The communion of saints.
139. The communion of saints means that all the Christian faithful, as members of the one body which is the Church, share mutually in each other's spiritual goods, and are also united spiritually with the souls in purgatory and the saints in heaven.
The word communion means communication.
The word saints means the faithful who are in the grace of God.
Spiritual goods are grace, prayers and other good works.
The faithful who are in the grace of God are living members of the same mystical body, of which Our Lord Jesus Christ is the head.
In a body, the head makes its influence felt in all its members, and the goods of one are the goods of the others.
The communion of saints extends also to the Church triumphant and purgative.
We commend ourselves to the Saints of heaven and can relieve the souls in purgatory.
The Saints in heaven pray to God for us and for the souls in purgatory.
Those who are in mortal sin participate only in the external goods of worship and the prayers of the just to obtain forgiveness.
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Treasure of the Church
The treasure of the Church is formed by the propitiatory, impetratory and satisfactory part of the good works done by the just.
Every good work done in the grace of God is meritorious, propitiatory, impetratory and satisfactory.
Meritorious: it earns merits and rewards for heaven.
Propitiatory: it placates divine justice.
Impetratory: it obtains graces from the Lord.
Satisfactory: it satisfies the temporal punishment due for sins.
The meritorious part belongs to the one who practices the good work: it cannot be ceded.
The other parts can be ceded: with them the treasure of the Church is formed.
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Merit of good works
Good works, by reason of merit, can be living, dead and mortified.
Living are those that are done in the grace of God.
As long as God's grace lasts, they are worthy of merit and eternal reward.
Dead, are those that are made in mortal sin.
They will never have reward or merit.
What a sad thing it is to live in mortal sin! In such a state, even if one does very good works, one will not obtain any reward for them in eternity.
Nevertheless, the more good works a sinner does, the easier it is for him to obtain the grace of conversion.
Mortified are the good works done in the grace of God, if mortal sin occurs.
As long as mortal sin lasts, they are as good as dead; but, if the grace of God is recovered, they are alive again.
For good works to be meritorious, they must be done with the right intention of pleasing God.
Good works do not all have the same merit, but some are much more meritorious than others; and it can even happen that a single one has more merit than many others put together.
Good works can be obligatory and non-obligatory or supererogatory.
Obligatory are those that are commanded under pain of guilt, such as hearing Mass on feast days.
Supererogatory are those that are not obligatory, such as hearing Mass daily.
The good works most recommended by God in Sacred Scripture are:
1º Prayer, that is, acts related to divine worship, such as the Holy Mass, etc.
2º Fasting or works of mortification.
3º Almsgiving or works of charity and mercy.
The true riches are the good works done in the grace of God.
The magnitude of the reward should excite us to practice many good works.
A good deed and the smallest act of virtue is a greater and more glorious thing than all the achievements of the most celebrated conquerors, than the most important negotiations, and than the conquest and government of an empire.
Faith teaches us this and reason itself convinces us of it, for all this is but the glory of the creature, while good works and acts of virtue procure the glory of the Creator.
From this it must be inferred that there is no comparison, no proportion between the one and the other.
This truth well understood, what an encouragement it instills in good souls to practice all those works that can contribute to the glory of God! What fervor in all the exercises of piety! What contempt for all that is not of God, nor has any relation to his glory!
When I read in the Gospel that a cup of cold water given to a poor person will not go unrewarded, I say to myself: "Well, what will become of other infinite good works of greater importance, which are easy for me, if I do them for God, who promises me as a reward an infinite good for an eternity?
I slowly weigh these three things: an infinite good, an eternity and an action of an instant, which is so easy for me, and I am surprised to see my blindness: should I not dedicate myself without respite to carefully take advantage of all the moments of my life to employ them in good works? An infinite good for so little! An eternal bliss for such a brief moment of work!
Shortly after the death of a very pious person, he appeared radiant with glory to another, and said to him:
“I am very happy; but if I could wish for anything, it would be to return to my last illness and suffer much, in order to merit more glory”; adding that he would like to suffer until the day of judgment all the pains he had suffered during his last illness, in order to obtain only the glory that corresponds to the merit of a single Hail Mary [well prayed].
ARTICLE X
THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS
140. The forgiveness of sins means that Jesus Christ gave his Church the power to forgive all sins.
The Church can forgive all sins, however many and however grave they may be, because Jesus Christ has given her full power to bind and to loose. [But sins of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, neither in this life nor in the next, as Jesus Christ said (Mt. 12, 31-32)].
Jesus Christ thus spoke to the head of the Church: “Whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. XVI, 19), and to the Apostles: “Whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. XVIII, 18).
The Church can always forgive, provided that the pain of the guilt committed is sincere.
In the Church this power to forgive sins is exercised by the Pope, the Bishops and the Priests.
Baptism and penance are the sacraments instituted for the forgiveness of sins.