Reference to a "saint," or to be "sanctified" is found over 230 times in the New Testament. These are the believers who are set apart, and they are not only those still living. A saint is also one who has been sanctified and is with the Lord, and is united to us in the Holy Mass. This is the family of God.
To be set apart means that we have a positional relationship to God by which we are sanctified as we worship and give honor to God.
Can we cite any places in Scripture as examples of where the word "saint" is used? Certainly.
In Philippians 4:21-22 we read:
21: "Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you."
22: "All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household."
In 2nd Corinthians 8:4 we read:
4: "Begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints."
2: "To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those (HAGIOS) sanctified (HAGIAZO) in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours."
This is only possible if the Lord is present to everyone, in every place, regardless of when or where they live. This is the wedding feast, this is the Holy Mass where heaven and earth are united.
In 1st Corinthians 6:1-2 we read:
1: "When one of you has a grievance against a brother, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?"
2: "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?"
1st Corinthians 14:33 reads:
33: "For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. As in all the Churches of the saints."
And in 1st Corinthians 16:1 we read:
1: "Now concerning the contribution for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do."
We've touched on the fact that Jesus commanded that we are to pray for one another. Now, as regards "the saints," where does Scripture tell us that the saints are NOT to pray for one another? Where does Scripture tell us that prayer for one another among the communion of the saints is an attack of the fact the Jesus is the only mediator between God and man?
It doesn't, and in fact the opposite is true.
The Lord Himself commanded that we, the believers, the ones set apart, the saints, are to pray for one another.
No one on earth can dispute the fact that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. Catholics do NOT regard each other, or the saints in heaven, to be "mini-divinities" when we pray for one another. We simply do as the Lord Himself commanded us to do. If the Lord did not wish us to intercede for each other He would not have commanded us to pray for one another. Nothing in Scripture prohibits the saints in heaven from praying for those on earth. In fact, the Apostle Paul tells us that it is impossible for us to be separated from each other even in death. And if death cannot separate us from each other in Christ, then death cannot separate those who have died and are with the Lord from praying for those who remain on earth. If they would have prayed for us on earth, how much more can they pray for us when they are with the Lord.
In Romans 8:35 we read:
35: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? ... For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Our Lord."
To reject the communion of the saints is to embrace a mad man's view of heaven. Heaven is not a place of isolationism where Jesus prohibits those who are with Him from having communion with each other and those still on earth. Those who reject the communion of the saints are bloated with a narcissistic self image thinking that heaven is all about them and Jesus, and no one else.
Is there any scriptural evidence to support the fact the Our Lord responds to intercession from others who intercede to Him on our behalf? Yes, the scriptures are replete with this fact.
Mark 2:4-5 is but one example of how Christ responded to intercession. We read:
4: "And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay."
5: "And when Jesus saw THEIR faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."
Jesus saw their faith, not the faith of the paralytic. If the paralytic had been a Protestant he would have been telling the others not to pray for him, not to intercede for him before the Lord. Were he a Protestant, he should have risen to his feel and scolded the Lord. He should have told the Lord that by healing him he gave believers a false belief in intercessory prayer. He should have lectured the Lord as to how the miracle that He performed on his deformed body due to the faith and intercession of others took away from His glory.
Is it not a fact that Protestants claim to pray for one another?
Yes, Protestants tell others they will "lift them up in prayer" before the Lord all the time. Yet, they fail to see, according to their own standards, they act as though they are "divine mediators" equal to Jesus Christ, the very assertion they have for Catholics. So, the question for them becomes, "Are they in league with the demons if they pray for one another?"
Protestants believe in the power of demons that conspire to harm us, do they not?
Yes. And since Protestants reject the communion of the saints it can only mean they believe more in the power of demons who gather to conspire against us than the power of those who are with God to help us. They would turn those who are with God into statues who cannot seen, hear, or speak. There would be no Kingdom of heaven on earth if Protestants had their way.
Who was it that turned everything upside down for Protestants? Demons conspire to harm us, while those with God cannot help us? Who convinced them of this if not the demon?
I'd like to touch briefly on how this relates to "suffering in the mystical body of Christ."
If Calvary is "over and done with," as Protestants assert, could Jesus literally suffer in His faithful? And if he does, what does that mean?
No, Calvary is NOT over and done with. Christ does in fact continue to suffer in His faithful, and this can only mean that Calvary is present to all time and place. When we come to exist we find that Christ was here in advance of us, waiting for us on Calvary, waiting for us to unite our suffering to His own where he offers "all" to His Father.
So Protestants cannot have it both ways. They cannot say that Jesus is in glory and can never suffer again, and then refute the "fact" that Jesus suffers in His faithful. The only solution to their contradiction is to accept the fact that Calvary is a "one time event" that is present to all time and place.
Does this mean that our sufferings become "co-redemptive" in Christ?
