cloister_reconciliation

Somehow that caught my poetic imagination. I don’t remember knowing what it all meant, however. For example, concretely what is the Communion of Saints?

I still find myself being somewhat embarrassed when someone says: “Oh, you’re so holy,” knowing how far from the truth that is. But is it? What bonds us together as the People of God if not the union we share in Jesus’ own life, this gift we all received in Baptism. We share these same family ties with three different groups: those who have arrived safely Home with God, those who are being prepared ever more deeply to fully accept this Homecoming, and those of us who are “still on the way” walking by faith on our beautiful planet.

We each know different folks in each group, but nonetheless, we’re the same family, we are the Communion of Saints. In the first group are my grandparents, my parents, my brother Pat, the McCauleys who lived up the block from us, all the people who knew and now remember what it meant to walk by faith. In the second group are those who for different reasons desire to prepare themselves even further in order “to see God face to face.” And then there is my group, “walking the walk” every day, not “seeing” but taking Jesus at His word: “You will be with me in Paradise.”

Each group is united with the one life, the life of Jesus’ Spirit, and each group can influence the other. For example, Pat was assigned as my “guardian angel” when I was born, meaning he was to “take care of his little sister” while Mother took care of the other five and prepared for number seven. Today I know Pat helps me in tangible ways, being even closer now, and far more competent! A cry from me brings help more surely than when he was nearby physically.

In this same group we find our five Martyrs of Charity, ordinary women who walked the ways of love and faith in Liberia, and whose presence to their brothers and sisters there continues to be real in unseen ways. Our presence to one another is only limited by eye-sight, the same as the tangible yet non-seeable realities of breath and life, of love and truth. We often have labeled only this group the saints, but St. Paul with his “Greet the saints with a holy kiss” knew that the reality included ALL who share this union.

Is it the “walking by faith” group that is most forgetful of this reality? The group that smells of sweat but also of loving service, that rubs elbows with us daily and also at times “rubs our fur the wrong way,” whose humanity can offend us and whose humility in asking our pardon can edify us, Are these too not saints? Yes, it’s true, and November is about remembering what is too good to be true: those who went ahead are “rooting” for us, are beside us as we climb God’s holy mountain. Perhaps the invitation is all too clear: the other mountain climbers are also in this group for those who have the eyes to see and who take time to “remember” Who bonds us in our Communion of Saints.

Mary Kevin Rooney, asc

Reflection:

Look carefully at your companions. See beyond eyesight. We walk among the saints.
In seeing evil actions in our world remember that those who perform them are also called to holiness. They are our brothers and sisters. “Bless those who persecute you.” Love them.
Remember those who have gone Home. Thank God for what they have been to you, to us.

US Mission Center, 4233 Sulphur Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63109, 877-272-1870
Vocation Office, 1400 South Sheridan Rd., Wichita, KS 67213 - Telephone: 877-ADORERS (877-236-7377)
(Copyright 2005 Adorers of the Blood of Christ)