QUITE OFTEN, WE REJECT INSPIRATION AND REFUSE TO LOVE GOD
Woe to you, Corazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes (Mt 11:21).32 These are the words of the Saviour. Listen, then, I request you, Theotimus, how the inhabitants of Corazin and Bethsaida were taught in the true religion. They received such great graces which, in fact, would have converted non-Jewish people. All the same, they remained obstinate. They did not wish to avail themselves of such favours. They rejected this divine light by an unparalleled rebellion. Certainly, on the day of judgment, the people of Nineveh and the queen of the South will rise against that Jewish generation. They will convince the Jews of that generation that they deserved to be condemned. These are the reasons: the Ninevites were idolaters and an uncivilized nation. At the preaching of Jonah they repented and did penance. The queen of the South was engaged in the administrative affairs of the kingdom. On hearing of the fame of the wisdom ofSolomon, she left everything to come and listen to him (Mt 12:41, 42). However, the Jews heard with their ears the divine wisdom of the true Solomon, the Saviour of the world. They saw the miracles with their own eyes, touched with their own hands his power and received his blessings. Yet, they did not cease to harden themselves and resist the grace that was offered to them. See, again, Theotimus, those who received less attractions were drawn to repentance while those who received more became hardened. Those who had less reason to come came to the school of wisdom, while those who had greater reason to come remained in their foolishness.
This judgment will be one of comparison. Such is the opinion of all theologians. The unique basis of the judgment is this: some were favoured with as much or more attractions than others. Even so, they refused their consent to divine mercy. Others, assisted by similar attractions or even less, followed the inspiration and gave themselves to most holy penance. Otherwise, how can we reasonably blame the impenitent for their lack of repentance except in comparison with those who repented? Surely, Our Lord shows clearly and all Christians understand simply that in the last judgment, the Jews of his generation will be condemned in comparison with the Ninevites. For the Jews enjoyed many favours and did not have love, received much help and did not repent. These [Ninevites] had less favours and much love, and less assistance and much repentance.
The great St. Augustine throws much light on this subject by his exposition in Book 12 of his City of God, Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9. Though he is specially concerned with angels, nevertheless, he compares humans with them on this point. He established in Chapter 6 that two persons equal in goodness and in every respect are troubled by temptation. He presupposes that one may resist and the other give way to the enemy. Then in Chapter 9, he proves that all the angels were created in charity. He, affirms that it is probable that grace and charity were equal in all of them He asks how it happened that some persevered and made progress in their goodness till they reached glory. Others forsook goodness to take sides with evil till condemnation. He gives the answer. We cannot say anything except that some persevered by the grace of the Creator in pure love which they received when they were created. Others, though they were good, made themselves bad by their own will alone.
St. Thomas [Aquinas] proves very well that grace was given differently to the angels in proportion to and according to the variety of their natural gifts. If this is true, then the Seraphim would have received a grace unparalleled in its sublimity, more than the simple angels of the lowest rank. How did it happen then that some of the Seraphim, even the highest among them, fell? For this is the common and most probable opinion of theologians. How is it that at the same time, a countless host of other angels, of a lower rank, in grace and nature, persevered excellently and courageously?
How did it happen that Lucifer, raised so high in nature and supereminent in grace, fell while so many angels less privileged remained upright in their loyalty? Surely, those who persevered should give all praise to God. Out of his mercy, he created them and preserved them in goodness. To whom should Lucifer and all his followers assign their fall, if not as St. Augustine says, to their own will? The will, by its freedom, abandoned divine grace which so gently came before it and prepared it: How have you fallen, O great Lucifer, who just like a beautiful dawn entered in that invisible world (Is 14:12) clothed in original charity? You were like the first brilliance of a beautiful day to go on increasing into the noonday of eternal glory. Grace did not fail you. You had it like your own nature, the most brilliant of all, but you lost grace. God did not deprive you of the activity of his love. But you deprived his love of your cooperation. God would never have rejected you, had you not rejected his love.
O God, fullness of goodness, you do not forsake any except those who forsake you. You never take away your gifts except when we take away our hearts. We rob the goodness of God, if we claim the glory of our salvation for ourselves. We dishonour his mercy if we say he has failed us. We offend his generosity if we do not acknowledge his blessings. We blaspheme his goodness if we deny that he has helped and assisted us. In short, O God, cry loud and clear into our ears: your destruction comes from you, O Israel. In me alone is found your help (Hos 13:9).