The Mother of Providence

The original "Mater Divinae Providentiae" in Rome.

Tomorrow the Church celebrates – in some places- the Feast Day of Our Lady of Providence. For certain, it’s a big day of celebration in Puerto Rico, where Our Lady of Providence was named its Patroness on November 19, 1969 by Pope Paul VI. It is a big occasion for the Order of Servites, who were among the first to formally invoke Our Lady under this title in the 13th Century when they were in dire need of food for the friars in Italy. It is undoubtedly a celebration for those who continue the traditions of the Barnabite Fathers, who in the 16th Century made this devotion their own, also while seeking Our Lady’s help for material needs. Most significant for me is that it's a day of celebration in the Diocese of Providence, and in its College Seminary, both of which are under her patronage. Over and over again – under this title and countless others- people of faith across time and history have gone in faith to Our Lady in times of need: and why wouldn’t we? As she herself reminded Juan Diego at Guadalupe:

“Hear me and understand well, my son the least, that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.”

In the Portuguese community I have often heard the joke of the teenager who wants to go to his friend’s house, and his mother asks (with a thick accent of course) “why you always want to go over there?” To which the teenager replies, “Because he’s my friend!” The Portuguese mother replies in shock: “Friend!? You want friends? I’ll be your friend.” The amusing story also expresses a powerful truth: what single thing could a child ever need, that a mother would not want to be for them?? Mary is no different: a mother through and through, who provides for her children everything we could possibly need…including a savior!

The Gospel that the Church provides when celebrating, “Mary, Mother of Divine Providence” is that of the Wedding Feast at Cana. Mary discovers that the wedding couple has run out of wine: a terrible embarrassment for a family in Jesus’ time. She intercedes on the couple’s behalf, and secures the role she will now hold for the rest of time: our intercessor to Jesus. She did it at Cana. She did it for the Servites. She did it for the Barnabites. She has done it over and over again, countless times for countless people across history: and she continues to do it today for you and for me.

I was blessed to study at the Seminary of Our Lady of Providence, who has – like the Diocese in which it sits- always sought the care and protection of Our Lady under this title. As a young Seminarian I remember sitting in the Chapel many times over the course of my four years there gazing at the statue of her that sat by the window, begging her to help…begging her to help me understand…begging her to help me find strength. It wasn’t until adulthood that her role in my life would become clear.

When we place ourselves under her protection we can be assured that she will be the mother we have asked her to be. Like the assurances offered to Juan Diego, she reminds each of us: she is our mother. We have nothing to fear!

We live in the midst of an insane culture, and its insanity has made its way into every single corner of our lives: from random earthquakes in New England, to a pandemic that has taken 1.34 million lives across the entire world, to a Presidential Election that has torn a Nation that defines itself as “United” completely in two. Yet Mary repeats just as she did to Juan Diego: I am your mother, you have nothing to be afraid of…regardless of any “illness or anguish”…we are under her protection.

Sometimes being a person of faith is a terrifying reality. It’s easy to give thanks when things are going well (though we all too often don’t.) It’s easy to see the hand of God in the pretty things, and the blessings. Where is he in times of trial? Where is he in the Coronavirus? Where is he in the anger being spewed over the election?

He is the same place he always is: everywhere. He is, always and everywhere, waiting for us to turn every last detail of our lives over to his care…just like she did.

At the Annunciation, Mary said “yes” to the angel Gabriel. She didn’t know what would lie ahead, or how bad the suffering could be. When she spoke her yes at Nazareth, she had no idea about Calvary. Yet she accepted it when it came…just like she accepted every pain and suffering…not because she understood them, but because she had said “yes”…and she meant it.

We said yes on Sunday when we received Holy Communion.

We say yes every Sunday when we receive Holy Communion.

Do we accept our suffering, and turn our will and our lives over to the care of God?

I think that sometimes we think that turning things over to God will mean that he will change things according to OUR will. That’s not how it works. When we turn things over to God we are saying that WE will accept HIS will. Sometimes things change according to our preference and sometimes they don’t. At Cana Jesus turned the water into wine, but at Calvary there was no choice but to accept suffering. The lesson of Easter is that in the long run suffering and shame have been forever conquered. COVID has already been conquered. The sin that divides our nation has already been redeemed. We just have to reach out with an open heart, and an attitude of hope, and take our mother’s hand who will guide us through it all.

We remind ourselves on this celebration of Our Lady of Providence that as people of faith we know that in the end we are not made for this world and its insanity. We recognize that no human power can relieve the insanity, but God can, and he will if we ask him. Our Lady, as the New Eve, is a coworker with the New Adam, and as our mother she leads us into deeper communion with him. What more fitting day is there to recommit ourselves to this truth, and to reaffirm our devotion to her as our mother?

Ever since I graduated in 2003, every time I drove past the Seminary of Our Lady of Providence I would say a quick prayer for the Seminarians who live there, but especially for whoever is in my old room. Sometimes I would look down the hill and if it was night time the light would be on. I couldn’t help but wonder if the same fears and anxiety that ate at me were eating at him too.

Icon of Our Lady of Providence, commissioned in the Diocese of Providence for the Year 2000 Jubilee

I wished I could just go down there and say to him, “Just trust her! She is your mother! She will get you to where you need to be!”

Won’t you join me today in praying in a special way for the Seminarians of the Diocese of Providence, who study under Our Lady’s patronage…especially those at OLP…and most especially for the man in “Room 4.” Those walls have seen many tears through the years, but not a single one of them falls outside the loving embrace of our mother.