I highly suggest a reading of Garrigou-Lagrange's Predestination, as well as his book, Providence. I do not want to spend much time on the blog examining these, as both subjects are extremely dense and need reflection on the part of the reader.
However, I want to highlight one point from Predestination and that is the difference between sufficient and efficacious grace. This type of distinction is necessary for the road to perfection, which is why I include it on the blog.
Firstly, Garrigou-Lagrange (who should be canonized), notes that all dispositions in men are willed by God. This is a hard saying for the democratic and egalitarian notions of 21st century humans. Nonetheless, the Church, through Aquinas and others teaches that God's Will determines each one of our individualities and characters, as well as our dispositions for grace.
However, we do have free will within that larger plan.
Here is the first part of this discussion and I have highlighted key points:
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| SS. Peter and Paul |
Hence we will something absolutely inasmuch as we will it considering all its individuating circumstances; this is to will consequently.” Thus whatever God (omnipotent) wills absolutely is done; although what He wills antecedently may not be done.
Antecedently God wills a thing according as it is good in itself, for example, that all men be saved, that all His commands be ever fulfilled; but at the same time He permits to some extent the opposite evil for the sake of a greater good, and thus “what He wills only antecedently or conditionally is not done.”
Hence it is said in psalm 134:6: “Whatsoever the Lord pleased He hath done, in heaven, in earth.” And the Council of Toucy (PL, CXXVI, 123) adds: “For nothing is done in heaven or on earth, except what God either graciously does Himself or permits to be done, in His justice.” That is to say, no good, here and now, in this man rather than in another, comes about unless God Himself graciously wills and accomplishes it, and no evil, here and now, in this man rather than another, comes about unless God Himself justly permits it to be done. Nevertheless God does not command the impossible, and grants even to those who do not actually observe His commandments the power of observing them.
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| Blessed Karl, Zita and Family |
But those who observe His commandments are better than others and would not keep them in fact, had not God from eternity efficaciously decreed that they should observe these precepts. Thus, these good servants of God are more beloved and assisted by Him than others, although God does not command the impossible of the others.
Furthermore, this very resistance to sufficient grace is an evil which would not occur, here and now, without the divine permission, and nonresistance itself is a good which would not come about here and now except for divine consequent will. Therefore, there is a real difference between sufficient grace, to which is attached the divine permission of sin and by reason of which the fulfillment of the commandments is really possible, and efficacious grace, on the other hand, which is a greater help whence follows not only the real possibility of observing the commandments, but their effective fulfillment.
In this mini-series on perfect, both types of grace are seen as necessary. He continues:
...in sufficient grace, efficacious grace is offered to us, as the fruit is in the flower; but if resistance is made on account of our defectibility, then we deserve not to receive efficacious grace. For this reason Bossuet declares: “Our intellect must be held captive before the obscurity of the divine mystery and admit two graces (sufficient and efficacious) of which the former leaves our will without any excuse before God, and the latter does not permit the will to glory in itself.” (Œuvres complètes, Paris, 1845, I, 644.)
St. Thomas states further (Ia, q. 19, a. 8): “Since the divine will is efficacious in the highest degree, it follows not only that those things are done which God wills to be done, but also that they are done in the way God wills them to be done. But God wills certain things to be done necessarily, others contingently, that there may be order among things for the completion of the universe.” This is the basis of grace efficacious in itself. Again (Ia, q. 20, a. 2): “The will of God is the cause of all things, and hence, necessarily, to the extent that a thing has being or any good whatever, it is willed by God. Therefore, since loving is nothing else but wishing well to someone, it is evident that God loves all things that are, but not in the way that we do. . . . Our will is not the cause of goodness in things,” including the goodness of our choices, as appears from Ia, q. 19, a.
Sufficient grace brings about conversion and the acceptance of the salvific act of God on the Cross, and efficient grace allows for the perfect and intended Will of God to be done.
This second aspect of graces, that is efficient grace, is behind vows and committments of the religious and the respond to holiness through a vocation of the priests and those in married life.
| St. Philip Howard |
The next definition which follows naturally is that of predilection. Again, I highlight certain parts for understanding.
There follows from this the great principle of predilection, by which the whole treatise on grace is elucidated and which is formulated in Ia, q. 20, a. 3: “Since the love of God is the cause of the goodness of things, no one would be better than another if God did not will a greater good to one than to another.” Likewise, in article 4 of the same question and also in Ia, q. 23, a. 4: “In God, love precedes election.” Already it is evident that the man who, in fact, observes the commandments is better than the one who is able to do so but actually does not. Therefore he who keeps the commandments is more beloved and assisted. In short, God loves that man more to whom He grants that he keep the commandments than another in whom He permits sin.
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| St. Tarcisius Statue |
One of the greatest heresies of these modern times is that of universal salvation. The entire discussion of grace and predilection must occur in the context of the possibility of either salvation or damnation.
