The Saints Speak Out

PP: First, I want to touch on the subject of politics.  Now that she is running for office, what is your opinion of Hilary Clinton?

 

Alphonsus Liguori:  The ambitious are not satisfied by the attainment of certain honors; their ambition and pride continually increase; and their inquietude, their envy, and their fears are multiplied.

PP:  How about Bill Clinton?

 

Ambrose:  Never seek another woman’s couch; never yearn for physical union with anyone else.  Adultery is a grave matter: it is an outrage against nature.

Cyril of Jerusalem:  There is nothing polluted in the human frame except a man defile this with fornication and adultery.

 

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PP:  I see.  Now, Barack Obama, on the other hand, seems to be riding quite a successful streak.  What would be your advice to him?

 

 

Paulinus of Nola:  Avoid the slippery dangers of exacting state service.  Position has an inviting title, but it brings evil slavery and a wretched end.  He who now delights in desiring it, later repents in having desired it.  It is pleasant to mount the summit, but fearsome to descend from it; if you stumble, your fall from the top of the citadel will be worse.

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PP:  Now that it looks like John McCain is about the wrap up the GOP nomination, what words of wisdom might you have for him?

 

Clement of Alexandria:  When we are having a party we must be sensible.  We must avoid licentious music and an excess of drink.  Otherwise we will be prone to drunkenness and erotic exhibitions.

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PP:   What would you say to Mike Huckabee?

 

Padre Pio:  If we are calm and persevering, we shall find not only ourselves, but our souls, and with that, God himself.

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PP:  On the Hollywood scene, what are your thoughts the behavior of such stars as Lindsay Lohan, and Britney Spears:

 

     

Francis de Sales:  Do not associate with immodest persons, above all if they are impudent, as for the most part is the case; for just as the stag causes the sweet almond tree to become bitter by licking it, so these infected, stinking souls can scarcely speak out to any one, either of one sex or the other, without injuring their purity: venom is in their eyes, and their breath is like the basilisk.

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PP:  Some times I think the world is almost beyond redemption.  What are your thoughts?

Louis de Montfort:  Never has the world been so corrupt as it is now, for never has it been so cunning, so wise in its own way, and so crafty.  It cleverly makes use of the truth to foster untruth, virtue to justify vice, and the very maxims of Jesus Christ to endorse its own so that even those who are wisest in the sight of God are often deceived.

 

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PP:  There is much debate between Creation and evolution these days.  How do you respond?

Gregory of Palamas:  First of all God created the heavens and the earth as a kind of all-embracing material substance with the potentiality of giving birth to all things.  In this way he rightly rebuts those who wrongly think that matter preexisted on its own as an autonomous reality.

PP:  So what do we say to those who deny Creation?

Basil the Great:  You will finally discover that the world was not conceived by chance and without reason, but for a useful end and for the great advantage of all beings, since it is really the school where reasonable souls exercise themselves, the training ground where they learn to know God; since by the sight of visible and sensible things the mind is led, as by a hand, to the contemplation of invisible things.

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PP:  Some of my readers are very concerned about hell.  What might you say to them?

 

Faustina Kowalska:  That dreadful thought of being rejected by God is the actual torture suffered by the damned.  Damnation is for the soul who wants to be damned; but for the one who desires salvation, there is the inexhaustible ocean of the Lord’s mercy to draw from.

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PP:  I have been battling depression for some time, how might I contend with this?

John of the Cross:  Live in faith and hope, though it be in darkness, for in this darkness God protects the soul.  Cast your care upon God for you are his and he will not forget you.  Do not think that he is leaving you alone, for that would be wrong to him.

PP:  Some times when I’m in the throes of my mental illness, it seems like demons are possessing me.  Is this possible?

 

 

John Cassian:  The demons have no means of taking possession of a man’s spirit or body, no power forcibly to enter his soul, unless they first deprive him of all holy thoughts, and make him empty and devoid of spiritual contemplation. 

PP:  But what is the purpose for me (or anyone) to struggle with mental illness?

Sebastian Valfre:  Every illness and every trial is permitted by God as the means whereby we can best ensure our salvation and as the material most fitted for our sanctification.

PP:   Sometimes I become so distracted with my illness, I fail to pray.

 

Teresa of Avila:  In sickness itself, or amidst casual happenings, so long as the soul is a loving one it is always possible to pray by offering up the distraction itself and remembering Him for whom we are suffering it.

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PP:  On another subject, we have been enmeshed in war for many years now.  What are your views of war?

Thomas Acquinas:  If a war is to be just three things are needed.  It must be waged by the due authorities, for those who may lawfully use the sword to defend the commonwealth against criminals disturbing it from within may also use the sword of war to protect it from enemies without.

PP:  Okay.  I could see how one could make a case for this.  What else?

Thomas of Acquinas:  The cause must be just (those whom we attack must have done some wrong which deserves attack), and those waging war must intend to promote good and avoid evil.

PP:  Okay, by just that criteria, I suppose you could say we are in a just war.  What do you others think?

Augustine:  Better, I say, is war with the hope of peace everlasting than captivity without any thought of deliverance.

 

PP:  Let’s just pray this war is leading to peace.  

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PP:  Finally, there has been much concern expressed lately about what is written on blogs and the impact of these words.  What do you have to say to this?

 

Francis de Sales:  Above all, you must be exceedingly exact in what you say; your tongue when you speak of your neighbor is as a knife in the hand of the surgeon who is going to cut between the nerves and tendons.  Your stroke must be accurate, and neither deeper nor slighter than what is needed; and while you blame the sin, always spare the sinner as much as possible.

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          With that, the roundtable broke up, as the saints were eager to return to their eternal rest and I was ready to get back to the land of the living.

{ Note:  Quotes from the saints were gleaned from The Quotable Saint by Rosemary Ellen Guiley}