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 the teachings of the apostles 1. The Church Militant - The
- Communion of charisms pilgrims on earth
- Communion in the Sacraments 2. The Church Penitent -
and Prayers- especially Baptism
and the Eucharist Those who are being
- Communion of common goods- purified
in possession as we share 3. The Church Triumphant-
things in common
Those who are already
- Communion of charity
in glory
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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 15