Was Mary predestined to Sainthood?

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God selected Mary to be HIS mother. She didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. HE kept her free from original sin, so from conception she had an advantage into Sainthood over literally everyone else. God forced the miracles upon Mary. There was very little she could have done to invalidate her Sainthood.
 
Every one of the elect is predestined to sainthood. That does not mean they lack the freedom to refuse God’s grace. It simply means that God, in his infinite foresight, has provided them with such grace that they will in fact choose Him.
 
Why did he let Job suffer?

There are some questions that we can’t answer this side of Heaven.
 
Everybody is predestined for sainthood. It’s not as though God would ever want anything else.

The grace given to Our Lady is termed “a singular grace” because it served an exclusive purpose, which was to conceive & raise the Incarnate Word., and later, she would be coronated Queen of Heaven.

Graces never override the consent of the individual, meaning that once a grace is given they can always be later rejected or misused. It is true that God gives graces before being asked. For example, when a person first comes to repentance, it always through the grace of God that such promptings are stirred. People are never the initiators in their salvation.
 
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Arkansan said:
It simply means that God, in his infinite foresight, has provided them with such grace that they will in fact choose Him.
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TomS333 said:
But why would God give such grace only to some and not all?
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Be careful, @Arkansan – you’re sounding a bit like a Calvinist,a nd @TomS333 is properly calling you on it!

As Catholics, we would say that God gives sufficient grace to every human person. However, not all accept that grace, and therefore, for some, the grace (while being sufficient) is not efficacious.

The saints in heaven received no more grace than the condemned in hell; they just accepted it and cooperated with it…!
 
She said yes. “I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to His will.”

She could have said no.

She did have a choice.

Adam and Eve were free of original sin, too. Didn’t keep them from choosing to sin, did it?
 
This reminds me of a nihilist fatalism I see nowadays. Not that you’ve stated this, but when you speak of miracles being “forced” on Mary, I’m reminded of people who express frustration because their own parents “forced” life upon them and that they never had a choice in it.

For one, it is Church teaching that Mary consented to bearing Jesus and that she knew who he was. Mary was free to say no. Her immaculate conception is what allowed her (not forced her, but allowed her) of her own free will to be able to say “yes” fully and without reservation.

The Immaculate Conception was not “forced” on her. It is simply part of who she is and has always been.
 
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Gorgias said:
The saints in heaven received no more grace than the condemned in hell
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Even Molinists wouldn’t agree with that. There can be no equality (for example) between receiving the grace of final perseverance and not receiving the grace of final perseverance.

Admittedly, I am a Thomist and probably explained things in a different manner than a Molinist would, but I intentionally avoided saying anything that Molinists would outright disagree with.

For reference:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06710a.htm
 
Because God was not to be born of all of humanity. God was only born to the BVM.
 
Mary had free will, just like you and me.

She was preserved from original sin and thus did not have the concupiscence that we all have.
 
TK421 said:
Everybody is predestined for sainthood.
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Just as FYI - I would look to rephrase this because this statement (on its surface) is not true and would be considered heresy, because everyone is not predestined to heaven. Only the elect are predestined. The rest are not predestined for anything.

God bless.
 
Arkansan said:
Even Molinists wouldn’t agree with that. There can be no equality (for example) between receiving the grace of final perseverance and not receiving the grace of final perseverance.
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Sorry. I’m talking about the grace sufficient for salvation. “Final perseverance” is another matter entirely, presupposing cooperation with grace. 😉
 
Yes, she was. But not quite the way you are suggesting. Adam and Eve also did not have a tendency to sin, yet their free will existed and they did succumb to temptation. It was likely not easy for the devil to successfully tempt Adan and Eve, since they had no tendency to sin. You can see in the gospels how he put a great effort into tempting twice. It would be quite naïve to think Mary, as another soul without original sin, would not also have been attacked in her life. Put she persevered.
Was this predestination? to the extent that God fore saw her success, definitely. To the extent that God ordained it? not quite, her free will also came into play.
 
phil19034 said:
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TK421:
Everybody is predestined for sainthood.
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Just as FYI - I would look to rephrase this because this statement (on its surface) is not true and would be considered heresy, because everyone is not predestined to heaven. Only the elect are predestined. The rest are not predestined for anything.

God bless.
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More like a misuse of jargon, but I suppose heresy is better than some alternatives. It has a nice ring to it.

Everybody is suppose to be a saint.
 
I don’t really care. I am grateful for God that He created someone as wonderful as the Blessed Virgin Mary.
 
How about this. God knows who will cooperate with His Grace when it comes to final perseverance and gives it to them. God knew that Mary would not sin like Adam and Eve if conceived without sin and would always agree spontaneously with His will. So He predestined Her to be conceived that way and gave her the grace required to do what He knew she would do if given the grace to do it. Um maybe.
 
Gorgias said:
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Arkansan:
Even Molinists wouldn’t agree with that. There can be no equality (for example) between receiving the grace of final perseverance and not receiving the grace of final perseverance.
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Sorry. I’m talking about the grace sufficient for salvation. “Final perseverance” is another matter entirely, presupposing cooperation with grace. 😉
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And I’m speaking of the difference between sufficient and efficacious grace (final perseverance was just an example). Even Molinists don’t claim that the difference is only a matter of openness or lack thereof, just that the person’s openness or lack thereof (or rather, the divine foresight of a person’s openness or lack thereof) is the ultimate cause of why one person receives efficacious and another merely sufficient grace.
 
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