“The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” Oscar Wilde
Reflections: Entertaining Saints & Sinners... Saints of the Church, before you know what...
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone… When I read the Daily Post prompt; Would you rather laugh with sinners, or cry with saints? I laughed so hard I almost had a coronary… Then I thought, “Wait a minute, this is not a fair question Scott?” You see, being raised Catholic comes with a particular set of burdens; guilt, purgatory, hell, Saint worship/celebration, novenas, the rosary prayers, stations of the cross, guilt… you get my drift. The dilemma becomes deciding whether applauding the fun times that so-called sinners enjoy would mean eternal hell or years of purgatory for me, until my beloved friends and family pray me back to heaven… Oy Gevalt! 
If a bunch of so-called sinners are having a ball, partying to great music, eating the best food, drinking margaritas mango juice, telling ribald hysterical jokes at a feast for the hungry and homeless, why should I leave town?
I mean, I still love the saints and all. Heck, I was the kid who celebrated all the saints birthdays and said regular novenas for special graces; imploring all my favorite saints to give me and my family/friends delightful treats, and give my enemies dreadful diarrhea… Yeah I know, busted. Sheesh! I was a kid then, okay? Cut me some slack. Seriously, I’ve always loved the fact that saints were very brave people who acted with great courage and defended justice, truth and God’s word. Many of them died horrible deaths at the hands of sanctimonious leaders and “religious” people who couldn’t deal with what the saints were saying… We’ll get to them in a NY or perhaps a NJ minute.
“The Vedanta recognizes no sin it only recognizes error. And the greatest error, says the Vedanta is to say that you are weak, that you are a sinner, a miserable creature, and that you have no power and you cannot do this and that.” Swami Vivekananda
Reflections: Entertaining Saints & Sinners... Saint Jude Thaddeus; patron saint of desperate/hopeless cases
Interestingly, all the saints gained their sainthood from the Church… We know the dirty little secret on that one, right? Please go find the details elsewhere; this is Mirth and Motivation not Dirt and Divulgation. Did I mention my favorite saint yet? He is St Jude of Thaddeus or Thaddaeus; the Patron saint of desperate or hopeless causes. I loved the sound of his role; desperate or hopeless. Go to St Jude when the going gets tough because he’ll be on it fast. No queues or tickets, just the facts and then the solution. See, read desperate… He has a dedicated website, and I enjoy celebrating his feast and praying to him… would highly recommend. I love St Jude and all the other revered saints, but crying? Keening and whining? Hell Heavens NO! If I recall, revisiting the last memo I got from our Father above, we are done with that. They died to help us live… tears of joy and celebration on their sainthood? Yes. Crying and whining? Nyet!
“The self-assured believer is a greater sinner in the eyes of God than the troubled disbeliever.” Soren Kierkegaard
Reflections: Entertaining Saints & Sinners... Saints/Sinners in gaping hell?
Of course, I almost forgot to mention the admonishments of sanctimonious believers who are quick to point out our sins while theirs are wrapped tightly with magic tape… but I’m not going to “pay them any mind…” as my dear friend Penny M would say. I’ll just pray them back to the confessional. Is there an app for that? Better yet, if they start with the self-righteous finger pointing, I’ll point them to Swami Vivekananda’s quote above, and say, “Look, dude/dudette, there is no sin only error and enough with the sinner shtick. We are not sinners, okay? We are human beans… I mean beings. Goodbye. Auf Wiedersehen. hwyl fawr! ___ (insert goodbye in any other language you know?)” If they insist on pushing the sinner agenda, I’ll direct them to ABC’s Pan Am to go take a flight. Perhaps while flying high, closer to the heavens, they’d see the proverbial light. More below…
