The Catholic dogma
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA The predestination of the elect.
(1) Consequently, the whole future membership of
heaven, down to its minutest details, with all the different measures of grace and the various degrees of
happiness, has been irrevocably fixed from all
eternity. Nor could it be otherwise. For if it were possible that a predestined individual should after all be cast into
hell or that one not predestined should in the end reach
heaven, then
God would have been mistaken in his foreknowledge of future events; He would no longer be omniscient.
(2) The second quality of predestination, the definiteness of the number of the
elect, follows naturally from the first. For if the eternal counsel of God regarding the predestined is unchangeable, then the number of the predestined must likewise be unchangeable and definite, subject neither to additions nor to cancellations. Anything indefinite in the number would
eo ipso imply a lack of certitude in
God’s knowledge and would destroy His omniscience. Furthermore, the very nature of omniscience demands that not only the abstract number of the
elect, but also the
individuals with their names.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12378a.htm
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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA Divine Providence
explains.
This, the beneficent purpose of an all-seeing Providence, is
wholly gratuitous, entirely unmerited (Romans 3:24; 9:11-2).
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It extends to
all men (Romans 2:10; 1 Timothy 2:4),
even to the reprobate Jews (Romans 11:26 sq.); and by it all God’s dealings with man are regulated (Ephesians 1:11).
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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).
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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, i, v, vi, xv, xvi
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That end is that
all creatures should manifest the glory of God, and
in particular that man should glorify Him, recognizing in nature the work of His hand,
serving Him in obedience and love, and thereby attaining to the full development of his nature and to
eternal happiness in God.
All events preordained by
God in accordance with His all-embracing purpose.
Hence Providence is at once universal, immediate, efficacious, yet
all alike postulate Divine concurrence and receive their powers of operation from Him (I, Q. xxii, a. 3; Q. ciii, a. 6);
efficacious, in that all things minister to God’s final purpose, a purpose which cannot be frustrated (Contra Gent., III, xciv);
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God bless
