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Home , Predestination, Vocation

Lesson 9B - OPENING THOUGHTS ON

The Catholic dogma of predestination regards eternal happiness primarily as the work of and His grace, but secondarily as the fruit and reward of the meritorious actions of the predestined. The process of predestination consists of the following five steps: (a) the first grace of , especially as the beginning, foundation, and root of ; (b) a number of additional, actual graces for the successful accomplishment of justification; (c) justification itself as the beginning of the state of grace and love ; (d) final perseverance or at least the grace of a happy death; (e) lastly, the admission to eternal bliss.

If it is a truth of that there are many who, following this path, seek and find their eternal with infallible certainty, then the existence of Divine predestination is proved St. Paul says quite explicitly: "we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, according to his purpose, they are called to be saints. For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son; that he might be the first born amongst many brethren. And whom he predestined, them he also called. And whom he called them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified." Besides the eternal "foreknowledge" and foreordaining, the Apostle here mentions the various steps of predestination: " vocation ", "justification", and "". This belief has been faithfully preserved by Tradition through all the centuries, especially since the of Augustine.

There are three other qualities of predestination which must be noticed, because they are important: its immutability, the definiteness of the number of the predestined, and its subjective uncertainty.

(1) The first quality, the immutability of the Divine decree, is based both on the infallible foreknowledge of God that certain, quite determined individuals will leave this life in the state of grace, and on the immutable will of God to give precisely to these men and to no others eternal happiness as a reward for their supernatural merits. Consequently, the whole future membership of , down to its minutest details, with all the different measures of grace and the various degrees of happiness, has been irrevocably fixed from all eternity. The is a list which contains the names of all the elect and admits neither additions nor erasures. There exists a second, more voluminous book, in which are entered not only the names of the elect, but also the names of all the faithful on earth. The name will be mercilessly cancelled when a Christian sinks into infidelity or godlessness and dies in his sin. Finally there is a third class of books, wherein the wicked deeds and the crimes of individual sinners are written, and by which the reprobate will be judged on the last day to be cast into . (2) The second quality of predestination, the definiteness of the number of the elect, follows naturally from the first. For if the eternal counsel of God regarding the predestined is unchangeable, then the number of the predestined must likewise be unchangeable and definite, subject neither to additions nor to cancellations. Anything indefinite in the number would imply a lack of certitude in God's knowledge and would destroy His . Furthermore, the very nature of omniscience demands that not only the abstract number of the elect, but also the individuals with their names and their entire on earth, should be present before the Divine mind from all eternity. (3) The third quality of predestination, its subjective uncertainty, is intimately connected with its objective immutability. We know not whether we are reckoned among the predestined or not. All we can say is: God alone knows it. The Tridentine Council insists “ apart from a special revelation, it cannot be known whom God has chosen”.

The Church condemns the blasphemous presumption which boasts of a faith like certainty in matters of predestination. However, saying there do exist probable signs of predestination which exclude all excessive anxiety, is not against her teaching.

The following are some of the qualities of the elect set down by the theologians: purity of heart, pleasure in prayer, patience in suffering, frequent reception of the , love of Christ and His Church, devotion to the Mother of God, the presence of the three Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity and the four Cardinal Virtues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance, a relish for God's Holy Word as found in Sacred Scripture and the Apostolic Tradition, a mercy towards those who are distressed in body, mind or spirit, a genuine love of enemies that eschews revenge but instead forgives…etc.

It may be concluded that the person endowed with one or more of these qualities is making progress on the road to the eternal Kingdom of God. The presence of these characteristics guarantees that one has freely chosen to open his to God and yielded to the saving action of the Holy Spirit. But no one who possesses even one of these qualities can congratulate himself. Rather, he must thank the Almighty for the influence of His saving grace.

Let’s briefly summarize the whole Catholic doctrine, which is in harmony with our reason as well as our moral sentiments. According to the doctrinal decisions of both general and particular , God infallibly foresees and immutably preordains from eternity all future events. All fatalistic necessity, however, being barred and human liberty remaining intact. Consequently man is free whether he accepts grace and does good or whether he rejects it and does evil. Just as it is God's true and sincere will that all men, no one excepted, shall obtain eternal happiness, so, too, Christ has died for all, not only for the predestined, or for the faithful, though it is true that in reality not all avail themselves of the benefits of .

