The Church Is a Communion of Saints

Objectives:

1. Explain the role of the saints in the prayer life of the Catholic Church

2. Explain that the communion of saints includes everyone of us, all of Christ’s body, the Church, here and in heaven

3. Define eschatology and virtues and identify ways in which virtue have impacted their life.

4. Articulate Mary’s role in the church

5. Explain the meaning of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary

Opening:

1. Stories of 3 Saints

It happened in Michigan… A man dressed in a Confederate flag tee shirt began to heckle a group protesting the presence of the Klu Klux Klan in their town. This man became the focal point of the local people’s anger. He was hit on the head with a sign and pushed to the ground. An 18 yr old African-American girl named Keisha Thomas was with the crowd who accosted the man. Like those around her, she was angered by his shirt and his attitude. But when the man fell to the ground, Keshia threw herself on top of him to protect him from those who were about to beat him with sticks. Those who were prepared to do violence looked at Keshia and stopped.

It happened in Ontario, Canada… Craig Kielburger read about the assassination of a Pakistani boy, Iqbal Masih. At age 10, Ibqal had escaped from slavery and begun a campaign against child labor and exploitation in his country. The big business in Pakistan felt threatened as Iqbal’s protest gained momentum. That’s when he was assassinated.

Craig was touched by the fact that Iqbal was the same age as he was. He decided to find out more about child labor. When he found out that more than 100 million children around the world worked in slave-like conditions, he and some friends started writing letters, giving talks in local schools, and raising $$ for children who were being exploited. It wasn’t long before they had established an international organization – “Free the Children” – working to protect child laborers. Due in part to the efforts of this group, awareness of the worldwide child labor buying patterns started to change and companies were forced to reexamine their policies regarding child labor.

It happened in Philadelphia, PA…. A teenager named Trevor Ferrell gave a blanket and a pillow to a homeless man. Then Trevor took it a step further. He began to collect blankets and food and distribute them to people living on the streets. His action inspired others to do the same. Eventually an abandoned hotel and another building were donated to Trevor’s Campaign for the Homeless. Because of Trevor and those who joined him, a residential living center that provided 24 hour day care along with social services and educational programs was opened for women and children.

It happens in thousands of different ways, in thousands of different places – the hand of God is seen in the world through the actions of God’s people. Saints – who are they? Are we saints? What is the communion of Saints?

First – what are some characteristics of Saints? Not without fault, have been faithful to God’s grace in a significant way… and all practiced a heroic virtue. Have allowed others to see God in them.

Some saints are formerly recognized by the Church and go through the process of beatification and canonization – like Mother Teresa

Communion of Saints – we pray that in the Nicene Creed… is another description of Church. The Communion of Saints includes each and everyone of US to the extent that we make God’s love and goodness visible in our lives.

The Greek word for Saint is the same word that in other places is translated as holy… As someone who is holy, a saint recognizes and accepts God unique call to them. They live authentically, they are true to themselves as God created them to be.

By the end of the 5th C, the Church had a clearer understanding of the unity between the Church on earth and the Church in heaven. Catholics believe in a Church which can not be divided by death – The saints are fully united with Christ; and our communion with those saints also unites us more completely to Christ. We are also in communion with those who have died and who are not yet fully united to Christ – our prayers help those who have died and their prayers help us.

Saints help the Church understand and explain the eschaton, the Christian understanding of the end times.

Eschatology – the study of the last things: -- the Second Coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the kingdom of God, judgment, heaven, hell and purgatory.

Our relationship with those who have died reveals our attitude toward death and our understanding of what will happen both immediately after death and the end time. Catholics believe that through Christ’s resurrection the power of death to divide people has been destroyed.

Story of St. Therese – one of the 33 Doctors of the Church – (leaders, writers, teachers and theologians)

Shortly before Therese died she wrote a letter to a friend. Her friend was concerned that Therese would no longer love him when she reached heaven and was able to see him as he really was. Her response provides insight into the Catholic understanding of sainthood and intercession:

“I assure you, my little brother, that you don’t understand heaven the way I do. To you it seems that, participating in God’s justice and holiness, I will not be able to excuse yur faults as I did while on earth. Are you then forgetting that I shall participate also in the infinite mercy of the Lord? I believe that those in heaven have great compassion on our wretchedness. They remember that when they were fragile and mortal like us they committed the same faults as we and went through the same struggles, and their brotherly tenderness becomes greater than it ever was on earth. That is why they never stop protecting us and praying for us. I will love you more once I am in heaven that I ever could on earth.”

We ask the saints to pray for us because they are part of our community.. we honor and thank them because their close unity with Christ binds the whole Church more closely to Christ. All prayers are answered by God, but some may be answered through other members of the Church, including the saints who are in heaven.

Saints are those who cooperate with Jesus and allow him to work through them – like Keisha, Craig and Trevor. Without Jesus, they can do nothing.

All the members of the Church together make up the body of Christ – those in heaven and those on earth.

The model Saint – as the Church is the communion of saints – Mary is the model saint. What do you know about Mary and why do you think we call her the model saint?

Ø Mary showed her complete commitment to God in the way she lived. Mary placed all her trust in God.

