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Wednesday, 9 July 2014

More on Providence and A Happy Death


Our continued obedience to God is not a guarantee of either merit or the grace of final perseverance. Condign merit, that is, merit “founded in justice”, does not mean we shall have the grace of final perseverance. Congruous merit, that is, merit which “founded in rights of friendship uniting us to God” also does not guarantee the grace of a happy death.

Any merit gained can be lost through mortal sin-one mortal sin. The only thing which preserves us from mortal sin is God’s mercy. Herein lays the key to humility.  We can always “blow it” at the end. If we are restored to grace or we are kept it grace to the second we die, it is because of God’s mercy. But, we can pray for final perseverance. Here is what Trent states in the words of Garrigou-Lagrange:

“…the just man can merit eternal lie, si in gratia decesserit, if he dies in the state of grace.”

Or,

“…anyone in the state of grace may merit eternal life only on condition that the merits he has gained have not been lost or have been mercifully restored through the grace of conversion.”

We work out our salvation, our happy death, through humility, realizing that it is the work of God and not our own work which guarantees the grace of final perseverance.

But, we can and must pray and prayer can gain us a happy death, as this prayer is aimed at obtaining God’s mercy.

“What we obtain through prayer is not always  merited: the sinner, for example, who now is in the state of spiritual death, is able with the grace of actual grace to pray for and obtain sanctifying or habitual grace, which could not be merited, since it is the principle of merit. It is the same with the grace of final perseverance; if we cannot merit it in the strict sense, but we can obtain it through prayer for ourselves, and indeed for others also…”

This is essential-we can prepare ourselves to receive the grace of a happy death by leading a better life and through prayer.

Now, here is another interesting facet of this discussion. There are four conditions required of prayer which make prayer “infallibly efficacious”?

These four things are; piety, humility, confidence and perseverance.

God helps us persevere in prayer. For example, there are several atheists and agnostics, as well as confused people in need of healing for whom I have prayed for years. I shall continue to pray for these people and not give up. God is helping me persevere in these prayers. I am not doing this on my own volition, my own will.

It is a great temptation to give up on prayers not seen to be answered. But our perseverance is itself a mercy from God.

So, I end this section with this prayer.

God, give the graces of salvation to these, and let EF,CM, CM, EM, PC, TM, JM, CM, PD, and all the Ds be led into the Catholic Church, established in truth, and be saved. Heal M and R and let them embrace the vocations you called them to in this life, letting them die in those vocations. Make Z, G, and E holy, saintly priests. Let them all die a holy death in You, O Lord.

Am