God remains the master of history

One of the great mysteries of the Christian faith — and a great consolation for all of us — is that despite all the human errors and bad decisions (wars, injustices, crimes, etc.), God remains master of human history, and accomplishes his plan of love, while respecting human freedom. In other words, God's love and power are so great that He can turn what was intrinsically evil into good.

Let's take the example, in the Bible, of Joseph sold by his brothers (Genesis 37). He was certainly sold out of hatred and jealousy, which is obviously wrong, but God saw to it that this action later turned out for the best, since it was Joseph, who later became the most powerful man in Egypt, working alongside Pharaoh, who was able to save his brothers and the whole tribe of Jacob from famine.

Of course, this is beyond our understanding, but what is impossible for man is possible for God. All we have to do is trust God in all circumstances because, as Saint Paul says, "All things work together for good to those who love God" (Romans 8:28).

Similar examples can even be drawn from the life of Louis Even, the founder of MICHAEL, whose fiftieth anniversary of death we celebrate in 2024. Firstly, in his youth, when he was a Brother of Christian Instruction in France, an anti-clerical law passed by the French government in 1903 expelled all religious from France; Louis Even was therefore sent by his superiors to Canada.

Secondly, Louis Even had to leave teaching in the Montreal area because he had become deaf, and hearing aids at the time were not what they are today. Mr. Even was therefore reassigned by his superiors to the community printing works in Laprairie. In 1920, Mr. Even was released from his vows and joined the Garden City Press in Ste-Anne de Bellevue, west of Montreal.

He and his boss, J.J. Harpell, had a great concern for social justice, and it was there in 1934 that Louis Even discovered the luminous solution of Economic Democracy (or Social Credit), which was to change the course of his life. Mr Even exclaimed: "This is a light on my path, I must make it known to everyone." If Louis Even had not been sent to Canada, and had not entered the employment of the Garden City Press, he would never have known about Social Credit, and would never have founded the MICHAEL movement.

In his Providence, God sometimes acts in mysterious ways, but we must know how to abandon ourselves to Him and put our trust in Him. A remarkable example of this trust in God is that of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, to whom Pope Francis recently dedicated an apostolic exhortation that begins with these words: "It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love."

At a time when the media are filling us with worrying news (wars, digital money replacing paper money, artificial intelligence that could be used to control people), we can logically fear the future, and even be paralysed by fear. With this in mind, it's worth re-reading what the Pope wrote in his Exhortation:

"The complete confidence that becomes an abandonment in Love sets us free from obsessive calculations, constant worry about the future and fears that take away our peace. In her final days, Therese insisted on this:'We who run in the way of love shouldn't be thinking of suffering that can take place in the future; it's a lack of confidence.'If we are in the hands of a Father who loves us without limits, this will be the case come what may; we will be able to move beyond whatever may happen to us and, in one way or another, His plan of love and fullness will come to fulfillment in our lives."

Do we have enough faith, do we trust God enough, to think and act in this way in our lives? Another example of total trust in God and His Divine Providence is that of a Canadian nun, Saint Marguerite d'Youville.

You will notice that this issue talks a lot about the economy and monetary reform, with the aim of putting an end to the scandal of poverty and ensuring that everyone has at least what they need. This does not mean that the MICHAEL magazine has become materialistic — the salvation of souls remains the main objective — but quite simply that while a sufficiency of material goods does not necessarily make a man virtuous, the absence of material goods makes the practice of any virtue impossible. Indeed, in the Book of Proverbs (30:8-9), we read: "Lord, give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me the bread I need, lest I be full and deny You and say,'Who is Yahweh?'And lest I become poor and steal, and offend the name of my God."

Pope Paul VI wrote in his encyclical Populorum Progressio (paragraph 75): "It is the person who is motivated by genuine love, more than anyone else, who pits his intelligence against the problems of poverty, trying to uncover the causes and looking for effective ways of combating and overcoming them." This describes Louis Even's work very well; he really did seek to educate people about the causes of poverty — the current money-debt system — and the means of combating it — the financial proposals of Social Credit, or Economic Democracy. Enjoy your reading!