It is not the saints who perform miracles, but only the grace of God that acts through them. Miracles are done by God, by the grace of God that acts through a holy person, a righteous person.
Vatican City (02/02/2022 17:35, Gaudium Press) At the General Audience on Wednesday, 2 February, Pope Francis followed the theme “St Joseph and the Communion of Saints”, focusing on this important article of Faith “which can enrich our Christian life and also shape in the best way our relationship with the saints and with our deceased loved ones”.
The Pontiff warned that our trust has value only in relation to Christ, even if we trust in the intercession of a saint or of Our Lady. This bond that unites us to Him is the Communion of Saints. “It is not the saints who work miracles, but only the grace of God that works through them. Miracles are done by God, by the grace of God that acts through a holy person, a just person,” he assured.
The Communion of Saints
Then, wondering about the meaning of the Communion of Saints, Pope Francis stated that it is the Church. “Our holiness is the fruit of God’s love manifested in Christ, who sanctifies us by loving us in our misery and saving us from it. Thanks to Him we always form one body, St Paul says, in which Jesus is the head and we are the members,” he explained.
The Holy Father also stressed that we are all in one body, in communion. “In this sense, the sin of one person always affects everyone, and the love of each person affects everyone. By virtue of the communion of saints, of this union, every member of the Church is bound to me in a profound way, and this bond is so strong that it cannot be broken even by death. The communion of saints keeps the community of the faithful united on earth and in heaven”.
Devotion to the Saints
He then taught that the saints are friends with whom we establish friendly relations. “What we call devotion to a saint is actually a way of expressing love from this same bond that unites us. We all know that we can always turn to a friend, especially when we are in difficulty and need help.”
Francis stressed that “thanks to the communion of saints we feel close to the saints who are our patron saints. This is the trust that should always encourage us to have recourse to them at decisive moments in our lives.”
“Devotion to the Saints is not a magical thing, it is not a superstition. It is simply talking to a brother, a sister who is before God, who has lived a just life, a holy life, a model life, and now stands before God. I talk to this brother, to this sister and ask for their intercession for the needs that I have,” he concluded. (EPC)