Communion With The Saints
One of the treasures of our Catholic Faith is how we honor the men and women who are declared Saints, Blesseds, and Venerables by the Catholic Church. Our Assumption Church is filled with side altars, and carved statues, reliefs, and paintings declaring our love and honor for them. In the past pontificates of Saints John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II, as well as the pontificates of Pope Benedict and Pope Francis, we have seen a great number of people declared saints, or as Hebrews declares, “…a great crowd of witness…” to Christ Jesus, our Lord. New Mass orations have been created to celebrate our love for the saints and we pray for their intercession on our behalf.
Our devotion to the saints, especially Our Lady, can be a difficult concept for our Protestant sisters and brothers. For many, our devotion seems to discount the fact that Christ is the one and only Mediator between ourselves and our God. I often wonder if other Christians’ lack of understanding may be because we as Catholics are not clear about our relationship with the saints? Even the way we talk about those relationships can cause confusion. We often say, “I’m praying TO Saint Francis or TO the Blessed Mother.” What we are actually doing is asking the saints to pray WITH us, just as we ask friends or family members to pray WITH us for someone who is sick or dying, or when we are seeking reconciliation with another, or looking for a job. (Yes, we too seek intercessors among the living and not just those who “have gone before us, marked with the sign of Faith.” Many of my Protestant friends have asked me to pray for their specific needs and I’m sure they have asked you as well.)
Moreover, our devotion to the saints should inspire more than our request for their prayers. We are called to imitate their holiness of life as well. This by far is the greater reason why the Church has declared so many saints in recent decades. The lives of the saints should spur us on to think and act as people destined for heaven and desiring the holiness of those around us. Are we good examples to others? Do we call others to a life of virtue by our words of understanding and acts of charity? In other words, do we help others to become saints?
Examine the lives of people who have been recently declared Saints and Blesseds: married couples, single adults, a teenager who lived during this century, religious sisters, brothers, and priests. They are from every continent, culture, race, and tongue. We know everyone can become a saint and we need to strive for holiness! So let us not just pray TO the saints but let us follow their example and LIVE as witnesses of Christ’s love and mercy. Our communion with the saints is a two-way street. They intercede for us, and we strive for holiness by our thoughts, words, and actions each and every day. The next time we pray the Apostles Creed and state we believe in the “communion of saints”, remember to not only give thanks for our saintly friends but also to follow their example of holiness.
