Things Protestants Don't Understand About the Church - The Communion of Saints

The Communion of Saints

When Jesus Christ founded His Church, He founded it on the principle that it was a kingdom. A kingdom has a king.  In this case. of course, Jesus is the king. When we are born again in the cleansing waters of Baptism we become citizens of this kingdom.  Actually, we become more than that we become adopted sons and daughters of the King, in reality, we become princes and princesses in the household of God.  No one can take this identity from us but we are free to abandon it using our free will.  God for His part will stand and watch for us to come back. The merest whisper on our part and we will be welcomed back as the Prodigal Son was. Now, for the most part, my Protestant friends would be able to agree pretty much with all that said above, although they might take umbrage at my saying we can cast off our citizenship using our free will because of the scary and dangerous belief in once saved, always saved.  Be that as it may, let us continue. 

So, we go through life as an adopted son or daughter of God and then comes the day we are called home, we die, we are on this earth no more. What happens to us after we die?  Catholic belief is that life continues in a marvelous new form. If we die in the friendship of God and are fully committed to Him and His kingdom and we have demonstrated it by following the counsels of Jesus, we will be welcomed into heaven and forever enjoy the beauty of the beatific vision.  If we lived a righteous life but still have sins on our soul we ourselves when we recognize fully the holiness of God will choose to purge ourselves of those sins and attachments in Purgatory, (Stay with me Protestants, there will be another blog entry that specifically addresses Purgatory. For now, just think of it as what Catholics believe as this belief does not really affect the big picture I am trying to paint.)  We Catholics believe, therefore, that our membership in the Church continues after death.  We believe that the Church consists of the members on earth, the Church Militant, the members in Purgatory, the Church Penitent, and the members in heaven, the Church Triumphant.  All together these three groups form the Communion of Saints.  

Protestants find fault with Catholics praying to saints.  They seem to think that these prayers somehow infringe on the sovereignty of God in that all prayers should be directed to God alone.  I applaud the loyalty that this way of thinking shows to the Trinity and to Jesus in particular for the Bible tells us he is the mediator between God and man. Bravo!  Let me ask you a question.  Have you ever asked a friend or your pastor to pray for you?  Have you ever prayed for someone at their request?  Well, then you are acting as a mediator between God and man and taking the place of Jesus.  We know that this is not true because we are counseled in the Bible to pray for one another. So if we pray for one another in accordance with Holy Writ it cannot be wrong.  

This is where the communion of saints comes in.  For Christians, life is not ended but changed. With this in mind, it follows that we are allowed to pray for one another no matter what state we are in, alive on earth or alive in heaven and since we are all addressing the prayers to Jesus and asking for His intercession.  This is all well and good, but what if I address a prayer to St. Paul, the Apostle? Am I in danger of offending God?  Hardly! When a Catholic prays to a saint he or she is asking the saint to pray to God for us.  The prayer chain which began on earth where we are commanded to pray for each other continues in heaven.  

There is much more that I can write on this subject but there is a source that is much more erudite than I am and it lays down the real beliefs of the Catholic Church in well reasoned, scripturally based, writing.  This source is the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  It is a free resource available online.  Many of the people that hate the Catholic Church do so out of sheer ignorance.  This Catechism is the cure for ignorance and I heartily recommend it.  Here is just one sentence culled from this magnificent gift to the people of God: 

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"We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God and his saints is always [attentive] to our prayers" (CCC 962)