17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A July 30, 2023
Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
“We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Do we, though? Do we really know that all things work for good? This health problem, that tragedy, this loneliness… they benefit me? Yes. That’s why St. Paul has been teaching us about hope in our journey through Romans chapter 8. Despite all the trials we endure, we have hope because we know – or should know – that all of it works for our ultimate good.
At least, they do… if we are “called according to his purpose” and if we love God. That raises this question: How can we be sure that we fit that category, that we’re called “according to his purpose?” This is the reason St. Paul lays out a kind of “stairway to heaven” with 5 steps: foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification.
So how does this stairway work? We can take them one at a time, but we have to we keep some mental space open for the mystery of God’s will, beyond our complete comprehension. There will always be something beyond us, but as long as we keep hold of that mystery, we can attain some genuine understanding.
The mystery hits us right way: “those he foreknew he also predestined.” God knows everything, including our future decisions. He knows our ultimate fate… but without forcing us into that fate. Predestination, defined correctly, is a Scriptural and Catholic idea. A key aspect of that definition is that this does not override our free will and that “God predestines no one to go to hell” (CCC 1037). God neither forces people in heaven, nor plans for any individual to go to Hell. Those who arrive in heaven are predestined for it, those who arrive in hell chose that for themselves by choosing mortal sin.
It helps to remember that St. Paul wrote another letter – 1st Timothy – which teaches that God “wills everyone to be saved” (1 Tim 2:4). So, you could say that, generally speaking, God predestines everyone for heaven, but allows people to freely reject that. This brings us back to the progression in Romans 8.
“Those he predestined he also called.” God wants everyone to be saved, so he calls everyone to himself. This call is a total gift from God. There’s nothing we do to be called. It is from God. This brings us back to that earlier question: how do I know I’ve been called? The answer matters because, for those who are called, everything works for their benefit. For those who aren’t, well… But now we have the answer. How do I know I’m called? Because God calls everyone to salvation.
Still, that leaves us with the other requirement for benefitting from everything: loving God. What does it mean to love God and how do I do it so I can get the guaranteed benefits St. Paul is talking about? Loving God means many thing, but an essential part of it lines up directly with the next step on St. Paul’s stairway to heaven: “those he called he also justified.” What’s interesting about step is that it’s the first one that depends on us. Think about that. On the stairway to heaven, the first three steps are taken for us by God. And there’s only 5 in the whole thing! And this 4th step – Justification requires only one thing from us: acceptance, assent, belief, faith. Even faith is itself a gift of grace, but it is the first thing we have the choice to refuse. To love God means, in part, to accept his justification of us in faith. We can’t stop him from loving and calling us, but we can choose whether to accept or reject it.
If we do not accept the call and let ourselves be justified, we do not love God. We would not, therefore, be able to say all things work for our good. But you have been justified. Your baptism… every sincere sacramental confession is a justification, a choice to accept God’s call to conversion and to turn towards him in love, which justifies us.
But it doesn’t stop there, does it? St. Paul gives us one final step: “Those he justified he also glorified.” This is where our protestant brothers and sisters get lost. They teach sola fide, sola gratia: faith alone, grace alone. Up to this point, they’re basically right. The knowledge, the predestination, the call, the justification… these are gratuitous graces from God. We are justified by faith and not by our own accomplishments. Justification is treasure buried in a field. We didn’t make the field or put the treasure there, we can only make the choice to buy it… and even the money we use – our free will – is a gift.
Once we have that treasure, however, there is the glorification. Justified by faith, we are called to live a heavenly life, a life as children of the light here and now. We are saved, but our salvation is ongoing. Glorification does involve our works, works made possible only by grace, but works nonetheless. We do not earn salvation, but once we’ve received it, we grow in it by increasingly conforming our wills to God’s, working to make our lives an offering to his glory. To love God is not just to accept justification, it is to work with him towards glorification.
So, when faced with despair and suffering and trial, how can we use this teaching to regain hope? To convince ourselves that even these dark moments will ultimately work out for our true good? By remembering this: God calls you and you can love God in return. And if you don’t love him, he still calls you. Accept that grace and start loving now! Continue to accept the grace! It’s an all-in kind of thing… sell everything you have to buy it. Love is not a one-time decision, but an ongoing one. If you stopped climbing the stairs at your justification – at your baptism – then you will eventually succumb to the gravity of sin, falling back down the steps to lose your justification. Keep climbing towards glory, however, and you’ll keep your justification. If that brings pain and setbacks, if it’s impeded by faults and weakness, do not fret.
Is God calling you? We know that the answer is always yes. Do you love God? Choose to do so now and you can take comfort in the fact that even this trial, even that weakness is working toward your good. You have only to love God one day at a time until, finally, you reach that day that does not end when you can look back and see: God was there, always there like a treasure buried in a field, a pearl of great price. That field, that pearl can belong to you right now if you’re willing to buy it. What does it cost? Your will, your choice to let go of other things and choose the God who has already chosen you.