Church of the Holy Spirit - Highland, Michigan

Ask Father Leo

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Q: "What do we mean when we say: 'we believe in the communion of saints?' I say the prayer so often and just accept it as it was written...but I don't know what it means exactly."

A: By the "communion of saints," we mean that all the faithful on earth, in purgatory, and in heaven are in union with each other. The word "communion" comes from two Latin words: "cum" (with) and "unio" (union). The communion of saints comes about by the Holy Spirit forming into one body these three groups who participate in Christ's life by Baptism. All who share the one Spirit through the one baptism become one body in Christ, also called the "Mystical Body of Christ." All the faithful on earth, in purgatory, and in heaven share the common life of the body (Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, nn. 49-51).

There are several ways we show the communion of saints on earth. First, we are united with the church community - in union with our bishop, and thus with the Church universal. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, we participate in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist; we pray for one another; we serve each other.

Prayer for the dead is an ancient custom (2 Mac 12:43-46) by which the faithful on earth and in heaven care for those in purgatory. Tertullian speaks of suffering after death which might be relieved by the intercession of the living, and mentions the practice of offering the Eucharist for the dead. St. Augustine does, as well. The Council of Trent (1563) affirmed that "a purgatory exists, and the souls in it can be assisted by the sacrifice of the Mass, prayers and other religious activities which the faithful normally offer.

Those in heaven are in a position to assist not only those in purgatory but also the faithful on earth, who have honored the saints in heaven and sought their intercession from the earliest days of Christianity. Sometimes, people ask Catholics: "Why do you pray to the saints? I pray to God without any intermediary?" And I say: "I pray to God directly, too." Yet, every faith does what we do, in reality. Every faith has prayer chains, or we ask individuals whom we know are people of prayer: "Will you pray for me or my intentions?" On religious TV programming, they will say: "Call the number at the bottom of the screen, and we will pray for you." You don't get God when you call; you get a human being." That's exactly what we do when we address the saints. We ask them to pray for us. We believe that they are alive, and they surround God's throne, seeing Him face to face. We have this whole army of saints, and even our relatives, who are praying for us. Pretty powerful, I believe.

All believers ("saints," as St. Paul calls us) are in one grand union with each other. How consoling! How joyful! This what we understand and believe by the "communion of saints."

Q: "While I was doing my homework in religion one night, I came across a sentence stating: 'Deacons were chosen to assist Church leaders (Acts 6:1-7). In some areas, deaconesses were also chosen.'" I have never heard this before. If this was true during the time of the early church, then why aren't there deaconesses participating in church services today?"

A: There is a good deal of evidence - some from the scriptures (also Rom 16:1 and I Tim 3:8-13) and elsewhere in the writings of church historians. Evidence from the patristic period is difficult to summarize. Ministry of women deacons, sometimes called deaconesses in patristic documents, varied from place to place. The ministry of women deacons flourished in the early Church, more so in the East than in the West. The Council of Chalcedon (451) speaks of their ordination. In the early centuries of the Church, women deacons were prominently engaged in liturgical ministry to women and children in the community. Very important was their preparation of women catechumens and their role in the baptismal anointing of women. Baptism of adults in the early Church involved the ritual removal of the old self - including clothing - as sign of accepting the new life of Christ. To preserve the aspect of modesty, deaconesses were utilized in this ritual. As infant baptism replaced adult baptism, the role of women deacons diminished. In Western Christianity their role ceased to exist around the sixth century; in Eastern Christianity women deacons continued to function until the eleventh century.

Now, as to why there are no deaconesses in the contemporary Church, we can look to the practice of the last nine centuries. The Church has not ordained deaconesses in the last nine hundred years because of the practice of not permitting ordination of women to the priesthood. Thus, by association, if women are not admitted to the priesthood, they are not admitted to the diaconate. I realize that there has been, and continues to be, much discussion about women's ordination. Our Pope, John Paul II, has reiterated the declaration against ordination of women to the priesthood. Though not a matter of faith, the practice ought to be received in good faith by the members of the Church. Certainly, in contemporary Catholicism, women engage in a variety of pastoral ministries historically associated with the diaconate. And I say: "Thank God! The Church joyfully and gratefully acknowledges, honors and blesses the ministries of all women in the Church. Though the ministries of women may not be of the ordained variety, they are KEY in the life and growth of the Church. We, as a Church, wouldn't be as rich without them.

