it helpful during times of despair or financial hardship in my life to go to regular Confession and participate in the daily sacrifice of the Mass (the Mass being the most powerful prayer) and to recite the daily Rosary. You do these three things and you will be amazed at the miracles that will occur in your life.
Now, as to your historical references to the Catholics killed under Stalin or during the French Revolution, I would just say this: it is true that God operates in our lives providing for our needs but at the same time it is also true that the free wills of other men (in these cases, men directed by Satan) are operating. Perhaps it was that the poor Catholic souls that suffered miserably during Stalin and during the Reign of Terror, did so freely and willingly for the salvation of their sinful brothers and sisters on the other side of the equation.
