Predestination, Grace and Free Will

In the operations of the Mysteries of Divine Election and Reprobation there is a point at which God's Punishment is activated. Remember that there is no ultimate opposition between God's Justice and His Mercy. Any discrepancy we perceive is due to our own inadequacy in seeing all round the Mystery.

There is a definite strand of Catholic teaching on the punitive withdrawal of Grace. Our Lord says in the Gospel: To those who have much, more will be added; to those who have little, even that little shall be taken away".

Ven. Mary of Agreda, and others, comment that the reason Christ said nothing to Herod, whereas He did speak with Pilate, is that Herod was so advanced in wilful sin that He did not merit ever to hear the Words of Life from Our Divine Saviour: and that this was already his greatest punishment. (As to Pilate, there are two different traditions: one that he committed suicide, the other that he repented and saved his soul. I think the Byzantines honour him as a saint). "God wills all men to be saved" yet He does allow some to go to Hell. S. Thomas Aquinas explains that these manifest the Goodness and Justice of God by showing to all the consequences of Mortal Sin.

Aquinas also points out that God does know what Graces would save a soul ("Nineveh would have repented in Sackcloth and ashes if the works done here had been done for them") but that sometimes He withholds those Graces: precisely because, in view of the freely-chosen sins, "It would not be right" for that sinner to be saved.

S. Ignatius reminds his retreatants that God does not have to grant sufficient time for repentance. He invites us to meditate on the authenticated stories of souls who have led a blameless life until 'one day' they commit a mortal sin, and God takes away their life on that very day, or even that very hour. We are invited in the retreat to consider that there are those in Hell at this moment who have committed fewer sins than we have ourselves (except for those who have never committed a mortal sin) and that it is only God's mysterious Providence that we are not with them in Hell at this very moment.

Ven. Mary of Agreda notes that God pre-ordains a certain amount and period of Grace to each soul, along with their allotted trials. "No man is tempted above his strength". Every act of merit "allows" God (in our manner of speaking) to grant additional Graces. The upward cycle exceeds our imagination: the soul not only escapes Hell and Purgatory, but saves maybe millions of souls centuries into the future. And (which is more important) consoles Our Lord. And there is a downward cycle: Venial sin. One mortal sin. The habit of mortal sin. A love of mortal sin. Final impenitence.

Since God is omnipotent, it seems impossible to escape the fact that He could supply irresistible Graces to each and every soul. Yet He does not. One reason, perhaps, is that He respects our free will. Having given this gift, He will not over-ride it. No soul in Hell will be able to say anything else but "through my fault".

"God's Punishment" is merely our way of expressing the mystery of Reprobation. Our punishments are not arbitrary, but are the fruits of our labour. If I am lazy, my "punishment" will be an untidy house, losing my job etc etc. There is a meditation on the Beatitudes in which we can see that the "rewards" are, similarly, not arbitrary, but the very fruits of our virtue. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill". Yet souls can go higher: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy" and higher yet: "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God". A wonderful promise, and notice that we are now entering realms beyond the ordinary. Not everybody wants to see God. Even to want this as a reward is a Grace.

This brings us back to the other side. A damned soul has been denied certain Graces, in the scale of God’s just dealings with His children. We may call it our own choice, or God’s just punishment. Both are realities.

Ven. Mary of Agreda & others point out that each soul has allotted Graces. If, contrary to the example given above, the soul consistently rejects these Graces, and God’s love is repeatedly thrown back in His Face, at a certain point known beforehand only to God, the allotment of Graces will cease. God did tell S. Teresa of Avila, when she had confided in God that she would have liked to live in the Last Days to help out, “Teresa, if you had lived in the Last Days, with the Graces allotted to you, you would not have saved your soul”. ' Would not have... A soul in a State of Grace is constantly surrounded by God’s Supernatural Providence. When the Measure has been filled, this is withdrawn, and the soul knows it interiorly, and lapses into despair. After this, the soul is kept in the world only for the purpose of allowing other to merit by their interactions with the evil soul. The Fathers taught that the High Priests in Holy Week did actually realise that Jesus was the Son of God, but persisted with their plan to put Him to death for their own ends.

Part of the process of damnation for many, but not all, is the loss of Faith. In our way of speaking, it is legitimate to say that God withdraws this as a just retribution for wilful sins. “You will look and look, but never see...for your hearts are far from Me”.

A soul out of a State of Grace is unable to receive Supernatural Graces, yet as a reward for natural acts of virtue, God will grant Natural Graces, such as a prolonged life in which there is an extended chance to make the acts of Faith and Virtue that will achieve the State of Grace.

As with the Beatitudes, even the desire for the Blessed Eucharist is a Grace. To the habitual sinner, God will, in our way of speaking, withdraw the Grace of the very desire.

Another soul, however, that is in a state of 'supererogation' — meriting a surplus beyond its own redemption — may merit the grace of repentance and conversion for this reprobate soul, all subject to the discretion of God.

Fatima has been repeatedly commended by the popes, who have affirmed that it is worthy of belief and consonant with the Faith. and Our Lady said there, "Pray very much for sinners. Many souls go to hell bacause they have no-one to pray for them".

It would be against all Catholic tradition, back to Scripture itself and down through the Fathers to our very own times with Padre Pio and others, to eliminate the language of God's Punishment. Faith is a supernatural Gift that can be lost. We throw it away, or God withdraws it a just punishment. Both express, I contend, a facet of the reality of Predestination, Grace and Freewill.