In some remarks offered in 2001, the then Cardinal
Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) asserted:
Pelagianism, so fashionable today in its different,
sophisticated manifestations, underneath it all, is a remake of the Tower of
Babel… You can prove that God exists, but you will never be able, using the
force of persuasion, to make anyone encounter God. This is pure grace. Pure
grace. In history, from its very beginning until today, grace always primerea,
grace always comes first, then comes all the rest.
Pelagianism, one of the earliest yet ever-present heresies against the
Church: the idea that man can merit his own salvation. It is a heresy which the
Church has fought century after century and continues to fight today. Just ask
your average devout Catholic the rather important question “How are you saved?”
and you will undoubtedly get an answer which the Church Fathers and Councils
would have declared anathema: “Jesus’ death and my hard work!” Well,
you’ve got the first part right…
For some strange
reason, Catholics in the last 500 years have developed a severe allergy to the
term “predestination.” Whether out of fear of sounding protestant or out of
fear of reality, the word has vanished from theology texts and Catholic
education in an astounding fashion. It has gotten to the point where most
Catholics would proudly assert, “We don’t believe in predestination. We believe
in free will.” Newsflash: Jesus and St. Paul and every Church Father and every
legitimate medieval theologian believed in predestination. Christ says, “You did not
choose me but I chose you” (Jn. 15:16). Paul writes: “Those whom He [God]
predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and
those whom he justified he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30). Augustine writes: “This
is the changeless truth concerning predestination… Therefore they
were elected before the foundation of the world with that predestination in
which God foreknew what He Himself would do; but they were elected out of the
world with that calling whereby God fulfilled that which He predestined.” And,
as if we needed another source, St. Thomas writes, “No one can harm those whom
God advances; but God advances the predestined who love him. Therefore, nothing
can harm them, but everything works for their good.”
So
predestination is real, and Catholics do believe
in it. But what is it? Many have tried to offer weak and incorrect definitions
of “predestination” in order to avoid sounding like a Calvinist. But
the truth of the matter is that some Calvinist conceptions of predestination
are taken right from Catholic theologians. We’re closer than we think.
Predestination is,
hearkening again to the Angelic Doctor, the fact that “a rational creature,
capable of eternal life, is led towards it, directed as it were, by God.” And
“the reason of that direction pre-exists in God” (See question xxiii of the
Summa). This does not mean that all men are loved equally by God
and that he helps them along on their self-motivated journey to heaven. Quite
the contrary. God loves some men more than others (gasp). As such, by His
grace, he draws them to heaven. Period. Oh, and those whom he draws to heaven, will
end up in heaven. And He picks them not on account of their merits or what
they have done or will do. He picks them before they are made. Thus the reason
for their “election” is not rooted in their human action, but rooted in a
reason which “pre-exists in God.” God only knows why the predestined are
predestined.
Queue objections: “But
then man has no free will!” False. Free will and predestination are not
mutually exclusive. Freedom is not the ability to run from God, but rather the
ability to pursue the good, namely God. And that freedom—true freedom—is never
hindered by Divine Providence. After all, the Church teaches that man is most
perfectly free in heaven. And heaven is a place he can never leave. In a sense,
man is most free when he is imprisoned in the will of God.
“But that makes God the
author of evil!” False. God, as creator of the world, keeps all things in
existence, and as such everything that happens, happens according to his
will. Obviously, we would hesitate to say that God could not prevent evil (then
God would cease to be omnipotent), yet at the same time we would not say that
God causes evil (then God would cease to be omni-benevolent). Therefore, we must
resign ourselves to the fact that, while God positively wills the good, he
negatively wills evil—“negative” here meaning that God simply
“allows” evil, though he could, in reality, prevent it.
“But does God, then,
damn people to hell?” I refer again to the “negative will.” God does not
positively will souls to hell (the Church does not teach “double
predestination”), but he obviously allows souls to fall into hell, and this is
all a part of his Divine plan.
For the sake of
brevity and in order to maintain some semblance of scope for this piece, I will
not go further into objections. Entire books can, and have been, written on the
questions surrounding predestination, and theologians and entire orders have
fought over the details of the doctrine (see the 16th Century De
Auxiliis Controversy between the Jesuits and Dominicans). For our present purposes, however, I hope to
focus simply on this truth implicit in the doctrine: the primacy of grace. We
as Catholics need to stop thinking that we earn our salvation, that heaven is a
reward for hard work. The reason we exist is God’s grace, and therefore the
reason we are saved is God’s grace. Sola gratia, grace alone. This
should neither shock us nor entice us to sloth. Nor should it prompt the
ridiculous statement “I was saved on this day…” We do not know the elect. To
know that would be to know the mind of God. And I think it is safe to say from
our musings in the paragraphs above that none of us have a grasp on that.
And while saints and
theologians have cautioned preaching the doctrine of predestination for fear of
lost piety in souls, I find myself justified by the present and former pontiff,
who have brought the fight against Pelagianism once again to center stage. As
Benedict wrote: “You cannot make yourself a disciple—it is an event of
election, a free decision of the Lord’s will, which in turn is anchored in his
communion of will with the Father.” That is why we must educate the
faithful on the primacy of grace. For we cannot be disciples without it.
And in the end, discipleship is all that matters.
Please offer
any questions or comments below. For more information regarding this doctrine,
see St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae:
Prima Pars, Question XXIII; see also St.
Thomas Aquinas’ commentary on Paul’s epistles, specifically Romans, Galatians,
and Ephesians. Reliable articles on “divine providence” and “predestination”
can also be found in the Catholic Encyclopedia at newadvent.org.
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