Tim Staples delves into the complex theological concepts surrounding Mary’s power and the importance of free will. Responding to a caller’s question about St. Louis de Montfort’s “True Devotion to Mary,” Staples provides a comprehensive explanation of Catholic doctrine in contrast to Protestant perspectives, particularly those of Luther and Calvin. He highlights the significance of Mary’s role in salvation history and the necessity of human cooperation with God’s grace.
Transcript:
Let’s go to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Sammy is listening. Sammy, thank you very much for the call. You got a question for Tim Staples?
You bet, thank you guys. All right, bro. Big fan of the show, first time caller. I’m trying to also entertain my two year old, so. Oh, this should be good. This should be good. So I’m reading The True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort. Awesome book. For that very reason, you know, to try to develop a true devotion. And I am really early into it. And I’m in the introduction here, paragraph seven.
And I could read the whole thing here, it’s pretty short, but basically what he’s saying, he gets to a point where he says the saints are saying admirable things about this holy city of God. I assume that’s in reference to Mary, but I’m not 100% sure, because then it goes on to say that, “Is in true immeasurable that the grander of her power, “which she exercises even over God himself, “incomprehensible.”
So yeah, I just wanted further clarification on that. I just was questioning, you know, if this is in reference to Mary, how does she exercise power over God himself? Oh yeah, awesome brother. I tell you, that book is so rich. St. Louis de Montfort was of course the master when it came to the Blessed Mother. But here’s the key, what St. Louis is emphasizing, and especially at a time, you know, we’re in the same time in this sense that he was, where Protestantism is all the rage, and in particular Calvinism. And unfortunately, Luther and Calvin, who are two of, I would say of all of the reformers, those two were probably the most dangerous in their errors because they’re the language they used. And thanks be to God, you know, in our dialogue with the Lutherans, I know that doesn’t represent all Lutherans, because of course the Missouri Synod, Wisconsin Synod, and others didn’t have anything to do with that. I’m referring to the famous declaration that the Catholic Church signed with the Lutherans, of the Lutheran World Federation.
Where we came to certain agreements, at least on the initial grace of justification, that yes, there is human cooperation involved. But you know, just to give you a sense of things though, remember, Luther taught in his greatest work, as it’s called, his magnum opus, where he essentially denies free will. The book is called The Bondage of the Will. And in two different places in that book, he says that you and I are like a beast, right? If God gets on our back and rides us, he’ll ride us to heaven. If the devil gets on our back and rides us, he’ll ride us to hell. But the beast has no choice as to who rides him, right? And that was, of course, his whole thesis of Bondage of the Will. There is no free will. He calls free will every name in the book. And of course he’s dialoguing with Erasmus, who was a Catholic theologian, who I think does a pretty darn good job, even though he himself had his own theological issues, but he was a good son of the church. But here’s the point.
That sort of free will is a farce. There is no free will. And John Calvin took that, that Luther said, and put it on steroids with his idea of double predestination. So that you and I are basically puppets, dude. There is no free will. There is no cooperation. The idea of cooperation was absolutely anathema to Luther, right? And whether that’s cooperation preceding justification, because when God calls us, he never coerces us. We can, you know, as Acts 7, verse 55, in fact, verses 51 through 55, if you remember St. Stephen, when he’s about to get stoned to death, when he’s preaching the gospel there in Jerusalem, and they kill him for it, he says to them, “You,” to the elders of Jerusalem, he says, “You are stiff-necked at you who resist the Holy Spirit of God.” Right, they resist the Holy Spirit. They resist the grace of God, whom Stephen knew was calling them to salvation. Now, that means in preparation for the grace of justification, or after we receive the grace of justification, we can always resist. But understand, you and I know that as a Catholic. But remember, Luther and Calvin talk, that is absolute heresy. There is no free will and such. So when you read St. Louis, of course he’s coming with this as a backdrop, and he’s presenting the importance of understanding free will. Now, of course free will, we have no power to merit anything, unless it’s as St. Peter says in 2 Peter 3, 18.
He says, “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” You can only begin to merit and do what St. Louis is talking about. Once you enter into Christ, with our last caller, I talked about baptism. Baptism is the first sacrament, first chronologically, and it has a first in primacy as well. Of course, the Eucharist is the greatest because it’s Jesus and all other sacraments are ordered toward it. But baptism has a certain primacy because that’s the sacrament whereby we enter into Christ and then the doors are opened for all the other sacraments and the power of God so that we can begin to do what St. Louis is talking about. Right now, let’s get to that. Because once we enter into Christ, here’s the key, before Christ, what can we do? John 15.5, Jesus says, “apart from me, you can do nothing.” But what happens when we enter into Christ as my old Greek professor, Father Patrick Brennan, he’s long since gone to his reward, but I quote him all the time, one of the most brilliant men, if not the most brilliant man I ever met, he said, “Before Christ, we can do nothing after.” Look at John 14.12, right? Jesus says, “You will do greater things than I did.” We could talk a whole lot about what that means, right?
