DP 201-211 (various portions) - Divine Providence and Human Prudence

DP 201 [1, 3]

Those who ascribe everything to nature
also ascribe everything to human prudence.
For people who ascribe everything to nature,
at heart deny God,
and people who ascribe everything to human prudence,
at heart deny Divine providence.
One is inseparable from the other.

What is in God called providence
is in man called prudence.

DP 202 [2, 3]

. . .  no one can be reformed
of himself through his own prudence,
but only by the Lord through His Divine providence.
It follows, therefore,
that unless a person is guided by the Lord every moment,
even every least moment,
he departs from the path of reformation and perishes.

The Lord accomplishes this
in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence.
And it is in accordance with these laws also
that it appear to a person
that it is he who guides himself.
But the Lord foresees how he is guiding himself
and continually makes adjustments.

DP 203 [2]

. . . the Lord's Divine providence is universal
because it operates in the least particulars,
and that this is an infinite and eternal creating,
which the Lord has provided for Himself
by the creation of the universe.

A person sees nothing of this universal providence,
and if he were to see it,
it could appear to his eyes only
as do scattered heaps
and assembled piles of materials
to passers-by,
the materials out of which a house is to be built.
But to the Lord it appears as a magnificent palace
constantly being built and enlarged.

DP 207

The origin and nature of Divine providence:
Divine providence is the Divine operation
in a person who has set aside love of self.
For a love of self is, as we said, the devil,
and its lusts and their delights
are the evils of its kingdom, which is hell.
When this love has been set aside,
the Lord enters with the affections
of a love for the neighbor,
and He opens the window overhead
and then the windows to the sides,
and enables the person to see that there is a heaven,
a life after death, and eternal happiness.
And by the spiritual light flowing in,
and at the same time spiritual love,
He causes the person to acknowledge
that by His Divine providence God governs all things.

DP 211

If you wish to be led by Divine providence, therefore,
use prudence as a servant or assistant
who faithfully manages the goods of his lord.
This prudence is the mina given
to each of the servants to do business with,
of which they were to render an account,
in Luke 19:12-25, cf. Matt. 25:14-30.
This prudence appears to a person to be his own,
and he believes it to be his own
as long as he keeps shut up in him
the most implacable foe of God and Divine providence,
namely, love of self.
This love dwells in the interior qualities
of every person from birth.
If you do not recognize it
(for it does not wish to be recognized),
it dwells secure,
and it guards the door
to keep the person from opening it
and thus the Lord from casting it out.

A person opens that door
by refraining from evils as sins as though of himself,
with the acknowledgment that he does so from the Lord.
It is this prudence with which
Divine providence acts in concert.