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If there is one thing that gets up my nose, it is biographies of the saints that make them out to be sinless paragons. This is a complete falsification of what sainthood is all about, and is theologically blasphemous. It is also incredibly damaging to the spiritual lives of the rest of us, as it makes the saints inaccessible, inhuman, and, by setting the bar impossibly high, makes us despair of our own hope of salvation.
It also allows the enemies of Christ to point to a provable fault in a saint and seem thereby to cast doubt on the entire concept of sainthood, and the infallibility of the church.
Saints are never without sin. Nobody has ever been without sin, other than Jesus, Mary, and possibly Enoch and Elijah in the Old Testament. This has always been understood in the Judeo-Christian tradition. As a Jewish friend recently pointed out, all the Old Testament prophets were also clearly very imperfect men--and this was a point the OT was making quite deliberately. God loves us despite our sin and imperfection.
Father James Martin has recently written a healthy corrective:
http://www.slate.com/id/2164673
It also allows the enemies of Christ to point to a provable fault in a saint and seem thereby to cast doubt on the entire concept of sainthood, and the infallibility of the church.
Saints are never without sin. Nobody has ever been without sin, other than Jesus, Mary, and possibly Enoch and Elijah in the Old Testament. This has always been understood in the Judeo-Christian tradition. As a Jewish friend recently pointed out, all the Old Testament prophets were also clearly very imperfect men--and this was a point the OT was making quite deliberately. God loves us despite our sin and imperfection.
Father James Martin has recently written a healthy corrective:
http://www.slate.com/id/2164673
1 comment:
John the Baptist was also reputed to be sinless. Just sayin'.
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