Hear the words of Our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe



Know for certain, smallest of my children, that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things near and far, the Master of heaven and earth. I am your merciful Mother, the merciful Mother of all of you who live united in this land, and of all humanity, of all those who love me. Hear and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little one. Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you. Let nothing alter your heart, or your face. Am I not here who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need? Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Reconciling Grace and Free Will (Part 1)



One of the thorniest problems in Christianity has been the reconciling of human free will with God’s efficacious grace, i.e., grace having the power to effect or produce a result.  How can God’s grace truly be efficacious and not overpower human free will?  If God is truly omnipotent and omniscient, then how can human actions be free?   Scripture talks of predestination in several places.  If we are predestined, chosen by God before the foundations of the world, how can we say that we truly have free will?

Grace, Free Will, and Scripture

In Scripture, grace and free will never appear mutually exclusive.  Rather, they appear as cooperating factors – though sometimes one is emphasized depending on the purpose the sacred writer has in view.  Therefore say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts (Zech 1:3).  In this passage, God admonishes us of our free will.  Restore us to thyself, O LORD, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old! (Lam 5:21)  In this passage, it is clear that we need the grace of God for true conversion.

This is echoed by Paul in his letter to the Romans (Rom 9:19), “For who can resist His will?”  But this same Paul admonishes Timothy, Train yourself in godliness” (1 Tim 4:7).  Stephen tells the Jews, You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 7:51); testifying that the grace of the Holy Spirit does not compel the will.  Our Lord, Himself, tells us, If you would enter life, keep the commandments. (Matt 19:17) thereby inviting us into cooperation with grace.

The exhortations, commands, promises, and threats contained in various passages of Scripture would be meaningless if it were true that grace totally destroys or totally overpowers free will.

Bernard of Clarivaux best summarizes the mystery by stating, “Take away free will and there will be nothing left to save; take away grace and there will be no means left for salvation.”

Human will, therefore, is free, yet subject to the influence of grace.  How do we explain this?  First, we must admit that this is a mystery that we cannot fully comprehend or understand.  However, we can make some sense of the mystery through analogical reasoning.  This can be accomplished in one of either two points of view.  We may take grace as the primary factor and trace it in its action on the human will, or starting with the human will, we may try to ascertain how it is affected by grace.

In the next post, I will attempt to summarize key ideas/arguments about this relationship.