Understanding the Communion of Saints

by Collen Mayer

I can’t think of two men more different than St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi.  St. Thomas loved books and spent his life studying and philosophizing about the great wonders of the world and especially about the greatest wonder of all: God becoming man.  St. Francis hated books and spent his life loving and giving to others. He pleaded with God to let him suffer for his faith just as Jesus had suffered for him. St. Thomas spent years challenging and debating those who denied Christianity and the Church, writing argument after argument in hopes of convincing non-believers through complicated proofs of the truths of Christianity and the existence of God.  St. Francis thought it enough to simply love those who didn’t believe and let his entire life be a living proof of the truth of the Gospel. 

Still as different as these two were, they were actually doing exactly the same thing, though admittedly in very different ways.  Both used the gift God had given them, for Thomas his sharp mind and for Francis his tender heart, to spread the message of Christ’s love throughout the entire world.  How amazing that these two men who were different in every way could both live out the gospel message in such a way that millions of people have since been brought to faith in Christ by their example.  A world of skeptics and unbelievers needs a St. Thomas to work out the intricate proofs of God’s existence and show beyond the shadow of a doubt that God created the world and is still holding it in existence by His very power.  A world of hurt and broken souls needs a St. Francis to remind them that in the end all that matters is love. 

St. Thomas and St. Francis are my two role models in the faith.  The life of St. Thomas reminds me of the importance of having an informed faith and of always being ready to give an account of what I believe (cf. 1 Peter 3:15).  His work shows me that the truths of Christianity really make sense and that I don’t have to abandon my intellect to believe in an omnipotent God.  But then the life of St. Francis reminds me not to get too wrapped up in proofs and arguments and instead to simply love God and let that love shine forth to everyone I meet.  He shows me that while I may be able to prove the existence of God in a hundred different ways, the most important way to evangelize the world is to cry the gospel with my very life. 

I bring up St. Francis and St. Thomas to illustrate a commonly misunderstood concept in Christianity: the Communion of Saints.  I trust if you are like me, the Communion of Saints is one of those “theological” terms that you’ve said in the Apostle’s/Nicene Creed all your life but never really understood (and maybe never wanted to understand).  Actually, the idea behind the Communion of Saints is really not that hard… let’s take it one step at a time.

First, some may wonder how I can call the saints like St. Francis and St. Thomas “role models in the faith”. Shouldn’t Christ be my only role model in the faith?  In fact, some argue that by looking to the saints as role models we are taking away from the glory due to Christ alone.  “Why do we need to read and study the lives of saints”, they argue, “when we have the life of Christ so clearly documented in the Gospels?” 

Certainly we must agree that Jesus is our ultimate role model, and the one Whom we should always seek to follow.  But there have been many men and women, whom we call saints, who have really excelled at following Christ and living out his message – they struggled with sin just like we do and faced many of the problems that we face, but in spite of this they followed Christ with their whole hearts and loved Him with everything they were.  Therefore, we study and learn about these saints so we can be better followers of Christ ourselves.  We can relate to the struggles they faced and we can follow the Christian example that they left us in spite of those struggles. 

When we look to Scripture, we see just this.  The entire book of Acts is dedicated to the lives of the apostles and how they sought to live out the mission that Christ left for them.  Acts focuses on one apostle in particular, St. Paul.  Paul was so focused on Jesus that he wrote the words “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).  In fact, Paul urged the Corinthians to follow him as he followed Christ (1 Cor. 4:16-17).  Was Paul taking away from the glory of Christ by setting himself up as a role model?  No – quite the contrary. By following the example Paul set, the Corinthians were following Christ Himself!  Thus, by reading the lives of the saints and martyrs we learn how to be better Christians, better followers of Jesus.  I know when I try to follow St. Thomas’ example by learning more about my faith, studying scripture, and reading theology, I am in the center of Jesus’ will for me.  I know too that when I feed the hungry and care for the sick like St. Francis did I am also in the center of God’s will for my life.  The fact that I have these role models in the faith has made me a better Christian. 

You might be wondering what is a saint?  A saint is simply a person set apart for holiness.  A saint is a member of the Body of Christ who is called to live out the mission of Jesus.  And who are the saints?  What probably first comes to mind is people like Saint Paul, Saint Peter, St. Augustine- that is the “canonized” saints, those set apart by the Church as special models of holiness and given the special title of “Saint.”  But we can’t stop there; although the Church sets apart certain holy people by giving them the special title of “Saint”, really all those who are in Heaven are saints.  I can think of so many people in my life who have died that lived incredible Christian lives and served as great examples to everyone they met.  These people may never be given the official title of “Saint” by the Church, but they are still really saints in the truest sense of the word. 

But there’s still more – in actuality the whole Church is a family of saints. This includes the Church in Heaven, the Church going through purification in Purgatory and yes, those of us still on Earth.  So all baptized, believing Christians can be called “saints”.  By virtue of our Baptism and incorporation into the body of Christ, God no longer looks down on us and sees us as sinners; He sees us as holy saints! 