Yes, the prayers, the sacrifices, and therefore the sufferings of the saints are united to Christ as a sweet aroma that rises to God the Father in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
St. Peter tells us the saints can suffer and offer spiritual sacrifices in union with Christ's Priests who offer the Eucharistic sacrifice, and this is where the two sacrifices and offerings become one. This is where the suffering of the saints becomes grafted to Jesus in His "one sacrifice on Calvary for all time." He is the only mediator, the only "efficient cause who can effect redemption," yet He joins our sufferings to His own. And when the Father looks upon the "slain Lamb" He sees the suffering of His faithful mingled with the suffering of His own Son.
St. Paul tells us, Christ gives us the joy of helping others in His Mystical Body with him. This becomes an opportunity for us to be charitable towards those we love, those who persecute us, and for others who we may never even know in this life, only in the next. Jesus opens doors of opportunity for us in whatever suffering we encounter in life, and they are all crosses that lead to Calvary.
Can we support what we've just said in Scripture? Yes. St. Paul knew this reality very well.
In Colossians 1:24 we read:
24: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, the Church."
What is lacking in the afflictions of Christ? The suffering in His Mystical Body. When non-Catholics mock Catholics as being "mini-redeemers" they are mocking St. Paul, and countless others, who lived this reality for over 2,000 years, beginning with the martyrs who died for their faith. Christ was on the cross in every one of their deaths.
Jesus Himself tells us how He sees the other side of what St. Paul said. In fact, Christ shows us how He brought St. Paul to understand what the Catholic Church teaches on this matter.
In Acts 9:4-5 we read:
4: "And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute ME?"
5: "And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus whom you ARE persecuting."
This is irrefutable evidence from Jesus Himself that He is still suffering in His faithful, and I would note this is years after he ascended into glory.
I would also like to note that Jesus did NOT say,
- Why do you persecute those who believe in Me?
- Why are you persecuting My Church?
- Why are you persecuting My friends?
- Why are you persecuting My institution?
It would be impossible for Jesus to declare this reality if Calvary was not present to all time and place.
And we see the same in Hebrews 6:6:
6: "And are fallen away: to be renewed again to penance, CRUCIFYING AGAIN to themselves the Son of God, and making him a mockery."
It is very important to understand that when we consume the Sacrificial Lamb in the Mass, whatever it is that we suffer will be joined to His own suffering. Even the spiritual sacrifices that we offer when we are not at Mass all go to the Father through the Mass.
Is there other Scriptural evidence to confirm what we have been saying? Yes.
In Acts 22:7-8 we read:
7: "And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute ME?"
8: "And I answered, "Who are you, Lord?" And He said to me, "I am JESUS OF NAZARETH WHOM YOU ARE PERSECUTING."
And in Acts 26:14-15 we read:
14: "And when we had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew language, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute ME? It hurts you to kick against the goads."
15: "And I said, "Who are you, Lord?" And the Lord said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting."
St. Paul clearly understands that our suffering joined to the suffering of Christ is not a violation of the fact that Jesus is the only mediator between God and man.
Does St. Paul explain how this is possible? Yes, he does. And in fact, he explains "co-redemption" and that it is a reality rooted in the Power of God Himself.
Can this be shown in Scripture? Yes.
In 2nd Corinthians 4:7-12 we read:
7: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us."
We are the earthen vessel.
8: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair."
9: "Persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed."
10: "Always carrying in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies."
11: " For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh."
12: "So death is at work us in, but life in you."
St. Paul said, "Death is at work in us, but life in you." This is "co-redemption," and no one is closer to God in this reality than Mary, the Mother of the Lord.
Is it not also true that we are united as a family because we consume the "one bread" in the Mass? Yes.
In 8:34-39 we read:
34: "Who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us?"
I would also like to note that St. Paul also confirms that Jesus is in glory "interceding" for us. He does not say "Who HAS interceded for us."
35: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"
36: "As it is written, "For thy sake we are being killed all the day long, we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."
St. Paul is identifying our suffering as being joined to Christ who was led to the slaughter.
37: "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
38: "For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers"
39: "Nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
We are "One" IN the Lord IN the "One Bread."
Does St. Peter tell us the same? Yes, he tells us that we are bonded to God and therefore with each other in the Mass where we become partakers of His Divine Nature.
In 2nd Peter 1:4 we read:
4: "By which he has granted to us His precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature."
Does the Book of Revelation say the same? Yes.
In Revelation 2:7 we read:
7: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the Paradise of God."
Paradise was lost on earth in Eden, but it is restored in the Paradise of Heaven on earth where the earth is united to Heaven in the Holy Mass.
In Revelation 22:14 we read:
14: "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates."
This means we have to do something. It is not enough to say that Jesus died for me and that is enough. We must confess our sins, consume the Lamb of God in the Eucharist, and serve Him in love. This is how we wash our baptismal robes.
In Zechariah 12:10 we read:
10: "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look upon Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over Him, as one weeps over a first-born."
We need to understand that the saints play a very big role in our lives.
Roger L.
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