Per Christum

Catholics are often asked why they pray to saints.  The generic answer, which is adequate enough, is:  “Well, you ask your earthly friends and people you consider ‘strong Christians’ to pray for you.  We Catholics ask saints in heaven to pray for us because they are close to God.  Also, we’re not praying to “the dead,” because the saints in heaven aren’t dead.   They’re more alive than you and I.”

Okay.  That’s true.  But I believe that something Pope Benedict said, in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est, really helps to expand this idea in a way that gives it more weight.  It certainly helped me a lot.  It just makes good plain sense.  He says:

The lives of the saints are not limited to their earthly biographies but also include their being and working in God after death. In the saints one thing becomes clear: those who draw near to God do not withdraw from men, but rather become truly close to them.

This statement comes near the end of a document where the Pope really gives us a practical explanation of what love really means, and how we are to exercise this virtue.  In a nutshell, it goes back to Jesus’ commandment that we are to love God and love our neighbor.  Christianity 101.  Simple, yes…but hardly easy.  So, it would follow, that when we read about holy people, the most striking thing about their lives is precisely the love they showed (or show) other people, right?  That, in short, is how we know they’re holy.  We can literally SEE their love for God.  We admire these people…Saint Francis, Mother Theresa, Corrie Ten Boom, etc….  All Christians who didn’t just talk the talk, but they walked the walk.

So far, so good.  Nothing controversial there.

Well, then a question comes up.  At some point, those Christians die and go to heaven.  Then what happens?   What do those faithful saints exactly “DO” in heaven?

Looking back to my pre-Catholic days, I guess if I was pressed to describe what was going on in heaven, I would present a picture of a sea of people worshipping God.  And by that, I would mean that they were just sort of staring at and bowing before him.  I never really stopped to consider any horizontal relationships.  And that’s not surprising.  This was the way I worshipped God in my non-denominational church.  I would close my eyes and do the “me and Jesus” thing.  You might be sitting next to me, but you were individually doing your own version of “me and Jesus.”  I guess in heaven, I would have said, it was just more intense, while still individualistic, because you could literally see Jesus “face to face.” 

In re-examining this belief, I find that it’s inconsistent.  Does someone who spent their life loving God by serving others just die and forget about everyone else and just stare at Jesus, leaving the rest of us in the dust?

No!  What sense does that make?  Their righteousness is perfect in heaven…the righteousness that they cultivated exactly by serving and loving others on earth.  NOW they serve and love others even MORE.  They’d have to.  They can’t help themselves.  To love God is to love others.  The mission hasn’t changed, because love doesn’t change.  Love reaches out…eternally.  The saints in heaven continue to love God and love others.  They pray.  They intercede.  It is what MADE them saints in the first place. 

Further, if we Christians believe we are the family of God, these people are LITERALLY our loving brothers and sisters.  They are not going to be content to rest until all members of their family make it to heaven.  They are a “cloud of witnesses” cheering us on, as Hebrews 12 tells us.   Jesus’ death and resurrection brought “victory o’er the grave.”  Heaven and earth are joined together ( most poignantly and literally in the sacrifice of the mass).   We are one big family.  Our older, wiser and holier brothers and sisters can help us out a lot.  And they do!