The Church as a

Communion of
Saints

Charity is the voluntary

giving of help to those in
need.
 We are the Body of Christ

CHURCH CHRIST
- An assembly of God’s people - The head of this body, which
called to come together in is the Church
communion to partake of - The image of the invisible
that one bread who is Christ. God

All of the members must be formed to His likeness until Christ be formed
in them. For this reason, we who have been made like to Him, who have
died with Him and risen with Him, are taken up into the mysteries of His
life, until we reign together with Him.

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 Acts 2: 42
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

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 We are the Body of Christ

When God sent His Son into the world as Messiah, His
aim of intervention in our lives is to establish the new
people of God- the community of saints. The Church
grew among those who were the official witnesses of
Jesus. In faith and baptism, an individual is fused into the
community, that is, it numbers them among the saints ,
the people who made up of those redeemed by the Lord.

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 Christians- those who
respond to the call of
Jesus to come and
follow Him.

Christ’s people are considered holy

or saints, because they have
been sanctified.
 SANCTIFICATION

TO THE
THROUGH
FROM KINGDOM
FAITH
SIN AND OF LIFE
AND
DEATH AND
BAPTISM
JUSTICE

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 HOLY SPIRIT
The agent of to our holiness as Christ’s followers.
Makes us temples of God

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 “
It is only through our
being in communion as
Church , that we will
have the strength to
sustain our redemptive
state.

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TWO MEANINGS OF THE PHRASE “THE COMUNION OF SAINTS”

1. COMMUNION ON HOLY THINGS (SANCTA)

2. COMMUNION IN HOLY PEOPLE (SANCTI)

Both senses are true of the Church.

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 THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS

SANCTA SANCTI- Three States

- Communion in faith- by taking to heart
1. The Church Militant - The
the teachings of the apostles
pilgrims on earth
- Communion of charisms
- Communion in the Sacraments and 2. The Church Penitent - Those
Prayers- especially Baptism and the who are being purified
Eucharist
3. The Church Triumphant-
- Communion of common goods- in
possession as we share things in Those who are already in
common glory
- Communion of charity

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 COMMUNION ON HOLY THINGS

⬗ 949 In the primitive community of Jerusalem, the disciples "devoted

themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the
bread and the prayers."482
⬗ Communion in the faith. The faith of the faithful is the faith of the Church,
received from the apostles. Faith is a treasure of life which is enriched by
being shared.

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 COMMUNION ON HOLY THINGS

⬗ 950 Communion of the sacraments. "The fruit of all the sacraments

belongs to all the faithful. All the sacraments are sacred links uniting the
faithful with one another and binding them to Jesus Christ, and above all
Baptism, the gate by which we enter into the Church. The communion of
saints must be understood as the communion of the sacraments. . . . The
name 'communion' can be applied to all of them, for they unite us to God.
. . . But this name is better suited to the Eucharist than to any other,
because it is primarily the Eucharist that brings this communion about."483

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 COMMUNION ON HOLY THINGS

⬗ 951 Communion of charisms. Within the communion of the Church, the

Holy Spirit "distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank" for
the building up of the Church.484 Now, "to each is given the manifestation
of the Spirit for the common good."485
⬗ 952 "They had everything in common."486 "Everything the true Christian
has is to be regarded as a good possessed in common with everyone
else. All Christians should be ready and eager to come to the help of the
needy . . . and of their neighbors in want."487 A Christian is a steward of
the Lord's goods.488

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 COMMUNION ON HOLY THINGS

⬗ 953 Communion in charity. In the sanctorum communio, "None of us lives

to himself, and none of us dies to himself."489 "If one member suffers, all
suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you
are the body of Christ and individually members of it."490 "Charity does not
insist on its own way."491 In this solidarity with all men, living or dead,
which is founded on the communion of saints, the least of our acts done in
charity redounds to the profit of all. Every sin harms this communion.

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 THE COMMUNION OF THE CHURCH OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

954 The three states of the Church. "When the Lord comes in glory, and all his angels with
him, death will be no more and all things will be subject to him. But at the present time
some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified, while
still others are in glory, contemplating 'in full light, God himself triune and one, exactly as
he is"':492
All of us, however, in varying degrees and in different ways share in the same charity towards God and
our neighbors, and we all sing the one hymn of glory to our God. All, indeed, who are of Christ and
who have his Spirit form one Church and in Christ cleave together.493

955 "So it is that the union of the wayfarers with the brethren who sleep in the peace of
Christ is in no way interrupted, but on the contrary, according to the constant faith of the
Church, this union is reinforced by an exchange of spiritual goods."494

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