God bless you!

Q: "In the face of the tragedy that happened on Tuesday, 9-11-01, my 11 year old son asked: 'Why would/how could God allow that to happen to all those innocent people? What was the purpose of that?'"

A: The presence of evil in the world has bothered people from the beginning of time. There are several aspects to this answer, and so I'll address them one at a time. God created all human beings with a free will. Because we have that free will, you and I can do what we choose. We can choose to do good or evil - to be in agreement with God's ways or against them. When God created us, He infallibly knew that we would be capable of sinning. At the same time, He chooses never to force us in any way to do good, or to obey Him. If we want to state it in a strange way, God is powerless in the face of our free will - something He freely created in us. However, being the great God that He is, He continues to give us His grace that helps us to do the right thing, even though we may reject that grace.

God always loves us; He can never stop doing that. If we could place human emotions on God, I can easily imagine Him sitting and crying over what took place, and what continues to take place. Through an act of violence and hatred, thousands of innocent people were murdered. A great outcry has gone throughout the world because of those acts.

NOW, PLEASE CONSIDER THIS. Every day, thousands of innocent children are murdered by means of abortion - and not very many people cry out over that abomination. In fact, violence and murder are the accepted law of the land! I couldn't help but think of that fact when I reflected on the events of 9-11. Morally, where does our society stand in comparison to the perpetrators of the recent massacre? When a society allows violence and murder, it sets the stage for further violence. Is it possible that God has allowed this tragic event to happen in order to be a wake-up call to come back to His ways? God doesn't CAUSE evil; but when it happens, He CAN bring good from it. We may not understand immediately how He does it, but He does it.

There is one thing we know for certain. Suffering is part of our human condition--whether it be from illness, misfortune, or because of the actions of other human beings. Unfortunately, it is part of everyone's life; we cannot escape it. Even Jesus Himself was not exempt from suffering. He, who was innocent, died a horrible death at the hands of human beings. But He took that suffering and made it the source of salvation for the whole world. In faith, when we suffer, we join ourselves to Jesus-and our suffering has the same benefit. I truly believe that people who die a violent death are most intimatelyunited with Jesus on the cross, and share His resurrection. Also, those who are left ehind to mourn are the closest to Mary at the foot of the cross. She knows what they are going through, and comforts them.

Fr. Walter Ciszek, a priest who was imprisoned for 23 years in Russia for being a "Vatican spy," said it in this way. "Much of the time, we go along, taking for granted that tomorrow will be very much like today, comfortable in the world we have created for ourselves, secure in the established order we have learned to live with, however imperfect it may be, and give little thought to God at all. Somehow, then, God must contrive to break through those routines of ours and remind us once again that we are ultimately dependent only upon Him...that His we are and that we must look to Him and turn to Him in everything. Then it is, perhaps, that He must allow our whole world to be turned upside-down...to bring us to our senses and restore our sense of values, to turn our thoughts once more to him - even if at first our thoughts are questioning and full of reproaches.

I am deeply saddened by the events of 9-11, and equally saddened by the daily events of violence in our society. We must continue to pray for change, stand up for our beliefs, and be ourselves people of peace, not violence. We must eliminate violent words, actions and thoughts from our lives. In these ways, we CAN help to build up the Body of Christ. Our God is so good and merciful! Trust in Him!

Q: "Why is it, when we pray the Creed, we say: "...on the third day He rose again"?

Q: "Is there a future possibility of a Parish Directory on the web? Are you using the Dreambook software? I am concerned about the Tabernacle location for our parish's future expansion plans."

