Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: I believe in the Communion of Saints

Monday, October 24, 2022

I believe in the Communion of Saints

I have recently been involved in giving a retreat to people on friendship with God and how through friendship with others we grow in virtue and discover God's love for us as we love others. In preparing for it, I grew deeper in my understanding of the Communion of Saints - especially in regards to how all of us support eachother in our growth in Christ, upbuilding eachother and upbuilding the Church. The more we understand that the Saints were friends of God, then it helps us to grow in our own friendship with the saints and with God and then extend that to others. This overflow of the love of God poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit helps us to love others in the Church, and this strengthens and builds communion in the Church.

The more each of us grow in holiness, it has an overflow effect to everyone else in the Church which also helps them grow in holiness. The saints glorified in heaven have gone before us, but still support us and encourage us in our journey to fight the good fight and run the race towards our homeland.

As we come close to November where we celebrate All Saints day, and All Souls day - let us take some time to reflect on how we are all interconnected in the Church. We are all members of the Mystical Body of Christ and this means we are all connected intimately to eachother through grace and love. We have all been created by God for relationship with the Blessed Trinity and with eachother - this is a mystery we cannot understand fully here, but one day we will come to understand it and fully experience it when we see God face to face in the glory of heaven.

None of us ever becomes a saint in isolation. We are always part of a greater whole. None of us is ever alone in life. God has created us for relationship, and through relationships we grow into the maturity in Christ that God draws us into every moment.

Sin isolates us from God, from eachother and from ourselves. The devil will always try to isolate us because he hates unity. This is why he is always sowing division in the Church, in our relationships, our families and our own heart. St Teresa of Avila had a vision of hell and she described the torment of the souls there with the usual images of fire and weeping, but she also said that it appeared that even the souls themselves there seemed to be tearing themselves to pieces. What a powerful and frightening image!

Every Sunday we profess that we believe in the "Communion of Saints", this means we believe that in the Church we have communion with eachother who are all saints in the making, as well as the saints glorified in heaven. It is easy to often think of the saints as these distant, heroic, ideal figures removed from your personal circumstances. But we forget they had the same struggles we do, same sins, same problems - but through loving Jesus, growing in virtue and lead by the Holy Spirit they have been able to be faithful to Jesus and enter the gates of holiness. We too are called to this. This is not a unrealistic or unachievable goal - our brothers and sisters in the faith, the saints have shown us that it is possible in every age and generation and varied circumstances to be holy! We too through our witness and struggles in this life, will one day be examples to others to keep following Jesus and become holy.

St Paul in the Letter to the Hebrews beautifully uses this image of the saints all encouraging and cheering us on in the arena of life as we compete in the race to run to Jesus. Jesus in the Gospel of Luke 15:17 also refers to this when he tells us the all of heaven REJOICES when one sinner repents. This means they are watching us in this battle here below, they are supporting us in our struggles, encouraging us to never give us and rejoicing in our victories! We are never alone in the struggle of holiness, we are all interconnected here and now. Your growth in holiness and prayers help me personally, just as mine do for you. We may not be aware of this dynamic of mutual support and interconnectedness, but this is precisely what it means when we profess we believe in the Communion of Saints.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Hebrews 12:1-3)

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.