In celebrating the annual Mass in honor of Our Lady of Divine Providence, Archdiocese of New York Auxiliary Bishop Peter J. Byrne told the faithful it is important to maintain “our faith in the providence of God. When we reflect on the providence of God, we are declaring our faith in God and His plan.”   

Bishop Byrne, who served as principal celebrant and homilist of the November 19 Mass, added that by contrast, relying on secular views of life and world occurrences “always produces frustration.” 

The afternoon Spanish Mass was the 43rd annual Our Lady of Divine Providence Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Our Lady of Divine Providence is the patroness of Puerto Rico.  

“It is a maternal image. Mary is our guide,” Bishop Byrne said during the homily, noting that at the wedding of Cana, Jesus changed the water to wine “through the intercession of His Mother.” And he spoke of natural disasters such as Hurricane Maria, which caused much death and destruction in Puerto Rico in 2017.               

“The fact that God permits physical and even moral evil is a mystery that God illuminates by his Son Jesus Christ who died and rose to vanquish evil. Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life,” Bishop Byrne said, noting the meaning of divine providence in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. 

“This is our faith – our faith in divine providence,” Bishop Byrne said, citing “the participation of the Virgin Mary in the Providence of God.” He also noted this from the Catechism: “Divine providence works also through the actions of creatures. To human beings, God grants the ability to co-operate freely with his plans.”  

“And so we must produce fruits – fruits of love for God, and love for our neighbor,” Bishop Byrne asserted, adding that the spiritual resilience that Puerto Ricans showed after the hurricane “is an inspiration…Our Lady of Divine Providence, pray for us.” 

Juan A. Sotomayor, Jr., president of the New York archdiocesan Our Lady of Divine Providence Committee, gave opening remarks at Sunday’s Mass, saying in part, “This afternoon we would like to extend welcome to all, and especially to the Puerto Rican community here in New York before this great celebration of our patroness, Our Lady of Divine Providence. It is her day, and it is also the day that Puerto Rico celebrates its discovery…May Our Lady of Divine Providence bless each of us.”

On November 19, 1969, Pope Paul VI declared Our Lady of Divine Providence the patroness of Puerto Rico – choosing that date because it is also the day Puerto Rico was discovered by European explorers, the Archdiocese of New York’s Office of Hispanic Ministry noted recently.     

“The pope wanted the people’s love of their homeland to be forever joined with their devotion and love for Mary. This shared love of Our Lady of Divine Providence is an example of how even though separated by distance, language, and culture, Puerto Ricans can find ways to connect with each other spiritually and continue their Catholic traditions in New York,” the Office of Hispanic Ministry also noted.   

The original image of Our Lady of the Divine Providence was a 16th-century oil painting by  Italian painter Scipione Pulzone, titled “Divinae Providentiae,” which depicted the Virgin Mary cradling a sleeping Infant Jesus. Devotion to Our Lady of Divine Providence originated in Italy and spread to France and Spain. The devotion was brought to Puerto Rico in the early 1850s by the Servite Order.