God not only preserves, but also rules the world; He is solicitous for all things; He orders and governs all things with wisdom and mercy to the end for which He created them.  “The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord:  and thou givest them meat in due season.  Thou openest thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living creature” (Ps. cxliv, 15-16).  Of what little value is a flower which so soon withers?  And yet the divine solicitude extends to this humble flower.  Indeed, is not the flower of the field clothed more beautifully by the hand of God, than was Solomon in all his glory?  What is there about a man of less account than a single hair of his head?  And yet each of these hairs is counted, and not one falls from the head without the knowledge and will of God.  We see how the care and providence of God extends to all things, even the most insignificant.

God, furthermore, orders and governs all things according to their appointed end.  He created the world and all that is in it for His glorification and for the welfare of mankind, and provides in all things that this end may be attained.  Nothing can withdraw itself from the rule of God.  There is no blind chance, no blind fortune.  The prophet Jeremias asks:  “Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the Lord commandeth it not?” (Lam. iii, 37).  “Thy providence, O Father, ruleth all things,” so we read in the Book of Wisdom.  And so God orders and disposes everything in our lives, that we may attain the eternal goal.  We have but to commit ourselves to divine Providence and place our trust in God.  For this reason we should exclaim with David:  “The Lord ruleth me:  and I shall want nothing.  For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me” (Ps. xxii).

In the first article we profess our faith, therefore, in the omnipotence of God, divine Providence, and all the divine attributes.  God has created us and preserves us.  But He has done still greater things for us.  Is this possible?  Yes, for God so loved the world that He sacrificed His only begotten Son for it.  And this brings us to the second article, which comprises the truths we must believe of God the Son.

II.  When the sin of our first parents had deprived us of the friendship of God as well as of our heirship to Heaven, there came to our rescue the second Person of the Godhead, the only begotten of the Father.  The succeeding articles tell us of the love and sacrifice of the Son of God for our race.

The second article is:  “And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.”  What does this mean?  It means I believe that He is the Son of God, God of God, true God of true God.  It means I believe that He became incarnate for the sake of our salvation.  It means I believe in the doctrines that He proclaimed, in the miracles that He performed.  It means I believe in His presence in the holy Eucharist; in the effects of the holy Sacraments which He instituted.