All Saints
Today is the Solemnity of All Saints. It’s also a holy day of obligation, so go to Mass if you haven’t yet. The celebrations today and tomorrow are beautifully paired. Today, we celebrate and ask intercession of the Church Triumphant. Tomorrow, we pray for the Church Suffering.
Today, in a particular way, we are celebrating the Communion of Saints. The Communion of Saints is really a way of talking about the fullness of the Church. The Church, as we know, consists of the Church Militant on earth, the Church Triumphant in heaven, and the Church Suffering in purgatory. The Communion of Saints means that we are in a relationship with the whole Church, not only the Church Militant. The saints help us on earth through their intercession, and we can help those in purgatory through prayers and indulgences.
It is unfortunate that some consider remembering the saints beneficial only on account of their example, as if we were merely inspired by pious legends. Stories about the saints are useful in encouraging us to live the Christian life, but the saints themselves can actually help us through their prayers, and we ought to ask for their intercession.
Some ask why it is important to ask the saints to pray for us. Why not “just go to Christ directly”? What a misunderstanding! Do the saints by their intercession in some way hinder God’s hearing our petitions? Does God want us to be “efficient” and take “the most direct route”? Absurdity!
We pray to the saints–asking them to pray for us–because this is what Christ wants us to do. Remember at the wedding at Cana that the servants did not ask Christ but rather the Blessed Mother. He, in turn, did not immediately grant the request, but at the insistence of his mother he conceded to give them “good wine.” When Christ died, he told Saint John–and thus the whole Church and all of creation–to behold his mother as our mother. Christ does not want us to be in relationship only to himself but to one another as well.
Think about it. Why did God create so much and so many angels and men? If he simply wanted me to be saved, then why did he not create me alone? Rather, it is fitting that he made many men and angels along with beasts and other material things to be related to him and also to one another. The very fact that God has created more than one creature means that the creatures are in a relationship not only to God but to one another.
Suppose someone were looking for a particular address. Would not the prudent thing be to stop and ask directions from someone else? It is true that he could “go to God directly” and pray to find his destination, but in asking someone else he recognizes not that he is not still relying on God but that God wants us to help one another.
Indeed, he commands that we love one another. How can we love one another but not pray for one another? For love is willing the good and prayer (of petition) is asking for the good. If we can pray for one another here on earth where we are all peers, then how much more can those in heaven who have “grown up” in their love of God pray for us.
