WHO ARE SAINTS? ARE THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN DEAD? OR ALIVE? Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses (SAINTS), let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. --- Hebrews 12:1 Indeed, the communion of Saints consists not only of the great men and women who went before us and whose names we know. All of us belong to the communion of Saints, we who have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we who draw life from the gift of Christs Body and Blood, through which he transforms us and makes us like himself. --- Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, Installation Mass, St. Peter’s Square, 4/24/05 Who goes to Heaven? Saints. In biblical language, all the saved are saints. So what is a saint? A saint is fundamentally one who loves God with his whole heart, and his neighbor as himself. Love from a simple, single pure heart – that is all God wants. Jesus said so. That’s all. ----Peter Kreeft, Making Choices – Practical wisdom for everyday moral decisions Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness… They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus... So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped (Lumen Gentium, 49; cf. 1 Timothy 2:5). --- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 956 The Catholic theologian Lawrence S. Cunningham, in his book The Meaning of Saints, suggests that the saints also serve as our “prophetic witnesses,” spurring us to live more fully as Christian disciples. Of course some might argue (and some do argue) that all you need is Jesus. And that’s true: Jesus is everything, and the saints understood this more than anyone. ---- James Martin, SJ, My Life with the Saints
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 01:03:51 +0000
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