Does God Go Against The Will Of A Person?

[dominicansoul]

[quote name='scardella' post='1884200' date='Jun 5 2009, 11:54 AM']Although God respects free will completely, prayers can aid the free will of the person being prayed for. Sin, by its nature, impedes free will. It will blind people to the truth of a situation. Our prayers can be like the salve that cures the blindness. If sin is repeated often enough, it becomes vice. This is where our inclination is to do the evil rather than the good. It's like being bound by sin. Prayer can help break those bonds that prevent choosing the good. Here, God is not contradicting the person's free will, but the grace is freeing the person to be able to choose the good. So, rather than contradicting free will, God will strengthen a person's free will and help him see more clearly so that he can make better use of it.

Does this make sense?

It's quite possible that God gave St. Augustine hundreds or thousands of opportunities to repent with the aid of grace from St. Monica's prayers, but it took the thousand and first for him to finally choose to put away his past life.[/quote]

I particularly like the way you explained that prayer becomes a "salve." I think, like VoTeckam explained, if my friend were to give up prayer completely, it would make things much worse for her self, and her pain would be even more intense.

[quote name='Norseman82' post='1884233' date='Jun 5 2009, 12:29 PM']I think we need to step back and look at the big picture here.

The issue is not whether God is going against the son's will, but the son going against God's will (since you posted that he has left the Church and has lived with his gf, unless they lived as brotehr/sister rather than fornication partners). God gave everyone free will - please see Sirach 15. God could very well be listening to the mother's prayers, it is just that the son is not listening to God and his mother.[/quote]

yes. this is the truth. i think she is just hurting so much that she wishes the Lord could just snap his fingers and Antony would get back to his senses...

[quote name='tgoldson' post='1884315' date='Jun 5 2009, 03:03 PM']my mom probably felt (and for some things, still feels) the same way about my brother...

and my mom found comfort from St. Monica.[/quote]

i'm asking St. Monica to take this petition and place it at the feet of Jesus on behalf of my friend...

[dominicansoul]

[quote name='scardella' post='1884200' date='Jun 5 2009, 11:54 AM']Although God respects free will completely, prayers can aid the free will of the person being prayed for. Sin, by its nature, impedes free will. It will blind people to the truth of a situation. Our prayers can be like the salve that cures the blindness. If sin is repeated often enough, it becomes vice. This is where our inclination is to do the evil rather than the good. It's like being bound by sin. Prayer can help break those bonds that prevent choosing the good. Here, God is not contradicting the person's free will, but the grace is freeing the person to be able to choose the good. So, rather than contradicting free will, God will strengthen a person's free will and help him see more clearly so that he can make better use of it.

Does this make sense?

It's quite possible that God gave St. Augustine hundreds or thousands of opportunities to repent with the aid of grace from St. Monica's prayers, but it took the thousand and first for him to finally choose to put away his past life.[/quote]

So, ultimately, God does not impede anyone's free will, only aids souls to return to His grace?

do you think that this is one of those cases where the Lord asks for prayers and fasting??? I feel like Antony may very well be a slave to his sin.

[Theologian in Training]

Sometimes, the hardest thing in giving ourselves over to the Will of God is being obedient to it. When distraught mother's come to me, I tell them that instead of praying for this or that, they should be praying for the enlightenment of God's Will. In other words, what is it He wants from this situation and what is it God is teaching her. So often we approach these situations as desperate and look to the worst possible scenario, but, truth be told, when we do so, we limit God and His ability to "influence" not change those who do not want to listen to Him.

Praying may not change God's mind, but it will help us understand the larger picture and give us a clearer understanding of His Will.

[dominicansoul]

Thank you Father, and all of you for your words. I shared them all with my friend. They helped her very much!!!

We both had a "God moment" on Friday afternoon...

She always practices her First Friday devotions. But when things like this happen, she gets very depressed to the point she doesn't even feel like moving. She missed our weekly Friday Mass at noon. My spiritual director asked me to come for an appointment Friday evening. That's where I found out he was celebrating a Mass at 7 p.m. that evening. That afternoon, my friend text me asking me "where is there a Mass??? I missed going this morning..." So I was able to tell her about this one.

She and I both attended. My spiritual director always emphasizes the Holy Spirit in his prayers and his homilies. He called upon the Holy Spirit to come upon all of us who were at this Mass. I became more aware of His Presence with me, and my friend testified later, she suddenly felt a surge of peace. The Mass, more than usual, was very powerful and very uplifting to me and her.

After Mass, my spiritual director had to leave. But he told me he wanted to speak to her as soon as she could. He's a very GOOD priest, and he reminds of me a good shepherd, who, regardless of any circumstance, makes it a point to "go after his sheep" when they are in trouble...

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and for your words.

Keep them coming, this will definitely be a battle for her son.... one that will take "prayers and sacrifices..."

God bless!