Ø Mary was open to the Father’s will – even when she did not understand

Ø Mary stood and watched her own son die – she did not lose faith. One of the worst tortures is for a mother to watch her child suffer.

Ø Each time we follow Mary’s example and accept the suffering that comes from truly loving others, we join our suffering to Christ’s and like Mary, share in the work of redemption.

Ø All Christians are called to follow Christ to the cross as Mary did. In Matthew 16.24, Jesus said whoever wishes to be a true disciple must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.

Beliefs about Mary – Major Marian dogmas: can talk more about these in class, the 2 I wanted to mention are the 2 times in history that a pope has made an infallible statement

§ Mary is Theotokos – the Mother of God. Mary conceived and bore the Son of God who is one with the Father. The Council of Ephesus (431) taught that Jesus is divine and human and that Jesus was divine from the moment of conception.

§ Mary was immaculately conceived. Mary was born without original sin. Because she would bear Jesus, Mary was redeemed from the moment of her conception. God graced Mary in this way in anticipation of her role in Jesus’s death and resurrection.

Her Immaculate Conception is the sign and the promise that everything which could separate us from God has become powerless. Mary’s freedom from sin is the promise that one day all of God’s people will be freed from the tendency toward sin and the last effects of sin.

§ Mary was a Virgin when Jesus was born and remained a virgin throughout her life. Mary conceived Jesus without a human father; God is the unique Father of Jesus. The Church has always taught that Mary was a virgin, before, in and after the birth of Jesus.

§ Mary was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. Mary is the first to share in Christ’s resurrection. In 1950 Pope Pius XII officially proclaimed the doctrine of the Assumption.

Mary’s assumption is the sign of the Church’s eschatological hope – in her we witness the resurrection of the body and the new creation which has been promised – it is the guarantee of the final resurrection of all the faithful.

Mary is nothing without Jesus – we also must come face to face with the fact that God calls us too and each of us must say “yes” to that role if we are to achieve for ourselves and the world what God intends. Mary is also called the mediatrix – which means mediator – Like all the saints Mary intercedes for the faithful and offers her assistance to us. Just as at the wedding of Cana she saw the need for more wine and asked Jesus to do something about it, so she sees the needs of the faithful and makes requests to Jesus on our behalf. She does not put distance between us and Christ anymore than a Christian living today and praying for another person.

Because Mary is the Mother of Christ, she is also the Mother of the Church. Just as she nurtured Jesus, so she cooperates with Christ in caring for a guiding the Church. From the Cross, Jesus said , Behold your mother – John represents the infant church.

Mary is the perfect model of faith. Mary’s faith is expressed most clearly in the words of the Magnificat – the prayer that she spoke to the angel Gabriel, when he appeared and asked her to be the Mother of the Savior.

The Communion of Saints

Discussion Questions

1. How does Sainthood help Catholics understand the Eschaton?

2. Explain the role of saints in the Church’s prayer… do we pray to the saints?

3. How are the lives and stories of Saints valuable to you?

4. Ask students to share about a person who is a Saint in their life… encourage them to share why they thought of that person. (Catechists, you could share too!) – Many of the teens did a patron saint report for Confirmation – it would also be interesting to hear what they remember about the Saint they chose as their patron.

5. We talked about the Saints as being people of virtue.

· What is a virtue? (the habits that help us to do good, or those attitudes that lead us to do what God desires)

· What are some virtues they consider important? (honesty, kindness….) (The cardinal virtues which we reviewed before confirmation are: temperance, fortitude, justice and prudence, the theological virtues are faith, hope and love.)

· Ask them to think about virtues that characterize themselves. Ask them to think and share about a goal they have for the future and how one or more of the virtues can help them reach their goal.

6. Ask the students how the following statement applies to their lives: To change the world I must begin by changing me.

7. Why is Mary the model for the Church? What touches you or inspires you the most about Mary?

8. What were the Pope’s 2 infallible statements in the history of the Church? (Immaculate Conception, - celebrated on Dec. 8, Assumption of Mary – celebrated on Aug. 15)

9. What do you believe about the Immaculate Conception? In what ways is Mary’s Immaculate Conception a sign and promise for the Church?

10. What do you believe about the Assumption of Mary? How is her assumption a sign of the Church’s eschatological hope?

11. How would you defend the Church’s position on Mary and explain why the Church honors her against the misunderstanding that Catholics “worship Mary.”

Beliefs about Mary – Major Marian dogmas: can talk more about these in class.

· Mary is Theotokos – the Mother of God. Mary conceived and bore the Son of God who is one with the Father. The Council of Ephesus (431) taught that Jesus is divine and human and that Jesus was divine from the moment of conception.

· Mary was immaculately conceived. Mary was born without original sin. Because she would bear Jesus, Mary was redeemed from the moment of her conception. God graced Mary in this way in anticipation of her role in Jesus’s death and resurrection.

· Mary was a Virgin when Jesus was born and remained a virgin throughout her life. Mary conceived Jesus without a human father; God is the unique Father of Jesus. The Church has always taught that Mary was a virgin, before, in and after the birth of Jesus.

· Mary was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. Mary is the first to share in Christ’s resurrection. In 1950 Pope Pius XII officially proclaimed the doctrine of the Assumption.