Dear Friends,

In St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, from which we hear in the Second Reading today, he uses the phrases “chosen before the foundation of the world” and “he destined us”. Does God know what we are going to choose before we choose it? Are we really free? Do we believe in destiny? 

The answers, respectively, are Yes, Yes, and No. God desires the salvation of all, but foreknows and provides for the salvation of those who cooperate - by the help of His grace - with His grace. Sound complicated? Well, it is. How God’s grace and our free will work together is a mystery that apparently surpasses our comprehension. We know with absolute certainty that we are only saved by God’s grace. We also know with absolute certainty that we are only saved if we cooperate freely with His grace. How those two realities work together, we simply can’t articulate well enough. Did you know that one of the popes forbade any further disputes about grace and free will between the Dominicans and the Jesuits because the issue was so intensely divisive? So we’re not alone in being mystified by how grace and free will work together.

Nevertheless, we must always preserve without question our belief in our real freedom, and in our real inability to choose or accomplish any supernatural good without God’s grace. We do not believe in destiny or anything remotely similar. Our lot is not determined by some impersonal force or spirit or vague entity - it is worked out in a free relationship with our personal Lord.

in Christ,

Fr Marotti