If a decision requires no cause then the decision = free will.
IF THE DIVINE INFLUENCE
STOPPED, EVERY OPERATION WOULD
STOP.
Every operation, therefore, of anything is
traced back to Him as its cause.
The cause of every our decisions and choices is God, without God we can do
NOTHING.
.
St. Thomas teaches that all movements of will and choice
must be traced to the divine will: and not to any other cause, because
Gad alone is the cause of our willing and choosing. CG, 3.91.
.
CCC 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.
Far from diminishing the creature’s dignity, this truth
enhances it.
.
For Augustine says (De Civ. Dei v, 1) that the "Divine will or power is
called fate.
But the Divine will or power is not in creatures, but in God. Therefore fate is
not in creatures but
in God.
The Divine will is
cause of all things that happen, as Augustine says (De Trin. iii, 1 seqq.). Therefore
all things are
subject to fate.
The same is true for events in our lives. Relative to us they often appear to be by chance.
But relative to God, who directs everything according to his divine plan, nothing occurs by chance.
Hence if this divine influence
stopped, every operation would
stop.
Every operation, therefore, of anything is
traced back to Him as its cause. (Summa Contra Gentiles, Book III.)
.
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA Divine Providence
explains.
Life everlasting
promised to us, (Romans 5:21);
but unaided we can do nothing to gain it (Rom.7:18-24).
This, the beneficent purpose of an all-seeing Providence, is
wholly gratuitous, entirely unmerited (Romans 3:24; 9:11-2).
It extends to
all men (Romans 2:10; 1 Timothy 2:4),
even to the reprobate Jews (Romans 11:26 sq.).
It extends to every individual, adapting itself to the
needs of each (St. John Chrysostom, “Hom. xxviii in Matt.”, n. 3 in “P.G.”, LVII, 354).
All things are created and governed
with a view to man, to the
development of his life and his intelligence, and to the satisfaction of his needs (Aristides, “Apol.”, i, v, vi, xv, xvi
.
His wisdom He so
orders all events within the universe that the end for which it was created may be
realized.
God preserves the universe in being;
He acts in and with every creature in each and all its activities.
He directs all, even evil and sin itself, to
the final end for which the universe was created.
Evil He converts into good (Genesis 1:20; cf. Psalm 90:10); and
suffering He uses as an instrument whereby to train men up as a father traineth up his children (Deuteronomy 8:1-6; Psalm 65:2-10;
Evil, therefore, ministers to God’s design (St. Gregory the Great, op. cit., VI, xxxii in “P.L.”,
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12510a.htm
.
God bless