A: Thanks for the interest and the comments. We have been counseled not to print the parish directory on line--simply because we would expose the telephone numbers to a world-wide audience. Many people do not want that. As far as the Dreambook software, we're only temporarily using the guestbook for our purposes--and no other software. Creating our own guest bookis the next priority for the Webmasters. The article you submitted to me (Holy Wreck-Catholics Battle over Architecture) was interesting, and it's a concern of most Catholics. It would be silly for me to give approval to the kind of renovation that destroys all vestiges of our tradition--primarily because it does not fit good theology, which is my theology. My thrust, and the thrust of the liturgical committee in our parish, is to honor the Blessed Sacrament in themost beautiful and respectful way possible.The tabernacle will be visible in the church, in the altar area.

What I invision for our Eucharistic chapel is a chapel for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. It will be a place to pray silently in adoration--or perhaps to pray orally with each other in the presence of Jesus. It will be joined to the church building, but also separated in a definitive way. This is required by the diocese, since a church may not have two different tabernacles in the same building. The tabernacle of reservation of the Blessed Sacrament in the main body of the church will have a place of honor, in the front. As you know, liturgically the altar area has two distinct qualities--the active act of offering the sacrifice of the Mass at the altar, and the passively active act of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament--looking back at the last time we received Holy Communion, and looking forward to the next time we will be able to receive. Both areas deserve their unique space.

As you know also, I follow the decisions of Vatican II, love the traditions of the past and preserve them as much as possible, and could not see myself or our church ever going back to pre-Vatican II. Once again, thanks for your interest.

Q: "I am an attorney interested in learning more about the Canon Law of the Catholic Church. Are there courses I could take? What is the level of involvement a lay person can reach in participating in administering the Canon Laws? The most common situation seems to involve divorced Catholics seeking anullments, but I'm sure there are other, less common situations that arise. What might some of those be? Thank you for your anticipated guidance on this subject."

Q: "What is the meaning of the INRI that is above Jesus on the cross?"

Q: "I know according to Catholic doctrine we are saved by faith and good works. A co-worker of mine asked if you could explain what Paul meant in Ephesians 2:8-9: 'For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works; so no one may boast.'"

A: To begin with, it is important to say that the Catholic doctrine of justification, or being saved, is truly based on this statement from Ephesians. We fully believe that it is only God, and God alone who gives the gift of faith. Nobody can earn it. He doesn't give faith because of what we do. Faith is God's free-will gift to us. Nobody can boast, or claim the credit for that faith.

However, the fullness of that teaching is expressed in the complementary statement from the letter of St. James 2:14-26. This text speaks about the necessity of doing good works to show one's faith. "You say you have faith and I have good deeds; I will prove to you that I have faith by showing you my good deeds - now you prove to me that you have faith without any good deeds to show. You believe in the one God - that is creditable enough; but the demons have the same belief and they tremble with fear. Do you realize, you senseless man, that faith without good deeds is useless? You surely know that Abraham our father was justified by his deed, because he offered his son on the altar; his faith became perfect by what he did.

This is what scripture really means when it says: 'Abraham put his faith in God, and this was counted as making him justified.'" In other words, we first have the GIFT of faith; and our good works necessarily must emanate from that faith. Theological discussions within the ecumenical movement since World War I have brought surprising agreement in the theology of justification. We know now that neither St. Thomas Aquinas nor the Council of Trent held for justification mainly by human works.

We know also that Luther himself spoke of an inner change and of a life fruitful in the love of neighbor. The Catholic Church has emphasized the sovereign plan and activity of God in Church, sacraments and Christian life - meaning that His grace is first and foremost necessary for salvation and good works. Because this topic delves into the mystery of how God is present in fallen human life, justification remains a fundamental theological issue and is still central issue underlying differences in the Christian churches. That's sadness for all, because the theologies seem to dovetail and agree; and the differences seem to be more of a semantic nature. What we can all do is pray as Jesus prayed: "That all may be one, as You are, Father, in Me, and I in You."

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