Words for life:
St.Paul compares the Church to a human body. Each of us is a member and together we form one body which is the Church.
This vision of the Church as a body in which we are all members, helps to explain what we mean in the Creed: «the communion of the saints». As we believers are all joined by the Holy Spirit in Church, there is a pooling of gifts among us: we share the faith, the sacraments and our material goods. We are also attentive to each other and just as we benefit from the gifts of others, so we make our own contribution.
This «communion of the saints» also means the communion of Christians within the three states of the Church:
– The itinerant Church
– The cleansing Church, made up of the deceased who are being purified in Purgatory, the blessed souls.
– The triumphant Church, in glory contemplating the face of God.
