Chapter
10

A Potpourri of Piety

In This Chapter

What is the communion of saints?

Devotion to the Virgin Mary

The forgiveness of sins

Resurrection of the body and the end of time

Heaven, hell, and purgatory

We are now moving into the final section of the creed. As you run through the last sentences of either creed, it would be easy to think this is the catchall at the end, as if the Church fathers figured they’d better throw in everything. But that’s not how this works.

The final part of the creed, every word and phrase, grows out of the earlier sections and spells out a significant Catholic belief. In the earlier parts of the creed, the focus is on the three per-sons of the Trinity. In the latter part of the creed, the focus shifts to the works of the Trinity. We’ve already covered the Church, which is one of those works. Now we’ll take a look at the rest.

In this chapter, we will go from the saints and Mary, to death and resurrection, to hell and final judgment. In one fell swoop in the last section of the creed, the Church gives us some of its most critical beliefs and doctrines.

Communion of Saints

In the final lines of the Apostles’ Creed, right after professing a belief in the Church itself, the prayer moves on to the communion of saints. The Catechism explains that this is a natural progression because the Church is, in a real sense, an “assembly of saints.” So the communion of saints is the Church itself. (946)

Church Speak

The Latin term for communion of saints is communio sanctorum, which refers to the souls in purgatory, all of us here on earth, and the saints in heaven.

The Church teaches that the communion of saints, or the People of God, hold everything in common, meaning every Christian should be ready and willing to come to the aid of a neighbor, especially the poorest of the poor.

We see this in Scripture when the communal life of the early Christian community is discussed:

They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need. (Acts 2:42)

Now, the entire Catholic population cannot all live together at this point and share everything in common because there are simply too many Catholics spread throughout the world to make that physically possible. But they do share everything spiritually, and those smaller communities of Catholics—dioceses or individual parishes—do hold many things in common and support one another both spiritually, through prayer, and physically, through charity and service.

When many people hear the phrase “communion of saints,” they probably assume the Church is referring to actual saints in heaven, and this line does include them, but not only them. The Catechism explains there are “three states of the Church”: those Catholics living on earth right now, those Catholics who have died and are still undergoing purification, and those who have reached God himself in heaven. The saints fall into that last category. (954)

The Church teaches that the saints, who are closely united to Christ, can intercede on behalf of the faithful still on earth. In other words, Catholics can pray to the saints, asking them to go to the Father as a mediator.

You’re Absolved If …

You may think Catholics worship saints and pray to them in the same way they pray to God, but they do not. Catholics, like Christians of many other denominations, can and do pray directly to God. Catholics acknowledge that their prayers are always to be made through Jesus. However, the Catholic Church teaches that the saints, who are already with God and who are also in union with us, can join their prayer with ours. It’s like asking a friend to help you with something. The saints listen to our prayers and then join us in putting those prayers before God on our behalf. Think of saints as connections in heaven.

How Does Mary Help?

Even though neither of the creeds specifically mentions the Virgin Mary at this point, she does have a logical connection to this part of the creed. We have to remember that Mary is “Saint Mary,” meaning that she is part of the communion of saints we just discussed.

Earlier in the creed we talked about Mary’s role in the Incarnation. Now, the Catechism explains, we need to talk about Mary’s role in the “mystery of the Church.” (963)

Through her “yes” to bear the Son of God, Mary became a collaborator with God’s plan. So wherever Jesus is Savior, Mary is mother. The Catechism explains that Mary’s role in the life of the Church is “inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it.” (964)

As if those credentials aren’t impressive enough, Mary is also known as the “Mother of God,” which is pretty radical stuff. Mary, a completely mortal woman, is called God’s mother because Jesus and God are one. So if Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, and she is, then she is the Mother of God.

In the Gospel of John, when Jesus was dying on the cross, he turned to his mother and to the “beloved disciple” and said, “Woman, behold your son.” (John 19:26) With those words, the Church teaches, Jesus did not give his mother to just one person but to all those disciples who follow him.

