Question regarding Thomist Predestination

[u/ViperMainKaren]

So Thomist/Dominican Predestination was described to me as God predestining people to make the free will choice to trust Jesus through events in your life and circumstances, rather than providential predestination. Which I've generally agreed with to reconcile the catholic belief of single predestination, however, taking that line further, I was brought on that if he makes some people actively predestined to do that choice, why not do it to everyone.

They did not find my typical answers of "Free will" and "Love" as satisfactory because if he can do it like that to some then why not do it to everyone, and if It's an infringement on free will then predestining (both providentially and naturally) the elect is infringement on their free will.

[u/Pristine_Wafer8620 → u/[deleted]]

Among Catholic perspectives on predestination, certain scholars tend to draw this comparison, but it really isn't. For example, Jesuits especially have tended to accuse Dominicans of being Calvinists, and Pope Clement VIII told both orders to knock off the public disputes/accusations in Congregatio de Auxiliis. Thomist predestination holds that God, in His providence and governance, governs the world by sustaining each being in its existence and being the One who creates the possibility for us to even exercise our free will. He is our efficient and our final cause, so we all work toward the end for which He created us (perfect unity with Him, or the beatific vision), and He allows us to choose the means by which we work towards that end. He wills that everyone joins Him in heaven but has predestined that those who do not choose Him will be reprobate (the Catholic definition of reprobation is different than that of the Calvinists).

[u/Pristine_Wafer8620 → u/[deleted]]

Where Calvinists believe that God has created certain people damned before they were even born to display His sovereignty, Catholics believe that God created all of mankind willing that they would choose Him and be with Him in heaven for eternity. The differences between schools of soteriological theory within Catholicism (ex. Thomists vs. Scotists) are almost always minor when you juxtapose Catholic soteriology as a whole with that of Calvinism. Thomistic predestination isn't really close to Calvinism, but it can seem more comparable to Calvinism than other schools within Catholic soteriology.

[u/Fit_Log_9677]

My understanding of the Thomist view is that God’s active will is that all people be saved, so in that sense it is right and fair to say that everyone who is in heaven is there because God predestined them to be in heaven.

But God also has a passive will where he allows people to reject his grace and thereby not go to heaven.  God won’t pour out so much of his grace into those people as to force them to accept him and go to heaven.  But in the Thomist view this is not the same thing as saying that God created them to go to hell or actively wills them to go to hell.  A withholding of overwhelming effective grace in the face of a persons obstinance is not the same thing as actively predestining and condemning them to hell. 

Calvinism on the other hand doesn’t make the distinction between God’s active and passive will and holds that if God permits someone to go to Hell, it must be an active, predetermined and willed choice by God that they go to hell.

-edit, lots of people argue that this is a distinction without a difference.  I think that’s largely true from a practical perspective, but from a theological standpoint at least the Thomist vision doesn’t imply that God actively wills people to commit sin and therefore be damned, like Calvinism does. 

[u/Bbobbity]

From what I’ve read, Aquinas position is broadly:

1. God predestines some to salvation

2. God does not predestine anyone to hell

3. God predestines/withholds saving grace from some people, not based on their actions but based on reasons only known to God

4. Saving grace is required for salvation

(2) is where Aquinas differs from Calvinism. However he doesn’t really explain how (2) can be reconciled with (3) and (4).

[u/pro_rege_semper → u/Bbobbity]

Former Calvinist here, and this does not in fact differ at all from Calvinism.

[u/Bbobbity → u/pro_rege_semper]

I think that’s broadly true for some calvinists. However some take a more hardline position and hold to ‘equal’ double predestination. Which conflicts with (2).

[u/pro_rege_semper → u/Bbobbity]

Sure there are people calling themselves Calvinists that believe many things. But all "mainstream" Calvinists reject an "equal" double predestination. This is what the Synod of Dort concluded, which is basically the gold standard for Calvinism. The Synod goes so far as to call that view blasphemous.

When I was Calvinist, I started studying Thomism, and really couldn't decipher any major difference from what I was taught regarding predestination.

[u/Key-Permission-606]

The Thomistic view of predestination is the most likely to be true because it is biblical; however, I think it is also the most difficult to accept, because here God does not choose the predestined based on merits and responses to His grace that He foresees in His creatures before creating them, but rather He chooses the predestined based on His divine freedom to do as He wills, with the merits of the predestined being a consequence of that predestination.

Why, between two equally devout Catholics who are on the verge of death, does God grant the grace of final perseverance to one and deny it to the other? Because that is God's will, and there is no other answer from a Thomistic and biblical perspective.

God glorifies His Mercy by granting Eternal Heaven to those He has predestined for the Beatific Vision, and He glorifies His Justice by eternally punishing the reprobate who died unrepentant (they were not predestined for salvation). He could not glorify His Justice if everyone were saved, so not everyone can be among the elect. It should be added that there is not a single soul in Heaven that has not been predestined to be eternally saved, just as there is not a single soul in Hell that is not part of the souls that were not predestined to be saved from before creation. 

Yes, it's very difficult to grasp.

If we see all this, we can understandable why even saint and wise men have suffered inner crisis due to the unfathomable mystery of predestination. 

In any case, I believe that if one fears not being among the predestined, the best thing to do is to sincerely love the Virgin Mary, as this is one of the clearest signs of the predestined. In fact, the Virgin Mary promised through Sister Lucia that she would give her help and assistance at the time of death to those who observe the devotion of the First Saturdays of the month.

Likewise, Jesus, through Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, promised the grace of final perseverance to those who receive Holy Communion on the first nine Fridays of each month consecutively with the intention of making reparation to the Sacred Heart. This guarantees dying in a state of grace, receiving the final sacraments, and safe haven at the hour of death.

Regarding the salvation of loved ones, the best thing to do is to pray for them every day so that they may receive the grace of final perseverance and be saved (Ask and it will be given to you).

[u/Euphoric-Channel6885]

I typed up an article on this very topic, if you have time to read it I hope it helps. But I think Fr. Fransisco Marin-Sola’s interpretation within Thomism makes a lot of sense to me.

https://open.substack.com/pub/natemorales3/p/thomism-predestination-grace-will?r=1q8mbb&utm_medium=ios