Although many of us were raised saying I believe in the communion of saints, many of us might not know what the communion of saints actually is or what it means in our lives today. However, the communion of saints is one of the truly wonderful and inspiring tenets of our faith.

Who are the Saints in the Communion of Saints?

Well, the short answer is that all of us are saints. Saints, from sanctus, Latin for holy, simply means that we are God’s children. We have been blessed by God and we are called to Him, whether on the earth, in purgatory, or in heaven.

The capital ‘S’ saints that we generally tend to think of, like St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Eugene De Mazenod, or St. John the Baptist, are simply saints through whom we can see God’s light more clearly. Their lives and their faith reveal the glory of God in the world; this is because their goodness comes from God. Their lives reveal some of the infinite facets of God’s grace. This is best embodied by a woman who many of us do not first think of as a saint, although she is in fact the greatest saint: The Virgin Mary.

What is the Communion of Saints?

An easy way to understand the communion of saints is to think of the word communion as a synonym for unity. The communion of saints means that all of us are united, and in fact, are one.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states in succinct terms, “The communion of saints is the Church.”

This means all of the faithful are part of one body. We are all linked together under Christ as the head of this body. The good done by one saint on Earth is communicated to all of the others that make up this body. We share in the responsibility for the deeds of our fellow men and women. In this fashion, Christ as head of the communion of saints shares His riches with us through the Sacraments.

This unity is the reason we pray to saints in heaven for their intercession. Praying to a saint is like asking a friend to pray for you. Just as we pray for the souls in purgatory, likewise the saints in heaven, who are close to God, can pray for our needs.

When we pray to the saints, we do not pray to them as if we are praying to Our Lord, asking for His blessing, because the saints are not Divine. As we look to the saints, we see not the person they are but instead the hand of the Lord that is working through them. Revering a saint is simply showing reverence to yet another facet of God.

The Communion of Saints and Our Lives

Understanding our place within the communion of saints can be a source of great solace and security. All of the faithful throughout the world are linked together under Christ. We are more than a family, we are simply one body. This is an awe-inspiring doctrine. With this fundamental belief, we can begin to understand Jesus’ teaching to treat our neighbors like ourselves because our neighbor is ourself. The good of our neighbor is our own good. The joy of the saints in heaven is our joy. As the body of saints, we are truly, wonderfully blessed.