Church Speak

The Assumption refers to Church teaching that Mary, as a result of her preservation from original sin and by virtue of her role as the mother of God’s Son, was taken up to heaven body and soul at the end of her earthly life. Through this she uniquely participates in the resurrection of her son and serves as an icon of hope for all Christians. The feast of the Assumption is August 15. (966)

The Church’s devotion to Mary can be confusing to some non-Catholics. Mary is not worshipped and she is not adored as the Holy Trinity is worshipped and adored. However, the Church teaches and the Catechism explains that devotion to Mary is “intrinsic to Christian worship” and that she has been honored as the Mother of God since ancient times. (971)

Devotion to Mary is expressed through special feasts dedicated to her name and through “Marian” prayers, such as the Rosary, which the Catechism explains embodies all the teachings of the Gospel. (971)

Teachable Moment

The Rosary is both a prayer devoted to Mary and a string of beads consisting of five sets of ten small beads. The sets of ten are called “decades,” with a larger bead between each set. On the larger beads, you pray the Our Father, also known as the Lord’s Prayer, and on each of the smaller beads, a Hail Mary, which is the central prayer to Mary in the Catholic Church. To say a complete Rosary, you go around all the beads four times. For each of the decades, you reflect on an aspect of the Lord’s life, known as “mysteries.” There are four sets of mysteries: joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious. So even though you are saying prayers devoted to Mary, you are focusing on the most significant moments in the life of Christ. (For more information on how to pray the Rosary, see the appendix on prayer at the back of this book.)

The Power to Forgive Sins

The Apostles’ Creed next addresses the “forgiveness of sins,” which it links to faith in the Holy Spirit as well as faith in the Church and the communion of saints. (976) The Church teaches that Jesus himself instituted the ability of the Church to forgive sins in his name, when, after his Resurrection, he gave his apostles the power to do so.

“Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained,” Jesus said. (John 20:22-23)

The Catechism explains that sins are first forgiven during the sacrament of baptism. When sins are committed after baptism, the faithful can turn to the sacrament of reconciliation (also known as confession or penance), which we will discuss at length in Chapter 13. “It is through the sacrament of penance that the baptized can be reconciled with God and with the Church,” the Catechism explains. (980)

Life Everlasting

The Apostles’ Creed concludes with a belief in “the resurrection of the body and life everlasting,” which we will look at individually, but which, of course, are intricately intertwined.

Resurrection of the Body

What does the “resurrection of the body” mean in the Catholic faith? It means not only that our souls will live after our death but also at the end of all time our bodies will be reunited with our souls and will live for all eternity.

The term “body” can also be translated as “flesh,” which, the Catechism explains, refers to humanity’s “weakness and mortality.” Through the resurrection of the flesh, the creed professes that even the mortal body will come to life again one day. (990)

So how do the dead rise up? Well, let’s begin with Jesus. He died on a cross, and he was buried in a tomb, but three days later that tomb was empty and a community of disciples were a witness to the resurrected Lord. Catholics believe just as Jesus Christ rose from the dead so shall all believers rise from the dead at the end of time. (995)

The Church teaches that after we die our souls live on but our bodies decay. At the last judgment, which we will discuss momentarily, God will raise up our mortal bodies and transform them into “glorious” or “spiritual” bodies. (999) How this will actually happen no one can really know because, as the Catechism explains, it “exceeds our imagination and understanding” and yet is based on the belief in Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension. (1000)

Church Speak

Parousia refers to Jesus Christ’s “second coming,” which will coincide with “last days” or the end of the world as we know it. References to the Second Coming appear throughout the New Testament. At that time, Christ will judge the living and the dead.

In the Catholic faith, and the Christian faith in general, death is not a negative thing but rather an opportunity to live with God for all eternity. The Church teaches that through the sacrament of baptism believers die with Christ in order to live a new life, and that in physical death we complete the act and are united with him. (1010) Of course, in order for this to happen, we must die in “Christ’s grace,” which means we should be preparing for it all along through prayer and living out the Gospel and seeking forgiveness for our sins.

Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory

When we die, we enter into “eternal life” or “life everlasting,” which starts at the moment of our death and has no end. But before we get to our eventual eternal destination, we have to make an important stop along the way: judgment.