Now if we’re all saints, exactly what is the Communion of Saints?  As I mentioned above, the Church is one big family, and it is the members of this Church family that make up the Communion of Saints.  Since God’s Church transcends time and place, the Communion of Saints is made up of those saints on Earth, the saints in Heaven, and the saints in Purgatory.  This is an important concept…it means that even death cannot separate God’s Church family.  By our Baptism we are all part of Christ’s mystical body, and as long as we do not reject our place in it through serious sin, we will always be part of the body of Christ.

Let’s look briefly at some of the consequences of this.  First, since we are all one big family, any good thing one of the members of the Communion of Saints does is good done for the entire family; the Council of Trent said that “every pious and holy action done by one belongs and is profitable to all.”  So when St. Francis left his wealthy way of life to go live and care for the lepers, in some sense the whole body of Christ did this good deed.  When St. Thomas More was martyred for refusing to deny the Catholic faith, he did not do so alone; it was the whole Church standing with him and praying for him.  The bonds we as Christians share as members of the body of Christ are stronger than the closest marriage or the tightest friendship, since as Christians we are bound together by Christ, we are a family in the truest sense of the word.  As a family, then, we have to constantly be doing good for each other, praying for each other, and loving each other because that’s what families do. 

But if all the good that we do is good done to and for the whole Church family, then any sin we commit damages the entire family.  We often like to think that our sins only affect us and the people we are sinning against, but in actuality it hurts the entire Body of Christ.  This is one of the reasons we as Catholics go to Confession.  For example, if I decide to go and steal something, I’m not only hurting the person I am stealing from; all my brothers and sisters in Christ are hurt because of this sin.  And if all my brothers and sisters in Christ are hurt by my sin then I need the whole Church family to forgive me.  When a priest lays his hands on me and says “your sins are forgiven” he is not only personally forgiving me, he is speaking on behalf of Christ AND the entire Church offering forgiveness. This is a consequence of the bond we share through the Communion of Saints. 

I mentioned above that one of the main things a family does for each other is to pray for one another.  I constantly pray for my parents and my brother, and I know that they do the same for me.  Well the same goes for our entire Church family.  As a family all members of the Church have to continually be praying for each other.  And remember the Church family isn’t only those here on Earth.  It’s those in Purgatory and in Heaven as well.  That’s why we pray for the dead… as members of the Body of Christ, as part of our Church family, they too benefit from our prayers. 

And of course just as I pray for my family, I may also ask them to pray for me.  In the same way, I may ask members of my Church family to pray for my needs.  Just recently a young teenager from our church developed cancer.  It was so touching to see how our church reached out to the family in their time of need with phone calls, cards, and most importantly with their prayers.  People who did not even know this girl gathered together in prayer services to pray for her health and for her family. It didn’t matter that most of the church didn’t know the girl; she was part of our church family and therefore it was like we all knew her.  Then when she lost her fight with cancer and died, the church bonded together even closer in prayer for the family and for her, since we knew that she was still part of our Church even after she died. 

Just as we ask friends and family on Earth to pray for us, it also makes sense for us to ask our family in Heaven to pray for us.  This is the whole reason we as Catholics pray to saints.  Now this is definitely one of the teachings of the Church that confuses many non-Catholics.  Many non-Catholics think it diminishes the role of Christ as the one sole mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5) by praying to saints. They wonder why we don’t just go “straight to God” when we pray.  Well, certainly we as Christians are encouraged to take all our needs and desires directly to God in prayer.  But we also look to others to pray with us and for us.  All Christian faiths encourage their members to pray for one another. Our ability to pray for each other and intercede for each other is what makes the Christian bond between us so strong.  But if everything we’ve said so far is true, there is no reason to think that this bond we share through prayer ends with death.  Just as the great saints constantly prayed for the needs of the world while they were alive, we know that they are still praying for all the needs of the world now that they are with God in Heaven.  Now this may seem strange to some to say that saints in heaven are “praying”… but think about it- what is prayer?  It’s really just conversation with God.  So the saints who are now infinitely close to God, now seeing Him face-to-face, are now in the truest state of prayer that there is.  Does it not make sense then for us to ask them who are intimately united with God to pray for our needs as well?

Practically, what should we take from our discussion of the Communion of Saints?  First we should all see how important it is for us to have role models in the faith.  Read the lives of the saints and find saints whom you relate closely to.  Let them be examples for you and encouragement to you as you seek to follow Christ with your whole heart.  Just as St. Francis and St. Thomas have played an important role in my Christian faith, you too will greatly benefit in your Christian journey by having saints whom you can follow and imitate.  Second, the Communion of Saints teaches us to constantly be praying. As the body of Christ we have to continually pray for each other and constantly ask each other to pray for us.  This means asking our family and friends to pray for us, our Church family to pray for us, and especially the saints in heaven to pray for us.  Finally the Communion of Saints teaches us that as Christians we are all called be saints.  The lives of the great saints challenge us to live our lives as bold, dedicated followers of Christ.  If we are all part of the Communion of Saints, we must strive to live as saints, as people set apart for holiness.  And becoming a saint doesn’t necessarily involve giving up everything you have and becoming a missionary.  It starts at home, at school, or at work.  In the month of November my challenge to you is to strive like never before to truly live as a saint – to love God with your whole heart and to let that love flow over to everyone you meet.   Follow the example of St. Francis and let your very life be proof of the Gospel of Christ. That’s what being a saint is all about.

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14-19)