Article 11: The communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins

The Church, extended in time and space, continues the work of Jesus. He is the bond that establishes links in the community, making us members of his body and members of one another.

Community relations on this basis are not simply relations of goodwill but of organic interdependence.

As St Paul wrote to the Corinthians: " If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy. Now you are Christ's body, and individually parts of it " (1 Cor 12:26 -27). The body of Christ and the communion of saints refer to one and the same reality -- the solidarity of each and all through Christ and in Him.

The solidarity also transcends time and space. Those who have gone before us are present to us, whether they already enjoy union with God or are yet to enter the fullness of union.

The early Christians built their altars on the tombs of the martyrs, in concrete symbolisation of this inter-connection between the dimensions of the living Church - on earth, in heaven, or heaven's ante-chambers.

The connection is not abstract or passive, not something that faith simply affirms. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews envisages it precisely as a communion , a reality both near to us and vital. Those gone before us, the heroes and heroines of faith, are " witnesses in a great cloud " that surround the track where we " keep running in the race which lies ahead of us " (Heb 12:1).

Their presence, in other words, is like the presence of supporters cheering on runners, giving them heart and courage, till they breast the tape at the finish line.

The communion of saints is one of the more beautiful doctrines of the Church. It celebrates life at levels both human and transcendental. It links us not only with our own loved ones here and in the hereafter, but with people loved and admired whether alive or known only through the pages of history. It's about one vast family belonging in the Spirit.

" Communio sanctorum " can also mean the " communion of holy things ," if the Latin for "holy" is taken as "s ancta " (neuter plural) rather than "s ancti " (masculine plural). The reference would then be that communion in the Church takes place through the commonly shared sacraments.

The Byzantine liturgy, for instance, begins distribution of Holy Communion with the dramatic expression: "Holy things for holy people."

Both communions imply forgiveness and reconciliation. The holy thing in this instance is sacramental penance; the holy ones are the people brought through the Spirit into unity and communion, which are the fruits of reconciliation

The Church celebrates forgiveness as one of Jesus' primary gifts to us. In the Gospels its quintessential expression is the parable of "the prodigal son". The expression should really be "prodigal sons", since both sons are prodigal, though in different ways. One wastes his material, the other his spiritual substance.

The parable makes something fundamentally clear. God does not wait for goodness to appear in the beloved before he is drawn to rescue. Similarly after the crucifixion, Jesus returns to those who abandoned him, and breaks bread with them in reconciliation.

In the bread Jesus gives himself, body and blood. Salvation is always the self-gift of God, and forgiveness is equally self-gift. That's its essential meaning - not simply a great gift from God, but always God's self -gift.

Article 12: The Resurrection of the Body, and Life everlasting

The Creed does not affirm belief in "the immortality of the soul," but in the resurrection of the body. "Body" here means the embodied self , the human being as a living reality, with soul and body conjoined. The Hebrews had no tradition of a happy human condition where the two elements were separated.

It's commonly felt that the Greeks were the ones who underappreciated the body, viewing it as a form of imprisonment, a place where the soul was trapped, but the truth is more complex. In fact, neither the Hebrews nor the Greeks saw the union of body and soul as less than intimate.

Body and soul were distinct but not separate realities, and death as the separation of the two (the classic definition) meant a severance of elements that essentially belonged together. Death was not an amicable parting of the ways.

The ancient world generally thought the soul immortal, but this existence they saw as frail and shadowy, something that was hardly enviable. Achilles, for instance, longed for a glorious death in battle, but when he got his wish, said he would rather be the meanest slave on earth, than a king in the underworld.

In the Old Testament similarly, there is no conception of a robust existence after death. When King Hezekiah of Judah falls ill, he laments: "[I] n the noontide of my days I must depart, I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my days.For Sheol cannot thank you, death cannot praise you; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living, they thank you.. . " (Is 38:10ff).

And Ecclesiastes put it even more pointedly: " But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better off than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun " (Eccl 9:4-6).

It is against this background that we must hear the good news in the New Testament of bodily resurrection and eternal life.

This resurrection of the body means the total transformation of temporal life. It means life in glorified bodies, analogous to how Jesus now lives.

The fullness of our transformation awaits the full communion of the saints and the entire transfiguration of all life and history, when the Kingdom finally comes. The common term for this is the general judgment.

Christians thus believe in two judgments, one immediate and particular at death, and the other, a general judgment at the end of time.

Eternal life or life everlasting does not begin with either judgment. As Jesus said in St John ' Gospel: " Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal lif e" (John 6:54 ).

Thus, in ways that we cannot fully grasp, no complete disjunction exists between temporal life and eternal life. Jesus implies continuity. Eternal life mysteriously starts from now.

Eternal life does not mean endless duration or sheer longevity. Endless duration without remainder can only mean endless boredom. The key element in eternal life is quality. It is sharing the life of God , therefore partaking of eternity.

The New Testament also speaks of it in terms of the "seeing" God. Now we see, as St Paul wrote, dimly as in a mirror. Then we shall " see " face to face. Sight has always been a privileged metaphor for human illumination or human awakening into the radiance of knowledge and understanding. Now I see , as the hymn Amazing Grace puts it, in contrast to the blindness of simply having one's eyes open.

Eternal life also means eternal engagement or exploration, since the life of God is inexhaustible.

We will never cease to know and love. We will not be fused with or disappear into God; we will remain creatures, thus distinct from God, but we will enjoy Him and one another in an embrace of infinite of love and goodness.

In the sixth chapter of Isaiah the angelic choirs behold God, and cry out in ecstasy not only to Him but to one another: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts (Is 6:3).

That, one may say, is as complete an expression of the communion of saints in heaven as one can imagine.