Form One Body

Hey, a new post! We're living in crazy times, people.

So this past weekend I went to a wedding celebration party reception thing for my cousin. It was pretty nice, and I got to see all of my cousins in one place at one time for the first time in... I dunno, a long time I guess. We have pictures to prove it too. But one of the things I found interesting was that despite not seeing each other all the time (in some cases, there are gaps of years at a time) and despite sometimes not always seeing eye-to-eye, when we get around a table we're able to just sort of pick back up and everything is great. Because hey, we're family, even if we don't want to be sometimes.

So that got me thinking. You know, the glory of God absolutely shines through our lives, and everything we experience is, in some limited way, a reflection of Him. So in the same way that my cousins (and aunts and uncles etc etc) are intrinsically bound to one another through family ties, so are Christians bound to one another through baptismal grace. We even describe baptism as an adoption as children into the family of God, which is in of itself a reflection of Christ's begotten Sonship to the Father.

So strong is this grace that it can't be broken, not even in death. As we pray for one another here on earth, those souls in heaven and, yes, even in purgatory, pray for us as well. It's a common misconception by many Protestants that those who are dead are seperated from us here on earth, that they are so contented in the beatific vision that they simply wouldn't care to pay attention even if they could. The problem with that view is that scripture makes it pretty clear that God is a God of the living, not of the dead, and it's pretty clear that those in heaven are actually more alive than we are. But most of all, we are united. We are all the body of Christ, He is the vine we are the branches. The book of Revelations even shows the saints in heaven offering our prayers to God, using the symbolism of bowls of incense. Of course, it is through Him that we commune, not of our own power or will, and after we die that communion will take a different form. But don't make the mistake of believing that we do not commune.

Appropriately enough, the Church refers to this as the Communion of Saints, comprised of three parts. The Church Militant, or those of use still fighting the battle here on earth, the Church Suffering, those undergoing the process of purification in purgatory, and the Church Triumphant, those being exposed to the full glory in heaven.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the Communion of Saints not as just a binding of the members of the Church, but the very Church itself:

After confessing "the holy catholic Church," the Apostles' Creed adds "the communion of saints." In a certain sense this article is a further explanation of the preceding: "What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints?" The communion of saints is the Church.

"Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others.... We must therefore believe that there exists a communion of goods in the Church. But the most important member is Christ, since he is the head.... Therefore, the riches of Christ are communicated to all the members, through the sacraments." "As this Church is governed by one and the same Spirit, all the goods she has received necessarily become a common fund."

It goes on to state:

Communion with the saints. "It is not merely by the title of example that we cherish the memory of those in heaven; we seek, rather, that by this devotion to the exercise of fraternal charity the union of the whole Church in the Spirit may be strengthened. Exactly as Christian communion among our fellow pilgrims brings us closer to Christ, so our communion with the saints joins us to Christ, from whom as from its fountain and head issues all grace, and the life of the People of God itself" 

This is a beautiful concept. A seamless Church, constantly looking in on itself, building each other up spiritually, bestowing the graces we have received back onto each other. The perfect, Holy perpetual motion machine. We are called to pray for one another, to intercede for one another. Since the prayers of the righteous have great effect, but, according to St. Paul, no man on earth is righteous "no, not one"... well, I'll let you reason out where those prayers of great effect are coming from.

As I stated earlier, this tends to be a concept that many Protestants (and not a few Catholics) lose sight of. But Jesus Christ prayed for unity, and the Church, the Communion of Saints, is the ultimate fulfillment of that prayer. So the next time you're praying for someone (or asking someone for prayers), know that you're in good company.