We said above (386) that the working out of the Lord's purposes by means of spheres emanating from Him are Divine providence. So this too is meant by the sphere which protects and supports those who are unable to protect and support themselves. For it was established from creation that what is created is to be preserved, kept safe, protected and supported; otherwise the universe would collapse in ruins. But because this cannot be directly accomplished by the Lord in the case of living creatures, who are left with the power of choice, it is done indirectly by the love of it implanted in fathers, mothers and nurses. They are unaware that their love is a love in them coming from the Lord, because they do not feel the Lord's influence, much less His omnipresence.

Can anyone fail to see that this is not the work of nature, but of Divine providence working in and through nature; and such a universal influence could not exist, if it did not come from God through some spiritual sun, located in the centre of the universe, the working of which, being apart from space and time, is immediate and present everywhere from first to last?

[2] We shall describe in what follows, however, how that Divine working, which is the Lord's Divine providence, is received by living creatures. The fact that mothers and fathers protect and support children, because they are unable to protect and support themselves, is not the reason for that love, but is a rational reason which that love makes impinge upon the intellect. For if this were the only reason, with no love inspired into him and inspiring him, or with no law or penalty to compel him, a person would no more look after his children than a statue would.