Every Sunday, millions of Christians stand up and say:

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints…”

It is right there in the Apostles’ Creed.

Catholics say it.

Lutherans say it.

Methodists say it.

But ask the person next to you what “the communion of saints” means, and you will probably get a long pause.

It means death does not break up the family of God.

Wait… What Is the Communion of Saints?

A lot of people assume the phrase just means:

“All the Christians who are alive right now.”

And that is part of it.

But then you start reading a few passages and you have to stop for a second.

Because the Bible describes a family of believers that stretches across heaven and earth.

And the members of that family are still connected.

One Body

St. Paul describes the Church as a body, with Christ as its head.

“And if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it; or if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members of member.”
— 1 Corinthians 12:26–27

Members of one body share life.

When your foot hurts, your whole body knows it.

When one Christian suffers, the whole Church suffers with him.

When one rejoices, the whole Church rejoices.

That is the communion of saints.

“Communion” means sharing.

“Saints” is what the New Testament calls all of Christ’s holy people.

Does Death Cut You Off?

Here is the key question.

When a Christian dies, does he stop being part of the Body of Christ?

St. Paul answers:

“For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
— Romans 8:38–39

Neither death nor life.

Death cannot cut a Christian off from Christ.

And if you are still united to Christ, you are still united to His Body.

Jesus does not have one body on earth and a separate body in heaven.

He has one.

The Church in Three Places

Catholics describe the one family of God as being in three places at once.

On earth, Christians still in the fight. Traditionally called the Church Militant.

In purgatory, Christians who died in God’s friendship but are still being purified. Traditionally called the Church Suffering.

In heaven, the saints who already see God face to face. Traditionally called the Church Triumphant.

Three places.

One family.

One Body.

The Catechism puts it this way: some of Christ’s disciples are pilgrims on earth, others have died and are being purified, and others are in glory, but all share in the same love of God (CCC 954).

You Have Already Come to Heaven

Hebrews describes what happens when Christians gather to worship:

“But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels, and to the church of the firstborn, who are written in the heavens, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect.”
— Hebrews 12:22–23

Wait.

You are come.

Present tense.

When Christians worship, they join the angels and “the spirits of the just made perfect,” the saints in heaven.

That is why at every Mass, before the “Holy, Holy, Holy,” the priest says we sing with the angels and all the saints.

The congregation is a lot bigger than it looks.

A Family That Helps Each Other

In a healthy family, members help each other.

The same is true in the family of God.

Christians on earth pray for each other. St. James says to “pray one for another” (James 5:16).

Christians on earth pray for the dead. Scripture calls it “a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead” (2 Machabees 12:46). See Why Catholics Pray for the Dead.

The saints in heaven pray for us. St. John saw their prayers rising before God’s throne (Revelation 5:8, 8:4). See Why Catholics Pray to the Saints.

Prayer flows in every direction.

Like a family dinner where everyone is passing the food around the table.

A Cloud of Witnesses

Hebrews 11 lists the heroes of faith: Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and many more.

Then Hebrews 12 begins:

“And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head… let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us.”
— Hebrews 12:1

The saints who went before us are not gone.

They are watching the race.

And they are cheering for us.

It Changes How You Grieve

This is where the communion of saints stops being theology and becomes personal.

When a Christian you love dies, the relationship is not over.

You can still pray for them.

They can still pray for you.

You are still family.

St. Paul says Christians should not grieve “even as others who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:12).

The communion of saints is part of that hope.

The people we love who died in Christ are not out of reach.

They are just in another room of the same house.

It Changes How You Live

It also means you are never praying alone.

When you kneel by your bed at night, you are joining a prayer that never stops, in heaven and on earth.

When you suffer, the whole Body feels it.

When you grow in holiness, the whole Body benefits.

Nobody is a private Christian.

Your life of faith is always a family affair.

So What Is the Catholic Claim?

Here it is in simple terms.

The Church is one Body with Christ as its head.

Death cannot separate a Christian from Christ, so it cannot separate him from Christ’s Body.

That Body is on earth, in purgatory, and in heaven, all at once.

The members pray for one another, help one another, and worship God together.

Christians have confessed this in the Apostles’ Creed for well over fifteen hundred years.

So the real question is not:

“What does the communion of saints have to do with me?”

The better question is:

“How big is my family, really?”

Because the answer is bigger than you think, and it includes everyone who belongs to Christ, in heaven and on earth.

Keep reading: Why Catholics Pray for the Dead, or browse more questions in Catholicism Explained.

If this helped you, consider supporting Christian Catholic Media so we can keep creating content.

Catholic Sources

Scripture (Douay-Rheims): 2 Machabees 12:46; Romans 8:38–39; 1 Corinthians 12:12–27; 1 Thessalonians 4:12; Hebrews 11–12; James 5:16; Revelation 5:8, 8:3–4.

Catechism of the Catholic Church: CCC 946–962 (the communion of saints); CCC 954–959 (the three states of the Church).

Creeds: The Apostles’ Creed.

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