Yes, that’s right. We’re not going to waltz right into heaven without paying a cover charge. The Church teaches that Jesus is going to take a look at what we’ve done—or haven’t done—and make a decision based on that.

So what are our options? Well, the most sought-after destination is heaven, of course, but all is not lost if you don’t make it to heaven straight off the bat. There are opportunities for “purification” if you haven’t been living up to the Golden Rule. The last option, which no one wants to think about, is hell. Let’s take a closer look at each.

Heaven is the goal. This is where, if we die in God’s grace and are already purified, we get to meet Jesus Christ face to face and remain there forever. (1023) So when we talk about heaven, we’re not talking about walking on clouds and eating chocolate all day; we’re talking about achieving the “fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.” (1024)

In heaven we will not only be united with the triune God but also with Mary, the angels, and all those who have died before us and have made it to heaven as well, the Church teaches.

Now, if you’re not quite up to heaven’s standards, there is the possibility of purgatory. This is not so much a place as it is a “final purification.” It means when you died, you were not quite perfect but you certainly weren’t so bad off that you should be damned for all eternity. (1030)

Going to purgatory means eventually you are going to achieve eternal salvation and perfect union with God and with everyone else in heaven—you just might have to spend a few days or years or centuries working out the kinks.

The Church teaches that those souls who are doing time in purgatory can be helped on their path by the rest of us still doing time down here. By praying for them, offering Masses for them, and offering alms or doing penance on their behalf, we can get them the equivalent of time served.

Teachable Moment

Purgatory is based in Scripture. In St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, he uses the metaphor of a building to discuss God’s judgment after death, “… if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire.” (1 Cor 3:15) The fire is the purification of purgatory, as opposed to the pains of hell, through which no one can ever be saved, according to the Church.

So now we get to hell—well, not literally, thank goodness. The Church teaches once you go to hell you cannot come back. It’s a one-way ticket. Do not pass Go; do not collect $200. There’s no way to put this gently: Hell is eternal damnation, and it is reserved for anyone who dies in a state of “mortal sin without repenting.” The Catechism says hell is a “state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and with the blessed.” (1033)

Hell means you never, ever get to see God and all the others in heaven for all eternity. Jesus talked about Gehenna and its unquenchable fires, and he didn’t mince words:

Just as weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. (Matthew 13:40–42)

That pretty much says it all, but take heart. The Church teaches that no one is predestined to go to hell. We each get to make a choice, but the main way to get there is by willfully choosing to reject God without ever accepting his mercy before death. (1037)

The Final Judgment

We talked about the resurrection of the dead, when our mortal bodies will be joined with our souls at the end of time. So when this happens, it means Christ has come again and the world has ended. Therefore, this is it, no more chances.

At this point, which is known as the “last judgment,” the presence of Jesus Christ will bare the truth of each person’s relationship with God. Based on what is revealed, Jesus will disclose a final judgment about where you will spend all eternity. (1039)

Because only God knows the date and time of this world-ending event, the Church continually urges its members to be ready: “Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:13)

New Hope

As desperate as all of this can start to sound, the Church—based on Scripture again—reminds us the “righteous” will get to reign forever in heaven with Jesus Christ. (1042)

Quoting from the Book of Revelation, the Catechism says in this “heavenly Jerusalem” every tear will be wiped away and death will be no more. There will be no suffering or mourning or pain.

So if you can get to heaven, you can look forward to an eternity of joy and happiness, beyond anything we can imagine here on earth.

The Least You Need to Know

The saints are those people whose souls are now in heaven, and who, through their closeness to Christ, are able to intercede on our behalf.

Devotion to the Virgin Mary, which dates to ancient times, is an integral part of the Catholic faith. Mary is the first disciple, a model for all Christians, and the Mother of God.

Jesus instituted the sacrament of penance when he told the apostles that what they forgave on earth would be forgiven in heaven and what they held bound on earth would be held bound in heaven.

The resurrection of the body means at the end of the world our mortal bodies will be reunited with our souls.

After death, souls can go to heaven, hell, or purgatory, which is a place of purification for those who were not yet perfect when they died.

At the last judgment, Jesus will reveal the truths about our lives on earth and will disclose our final and eternal resting place accordingly.