Were most saints miserable?

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Were most saints miserable? They seemed to live tortured, unhappy lives. Did they complain to people or their priests? They were human, surely they lost it every now and then…
 
I’m not sure I’ve read many saints who lived tortured unhappy lives. Most of them seemed to be very content and joyful in their lot in life. The problem is we often read what they have versus what we think we ‘need’ to be happy and joyful. True contentment can be found in Jesus Christ on the cross. Was he comfortable? No. Was he rich? He wasn’t even dressed. Was he filled with power? He was pinned to a tree with nails. He was the anti-thesis of what our societies call happiness, yet Jesus was a happy man. He looked down with love and joy on his mother and disciple and was indeed a happy man, filled with love.

St. Francis is the one I look at the most. You see for me, if someone stripped me naked and then while I was walking home, someone else mugged me and beat me and left me for dead (even though I was already destitute…) I’d probably lie in a ditch and cry for a few days, until I was too hungry to be there anymore… but not Francis… he got up and marched on… signing praise and glory to God as he went… Yes, I’d say he was very happy indeed… we just have to learn how to be truly happy.
 
I undertand what you are saying.

I guess I’m asking if they complained…
 
I am sure they did at some point in their lives, they are human after all. I know of only one time that I’ve read about St. Francis of Assisi complaining though… (I am sure there were other times but I remember this from reading about his life.) As he was dying they took him to a really nice room, with a beautiful soft bed. He complained that he did not want to die in such luxury but would prefer to die as he lived, in poverty. So they took him out of the luxury and took him back to the bare and austere church where he had always been, and there he spoke his last words.
 
I think they complained but as they grew in maturity and closeness with God, I think they knew how to unite themselves more intimately with Christ as they suffered. When their eyes were set upon a crucifix, they could stay focused on heaven and God.

We may not be there but hopefully we are on the journey!
 
Bix said:
Were most saints miserable? They seemed to live tortured, unhappy lives. Did they complain to people or their priests? They were human, surely they lost it every now and then…
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Can you give an example of what you mean? I never thought that saints lived tortured, unhappy lives. To the contrary, I think that they were so close to God, that they gladly took to forsake worldly pleasures that seemed to inconsequential to them but seemed perhaps a harsh “doing without” to us who have not attained that level of heroic virtue.
 
Saint Joan, for one example.

Didn’t most people think she was crazy? She endured quite a bit socially, physically and mentally. Saint Faustina wasn’t treated well. It’s not that I don’t understand how they found happiness and were happy with Jesus in their lives, but they were human. Surely, they questioned things and weren’t happy all the time with the role God had given them. Maybe I’m wrong…
 
jpjd said:
Can you give an example of what you mean? I never thought that saints lived tortured, unhappy lives.
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I think what is meant by this is that many Saints went through some sort of traumatic experiences or had something that would drive them away from God at some point in their lives.
For example Saint Padre Pio went through great agony with his stigmata of Saint Maximilian Kolbe who was literally starved to death in a concentration camp.

Although there is one thing in common with the saints. Thay gave all their troubles to God and knew that he would protect and care for them. I think this is why they did appear so joyous in their suffering as they knew this life is not the end.

We just have to remember even Christ, who suffered so much, in the Garden of Gethsemane asked for His suffering to be taken away. He knew though that this was the plan for him. That is why it is most likely these saints did complain a bit, but knew it was their own special plan.
 
Hummleberry said:
I think what is meant by this is that many Saints went through some sort of traumatic experiences or had something that would drive them away from God at some point in their lives.
For example Saint Padre Pio went through great agony with his stigmata of Saint Maximilian Kolbe who was literally starved to death in a concentration camp.

Although there is one thing in common with the saints. Thay gave all their troubles to God and knew that he would protect and care for them. I think this is why they did appear so joyous in their suffering as they knew this life is not the end.

We just have to remember even Christ, who suffered so much, in the Garden of Gethsemane asked for His suffering to be taken away. He knew though that this was the plan for him. That is why it is most likely these saints did complain a bit, but knew it was their own special plan.
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Thank you.
 
