Gratia Praeveniens

The Visitation

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today I learned something new (at least to me) at Daily Mass which I have been able to attend while on Christmas vacation. First, the readings for Wednesday in the Fourth Sunday of Advent include the account of the Visitation in Luke 1:39-45:

Mary set out in those days
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”

Father Kirby at Our Lady of Grace discussed three important observations that he saw in this passage of Sacred Scripture:

1. Mary made haste to the Judean countryside, for Mary's visit with Elizabeth occurs immediately after Mary declared to the Angel Gabriel in the account of the Annunciation in Luke 1:38, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." There was no delay to share the Good News (Evangelium) with her cousin Elizabeth.
2. Elizabeth who is elder to Mary uncharacteristically greets Mary as her senior with the words, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb." In Middle Eastern cultures, particularly at that time in history, it was customary for the younger woman (Mary) to give deference to the elder (Elizabeth), but here we see the opposite happening. Some paintings of this scene even depict Elizabeth bowing before Mary.
3. St. John the Baptist in the womb leaped for joy in the womb of Elizabeth upon the arrival of Jesus in the womb of Mary. This shows us the sanctity of new pre-born life from the start. It also indicates that by prevenient grace John the Baptist was saved from original sin at that point, and thus born without sin. He was not immaculately conceived as was Mary (the Ark of the New Covenant miraculously kept from original sin at conception). But as Luke 1:41 states, he was "...filled with the Holy Spirit" at that moment and the Holy Spirit cannot fill an unclean vessel.

I had never heard of the term, "Prevenient Grace," but I recognized the word "prevenient" since it derives from the present participle "praeveniens" of the Latin verb "praevenio" which means:

"I arrive / occur / come first / before / too soon; precede; surpass; anticipate / forestall"

The term prevenient grace occurs in both Catholic and Ariminian / Weslyan theology. The Wikipedia entry on this topic states:

"It is divine grace that precedes human decision. It exists prior to and without reference to anything humans may have done. As humans are corrupted by the effects of sin, prevenient grace allows persons to engage their God-given free will to choose the salvation offered by God in Jesus Christ or to reject that salvific offer...."

"...The Second Council of Orange of AD 529 stated that faith, though a free act, resulted even in its beginnings from the grace of God, enlightening the human mind and enabling belief. In canon 23 it is said that God prepares our wills that they may desire the good. Canon 25 states, 'In every good work, it is not we who begin . . . but He (God) first inspires us with faith and love of Him, through no preceding merit on our part.' Prevenient grace (from the Latin 'to come before') was discussed in the fifth chapter of the sixth session of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) which used the phrase: 'a Dei per dominum Christum Iesum praeveniente gratia' (rendered 'a predisposing grace of God through Jesus Christ'.) Those who turned from God by sins are disposed by God's grace to turn back and become justified by freely assenting to that grace."

In the case of John the Baptist, within a Q&A at EWTN on this topic the following is provided:

"The Church teaches that it was at this moment that the Baptist was freed from original sin and that he never sinned personally in the course of his life. Specifically, Pope Innocent III (1208 AD, DS 790) wrote: 'Iohannemque Baptistam ab eo missum esse sanctum et iustum et in utero matris suae Spiritu Sancto repletum' ('and John the Baptist had been sent from Him [God] holy and righteous and filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb of his own mother'). Furthermore, St. Augustine commented that we properly celebrate the birthday of the Baptist in addition to his day of martyrdom, since he came into the world without sin. Hence it is only properly said of Mary that she was conceived free of original sin, as proclaimed in the Immaculate Conception. But the Baptist was granted the privilege of freedom from original sin in the womb which is singular in its own right and by the same grace of Christ, but in anticipation of the crucifixion in which that grace was won for us."

I had not known anything about this topic of the sinless birth of John the Baptist by means of prevenient grace. That is why I think it is so important to pay attention to the homilies at Mass - you never know what you may learn.