LIFE, MARRIAGE & FAMILY: The Communion of Saints – our heavenly family
By Dr Rachel Bradley, Director of the Office of Life, Marriage & Family
Once, when Jesus was speaking to the crowds, someone came to tell Him that his mother and brothers were outside wanting to see him.
He replied, ‘Who is my mother and who are my brothers?’ And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother’.
During the month of November, the Church here on earth remembers the other members of our family, the holy souls in purgatory and the saints in heaven.
We recall the truth that in Christ, as part of His body the Church, we are strongly united to those other members of His body that have gone before us ‘marked with the sign of faith’.
Our biological families can be a source of great comfort and support but our relationships with our family members and relatives can also be fraught with tension, wounding and hurt.
Even when we have great relationships with our family members, we can be geographically far away from them or grow distant because of the busyness of life.
We are designed to be part of a spiritual family as well as a biological one.
We are the body of Christ together, it’s not just ‘Jesus and me’. We have the saints as our elder brothers and sisters to help and encourage us.
I love the way that the saints take interest in us as individuals. We can develop close relationships with particular saints and yet don’t feel drawn in the same way to others.
We are known and loved as unique individuals with our specific personalities and quirks.
The saints can inspire us by their example of holiness of life, encourage us as we read about their convoluted journeys to achieve holiness and powerfully intercede for us to obtain the grace needed to follow in their footsteps.
This family of God transcends time and space.
We also need to keep in mind our brothers and sisters in the faith who are enduring purgatory. We can in turn help them with our prayers and sacrifices so that their purification can be expedited.
Once they make it to heaven, they in turn become the powerful intercessors to help us along the way.
The communion of saints is not an abstract and distant concept but a dynamic reality that testifies to the unifying effect of faith.