The saints in heaven watch over those who continue their journey on earth by the constant watchfulness and prayers of intercession. We worship you. We give you thanks. We praise you for your glory! Father Van Sloun is pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. Read more of his writing at CatholicHotdish. Category : All Saints , Featured. Gratitude — in the growing, giving and goodbye. XXV, decrees on purgatory; on the invocation, veneration, and relics of saints and of sacred images; on indulgences , is, nevertheless, dogma commonly taught and accepted in the Church.
It is true that the Catechism of the Council of Trent Pt. I, ch. In this vast Catholic conception rationalists see not only a late creation, but also an ill-disguised reversion to a lower religious type, a purely mechanical process of justification , the substitution of impersonal moral value in lieu of personal responsibility.
Such statements are met best, by the presentation of the dogma in its Scriptural basis and its theological formulation. The first spare yet clear outline of the communion of saints is found in the "kingdom of God" of the Synoptics , not the individualistic creation of Harnack nor the purely eschatological conception of Loisy, but an organic whole Matthew , which embraces in the bonds of charity Matthew all the children of God Matthew ; Luke on earth and in heaven Matthew , the angels themselves joining in that fraternity of souls Luke One cannot read the parables of the kingdom Matthew 13 without perceiving its corporate nature and the continuity which links together the kingdom in our midst and the kingdom to come.
The nature of that communion, called by St. John a fellowship with one another "a fellowship with us"-- 1 John because it is a fellowship with the Father, and with his Son", and compared by him to the organic and vital union of the vine and its branches John 15 , stands out in bold relief in the Pauline conception of the mystical body. Repeatedly St.
Paul speaks of the one body whose head is Christ Colossians , whose energizing principle is charity Ephesians , whose members are the saints, not only of this world, but also of the world to come Ephesians ; Hebrews In that communion there is no loss of individuality , yet such an interdependence that the saints are "members one of another" Romans , not only sharing the same blessings 1 Corinthians and exchanging good offices 1 Corinthians and prayers Ephesians , but also partaking of the same corporate life, for "the whole body.
Recent well-known researches in Christian epigraphy have brought out clear and abundant proof of the principal manifestations of the communion of saints in the early Church. Similar evidence, is to be found in the Apostolic Fathers with an occasional allusion to the Pauline conception. For an attempt at the formulation of the dogma we have to come down to the Alexandrian School.
Clement of Alexandria shows the "gnostic's" ultimate relations with the angels Stromata VI. Origen enlarges, almost to exaggeration, on the idea of vicarious martyrdom Exhort.
With St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom the communion of saints has become an obvious tenet used as an answer to such popular objections as these: what, need of a communion with others? Basil, Epistle another has sinned and I shall atone? Chrysostom, Hom. John Damascene has only to collect the sayings of the Fathers in order to support the dogma of the invocation of the saints and the prayers for the dead. But the complete presentation of the dogma comes from the later Fathers.
After the statements of Tertullian , speaking of "common hope , fear , joy , sorrow, and suffering" On Penance ; of St. Cyprian , explicitly setting forth the communion of merits De lapsis 17 ; of St.
Hilary, giving the Eucharistic Communion as a means and symbol of the communion of saints in Psalm , we come to the teaching of Ambrose and St. From the former, the thesaurus ecclesiae , the best practical test of the reunion of saints, receives a definite explanation On Penance I. In the transcendent view of the Church taken by the latter Enchiridion 66 the communion of saints, though never so called by him, is a necessity ; to the Civitas Dei must needs correspond the unitas caritatis De unitate eccl.
The Augustinian concept, though somewhat obscured in the catechetical expositions of the Creed by the Carlovingian and later theologians P. Bonaventure , St. On Nov. The Church Militant is on pilgrimage, striving for virtue, the defeat of evil and yearning to be united with God, the Blessed Virgin, the angels and the saints in heaven.
The Church Suffering reminds us that since nothing defiled can enter heaven, the souls of those who die in a state of venial sin or who have not fully atoned for any remnants of temporal punishment owing to their sins must enter a temporary state in their passage to heaven, called purgatory, where they are subsequently cleansed.
Souls in purgatory cannot help themselves, thus they rely on the prayers, Masses, sacrifices and indulgences offered and gained by the Church Militant, and, of course, on the prayers and intercession of the Church Triumphant. There is a tradition in the Catholic Church that the souls in purgatory, however, can assist the souls on earth the church militant by offering their sufferings for them.
Tags Glad You Asked Theology. About the author. You may also like. Was the first Thanksgiving Catholic? Damian Costello. Add comment.
0コメント