Relating to Saints with a Past

The author of this article says there are five reasons to love St. Paul. Her third reason is posted below:

“5 reasons you should love (not hate) St. Paul”

St. Theresa Aletheia Noble

June 28, 2016

https://aleteia.org/2016/06/28/5-reasons-you-should-love-not-hate-st-paul/

St. Paul had a past: I like saints who are rough around the edges; it is easier for me to relate to them. St. Augustine, St. Ignatius, Venerable Matt Talbot, whoever it is, I love saints with rough backgrounds because it gives me hope that I can be a saint too. Paul assisted in the stoning of St. Stephen and he zealously persecuted Christians, hunting them down and dragging them from their homes. Paul was basically a murderer and a bully! And God looked at Paul and thought, “Now there is the perfect man to spread the Gospel.” Kind of unbelievable. But it gives us hope. If God could not only make something out of Paul but make him one of the greatest saints of the Church, he can surely make something out of each one of us.




Note:  One modern story perhaps worth reading:  "Though Adam Brown is not “officially” a saint, his ability to turn his life around after descending to a virtual hell on earth remains a testament to the power of God’s love, grace and mercy in all our lives.

Everybody would have remembered Adam as a success story, and his past could have gladly been put into a box and forgotten. But he said to his parents and wife, ‘If anything happens to me, let people know who I was when I was at my worst, and that might inspire some people to get out of their own dark holes, to seek faith, to find strength in whatever it is that could help them to get through it"

Continue reading at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christophers/2013/05/the-prodigal-son-meets-seal-team-six-the-short-humble-fearless-life-of-adam-brown/