What is the purpose of divine providence for every human being?

St. Clement explains that divine providence embraces the human being as a whole: body; mind; and soul. As the true friend of humanity, God works to sanctify us, so that we might become icons of our Holy Creator. The scholar Origen says, “‘No one is holy like the Lord’ (1 Sam. 2:2). No matter how great a man’s growth in holiness, or his attainments in purity and faithfulness, no one can ever attain the holiness of the Lord. It is God who gives holiness; man merely receives it. God is the fountain of holiness; man merely drinks of it. God is holy light; man merely gazes upon it.”⁵³¹

527 Origen, Against Celsus 8.70 (ANF 4:667).

528 Origen, Exhortation to Martyrdom 1.4 (ACW 19:144).

529 St. Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, or Miscellanies 6.17 (ANF 2:515–518).

530 Origen, Against Celsus 4.69 (ANF 4:528).

531 Origen, Homilies on 1 Samuel , Homily 2; see Benjamin Drewery, Origen and the Doctrine of Grace (University of Michigan, 1960).