Saints and Sinners

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Sinners and Saints

From its very beginning the members of the Christian Community were-are a mixed bunch made up of saints and sinners. It also includes many who are not sure “what” they are and some who don’t seem to care one way or another. 

St. Augustine hints at an answer to the question: “Why does God choose such a mixed-up bunch (as you and me) to be his followers?” He wanted “cracked” followers who had an incentive to be humble because he knew that the only sin that would prevent a person from climbing to heaven was pride. No one who believes they already are God is likely to seek God or strive for heaven. After all why strive for heaven when you believe that you are already there? Augustine put it this way: “The proud person instead of seeking the God who IS absolute being, wants to be his own absolute being. Thus every proud person is an imposter, pretending to be something he is not. Who then is the good person? He is that one who confesses that he is not what God is and that he holds from God whatever good he claims to have, realizing that of himself he is nothing but sin and that he possesses virtue only as a gift from God.”

–adapted with added pointless points …

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Frei Bo

Frei Bo

Priest-Religious of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, Province of St. Ezekiel Moreno. Webmaster.