In our flawed thinking, we assume that God does not love those who choose to spurn both sufficient and efficacious graces, but that is not true.
He loves all peoples. But, His Love is not like ours, limited in both scope and imagination, in gifts or talents, in successes or failures.
A St. Charles Borromeo and a St. Benedict Labre both glorify God is different manners and both praise God together in Heaven.
There is only one Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
There is only one St. Joseph, one St. Paul, one St. Maximilian Kolbe.
Even the saints are not equal. Some are martyrs and some are doctors of the Church; some were children when they died and some were very old. Grace varies even in holiness.
And, to remind all of us, there is a difference between salvation and holiness. The saint is one who has demonstrated on earth his predilection. The idea of purgatory remains for those who have not been totally purified on earth and have not entered into the Illuminative or Unitive States.
One must be orthodox completely to be on the road to perfection. I cannot stress this enough. One can attain heaven without being perfected on earth, but the Kingdom of God suffers when those of us who could follow this road, the call for all, and refuse. If one has any disobedience, no matter how small, with the Teaching Magisterium of the Church, one is not on the road to perfection. One must beg for humility and grace if one has problems in an area, or even two.
Even the saints are not equal. Some are martyrs and some are doctors of the Church; some were children when they died and some were very old. Grace varies even in holiness.
And, to remind all of us, there is a difference between salvation and holiness. The saint is one who has demonstrated on earth his predilection. The idea of purgatory remains for those who have not been totally purified on earth and have not entered into the Illuminative or Unitive States.
One must be orthodox completely to be on the road to perfection. I cannot stress this enough. One can attain heaven without being perfected on earth, but the Kingdom of God suffers when those of us who could follow this road, the call for all, and refuse. If one has any disobedience, no matter how small, with the Teaching Magisterium of the Church, one is not on the road to perfection. One must beg for humility and grace if one has problems in an area, or even two.
Pray for humility to be the saint God desires you to be. Most of us are "little ones".
I use to tell the story of St. Tarcisius to my son. Here is a summary of his life made by Teófilo de Jesús.
Tarcisius was a twelve-year-old acolyte during one of the fierce Roman persecutions of the third century, probably during that of Valerian. Each day, from a secret meeting place in the catacombs where Christians gathered for Mass, a deacon would be sent to the prisons to carry the Eucharist to those Christians condemned to die. At one point, there was no deacon to send and so St. Tarcisius, an acolyte, was sent carrying the "Holy Mysteries" to those in prison. On the way, he was stopped by boys his own age who were not Christians but knew him as a playmate and lover of games. He was asked to join their games, but this time he refused and the crowd of boys noticed that he was carrying something. Somehow, he was also recognized as a Christian, and the small gang of boys, anxious to view the Christian "Mysteries," became a mob and turned upon Tarcisius with fury. He went down under the blows, and it is believed that a fellow Christian drove off the mob and rescued the young acolyte. The mangled body of Tarcisius was carried back to the catacombs, but the boy died on the way from his injuries. He was buried in the cemetery of St. Callistus, and his relics are claimed by the church of San Silvestro in Capite. Taken from "The One Year Book of Saints" by Rev. Clifford Stevens, published by Our Sunday Visitor Books, Huntington, IN 46750.
Read more: http://vivificat1.blogspot.com/2012/11/like-in-days-of-st-tarcisius.html#ixzz2ItXmnlh5
To be continued....
I use to tell the story of St. Tarcisius to my son. Here is a summary of his life made by Teófilo de Jesús.
Tarcisius was a twelve-year-old acolyte during one of the fierce Roman persecutions of the third century, probably during that of Valerian. Each day, from a secret meeting place in the catacombs where Christians gathered for Mass, a deacon would be sent to the prisons to carry the Eucharist to those Christians condemned to die. At one point, there was no deacon to send and so St. Tarcisius, an acolyte, was sent carrying the "Holy Mysteries" to those in prison. On the way, he was stopped by boys his own age who were not Christians but knew him as a playmate and lover of games. He was asked to join their games, but this time he refused and the crowd of boys noticed that he was carrying something. Somehow, he was also recognized as a Christian, and the small gang of boys, anxious to view the Christian "Mysteries," became a mob and turned upon Tarcisius with fury. He went down under the blows, and it is believed that a fellow Christian drove off the mob and rescued the young acolyte. The mangled body of Tarcisius was carried back to the catacombs, but the boy died on the way from his injuries. He was buried in the cemetery of St. Callistus, and his relics are claimed by the church of San Silvestro in Capite. Taken from "The One Year Book of Saints" by Rev. Clifford Stevens, published by Our Sunday Visitor Books, Huntington, IN 46750.
Read more: http://vivificat1.blogspot.com/2012/11/like-in-days-of-st-tarcisius.html#ixzz2ItXmnlh5
To be continued....
