What is the “communion of saints”? This theme was an important theological reality for Fr. Christian de Chergé the superior of the Atlas community. We just celebrated the solemnity of All Saints which honors all those unknown saints and there are many. This was an important theme for Fr. Thomas Merton as well who reflects on what it means to be a saint and ponders if this is not the calling of all Christians. As Fr. Steve said in his homily on All Saints: “We are becoming holy. We are in process.” The implication of this is that none of us is perfect; we are working toward the end goal, fullness of life in the Divine Mystery. Our immediate goal then is ‘purity of heart’, deepening in self-knowledge, giving our all to joining our will with God’s will.
Fr. Christian de Chergé said: “Since the Spirit began to circulate freely between heaven and earth, there is no longer any visible boundary among people” (A Theology of Hope, Christian Salenson, p.104). This “communion of saints” is how Chergé images or describes the Church. He continues: “Because we are turned toward the communion of saints…we cannot claim to be converted by ourselves: we need others (all others), in order to complete what is missing in our conversion, and they need us” (p.105). Let us together hold his reflection close to our awareness: to complete what is missing in our conversion we need each other, you need me, and I need you, and this extends beyond our community to all people. We live and move and have our being in the Spirit of Christ and so we are “already in the communion of saints, even while we are still on pilgrimage toward it” (p.105). We form one body, one communion embodying the gospel Word of life and love. Christian Salesnon, who studied the theological thinking of Chergé, said that Chergé called the Church “the incarnation of the mystery of the communion of saints” and “he also referred to the Church as ‘continuous incarnation’” (p.106). These are profound images depicting what the essence of what we are each called to live out in our lives. ‘The incarnation of the communion of saints’; ‘continuous incarnation’: such is what lies at the center of gospel living. We need to continue Christ’s work…our lives are to embody the love that has no conditions, that stretches to include one’s enemy, that is about unconditional forgiveness.
“Continuous incarnation”: We are here because we are continuing to live the gospel way, a way where we continue to incarnate the Spirit of Christ, where Love, his unconditional love, is at the center of the ministry…And because of this existential reality of ‘continuous incarnation’ we are able to say as Pope Francis encouraged us in The Joy of the Gospel: “I am a mission on this earth” (p.132). And added to this are these profound words of Christian de Chergé: “Like all the mysteries of the Kingdom, the mystery of the communion of saints depends on the disciples of Christ to provide the channel for its incarnation. Therefore, we must signify this union of the beyond by means of the quasi-sacrament of loving harmony among us from this very moment” (A Theology of Hope, p.107). Each one of us, is the channel for Christ’s continuous incarnation. This is the pilgrimage we are on; this is the larger horizon of what we are about each day. This is the communion of saints lived with those who have gone before us and those of us who form the ‘living’ now.
To repeat: conversion alone is not possible. In and through our conversion we “anticipate the communion of saints.” Conversion is the “necessary prelude to the communion of saints” (104-105). Fr. Christian said: “The common life continues to be a slow conversion during which the communion of saints is worked out, a difficult combat founded on faith that one day the face of God will be all in all and that it is imperative for us from this very moment to seek out this all, the face of God in every person” (p.104). Continuous incarnation: this links us to the communion of saints and it calls us daily to change our lives so that we indeed are channels of Christ’s life and Spirit. The fruit of this pilgrimage is the growing capacity to see the face of God in every person. This is the way of Jesus and it is to be our way, keeping in mind our communion with those who have struggled and lived this on-going incarnation of Christ’s life.
Sr. Kathy DeVico, Abbess
Chapter Talk – 31st Sunday of the Year – November 3, 2024, cycle-B
