St Augustine was credited with being the first to say that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. It certainly takes one to know one. There are a few ways to slice and dice that one.

All Manner of Saints

Let’s consider our forbears that make up the church triumphant. We believe that there is a mighty cloud of witnesses, canonized over the centuries. Their beloved images grace stained glass windows and holy medals. We know about Alban Butler’s The Lives of the Saints. There is an abundance of hagiography on the saints, and some may or may not be true. On closer examination of their lives and writings, we realize that we only know part of the truth about people like Augustine and Joan of Arc and Dorothy Day. God alone knows the rest.

The Rest of Us

That I am aware, there is no book on The Lives of the Sinners. It would be a very large volume, with all of us in it. Yet it is our human nature to form opinions about people who do terrible things, and to believe and repeat rumors about people we don’t like. I have done it. Everyone has, because it takes one to know one. Maybe we are just curious and unable to resist the urge to speculate. Or, if we are honest, we flat out judge.

Love, No Matter What

A long time ago, I was working in a parish where two people in one of my ministries were having an affair. One of them felt compelled to confide in me. On my drive home, I felt brokenhearted and angry. I thought “This is way above my my pay grade.” The next day, I went to speak with my boss, the pastor, seeking help in processing this information. How do I un-know something like this? He listened to me. After a thoughtful pause, he gave me a simple piece of advice. “You must love them the same way you love those whose sins you do not know.”

We can try to understand, and some of what we wonder is knowable. God alone knows the rest.