Just wanted to add that I agree with you Andrew to the point that God does not need us. That would be silly to say that he needs us for anything. But He does apparently want us or He never would have created us. And if He wanted us enough to create us then who are we to say that He does not want us to participate in His Salvific actions. Even the Protestants who are so big on God-alone seem to go through great efforts in passing out bibles and preaching from it. Does God need Bibles or preachers? Certainly not. He did not use any for Paul on the road to Damascus. If you follow this logic to the final conclusion then we should do absolutely nothing. But if you say we should do something (as you seem to be saying by continuing to write in this blog) then you must agree that it is a matter of drawing the line somewhere as to what things we should do and what things God should do.
Fr. Maximilian points out that according to the Bible, God DOES want us to participate in His salvific plan. If you say God does not want us to participate then the burden of proof as to why we should redraw these lines is now on you.
Ave Maria!
I’ve noticed that several sources, and you yourself have called him “Fr. Maximilian.” Wouldn’t it be more proper to call him St. Maximilian?
St. Paul already had some faith though, being a faithful Jew, and he learned this from books and preachers through the habit of faith instilled at Circumcision. God gave Him the revelation of Jesus as the Christ on the road to Damascus.
"Faith comes by hearing." The ordinary channel of salvation is from preaching and the sacraments, which are human actions. So God does need us in the ordinary economy of things. But God is not bound by the ordinary economy of salvation.