Classic Catholic

Saints Who Made History on the Church of Sinners--Kinda Applicable to Our Current Situation
Maisie Ward wrote a wonderful book called Saints Who Made History in which she discusses the lives and influences of saints in the first five centuries of the Church. The introduction is excellent. She discusses, specifically, the necessity of giving a full picture of saints, including their sinfulness and weaknesses, in order to fully understand our total dependence on Grace. Unless we can fully accept the Church as a Church of sinners, we cannot fully accept it as the locus of the influx of grace in the world. She points out that the Church itself is the center of the struggle between good and evil in the world, therefore the sins of its members will be even greater than the "average" human being, just as its glories will be greater. This is very enlightening in our current situation. She also points out that we will always be attacked by pagan potentates, such as Stalin and Hitler, just as the early Church was persecuted by Nero and Diocletian.