Conferences of St. John Cassian - Conference Thirteen On God’s Protection, Part IV

Dance of Love: Synergy of Grace and Free Will

We come to the conclusion of Cassian's beautiful conference on the interplay of grace and free will and once again we discover one who sees with profound clarity that there is no conflict between the two but rather a synergy that is necessary for a relationship of love.  God gives everything and does everything to enliven that love within us but His desire must meet our own.  Anyone fully immersed in the spiritual life comes to understand this; not through abstraction and argumentation but rather through experience.  Faith fully lived brings understanding.

Cassian states this firmly as follows:

"Therefore it is understood by all the Catholic fathers, who have taught perfection of heart not by idle disputation but in fact and in deed, that the first aspect of the divine gift is that each person be inflamed to desire everything which is good, but in such a way that the choice of a free will faces each alternative fully. Likewise, the second aspect of divine grace is that the aforesaid practice of virtue bear results, but in such a way that the possibility of choice not be extinguished. The third aspect is that it pertains to the gifts of God that one persevere in a virtue that has been acquired, but not in such a way that a submissive freedom be taken captive.  Thus it is that the God of the universe must be believed to work all things in all, so that he stirs up, protects, and strengthens, but not so that he removes the freedom of will that he himself once granted. If something cleverly gleaned from human argumentation and reasoning seems contrary to this understanding, it should be avoided rather than called forth to the destruction of the faith. For we do not acquire faith from understanding but understanding from faith, as it is written: `If you do not believe, you will not understand.'' For how God works all things in us on the one hand and how everything is ascribed to free will on the other cannot be fully grasped by human intelligence and reason."

As men and women of faith, we must be willing to live within the paradoxes and tensions of faith - humbling ourselves before the wisdom of God and the immensity of His love; yet in our desire for the Beloved willfully and freely embracing His grace.