For your spiritual edification throughout the month of all saints and deceased souls, I am posting von Balthasar's meditation on the Communio Sanctorem, as found in his work Credo. Meditations on the Apostles' Creed. -- Anthony
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The Church is "the communion of saints" - in German, "the communion of the holy." This expression signifies first those "holy things," including above all the Eucharist, around which the Church assembles for purposes of her salvation and catholic mission. But precisely for that reason, the transition to "communion of holy persons" follows as an immediate consequence. And out of both, we have a glimpse into the unfathomable Mystery that, because Jesus "died for all," no one may any longer live and die for self alone (2 Cor 5:14f.); but that, in loving selflessness, as much of the good as anyone possesses belongs to all, which gives rise to an unending exchange and circulation of blood between all the members of the ecclesiastical Body of Christ. And precisely those members who are designated, in an eminent sense, as "holy" are like open treasure-houses accessible to all, like flowing fountains at which everyone can drink. Nothing in the communion of saints is private, although everything is personal. But "persons," in the Christian sense, are just such as, in imitation of the divine-human Person Jesus, "no longer live for themselves" and also no longer die for themselves.
It is here that the catholic and missionary task of the Catholica first becomes visible in its ultimate essence; in every instance, she anticipates, in prayer, devotion, sacrifice, and death for her brethren, that which she brings them through her outward missionary work. The proof: "little" Thérèse, as the patron saint of all missions.
--Hans Urs von Balthasar, Credo. Meditations on the Apostles' Creed
* * *
The Church is "the communion of saints" - in German, "the communion of the holy." This expression signifies first those "holy things," including above all the Eucharist, around which the Church assembles for purposes of her salvation and catholic mission. But precisely for that reason, the transition to "communion of holy persons" follows as an immediate consequence. And out of both, we have a glimpse into the unfathomable Mystery that, because Jesus "died for all," no one may any longer live and die for self alone (2 Cor 5:14f.); but that, in loving selflessness, as much of the good as anyone possesses belongs to all, which gives rise to an unending exchange and circulation of blood between all the members of the ecclesiastical Body of Christ. And precisely those members who are designated, in an eminent sense, as "holy" are like open treasure-houses accessible to all, like flowing fountains at which everyone can drink. Nothing in the communion of saints is private, although everything is personal. But "persons," in the Christian sense, are just such as, in imitation of the divine-human Person Jesus, "no longer live for themselves" and also no longer die for themselves.
It is here that the catholic and missionary task of the Catholica first becomes visible in its ultimate essence; in every instance, she anticipates, in prayer, devotion, sacrifice, and death for her brethren, that which she brings them through her outward missionary work. The proof: "little" Thérèse, as the patron saint of all missions.
--Hans Urs von Balthasar, Credo. Meditations on the Apostles' Creed
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