Found a great quote from this wonder saint in one of Balthasars books…she looks like a hopeful universalist to me! Can we get her on the lis? Will send the quote in a few mins…
here are excerpts from the quote (not the full quote, its too long, but Ive chosen what I see as key parts…) I hope Ive represented her well - note what she says about “outwitted” - I LOVE that line…
"Grace can come to man without him seeking it. The question is whether it can complete its work without his cooperation. Its seems this must be answered in the negative…it can find no abode if it is not freely taken…
And we know that many men occupy themselves with salvation in this life, but don’t accept grace…
But we still do not know whether the decisive hour might not come for all these somewhere in the next world, and faith can tell us that this is the case…
All merciful love can thus descend to everyone - we believe that it does so. And now, can we assume that there are souls that remain perpetually closed to such love? As a possibility in principle, this cannot be rejected. IN REALITY, it becomes infinitely improbable …Grace can steal its way into souls and spread itself more and more…
Human freedom can be neither broken nor neutralized by divine freedom but it CAN be “outwitted”…The descent of grace to the human soul is a free act of divine love…And there are no limits to how far it may extend…
The faith in the unboundedness of divine love and grace justifies a hope for the universality of redemption, although, through the possibility of resistance to grace that remains open “in principle”, the possibility of eternal damnation also exists.
To be fair I just read a critique saying that the other words from edith stein were from some of her unpublished work, and the she didnt remain quite as hopeful, maybe her views changed - so, i dont know!
aye maybe her views changes a bit - this, apparently is from her 1939 memoirs…
“The possibility of some final loss appears more real and pressing than one which would seem infinitely improbable.”
Earlier she had said it was “infinitely improbable…”
The final quote sounds like she’s just acknowledging that some people will discount, as a threat, an infinitely improbable result but respond to a threat that is real and pressing.
I think maybe I’ve come to a similar conclusion. There are those who hate grace, mercy, and love. This seems to be the group that Jesus threatened with hell. They are bent on fairness and justice. Maybe they are the ones outside the city gates not wanting to come in.