Catholic Understanding of "Sovereignty of God"

[Porknpie]

I’m trying to find a Catholic definition of “Sovereignty of God” and how it differs from this quote from a protestant church statement of belief’s (emphasis on the word “controls”):

God is the Creator of the world we live in. He controls what happens with His creation (the churchy word for that is sovereignty).

Pork

 

[runningdude]

Sovereignty refers to independence of authority. King Louis XVI of France was the sovereign of his country, and all authority of the state was invested in him; his authority ended at the nation’s border. Queen Elizabeth is the sovereign of England, but her authority is curtailed constitutionally. The people of the United States are sovereign, and our authority to govern ourselves is also limited constitutionally. Each individual state is sovereign, but subordinate to the United States.

God however is the sovereign of all, the Lord of lords and King of kings. His dominion has no limit, and is subordinate to none. In this regard, I don’t believe there is very much difference between the “Catholic” interpretation from that particular Protestant community’s definition.

 

[WoundedIcon]

V. GOD CARRIES OUT HIS PLAN: DIVINE PROVIDENCE

302 Creation has its own goodness and proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created “in a state of journeying” (in statu viae) toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained, to which God has destined it. We call “divine providence” the dispositions by which God guides his creation toward this perfection:

By his providence God protects and governs all things which he has made, “reaching mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and ordering all things well”. For “all are open and laid bare to his eyes”, even those things which are yet to come into existence through the free action of creatures.161
303 The witness of Scripture is unanimous that the solicitude of divine providence is concrete and immediate; God cares for all, from the least things to the great events of the world and its history. The sacred books powerfully affirm God’s absolute sovereignty over the course of events: "Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases."162 And so it is with Christ, “who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens”.163 As the book of Proverbs states: "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will be established."164

304 And so we see the Holy Spirit, the principal author of Sacred Scripture, often attributing actions to God without mentioning any secondary causes. This is not a “primitive mode of speech”, but a profound way of recalling God’s primacy and absolute Lordship over history and the world,165 and so of educating his people to trust in him. The prayer of the Psalms is the great school of this trust.166

305 Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children’s smallest needs: "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?”. . . Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well."167

Providence and secondary causes

306 God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures’ co-operation. This use is not a sign of weakness, but rather a token of almighty God’s greatness and goodness. For God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other, and thus of co-operating in the accomplishment of his plan.

307 To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of “subduing” the earth and having dominion over it.168 God thus enables men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creation, to perfect its harmony for their own good and that of their neighbors. Though often unconscious collaborators with God’s will, they can also enter deliberately into the divine plan by their actions, their prayers and their sufferings.169 They then fully become “God’s fellow workers” and co-workers for his kingdom.170

308 The truth that God is at work in all the actions of his creatures is inseparable from faith in God the Creator. God is the first cause who operates in and through secondary causes: "For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."171 Far from diminishing the creature’s dignity, this truth enhances it. Drawn from nothingness by God’s power, wisdom and goodness, it can do nothing if it is cut off from its origin, for "without a Creator the creature vanishes."172 Still less can a creature attain its ultimate end without the help of God’s grace.173

 

[WoundedIcon]

You may also want to look into Molinism and Thomism for a more advanced look at how we attempt to understand how God does this. I fall on the Molinist side.

 

[Porknpie]

You may also want to look into Molinism and Thomism for a more advanced look at how we attempt to understand how God does this. I fall on the Molinist side.

Thank you for the reference. Master of his plan is great wording. I am suspicious of the word “controls” in this protestant definition and if it conflicts with the view of co-operation below. My nature is to be suspicious…

Providence and secondary causes

306 God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures’ co-operation.

 

[Khalid]

You may also want to look into Molinism and Thomism for a more advanced look at how we attempt to understand how God does this. I fall on the Molinist side.

Reply to another post: the creatures’ co-operation is enabled only through the effectual working of God in each individual. The individual without God directing his soul through the Holy Spirit (or, more generally, “grace”) can no more “co-operate” with God than the created can become uncreated, or the clay can say to the potter, “I accept your decision to mould me”, without the words first being inscribed in the clay.

Bañezian-Thomism is the only non-censured option (i.e. Jansenism, “hard” Augustinianism) available to Catholics that doesn’t fall prey to Pelagianism tendencies to exalt the nature of man! I think I may have fallen afoul of some anathema about “thou shalt not accuse Molinists or the other sixteenth-century Spanish Jesuit’s school or Arminians of Pelagianism” by writing thus, though. Although “he who accuseth Molinism of Pelagian tendencies, anathema sit” seems to be a similar canon to “he who accuseth Spinozism of atheistical tendencies, anathema sit”.

Regardless, there’s excellent reading to be had on the matter in the Angelic Doctor’s works, especially the relevant parts of the Summa Theologiae (there are indexed versions online), and the masterful commentaries on them by the Dominican theologian Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, especially Grace and Predestination.