Does God have favourites?

[AtourDOMAN]

hello everyone this question is bugging me…

What is the Catholic viewpoint on this Question - Does God have favourite Children here on earth?

To my mind I would think the answer is yes, but I dont know what the Church teaches on this…

Thanks in Advance

Atour XX

 

[Regina_Love]

Yes! and I am one of them!

God loves all of his children, and wants to spend all of eternity with us. He may love different things about us, and be delighted by some things we do, but I don’t believe God would ever rank us in order of favorites.

 

[Jeanne_S]

In light of this question,I have wondered why it seems that some people live lives that are so abundantly blessed.I know of one such person.She is very likable and happy person.Very strong in her faith.She has a lovely family,beautiful and successful they seem to be.All children are happily married.This women has beem blessed with three new grand babies just this year! Now,I realize that I cannot possibly know all the private details of her life,however,it seems that she has very few problems.This compared to the sorrows I and my lived ones have experienced as well as many others I know,I do have to wonder.

 

[lovemyson]

you have a very interesting question and I have also asked myself the same.

having a marriage that is crumbling before my eyes, and I feel I have done everything to keep it together, there are people in this world that are extremely cruel and unnerving, I have questioned that myself.

I am most interested in hearing the replies to this thread.

Some people are born more beautiful than others have better jobs and seem to get away with so much in their lives.

I do have a beautiful son and a good job and for that I am enternally grateful but having a partner who will NOT abide by his vows made to at marriage I feel like I am a failure.

I also wonder how God will punish those that are deceitful and nasty when the end of time comes.

All the best to you.

 

[ChurchSoldier]

Exodus 6:7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
Jeremiah 24:7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
Jeremiah 31:1 “At that time,” declares the LORD, “I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people.”
Jeremiah 31:33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Jeremiah 32:38 They will be my people, and I will be their God.
Ezekiel 36:28 You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.
Zechariah 13:9 This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.’”
New International Version ©1984 by Biblica

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

I’d say yes, he does have favorites. Initially the Jewish people and since Christ has completed the revelation to the world, it would now be Christians.

 

[jpjd]

I have wondered this myself and I don’t know the answer. However, this question does bring to mind the responsibilities we shoulder when given such blessings:

Luke 12:48
“Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

 

[VirtusTransitus]

Does favorite have a u?

I’m kidding - heck - it’s called English for a reason, and I’m just a simple American!

If God plays favorites, I hope I’m earning a way into his favor. Because I’m certainly not Jewish…I’m Irish/German/French…heckuva mix…

 

[cap76]

In his own Gospel account, John constantly referred to himself as, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
This does make one wonder.

 

[Sarcelle]

In light of this question,I have wondered why it seems that some people live lives that are so abundantly blessed.I know of one such person.She is very likable and happy person.Very strong in her faith.She has a lovely family,beautiful and successful they seem to be.All children are happily married.This women has beem blessed with three new grand babies just this year! Now,I realize that I cannot possibly know all the private details of her life,however,it seems that she has very few problems.This compared to the sorrows I and my lived ones have experienced as well as many others I know,I do have to wonder.

I hear you. I see people who are abundantly blessed all the time and I feel envy. I have brought this to confession lots of times, and the priest told me that I should never compare myself to others. I have my own path to travel. As I grow older and I look back at my life, I cannot help but kick myself for my own short sightedness and stupidity. I was abundantly blessed but I did not appreciate it because I kept looking at other people and envying what they had, instead of appreciating what I had. Mea culpa.

This is one of my new year’s resolutions. To give thanks everyday for what God has given me. This will teach me to appreciate what God has given me at the moment. I don’t ever want to miss out on appreciating what I have today because I was too busy focusing on what I don’t have.

 

[Nael]

Hi,

Yes, God does have favourites/favorites, but not in the way that it is understood by many people. The term “God’s chosen people” comes to mind. Here is an example:

At the end of each academic year, thousands of students apply to go to college or university. Yet, not every student can apply, but rather a CHOSEN group, usually the last year of high school, are the only ones who can apply. In other words, universities and colleges select from a CHOSEN group of people. This group of people is not chosen based on any prejudiced ideas, but rather on the fact that they are the group that’s most READY for tertiary education. Therefore, when God speaks of His own chosen people, or the Bible of Christ’s most loved disciple, they attribute to them a certain amount of “ripeness”. When you select an apple from a tree, you select it based on its ripeness. The apple you select becomes your chosen or favourite, but your decision does not necessarily mean that the other apples on the tree are rotten or bad. A day will come when they will be just as ripe and they will also be chosen.

So, no, God does not have favourites in the negative way that many people understand, but does have favourites in His own just and righteous way.

 

[Pugsly]

you have a very interesting question and I have also asked myself the same.

having a marriage that is crumbling before my eyes, and I feel I have done everything to keep it together, there are people in this world that are extremely cruel and unnerving, I have questioned that myself.

I am most interested in hearing the replies to this thread.

Some people are born more beautiful than others have better jobs and seem to get away with so much in their lives.

I do have a beautiful son and a good job and for that I am enternally grateful but having a partner who will NOT abide by his vows made to at marriage I feel like I am a failure.

I also wonder how God will punish those that are deceitful and nasty when the end of time comes.

All the best to you.

I have lived on the street…I have lived in near luxury…I have lived among foul-mouthed, shipyard workers…and even lived in a Monastery for 5 years…I have been alone and I am now married to a sometimes cold-hearted, threatening spouse…who sometimes is kind and almost civilized.

And I have learned that God naturally delights in some more than others…but those who delight Him are the very ones we overlook. The forgotten monk that no one remembers when they list who lives among them…the homeless guy that always carries a lil bag of pretzels for those less fortunate…and especially the wife who carries a huge cross of silent suffering.

