The Communion of Saints, which teaches the veneration and intercession of the saints in heaven, is among the most problematic doctrines for our Protestant brothers and sisters, and yes, even among many Catholics.
After a talk I gave at a youth conference recently, I was confronted with this very issue. I was asked questions I did not have a great answer to. So, I picked up my Bible, my Catechism, and a few books from Catholic Answers and began to study the answers. After a few weeks of intense study on this topic, I realised I knew much less than I thought and even had some misconceptions that needed clearing up!
I had so much fun learning the answers that I created a 4-week course on the subject! It was just too good not to share!
As a basic introduction, what does the Catholic doctrine of the Communion of Saints teach? Let’s define our terms first. A Saint simply means “holy ones”. The word holy means set apart or consecrated for a purpose. Saints are the holy ones, those who have been set apart from the world through baptism and consecrated to God for His purpose. In 1 Cor 12:21-35, St Paul beautifully explains a central teaching of the Church, if we are to understand the Communion of Saints: The Mystical Body of Christ. The Catechism explains, “The life of each of God’s children is joined in Christ and through Christ in a wonderful way to the life of all the other Christian brethren in the supernatural unity of the Mystical Body of Christ, as in a single mystical person CCC 1474.
What does this mean? Not only are we united to Christ in a radical way through baptism (Gal 3:27), but we are radically joined to every other baptised person, in such a powerful way that we form one Mystical Body. How beautiful? Christ is the Head (Col 1:18), and we are the members of his one body (1 Cor 12:21-35).
The Church understands that since death does not separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39), the communion of saints is made up of “Those who have reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory and the pilgrims on earth” CCC 1475.
This is where we get the terms Church Triumphant (saints in heaven), Church Suffering (saints in purgatory), and Church Militant (saints on earth). The Church recognises that we, the pilgrims on earth, are part of the communion of saints, although we reserve the title “saint” to those in heaven since they have been perfected in holiness and are free from sin.
St Paul says in Col 1:12, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” The Greek word for share is “meris”, which means to share in part. As saints on earth, we share only in part the perfection of holiness that the saints in heaven experience in full. It is a way of honouring them by reserving the title “saint” for them. This also helps to inspire in us a holy desire to attain the same “light” they now experience.
Since death does not separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39), members of the Body of Christ continue to ask for prayers and to pray for one another. The church on earth prays for the church in purgatory and prays to the Church triumphant, invoking their intercession as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12). The saints in heaven pray for us on earth in a general way, knowing our needs, but also respond to our specific prayer requests that have been made known to them. This is symbolised in the book of Revelation, where we read that elders are holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (Rev 5:8). In Heb 12:1-2, the saints above are described as a great cloud of witnesses, cheering us on as we run the race to heaven. This is a beautiful image, isn’t it? Picture a stadium filled with the greatest saints, and as they watch you playing the game of life on the field below, they are cheering for you and supporting you, giving you a thumbs-up from the sidelines when you are tempted to despair or lose hope. Just like we grew up watching our favourite sporting heroes and imitating how they play, we should do the same with the saints. We ought to read about their lives and imitate them in how we live our lives!
Let’s not forget. We are one body and one family. We need each other (1 Cor 12:15-16).
