Chapter XXIV. Question 24

Tue Book oF LIFE FIRST ARTICLE

In Holy Scripture “the book of life” is a metaphorical expression for “the knowledge of God by which He firmly remembers that He has predestined some to eternal life.”

SECOND AND THIRD ARTICLES

Primarily those are said to be written in the book of life who are predestined to glory; but, in a secondary sense, the expression applies to those who are justified, and then fall from grace, dying in that state.

This completes the question of predestination, which is clarified by these two principles: (1) God does not command impossibilities;(1) hence it is really possible for all adults to keep God’s commandments, as these are known by them. (2) But, on the other hand, “since God’s love is the cause of goodness in things, no one would be better than another, without being loved more by God.” ? St. Paul says: “Who distinguisheth thee? Or what hast thou that thou hast not received?” 8 But in heaven the blessed see how God’s infinite justice, mercy, and the supreme liberty of His good pleasure are intimately reconciled in the eminence of the Deity. As our Lord says: “Yea, Father, for so hath it seemed good in Thy sight.” 4

Dante, in his Paradiso,” speaks of predestination. There, in poetic language, he declares that the mystery of predestination is beyond the ken even of the saints in heaven.

“O how far removed, Predestination! is thy root from such As see not the first Cause entire.”

THE BOOK OF LIFE 719

“But not the soul That is in heaven most lustrous, nor the seraph, That hath his eyes most fixed on God, shall solve What thou hast asked: for in the abyss it lies Of the everlasting statute sunk so low, That no created ken may fathom it.”

This means that not even the blessed, without a special revelation, know with certainty who of those still on this earth are among the elect; nor can they know the ultimate reason for predestination, which is hidden in the Deity and in God’s most free good pleasure. See Ia, q.12; a.8, and what we said on this subject in the Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, art. “Predestination” (end): “The culminating point of this mystery and its spiritual fruits.”