How is it that non-Catholics don't end up Catholic when God sends them graces to help them see the truth?

[Tim_Hayes]

Hello, thank you for ansswering this question.

As I read so often and hear often, God povides Graces to those outside of the Catholic Faith. Now what I don’t understand is that we from a Catholic position say that God wants everyone to belong to the “catholic” faith or one Church without splinters.

Now if God sends the Holy Spirit to help someone (provide Graces) and they are non Catholic or non Christian then according to the catholic Faith he must ultimately be sending those graces so that the person in question can come to him and more than likley by becoming a “member” of the bride (Church).

I guess what I am saying is that if God sends Graces to those to come to him, then how is it that such people don’t end up in the catholic faith, becasue if he has sent graces, then it should have been for those people to join the Catholic Faith, now I would think tht generally speaking those who don’t then come to the catholic Faith must have turned their backs on God’s grace at some point.

Can you please enlighten me as to why my reasoning is wrong, becasue I don’t seem to be able to understand how non Christians at the very least and possibly non catholics can be saved if they steadfastly refuse God’s grace, which if they accepted should have brought them into the Church.

Now I know that people can die before arriving here etc, but other than such very unusual types of scenario where is the requirement to be catholic and hence evangelise,

thanks

 

[Peggy_Frye]

We know from Scripture that God gives all men an opportunity for salvation, since he wills all men to be saved (1 Tim 2:4), and he is a just God. We also know from Scripture and the Catechism that “Man is rational and….is created with free will and he can choose “to act or not to act, to do this or that”. (Luke 13:34, Acts 7:51, CCC 1731).

CCC153: Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. “Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.”

When and how God chooses to convert the heart is up to Him (1 Cor. 3:6). Only God can judge the heart. The Church does not propose to know if any particular soul is damned. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that people who through no fault of their own do not know of Christ or His Church, but who live in accordance with the graces given to them, can be saved by Christ nonetheless (CCC 1260). It is not a salvation outside of Christ, but one through his grace (even on his death-bed).

As for non-Christians, section 848 of the *Catechism * says, "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.”

Everything is grace! It took me many long years to finally be open to the grace of conversion. It was only through the fervent prayers of the Church that I was able to say “yes” to the grace of God who then opened the eyes of my mind and made it easy for me to accept and believe the truth! (CCC 153).

Those who don’t abide in the fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church need to be evangelized. The Church needs you to evangelize! Share your love and knowledge of the faith with others. Pray for souls! Also pray for those Catholics who know and love their faith that the Holy Spirit will help them to continually grow in their understanding of the Church’s teachings so they can witness more effectively. As Pope John Paul II said, “Woe to me if I do not evangelize.”

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have”
-1 Peter 3.15

Pope Paul VI said, "The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself…Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize. . (Evangelii Nuntiandi no.14, 15).

"…it is painfully clear that many Catholics (and other Christians) have not been effectively incorporated into life in Christ. Baptized as infants many have never made a personal commitment to the Lord Jesus and the Gospel. As adolescents and adults many drift away from the Church. Evangelization must be directed to the Church itself. (Redemptoris Missio, 36).