Have you heard of divine concurrence (better known as divine providence)? Well, I re-learned this term a few months ago in a seminar. Somehow, the term stuck into my mind this time around maybe because of the way it was explained to us. In my own understanding, this means that God plans everything. It also means that everything that happens has a purpose and is all part of a great plan.

Divine Providence
(Latin, Providentia; Greek, pronoia)
"Providence in general, or foresight, is a function of the virtue of prudence, and may be defined as the practical reason, adapting means to an end. As applied to God, Providence is God Himself considered in that act by which in His wisdom He so orders all events within the universe that the end for which it was created may be realized. That end is that all creatures should manifest the glory of God, and in particular that man should glorify Him, recognizing in nature the work of His hand, serving Him in obedience and love, and thereby attaining to the full development of his nature and to eternal happiness in God. The universe is a system of real beings created by God and directed by Him to this supreme end, the concurrence of God being necessary for all natural operations, whether of things animate or inanimate, and still more so for operations of the supernatural order. God preserves the universe in being; He acts in and with every creature in each and all its activities. In spite of sin, which is due to the wilful perversion of human liberty, acting with the concurrence, but contrary to the purpose and intention of God and in spite of evil which is the consequence of sin, He directs all, even evil and sin itself, to the final end for which the universe was created. All these operations on God's part, with the exception of creation, are attributed in Catholic theology to Divine Providence."
Anyway, I believe that divine concurrence happens in the big things as well as the small things, in the good things as well as those perceived as bad. Recently, we had a taste of God's divine concurrence and goodness.

On January 1, 2009, while preparing for New Year's lunch, we heard a clash at the back of our house. Our Ate Nilda and Francis were at the backyard grilling liempo. We heard from them that part of the window from my Tatay's walk-in closet and bathroom fell out.

All the while, Zoe and I were in the kitchen watching my husband prepare Fish and Chips for lunch. When Hubby finally went inside the room to check why the window broke, he found this ~

It's a 9.0 mm bullet.

We couldn't believe that a 'stray' bullet hit our house at 10:00 in the morning.

.
When I look back, I only have God to thank because...

1) Zoe and I were sitting at that same sink where the bullet fell only 5 minutes before the bullet was fired. She wanted to make pupu and I accompanied her.

2) Ate Nilda and Francis were about 1 meter away from where the pieces of the glass window fell so they were unhurt.

3) That time (10 am) was ordinarily Zoe's bath time. After bathing, she would normally sit on that sink to brush her teeth. On that day, since it was January 01, Zoe took a bath earlier since we had relatives who were coming for lunch.

Whoever fired that bullet must be crazy. That single bullet could have cost the life of a dear person. It was so bad. We called the baranggay police and they said that we should report this to PNP Rizal. So we tried calling PNP but nobody was answering the phone so we just let it be. I felt really scared but at the same time I felt relieved that God made it so that the bullet hit the window and not a person. Divine concurrence is really a great mystery and I'm glad God spared us from any harm.