Communion of Saints

The Communion of Saints has been a confession of belief in the Catholic Church since the 4th century. It draws from St. Paul's letters to the Romans and Corinthians that Christians constitute a single, mystical body of Christ. As each has been made holy (sanctified) by the blood of Christ, this mystical body, the Church, is a communion of the sanctified; or saints.

It is easy for Christians to appreciate the idea that there are Christians who are on Earth and who have passed on and are in Heaven with God. The former is known as the "Church Militant" drawing from the Roman term militans, referring to one in military service. The Christians on Earth are the good soldiers of Christ, enlisted into his service to do battle "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness" as St. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians.

Those who are in Heaven awaiting the Resurrection as the Church Triumphant. They have "fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith" just as St. Paul claims of himself in his second letter to Timothy. These are the ones we typically consider to be Saints with a capital "S", the cloud of witnesses (martyrs) mentioned in the letter to the Hebrews, but we need to shift our understanding to see that all who profess Christ and live by faith in him are saints.

A unique feature of the Catholic Christian faith is the developed theology that we have around praying for the dead. If you think about it for a moment, it seems peculiar to pray for the dead if there were no other state of being beside this life, heaven, or hell. We need prayers, surely, but do those in heaven need prayers? They are in paradise? How can those in hell benefit from prayer? They wouldn't want any of this Christian nonsense about communion with God anyway. So why pray for the dead if there were not another place where those intercessions were beneficial to the faithful? The answer is, because there is another place. Those faithful who have died, but who still need to purge from themselves not sin, but attachment to this world, are the Church Penitent.

Purgatory is the name given to that place where those who are faithful, but not yet ready to enter into the beatific vision (that is, heaven) reside. It isn't because of sin since that has been forgiven. It's been said that a soul can see heaven from purgatory, and it has been called the 'anteroom of heaven'. In purgatory, a soul is refined like gold. The things that he or she clings to (a soul is not a genderless it) in life (regrets, longings, social impacts, etc.) need to be purged. These are the things that inhibit their perfection, that are not sinful, but rather possibly preventing their joy. We often associate penance with making up for wrongdoing, but the theological meaning of penance literally means to change one's mind. This is the process of letting go of what was, so that one can enter fully into a new state of being.

This concept is a complex one, and we could never do it justice here, but suffice it to say that those souls who are the Church Penitent need our prayers. You can think of it sort of like a kid who puts a baseball through a neighbour's window. The neighbour may forgive the kid his debt of a window, but the reality is that the error caused a real lasting problem. He may bear no guilt any longer, but the desire and need to make reparations for the results of one's wrongs is real, and hard to let go of. This naturally leads into a discussion of indulgences, but that is a topic best left for another time. The souls in purgatory are good, holy men and women who are destined for heaven, but are in the process of letting go, accounting, and being refined like gold. Something is holding them back, and they need our help through prayer and good works. November is the month where we focus on those who have departed, both Triumphant and Penitent. We, the Saints on Earth, pray in celebration of the Saints in Heaven on November 1, and in solidarity with the Saints in Purgatory on November 2, and throughout the month we keep all in our prayers as we begin to focus on the end of time in preparation for the new Church year that begins with Advent.

Christ The Redeemer (CTR) Catholic Schools operates in seven communities throughout the province of Alberta providing authentic Catholic education to students in fifteen traditional schools, four outreach schools and one distance education school.

Website: redeemer.ab.ca
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