Reflections on the Communion of Saints

Before thinking about reviving this site, I spent a bit of time reading other Catholic blogs. What really got me thinking was the connection I felt with such bloggers as Fr. Stephanos and The Anchoress, Fr. Tim, and American Papist, who I've never met nor communicated with (but who know me through a video of mine, posted online here), and Dilexitprior (who I know personally, and to whom I owe profound thanks for the proliferation of the aforementioned video.) There's something great about knowing that a person halfway around the world shares your beliefs and world vision, and yet is comfortable in his/her individuality (as opposed to the scourge of individualism) even as a Catholic.
I remember, during WYD 2005 in the week before the Cologne activities, we were in Munich, where a good 10,000 WYD-goers were staying. During a late night, while my buddies were off at a beer hall, I wandered around Marienplatz, the center square of downtown Munich, where a number of Catholics had congregated and milled about, each group doing its own thing. I felt the same connection there, chatting with a bunch of French pilgrims (trying vainly to speak in my poor Quebec French; they didn't understand, either way!); I had the same feeling when surrounded by Catholics on the metro system in Cologne. At any rate, a street comedian a few blocks away did his impression of "Those Catholics at Marienplatz": when alone, he implied, they cringed like cowards, but together... and he *almost* did the Goose Step.

The irony. He must not have known any Catholics. Or any knowledge of history - the unrevised kind, that is. But of course, there's a grain of truth to what he said -- the oft-used cliche of "together we stand, divided...we fall" and that togetherness is what I seem to draw from my fellow Catholic bloggers.

Which brings us to the Communion of Saints. As I understand the doctrine, the Communion of Saints refers to all baptized members of the Christian family ,who share a special connection as members of the Body of Christ, the Church -- a connection strengthened to each other and to Christ by partaking in the Body of Christ, the Eucharist. Of course, this connection cannot be destroyed by death, since we have both the hope of the resurrection of the body, and the belief in the immortal soul at rest in God (and "alive in Christ.") As such, just as we ask those around us to intercede with Christ for us through their prayers, so we ask the Saints in heaven (whose prayers are so much more potent, as it were, since the "prayer of the righteous man is powerful indeed" (James 5)) to pray for us.

And we, in turn, pray that the candidates for Sainthood may be canonized.

Please pray for Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, Bl. Kateri Tekatwitha, Bl. Mother Theresa, and the Servants of God John Paul II, Pius XII, and George Vanier.

God Bless,
Dave