And St. Paul, in Philippians 4.13, he says, “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.” Right, now why is that? Because we now have the power of Christ working in us. However, my friend, we also have free will. So God, even when we’re in him, Si, God doesn’t force us to do meritorious actions. We must freely choose, see? But if we do as Christians, we can literally change the world. Now you say, but wait a minute, this thing, you got power over God? Absolutely.
Why? Because that’s the way God established his economy of salvation.
Lumen Gentium, the dogmatic constitution on the church has a beautiful section on this, as does the catechism, especially, I’ll point you to the catechism section 2008 through 2010, glorious section where it says that God has chosen to use the free cooperation of his creatures in his plan of salvation. What does that mean? That means if I choose to walk with Jesus, to say yes to Jesus at that coffee shop, let’s say, and go over and talk to some folks, and by God’s grace, they come to faith in Jesus. They come to the sacraments. Guess what?
I have cooperated with God in saving a soul. See, that’s why the Bible will say all over the place in 2 Corinthians 9.22, St. Paul’s, not 2 Corinthians, that would be 1 Corinthians 9.22, St. Paul says, “I’ve become all things to all men “that by all means I might save.” How can Paul save anybody? Because of his cooperation. Now, it’s God who’s the first principle of salvation. He’s the first cause. But because we have free will, and that’s the sticking point with Luther and Calvin, my friend, because we have free will, yes, if I choose not to walk over there, guess what? That person may not. Now, it’s true somebody else could come and whatever, but maybe not too, Cycala. The point is, yes, we have power over God. Now, granted, I know in our modern theology, we don’t like to use that language of over. I get what St. Louis is saying, I actually like it, because I think it’s poetic and I think it’s beautiful. But it also gets at the point here that God could do everything.
He could come down here right now and answer this question a lot better than this knucklehead is doing. He could come down here and do literally everything we do at Catholic Answers and everything every Christian does. But he does not do that, Cycala. He chooses to use us and our free cooperation. And in that, we become, as St. Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians chapter three, verse nine, he says we are co-laborers with Christ, right? So yeah, there’s a certain power because, and maybe the ultimate example is what St. Louis is gonna get to if you keep reading with the Blessed Mother. We have example after example of the Blessed Mother who until she says, let it be done unto me, in Luke chapter one, verse 37, there’s no incarnation, my friend. But when she says, let it be done, the entire universe is changed. Jesus did not perform the miracle at the wedding of feast of Cana until mama says so in John chapter two, that is just a fact. That’s what it says. In fact, Jesus pushes back. He says, (Speaking In Foreign Language) In other words, what is this between you and me woman? I’m not gonna do this. I mean, that’s basically what he’s saying.
If you understand the Hebraism in that text that goes back to the Old Testament, that’s a powerful line of rebuke. Mama’s coming and saying, hey, these folks need a miracle here. And Jesus is basically saying no. But what does Mary say? Get ready, here comes the miracle. Basically, no, it’s not exactly. Pair of phrase, it’s a pair of phrase. That’s right. He says, she says, do whatever he tells and he performs the miracle. And by the way, he performs the miracle basically at the request of the Blessed Mother. And through that, Jesus performs his first miracle, enters into his ministry, and the apostles come to faith. That is a quote from John chapter two, verse 11. And we could go on to the foot of the cross.
It’s Jesus who prepares his mother for that sacred moment that was prophesied in Luke chapter two, verses 34 and 35 by Simeon the prophet, where he says, behold, this child is set for the fallen rising again. And basically, for the salvation of all, he says, for the many, and to be a sign of contradiction which shall be spoken against. But then he turns to her and a sword will pierce your soul that the dialogue, the thoughts out of many hearts would be manifest. That is the same people Simeon said Jesus was gonna die for, Mary was gonna spiritually die for.
Powerful text there. Of course, it’s fulfilled on the cross. And so yeah, Jesus in a sense didn’t even go and die on the cross until first he prepares his mother through the preparation of the prophet Simeon to understand Mary’s role at the foot of the cross, where Pope John Paul, I think brings it out so powerfully and beautifully in his masterpiece in cyclical on suffering. Salvatici Delores section 25, where Pope St. John Paul the Great says at that moment, the sufferings of Mary and Jesus were so intimately and integrally interwoven that her sufferings became a participation in the redemption of all. And we see that portrayed in the book of Revelation, chapter 12, the woman who gives birth to the Messiah in verses four and five, and then in verse 17 gives birth to all of us. So look, I think to sum all this up brother, it all really gets back to free will, the free will that Luther and Calvin rejected.
And by the way, many of their followers are coming back to a belief in free will. Thanks be to God, but we can’t pass over. This is devastating when you deny this, because of course, if there’s no free will, we are puppets, we can’t merit anything, we can’t do anything, and it’s just a matter of if God’s gonna choose Cykeleth, he’s going to heaven, if not gonna choose Timsek, well, you’re going to hell and so forth. So understand that’s the context in what Saint Louis is saying. We have power over God in as much as, if we choose to cooperate, all heaven will break loose.
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