Father Richard Kunst: You are not alone in an empty church

Apologetics

Here is a little Catholic Theology 101: We don’t know much about heaven, and even if we did, we could not comprehend it anyhow, but we do know that heaven is a state of being in full and complete union with God. We will not lose our identity, we are not assumed into God, but we will be in complete union with him. 

As Catholics we have professed from biblical times forward that the Eucharist is the fullness of God the Son’s divine presence. The fullness of the deity of God the Son is hidden in the forms of bread and wine. It is, as the Second Vatican Council said, “the source and summit of our faith,” which means, as I have written in columns past, that when we go to Mass, we are not alone. 

When we go to Mass, or even go into an empty Catholic church with the reserved Eucharist in the tabernacle present, all the saints are there as well. If heaven is complete union with God, and God the Son is present in the Eucharist, then necessarily that means that the saints (and even the angels) are there as well. That is worth pondering for a while. 

Like most priests these days, I am the pastor of more than one church. I have St. James the Less in Duluth, which I am convinced is the most beautiful church around, and I have St. Elizabeth, a much smaller parish in the far West End of Duluth. St. Elizabeth in its very design reflects this reality that the saints are among us while we celebrate the heavenly liturgy of the Eucharist. All up and down the nave of this pretty little church are stained glass windows of different saints. It acts as a tangible reminder that these very people who are the Gospels lived are worshiping right along with us. 

One of the windows, as you might expect, is of St. Therese of Lisieux, “The Little Flower,” since she is still one of the most popular saints in the church. Therese, who died of tuberculosis on Sept. 30, 1897, at the age of 24, famously said, “I will spend my heaven doing good on earth.” And she has kept that promise. Saints, in order to be declared saints, have to do good things on Earth from heaven, because there have to be verified miracles through their intercession before they can be canonized. 

But there are few saints who are better known for having prayers answered through their intercession than St. Therese! When I was growing up, I remember my grandmother getting “Leaves Magazine,” which is a small, 20-page booklet published every other month by the Mariannhill Fathers out of Michigan. This magazine, which is still published, reports stories of prayers answered through the intercession of the saints. Though I have not read this little magazine for a while, it seemed to me as I looked at my grandma’s copies that over half of the stories were about St. Therese’s intercession, making the point that The Little Flower has indeed been spending her heaven doing good on Earth. 

At this point, if you are a Protestant and reading this column, you might be thinking, “Those silly little Catholics praying to the dead to do favors for them.” But it is not just the Catholics! Even our older brothers and sisters in the Jewish faith believe the same thing, and it is right in the scriptures. In the 48th chapter of the Old Testament book of Sirach, the author praises the greatness and glory of the two greatest prophets, Elijah and Elisha. Speaking of Elisha, the author says this: “Nothing was beyond his power; beneath his flesh was brought back into life. In life he performed wonders, and after death, marvelous deeds” (Sirach 48:14). 

If God worked marvels through the intercession of the Prophet Elisha (even before Jesus rose from the dead), then why would we think he doesn’t allow it anymore? The saints are in complete, perfect union with God in heaven and are with us at every Mass. Of course it just makes logical sense that they would pray for us. After all, we are all members of the same body, the church. 

If you do not have a favorite saint, you should get one. Saints are our companions on our pilgrim journey. They are our models of the Gospels lived, and they are our intercessors. And because there are thousands of canonized saints, there is one for everyone. Learn about their stories and find one that draws you in and one that you can identify with, and next time you are in Duluth, go and visit St. Elizabeth’s parish to see the tangible way the saints are with us at Mass. 

Father Richard Kunst is pastor of St. James and St. Elizabeth in Duluth. Reach him at [email protected].