Msg Base:  AREA 3  - ASK FATHER (AMDG)
  Msg No: 32.  Sun  8-16-92 10:25  (NO KILL)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Scott Spencer
 Subject: Communion of the Saints

SS|I am a Protestant (UM) who would like more information on the Communion of
  |the Saints...what does that mean exactly?  Please explain, also, what is
  |means to pray to the saints.  I heard a Wesleyan pastor say that he prayed
  |to saints to have them pray in the same manner as you would ask a friend
  |to pray for you.  Is this how Catholics view it? Do you pray to saints or
  |any Christian who has died?  Thank you for your time.
  |            Scott Spencer
 
Dear Scott,
 
Pope Paul VI treats the doctrine of the Communion of Saints in an
instruction dated January 1, 1967:
 
   By the hidden and kindly mystery of God's will a supernatural
   solidarity reigns among men.  A consequence of this is that the sin of
   one person harms other people just as one person's holiness helps
   others.  In this way Christian believers help each other to reach
   their supernatural destiny.  We can see evidence of this solidarity in
   the fact that Adam's sin is passed on through propagation to all men.
   But the greatest and most perfect source, foundation and example of
   this supernatural solidarity is Christ himself.  God has called us to
   communion with him.
 
   Indeed, Christ "committed no sin," "suffered for us," "was wounded
   for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities ... and
   with his stripes we are healed."
 
   Following in Christ's steps, those who believe in him have
   always tried to help one another along the path which leads to the
   heavenly Father, through prayer, the exchange of spiritual goods and
   penitential expiation.  The more they have been immersed in the fervor
   of love, the more they have imitated Christ in his sufferings.  They
   have carried their crosses to make expiation for their own sins and
   the sins of others.  They were convinced that they could help their
   brothers to obtain salvation from God who is the Father of mercies.
   This is the very ancient dogma called the Communion of Saints.  It
   means that the life of each individual son of God is joined in Christ
   and through Christ by a wonderful link to the life of all his other
   Christian brethren.  Together they form the supernatural unity of
   Christ's Mystical Body so that, as it were, a single mystical person
   is formed (1 Cor. 12:12-13).
 
   "All who belong to Christ and are in possession of his
   Spirit, combine to make one Church with a cohesion that depends on
   him (cf. Eph. 4:16).  The union of the living with their brethren who
   have fallen asleep in Christ is not broken; the Church has rather
   believed through the ages that it gains strength from the sharing of
   spiritual benefits.  The great intimacy of the union of those in heaven
   with Christ, gives extra steadiness in holiness to the whole Church
   ... and makes a manifold contribution to the extension of her
   building (cf. 1 Cor. 12:12-27).  Now that they are welcomed in their
   own country and at home with the Lord (cf. 2 Cor. 5:8), through him,
   with him and in him they intercede unremittingly with the Father on
   our behalf, offering the merit they acquired on earth through Christ
   Jesus, the one and only mediator between God and man (cf. 1 Tim. 2:5),
   When they were at God's service in all things, and in their flesh
   were completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake
   of his Body, the Church (cf. Col. 1:24).  Their brotherly care is the
   greatest help to our weakness."
 
Every good and perfect gift comes to us from God.  Often he uses
created instruments in giving us his gifts.  For example, he created
each one of us through the ministry of our parents.  He heals us when
we are sick through the ministry of doctors and nurses.
 
He urges us to pray for one another, especially for our fellow
members of the Body of Christ, the Church.  He is pleased when in
humility we ask another to pray for us.  This divine economy is not
interrupted by death.  We ask our Mother Mary and our brothers and
sisters, the saints in heaven, and the angels--especially our personal
guardian angels--to pray for us.  It is their ministry to us.
 
Saints who have lived exceptionally virtuous Christian lives are held
up by the Church as models for our imitation.  These are the canonized
and beatified saints to whom we pay public veneration.  But we may
also pray to anyone who we hope is in heaven to intercede for us with
God.  We also pray to God and his Saints to shorten the pains of
purgatory for our dear departed, that they may enter heaven sooner.
 
This enduring Communion of Saints is a great and necessary comfort
and source of strength for those who have lost loved ones through
death.  Actually, because of this Christian truth, no one need say
that a departed loved one is gone.  We are still in touch.  Your
Wesleyan pastor is entirely correct, and he can find in the Communion
of Saints a powerful help in his ministry to his people.
 
We need our saints.  Maintaining friendship with them and the
angels unites us more closely and more quickly to Jesus and the
Trinity than ignoring them does.  They are his chosen ministers in
tightening the bond of union among us all.
 
I recommend reading the lives of the saints.  They are
attractive, and to know them is to love them and to grow in
admiration and praise for God who has glorified himself so
wonderfully in them.
 
                                Sincerely in Christ,
 
                                        Father Mateo