Were all Saints Perfect?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bix
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Bix

Guest
Are there any saints who had short comings or any type of issues that many people face dealing with or controlloing? They all seem so perfect to me…

Temper, judgemental, curse language, sadness or despair, jumping to conclusions, pride, etc? I mean - were they all perfect and that’s why they are saints along with their works? Is that why we have so few current saints- due to the society we live in and how people are bombarded in so many areas of life?
 
Of course, and plenty. The saints struggled like everybody, except harder and so they actually won. While some supposedly never committed a mortal sin, some had a long streak of grave matter prior to conversion of heart (including murder, adultery, prostitution and more). Apart from sins, they also had other shortcomings (e.g. not all had stellar intelligence, although they made better use of what they had than most people do who have more).
 
All the saints sinned. No one is perfect, except Jesus and Mary.
 
As stated above, NO.

I’ve read a bunch about Padre Pio, and heard some talk shows about him, and somewhere someone suggested that they make him the Patron Saint of grouchy people! 😃
 
St. Jerome and St. Padre Pio had a big big temper…
And they are of my favorite saints indeed. They struggled like everyone else.
 
Oh, how they sinned. (And how much more we sin. Christe, eleison.)

I suggest reading the writings of:
St. Therese of Lisieux
St. Augustine
St. Teresa of Avila
St. John of the Cross/Avila
St. Maria Faustina

And then you shall see.

Or, you can take the easy way out, and read the book I’ve linked in my signature, which tracks the lives and teachings of some of the saints mentioned above, and is phenomenal and life-changing – THE FULFILLMENT OF ALL DESIRE by Ralph Martin.

God bless!
 
Thank you for the replies! Eagerly awaiting more.

We are always told we should live hoping to become saints, but I thought about this and before your replies simply thought it was said in hopes of us striving to live better and completely unobtainable unless one is living on a remote island… Not that I would ever be made one anyway. 😊

However, it is good to know we have role models who were “real” people with real and ordinary human struggles.
God Bless~Bix
 
None of them were perfect. It was their total submission to God through Jesus Christ expressed by their humble devotion to the Church.
 
Bix said:
Are there any saints who had short comings or any type of issues that many people face dealing with or controlloing? They all seem so perfect to me…

Temper, judgemental, curse language, sadness or despair, jumping to conclusions, pride, etc? I mean - were they all perfect and that’s why they are saints along with their works? Is that why we have so few current saints- due to the society we live in and how people are bombarded in so many areas of life?
Click to expand...
Read the book Saints Behaving Badly. It shows who the Saints really were before they converted.
 
Bix said:
What about after they converted? They didn’t struggle anymore?
Click to expand...
Of course, they do. We all struggle, for we all suffer temptation.

Recall what St Paul wrote in Romans, even after his conversion …

15What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I concur that the law is good. 17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. 19For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. 20Now if * do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand. 22For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, 23l but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with my mind, serve the law of God but, with my flesh, the law of sin.*
 
:angel1:
That is Saints is a title, Brothers sisters?

Is it all be Saints in Heaven?

And has many Saints not recognized ?

:gopray:
No. not all Saints Perfect, we are created by God in His image, not opposite, His view and us views must be different, He is Mild and Merciful. and He will give us eternal life and happiness.
 
Bix: Somewhere around here I have a book on all the saints and their shortcomings that they still had after becoming Saints. The book is a stitch because I always thought that the Saints were well, Saintly which they were but sometimes they also fell short.

It’s a pretty sizable book so hunting it down shouldn’t be too difficult.
 
The definition of “Saint” is one who is in Heaven. So, they have reached a state of perfection at this time. Before getting to Heaven, on Earth, they lived imperfect lives. I find it helpful to look at the lives of “named saints” because it gives me some help to reach that same place that they have attained.

Protestants do something similar - they have people in the congregation stand up and talk about what saved them. I have found that the study of named saints provides better guidance.
 
As has already been said, except for Our Lady, **none **of the saints were perfect!

I’ve been reading a biography of St. Elizabeth Seton, and have found it very edifying to see that, after her conversion, she at times struggled with lust. (Now, she was a widow who had every right to remarry if she so chose, so there was nothing immoral about the fact that she faced temptations with some men before she took religious vows.) But the dynamic of it, the fact that she, as a virtuous, excellent woman, attracted virtuous, excellent men–yet both ended up tempted, because of their proximity–is very human, and very real, to me. Yet her ability to remain focused on Christ, and chose him in preference to any temptation, is what made her a saint.

But we can make the same choice too in the face of temptation, with God’s grace.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top