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LEARN THE FAITH
The Communion of Saints
In the Creed we profess belief in the Communion of Saints.
The Church canonizes saints and celebrate their lives at Mass for three reasons:
1. To encourage asking their help and prayers
2. That their lives become a model to be imitated
3. They give us encouragement; if Christ can do it in them, He can do it in me
Do Catholics worship saints? NO!
Adoration is the worship and homage that is due to God alone. The saints are human like you and I. They are not divine. Adoration of the saints has never been nor will ever be part of Catholic teaching or prayer. We venerate the saints.
Veneration is the honor due to the excellence or achievement of a created person.
The Olympics give us an example of veneration. An Olympic gold medal for excellence in athletics is a form of veneration. Honor given for the achievement of an athlete takes nothing away from the glory of God. We pay many honors to Olympic Champions; like putting their picture on a box of Wheaties and giving them many apparel endorsements. We are not scandalized by this because no one thinks we worship them as a god. We venerate the saints in heaven because of the excellence they attained in living a life in imitation of Christ. The saints are like God's champion athletes. It is pleasing to God and gives Him glory when we honor those who excelled in love for Him.
It is necessary to remember that the love and honor a person gives to God's saints does not end with the saints themselves but rather it reaches ultimately to God through the saints. In honoring a beautiful work of art we are truly honoring the artist. It is only by God's grace that the saints reached the heights of holiness. In a very real sense they are His works of art. Therefore, nothing is taken away from the glory and honor of God through veneration of the saints, in fact we truly honor God when we venerate those who excelled in love for Him.
Canonization
The solemn declaration by the Pope that a deceased member of the faithful may be proposed as a model and intercessor to the Christian faithful and venerated as a saint on the basis of the fact that the person lived a life or heroic virtue or remained faithful to God through martyrdom. The Martyrs were the first to be venerated in the Church as saints. Martyr means to be a "witness." The Church gave to them to rightful honor for the way they excelled in love of Christ, preferring Him even to their own lives, and for the way they excelled in living a life in imitation of Him.
Heroic virtue is not limited to martyrdom - In fact, living a life of heroic love in an hidden and unspectacular way for many years may be more difficult than to shed ones blood for Christ in an instance.
Therefore the Church began to investigate the lives of those who were known to have lived a heroic life of Christian charity and to then present their lives as a model to be imitated. The first formal Canonization was of St. Ulrich in 993.
The Saints Help us by Praying for us:
1 Timothy 2: 1 - 8; There is one mediator between God and mankind since Christ reunited God to man in Himself. Because of Redemption and the Gift of His Spirit we have been united to Him in One Body - that is, the Church. We are one Body with Christ - 1 Corinthians 12: 12 - 30. Christ has united us: 1) In His Body; 2) In His work.
He calls us to share in the work of Redemption through our: Prayer, Work, Joy, and Suffering.
By Prayer - 1 Timothy 2:1-5
Suffering - Colossians 1:24
Hebrews 12; 13:7 - Imitate the faithful cloud of witnesses
Revelation 5:8, 6:9-10
The indwelling Holy Spirit connects all those in the Body of Christ. We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, united in the one Body in Christ. We are a family united in Christ. God is our Father. Jesus is our bridegroom. Mary is our Mother. Joseph is our foster father, guardian and protector. The saints are our older brothers and sisters in heaven. Every one in a family helps one another. The Saints help us by praying for us - disposing us to know and do God's will.
In the Body of Christ a person can be in one of three states or places:
On earth, in purgatory, or in heaven; "some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified, while still others are in glory, contemplating in full light, God himself triune and one, exactly as he is. CCC 954. These are the Church Militant, Suffering, and Triumphant. CCC 955 Those in purgatory and the saints in heaven are united to the rest of us on earth in the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit that dwells within each one of us.
We pray for each other on earth
St. Paul exhorts us to pray for others in Romans 15:30; Colossians 4:3; 1Thessalonians 5:25; and Paul prayed for others in 2 Thessalonians 1:11;
Are saints dead or alive?
Matthew 22:29-32; He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
The saints participate in the one mediation of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Saints don't become God; they participate in His life, love, knowledge, power and in the eternal present of God, therefore they have no restrictions of time and space. The life of Heaven is one great present moment. It is outside of time. Just as St. Paul and all the saints worked for the salvation of souls on earth so too from heaven, by praying for us. The saints love for God and neighbor is perfect in heaven. Their prayer for us flows from their perfect love for us, a love that wants us to reach the same heights of happiness and holiness as they are enjoying in heaven. We are ALL called to the holiness and happiness of the saints and they pray for us to help us in this quest for true and lasting happiness that is found in God alone.
St. Therese of Lisieux
"I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth."
St. Maximilian Kolbe said that while he was on earth he could only help us with one hand because he had to cling to God with the other; when he would be in heaven he would be able to help us with two.
CCC 2683
The saints constantly care for those whom they have left on earth...Their intercession is their most exalted service to God's plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.
Our greatest joy comes through serving, that is, to recognize our gifts and then to use them for the good of others. Will God take away our greatest joy in heaven?
•2. The Saints teach us how to live in imitation of Christ
•3. They give us great encouragement
Philippians 3:17 Brothers, join in imitating me. Pay close attention to those who follow the right example that we have set for you. We are called to live our lives in imitation of Christ, he is the Teacher.
The saints teach us how to live by having lived in lives and circumstances similar to ours. If people just like us became saints, so can we; and God wants this for everyone. God calls every person to holiness - to happiness. He gives the grace to make it possible.
Thomas Aquinas' sister asked him what it takes to become a saint.
"To will it."
1. By reading their writings.
Kolbe's Aim Higher
Escriva - the Way, the Furrow, the Forge
Mother Teresa - A Simple Path
2. By reading the example of their lives
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassatti (1901-1925)
Fr. Solanus
He is just like us.
Thomas Moore - husband and father
TRUST
Romans 8:28
St. Maximilian Kolbe
Blessed Herman the Lame
Blind, Lame, Cerebral Palsy, and Cleft Palate
--Before he went blind, he wrote the Hail Holy Queen
St. Maria Goretti - teenager
It is beautiful - Holy
3) Capital punishment
St. Therese, the Little Flower
St. Edith Stein
Fr. Kapaun
Padre Pio - Could read souls, was a Stigmatist, and Bilocationist.
Mother Theresa
Saint Faustina
St. Jose Marie Escriva
St. Francis of Assisi
As Christians we are called to have a personal relationship with Christ. We can expect Him to speak to us and to guide us personally as He did St. Francis and all saints.
I need to give time to God every day in conversation. In Prayer, Speaking and listening, To recognize His voice, To act upon His word, With total trust.
Courtesy of: http://www.schooloffaith.com/