Though God preordained both eternal happiness and the good works of the elect, yet He predestined no one positively to hell, much less to sin. Consequently, just as no one is saved against his will, so the reprobates perish solely on account of their wickedness. God foresaw the everlasting pains of the impious from all eternity, and preordained this punishment on account of their sins, though He does not fail therefore to hold out the grace of conversion to sinners, or pass over those who are not predestined. As long as the reprobate live on earth, they may be accounted true Christians and members of the Church; just as on the other hand the predestined may be outside the pale of and of the Church. Without special revelation no one can know with certainty that he belongs to the number of the elect. (The Good Thief and many Saints have received this divine revelation.)

In light of the Church's teaching on predestination, which necessarily demands that there are some men that are part of the saved "elect," and yet some men who are part of the damned reprobate--it is as unreasonable to hold to the hope based on the grounds of divine mercy that all men are saved and are part of the "elect," as it is to hold to despair based on the grounds of divine justice that all men are damned, and are reprobated to eternal Hell.

LESSON 9B – CLOSING THOUHGTS ON PREDESTINATIONN

Predestined means God has a plan for salvation open to ALL who freely choose to follow his revealed truth. He pours out his grace to all who ask and seek it. This sanctifying grace enables believers to repent and be converted by being obedient to His will and His Way.

God wills all to be saved. He did not wish any to perish. A person must willfully reject God’s predestined plan and chose to do evil.

Man cannot work up grace or faith, these are unmerited gifts. The soul of a person dead in sin means the person’s soul is spiritually dead. He can, if he wills it, cooperate with God’s freely given grace to repent and be cleansed. The bible continuously teaches that man is truly free and God calls him to freely choose to serve or not to serve .

There is a certain mystery involved in God’s predestined plan. There are many unanswerable questions. Why does God give more grace to some than others? Why does God allow someone to be born knowing they will eventually choose to reject him and go to hell? Why doesn’t God give the one rejecting him more grace?

But God is just. Even though some are given more grace than others, everyone is given sufficient grace to be saved. If God didn’t give sufficient grace for a person to be saved, he would be an unjust God.

God’s will is always accomplished but this does not mean that God’s will is forced upon us. It is God’s will for all to be saved, but it is also true that some men will not be saved. This is because God has given everyone and the freedom to choose to serve God or not.

This must all be understood within God’s predestined plan. How is it reconciled? God’s will has an antecedent and a consequent nature. It is God’s antecedent will that all be saved. However, as a consequence of God’s gift of our free will, some will reject God’s antecedent will. It then becomes God’s consequent will for that soul to perish in hell. God’s will is accomplished and our free will, which is revealed in scripture, is preserved.

It is God’s predestined plan for us to have free will and choose our destination. This does not alter the of God which allows his foreknowledge of who will be in the Book of Life and who will have self-selected to be in the book of the Damned.

Is anyone in Hell?

Origen was one of the first to teach that no one is in Hell. Today this idea is supported by some theologians such as . He taught that although we can’t teach with certainty that no one is in hell, we can have a reasonable hope that all men will be saved. Many in our church, from Bishops like Robert Barron down to the laity in the pews support this view. They will point out that the church has declared Saints in Heaven but has not declared anyone in hell. It is conveniently forgotten, too, that Scripture, Tradition and the teach definitively that hell exists and some of the angels sinned and will be in hell forever. It's more than a possibility for them! There have been private revelations showing Hell – especially the children of Fatima.

At the other end, St. Augustine and St. Aquinas essentially believed that only the elect will be in Heaven and there won’t be many, because the gate is narrow and the way is hard and only a few are chosen. The church teaches there are blessed in Heaven. Most of mankind will condemn themselves to Hell. We can find many Scripture passages seem to support many would be in hell and fewer would be found in Heaven.

Neither of these approaches seems to completely fit within Catholic Teaching. The person who speaks about Hell the most is . We know that all will not be saved and many will perish. It isn’t our to worry about who or how many. We just have to decide where we want to be and choose to serve and cooperate with the grace required to come to complete conversion and justification. We choose whether we are in the Book of Life or the Book of the Reprobate.

The fact that God knows it is so, isn’t because He made it so. That is always our choice!