Some historical background (if you want a more long-winded answer
)
Augustine’s Confessions touch on the idea of predestination, and his later writings emphasize it significantly more, as he became more cynical of the human condition. I know, after reading Confessions it’s hard to believe the man could
be much more pessimistic about the human condition!
St. Thomas Aquinas and later Ignatius of Loyola (the latter had to deal with the rise of Calvinism) did not necessarily
contradict Augustine’s teachings (which are supported heavily by St. Paul’s epistles), but they did
downplay his thoughts on predestination significantly. The change was essentially a shift of emphasis. They essentially said (paraphrasing), “Of
course God knows where we’ll end up, but if we focus too much on this whole predestination thing, we get lost in the fact that we
do make real choices that have a real impact on the world. So don’t worry about it.”
Calvinists often claim(ed) that Catholicism “lost” St. Augustine, but the more accurate reality is that the Catholic Church simply thinks that Calvinists miss the point on the whole Predestination thing. By placing so much emphasis on it, people are liable to forget that they have any sort of agency over anything.
Augustine’s writings are an excellent spiritual exercise in humbling ourselves and realizing that, though we can and do make real choices, we are entirely dependent on God’s grace for our capacity to overcome our baser human nature.
Apologies for the less succinct response. I’m just a huge Augustine fan. Confessions brought me back to the Church after a significant time of inactivity and apathy.