 

[signit]

This is really interesting.

I believe as a Catholic that “God loves everybody,” but a friend of mine used to wonder whether God preselects certain people and not others for good things to be given to them (family members, employment, financial resources), regardless of what those people do to “deserve” it.

On the topic of applying to college, that example might be a little different. The sample of people who apply is a self-selected group, presumably people who might be ready for it. But, any 16-year-old will tell you, the ones who are accepted might not be the most “deserving” (e.g., A and B students) because the process is subjective.

 

[Anthony_V]

Does God have favorites?
If you do come to the conclusion that God has “favorites”, then you must necessarily concede that God favors all humans enough for their salvation. That is, God loves every single human enough to die for him/her on the cross, and to have them him/her perfected–“deified”–so as for him/her to spend all of eternity with Him in the most perfect created union of Love.
God gives all people sufficient grace for salvation. That is a Catholic dogma of faith we must take to heart.

For all who are pondering on this, I think a good read on this subject in general is St. Therese de Lisieux’s “Story of a Soul”.

http://thumbs.myopera.com/sz/colx/Anvui/albums/4817792/Ste%20Thérèse%20de%20l’Enfant%20Jésus%20(27).jpg

From EWTN:

Another time, when she was several years older, she was upset to learn that not all souls enjoy the same glory in heaven. This did not seem right. (Questioning to see if God is really as fair and as good as He is supposed to be, as fair and as good as they, is constant from young children.) Pauline told her to get her thimble and her father’s water tumbler and fill them with water. She asked Therese which was fuller. But neither was fuller than the other; one simply contained more because it was bigger. Oh! That was it. Each soul in heaven is filled to its brim and can hold no more; each, being full of God, is completely happy. “My Father’s house has many mansions.”

 

[spes_salvi]

St. Therese also had another analogy related to this question.

She said that each soul is unique to God’s eyes. Every one is much loved and indespensable. Each are given unique talents, strengths, weaknesses, experiences, etc. God is like a gardener who plants different kinds of flowers in his garden, and this precisely is what makes the garden beautiful and pleasing to God’s eyes. What would happen if all were roses? If all were orchids? But God made it so that everyone is different. Unique and precious in his eyes! I think this is why she called herself the little flower. She believed she was lacking in greatness, yet she also believed it pleased God all the same for God desired that it be so.

Let’s not compare ourselves to others. Someone said “The surest way to be unhappy is to compare yourself to others.” We will always find another who is more blessed in one respect. Also remember that material blessings is not everything that can be counted as God’s favor. God also bestows spiritual blessings, and sometimes this happens in the form of trials and sufferings. Some saints even said that these are signs of Divine favor and election because God is bent on purifying souls he allows to pass through these trials, as gold is perfected by fire. So let’s not compare and just thank God for his undeserved love. We don’t really know how much blessings God has bestowed on each soul. You will simply don’t know if this well to do person is more favored by God than you.

Indeed, God has certain favored ones. The Blessed Virgin Mary is one. But she is part of the One Body which is the Church, which we are also part of. Her favors are given also to benefit the entire Church. Because she had been so much blessed, made spotless, and favored by God, she became a strong intercessor and refuge of sinners. And aren’t we happy if one of our family members receives a great blessing? Whatever benefits they receive benefit us too. Let us just be happy that our brothers and sisters are receiving these favors. After all, If the “minimum” favor God gives a Christian is his dying on the Cross for our salvation, I don’t think it’s something to fret about.

 

[Pugsly]

St. Therese also had another analogy related to this question.

She said that each soul is unique to God’s eyes. Every one is much loved and indespensable. Each are given unique talents, strengths, weaknesses, experiences, etc. God is like a gardener who plants different kinds of flowers in his garden, and this precisely is what makes the garden beautiful and pleasing to God’s eyes. What would happen if all were roses? If all were orchids? But God made it so that everyone is different. Unique and precious in his eyes! I think this is why she called herself the little flower. She believed she was lacking in greatness, yet she also believed it pleased God all the same for God desired that it be so.

Let’s not compare ourselves to others. Someone said “The surest way to be unhappy is to compare yourself to others.” We will always find another who is more blessed in one respect. Also remember that material blessings is not everything that can be counted as God’s favor. God also bestows spiritual blessings, and sometimes this happens in the form of trials and sufferings. Some saints even said that these are signs of Divine favor and election because God is bent on purifying souls he allows to pass through these trials, as gold is perfected by fire. So let’s not compare and just thank God for his undeserved love. We don’t really know how much blessings God has bestowed on each soul. You will simply don’t know if this well to do person is more favored by God than you.

Indeed, God has certain favored ones. The Blessed Virgin Mary is one. But she is part of the One Body which is the Church, which we are also part of. Her favors are given also to benefit the entire Church. Because she had been so much blessed, made spotless, and favored by God, she became a strong intercessor and refuge of sinners. And aren’t we happy if one of our family members receives a great blessing? Whatever benefits they receive benefit us too. Let us just be happy that our brothers and sisters are receiving these favors. After all, If the “minimum” favor God gives a Christian is his dying on the Cross for our salvation, I don’t think it’s something to fret about.

I think one reason Therese calls herself the “Little Flower” is because there is a recurring theme in Scripture about God smelling something evil as a stench…and good as a sweet smelling savor unto the Lord…the Prayers of the Saints are as a sweet incense…etc.

Therese may well be tying her trials to an offering that wafts up to God like a little flower giving off a bit of sweet smell. She also refers to herself as a Lil Ball that the child Jesus sometimes plays with…sometimes sleeps with it beside Him…and sometimes pierces to see whats inside!
All beautiful images and examples of great love…glory to God for this Saint!