Our Inseparable Communion

Late last week, I was asked a simple but profound question by one of my students: "What's the biblical basis for saints?" I had just taken the class on a local tangent to the process of sainthood, pairing the complex and formalized process of canonization alongside the simple understanding of a saint, which I explain as "someone we believe is bound for Heaven or already in Heaven." I wanted to get to the bottom of this, both for my student and for me (and all of you readers!).

My cursory searching pointed me first to the story of The Rich Man and Lazarus, told by Luke in 16:19-31. The spark-notes version is that the Rich Man ignores Lazarus, a poor man who lives at his door. When they die, Lazarus goes to Heaven while the Rich Man goes to hell, where he can see the beggar in Heaven. He begs Lazarus to intervene with his living relatives and warn them against selfishness. The indication here is that those in Heaven do have some capacity through which they can communicate with the still-living.

This link between the living and the dead-in-Christ is reinforced by the beauty of Romans 8, imagery wonderfully enshrined in the amazing hymn Jesus Lives (arranged by Fr. Chrysogonous Waddell, o.c.s.o and performed by the Notre Dame Folk Choir). Romans 8:38-39 tells us, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

We believe that Christ connects all those in heaven with the souls of purgatory and the living on earth; this is the communion of saints, the amazing body bound by Jesus the Lord. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes this beautiful mystery: "[I]t is that the union of the wayfarers with the brethren who sleep in the peace of Christ is in no way interrupted, but on the contrary, according to the constant faith of the Church, this union is reinforced by an exchange of spiritual goods." This exchange is manifested in our prayers, which rise from our hearts to our saintly brothers and sisters gathered to the Lord.

Furthermore, Jesus tells us that He will be seated at the right hand of the Father, an image in Revelation that is foreshadowed earlier in the Bible; e.g. Romans 8:34, where we learn Christ is at God's right hand interceding for us. Similarly, those who die in Christ realize eternal life in Him through His Resurrection, which redeemed us, and we believe that they share this place with Jesus in some similar capacity. Revelation 5:8 speaks of "elders" bowed down before the Lamb (Christ) with bowls of incense that hold "the prayers of the holy ones," so they certainly offer prayers though they are already in heaven. On faith, we say they can offer our prayers with/as their own. Revelation 8:3-4 describes similar imagery.

James 5:16 adds, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful." Here, we are encouraged to be praying for each other, inspired by the efficacy of the righteous persons' prayers. This doesn't explicitly indicate heavenly intercession, but the previous Scripture passages suggest a continued capacity for interaction and intercession by the holy dead. Finally, Job 5:1 reads, "Call now! Will anyone respond to you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?" Perhaps, this is an exhortation for people to invoke the help of the saints in heaven?

The communion of saints is certainly grounded in Scripture, and the references to this mystery have been unpacked and reflected upon by our great Tradition. I am not accomplished enough in constructing doctrinal argument from Scripture, but there are some nice passages out there to uphold our belief in the communion of saints and intercessory prayer. I find great consolation in Romans 8 as the inspiration to remember that nothing separates those who are united in Christ. Whether dead, living, or being purified, Christ has bound us inseparably, and we who live in Him live in Him and with each other forever.

Main sources:

New Advent

Wikipedia (for bible passages' chapter-verse)

Catechism of the Catholic Church