Teresa of Avila it is noted once said to God (her best friend) “The way you treat your friends, no wonder you have such few of them” This after a particularly trying time. I don’t remember if this was after she fell and broke her arm, after she was assaulted by her own nuns or persecuted by some of her own townspeople. I don’t think she was really complaining, just making an observation.

From the beatitudes :

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The saints rejoiced in their sufferings because it made them as one with Christ in sufferings.
So I don’t think they were miserable, I don’t think they complained either but were joyful in their sufferings. St. Teresa also said (can you tell she’s my favorite?) “Un santo triste es un triste santo” trans: “A sad saint is a sad (example of a) saint”
 
Yes many saint suffered durning their life,so that they could be united with Christ,because they love him. Amen
 
No most of the saints were very happy. They had God with them and they are with Him in Heaven today.
“from sad saints deliver us oh Lord,” Saint Theresa de Avila.
:):)🙂
 
Bix said:
Were most saints miserable? They seemed to live tortured, unhappy lives. Did they complain to people or their priests? They were human, surely they lost it every now and then…
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it seems like they suffered a lot but through it, they were joyful and peaceful. That’s not to say it was always easy, but they got through it and their joy came from God, not from things of the world. If we read about various Saints, we can see how others described them - joyful, patient, kind, peaceful - if we read more about them, we can often see they struggled a lot at the same time. It’s not like they faked it - they just found joy in God alone. And their struggles mostly came from - interior trials, temptations, maybe persecution by others, etc - the fact that they didn’t have a lot of money or struggled in ways we typically associate with earthly suffering - that was different, because there’s actually a joy that comes with giving up everything for Christ and accepting our suffering for His sake. For example, people might think that those in religious orders are very unhappy because they don’t marry and live in poverty, but actually they’re probably the most joyful people i’ve met 🙂

The Saints did suffer a lot but they were also very joyful to be around 🙂
 
Bix said:
Were most saints miserable? They seemed to live tortured, unhappy lives. Did they complain to people or their priests? They were human, surely they lost it every now and then…
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I think that in the case of the saints, God throws more frustration and suffering at them than most ordinary mortals could stand. I’d be surprised if they weren’t grumpy at times, with their patience stretched to breaking point and beyond.

GK Chesterton had this to say in his essay - VIII–The Romance of Orthodoxy
Even when I thought, with most other well-informed, though unscholarly, people, that Buddhism and Christianity were alike, there was one thing about them that always perplexed me; I mean the startling difference in their type of religious art. I do not mean in its technical style of representation, but in the things that it was manifestly meant to represent. No two ideals could be more opposite than a Christian saint in a Gothic cathedral and a Buddhist saint in a Chinese temple. The opposition exists at every point; but perhaps the shortest statement of it is that the Buddhist saint always has his eyes shut, while the Christian saint always has them very wide open. The Buddhist saint has a sleek and harmonious body, but his eyes are heavy and sealed with sleep. The mediaeval saint’s body is wasted to its crazy bones, but his eyes are frightfully alive. There cannot be any real community of spirit between forces that produced symbols so different as that. Granted that both images are extravagances, are perversions of the pure creed, it must be a real divergence which could produce such opposite extravagances. The Buddhist is looking with a peculiar intentness inwards. The Christian is staring with a frantic intentness outwards. If we follow that clue steadily we shall find some interesting things.
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The saint is “wasted to its crazy bones”, but perseveres. And therein I doubt if the whitewashed and glorified accounts of the saints of popular Catholic literature reflect the tiresome day to day reality of being a saint. I bet some of them did complain.

We don’t revere Moses as a saint, but as the leading light of Jewish orthodoxy and thus a pillar of our faith. But even he went toe to toe with God on several occasions - when he complained about God sending him up against Pharaoh; when he said he couldn’t speak well; when the Jewish people were complaining about him; when he hurled down the two stones with the Commandments. He answered back.

Now there’s a work in progress - the Boss gives you a new Constitution written in stone, and in a fit of anger you toss the whole thing on the ground in full view of the rest of the employees.

Needless to say I complain when I think God is not being fair. But then I’m not a saint. And not likely to be.
 
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