The Communion Of Saints by Sr Tamsin Mary o.p.

Very soon we shall be celebrating a curious month during which Catholics remember those who have died. Some are celebrated as having reached their heavenly goal – the saints. Some are prayed for as being in some way still on their journey – the Holy Souls. We don’t talk about the others.

Why do we remember, honour and pray to the dead at all, let alone give a whole month of the liturgical year over to the process? An evolutionist would perhaps have an answer – there is even in the animal kingdom a tendency to grieve over the loss of a member of the group, and group memory obviously promotes survival – or at least, as we are inexorably discovering, a failure to remember the reasons for certain types of bond is intrinsically destructive.

For a Christian this is not enough. We are told by St Paul not to mourn 'as those who have no hope', because we believe in the resurrection of the body; and we re told elsewhere in scripture that ‘the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery: And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace. And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality.’ (Wis. 3.1-5)

These texts underlie the doctrine of the communion of saints. We believe, that is, in a Church in which the just are intrinsically linked in the mystical Body of Christ, and that the Church is not limited to us struggling pilgrims here on earth, but that we have relationships through Christ with all who have died in Him.

The doctrine of the Holy Souls in purgatory is one that should give hope to anyone who has felt the struggle against sin is stacked against them, and that they will never be pure and perfect enough to enter heaven. The doctrine of purgatory recognises the rather humdrum quality of most of our lives, and assures us that we shall not have to enter heaven unhealed and still slaves to our sins. (By the way, much as I admire the works of CS Lewis as works of fiction, his theology is often a bit strange, and in particular in his treatment of the time of trial after death in ‘The Great Divorce, where he posits a place between heaven and hell which has two potential exits. It is very important to understand that everyone entering purgatory is heading for heaven, their will being already fixed on Christ!

So why pray for the dead? The practice is of great antiquity: The Jews, from whom we derive much of our spiritual heritage have had the prayer for the dead – the Kaddish- from antiquity, and from a passage in the Second Book of Maccabees, it appears that, they had the custom before the time of Our Lord, when it says: ‘It is … a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins."(2 Mac.12:46). Tertullian who lived between 160-240 wrote: 'Once in a year we pray for the dead and offer Masses for them.' St. Monica(331-387), mother of St. Augustine had said to him, "When I die bury me anywhere you like, don't bother about it. But I request you to remember and pray for me at the altar. " It is so natural to pray for the dead that Doctor Johnson, although educated against the practice, prayed for his dead wife.

So why do we pray for them? For the same reason we pray for anyone: we supposed to pray for each other, and the souls in purgatory can no longer act for themselves. Thus we can show them charity by prayer. It is integral to the idea of the communion of saints that we pray for each other; we are bound to the souls in purgatory as co-heirs to God’s kingdom, as members with them of Christ’s mystical body, bound together not only with visible social bonds, but by bonds of love and sympathy and by sharing in the life of grace. It is clear enough that any Christian must accept praying for the living, and death should not sever the bonds of love. Hence, if they are in the stage of ‘being purified’ (purgatory), it seems natural and reasonable to pray for them, as we would if they were on earth, and as we hope to be prayed for by those in heaven. In fact some people have a considerable devotion to the Holy souls – whether it is that the moment they emerge from purgatory they are so grateful that they pray for those who have prayed them out of purgatory or that the souls while yet in purgatory, though unable to help themselves, may help others by their prayers, is a question only to be satisfactorily answered in heaven: but the idea that this prayer is reciprocal also makes sense, as as Catholics we believe in the power of intercession.

While it is clear that we should pray for the dead, then, why should we pray to the saints? Surely it is a sort of waste of time that could be spent better in praying to God? And, given that they are enjoying heavenly glory, why honour them, since our devotion to them does not add anything to them?

We have in fact a warrant from Our Lord that the saints and angels do concern themselves with matters on earth – with poor sinners who repent, for example, and cause parties to break out among the heavenly Host. Given their interest, it might be at least polite to respond…

However there is more to it than that. First of all, the saints provide us with models to follow, examples of how to live, how to pray, and how to die: while the question ‘What would Jesus do?’ is often void for uncertainty, if we are comparing the life of a twenty-first century pensioner with the life of a mendicant preacher of the first century, yet we have been provided over the course of twenty centuries with the example of myriads of friends of God who show us the true meaning of the imitation of Christ in all kinds of different lives.

Secondly, the saints are our bedesmen and bedeswomen, both in terms of the perfection and the persistence of prayer. It is a fine thing to have a living monastic wearing out their knees for you – but how much better to have a friend already in heaven, who knows well how to pray, interceding for you night and day, in season and out of season, without growing weary or distracted! As St Bernard puts it ‘what is beyond our own powers to obtain will be granted through their intercession.’

Thirdly, as St. Bernard says ‘Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company, so desirable in itself. We long to share in the citizenship of heaven, to dwell with the spirits of the blessed, to join the assembly of patriarchs, the ranks of the prophets, the council of apostles, the great host of martyrs, the noble company of confessors and the choir of virgins. In short, we long to be united in happiness with all the saints.'(2nd Reading from the Offfice of readings for All Saints)

#talks #litrgicalyear #prayer