Hebrews 12
Douay-Rheims Version
1 And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us: 2 Looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For think diligently upon him that endured such opposition from sinners against himself; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds. 4 For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin: 5 And you have forgotten the consolation, which speaketh to you, as unto children, saying: My son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord; neither be thou wearied whilst thou art rebuked by him.
6 For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 Persevere under discipline. God dealeth with you as with his sons; for what son is there, whom the father doth not correct? 8 But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are made partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons. 9 Moreover we have had fathers of our flesh, for instructors, and we reverenced them: shall we not much more obey the Father of spirits, and live? 10 And they indeed for a few days, according to their own pleasure, instructed us: but he, for our profit, that we might receive his sanctification.
11 Now all chastisement for the present indeed seemeth not to bring with it joy, but sorrow: but afterwards it will yield, to them that are exercised by it, the most peaceable fruit of justice. 12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 And make straight steps with your feet: that no one, halting, may go out of the way; but rather be healed. 14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness: without which no man shall see God. 15 Looking diligently, lest any man be wanting to the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up do hinder, and by it many be defiled.
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau; who for one mess, sold his first birthright. 17 For know ye that afterwards, when he desired to inherit the benediction, he was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, although with tears he had sought it. 18 For you are not come to a mountain that might be touched, and a burning fire, and a whirlwind, and darkness, and storm, 19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they that heard excused themselves, that the word might not be spoken to them: 20 For they did not endure that which was said: And if so much as a beast shall touch the mount, it shall be stoned.
17 "He found"… That is, he found no way to bring his father to repent, or change his mind, with relation to his having given the blessing to his younger brother Jacob.
21 And so terrible was that which was seen, Moses said: I am frighted, and tremble. 22 But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels, 23 And to the church of the firstborn, who are written in the heavens, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new testament, and to the sprinkling of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel. 25 See that you refuse him not that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke upon the earth, much more shall not we, that turn away from him that speaketh to us from heaven.
26 Whose voice then moved the earth; but now he promiseth, saying: Yet once more, and I will move not only the earth, but heaven also. 27 And in that he saith, Yet once more, he signifieth the translation of the moveable things as made, that those things may remain which are immoveable. 28 Therefore receiving an immoveable kingdom, we have grace; whereby let us serve, pleasing God, with fear and reverence. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12 is the scriptural chapter that helped Kimberly Hahn accept the concept of the communion of saints. I remember the story from Rome, Sweet Home: she was undergoing a medical procedure, in pain, lying on one of those uncomfortable hospital beds, alone and she suddenly remembered this verse "For we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses" (KJV) and when it came to mind, in a moment of epiphany — "so great a cloud of witnesses" which speaks to the cloud of glory, that cloud which led the Isrealites and filled their temple, that cloud of glory in which John sees the holy martyrs before God in Revelation pleading for justice on earth — she understood.
Just a few weeks ago, now, I was baptized, confirmed and brought into the Catholic church during the Easter Vigil — I was brought into the communion of saints! My parents were there and were incredibly supportive, considering that I’d only given them a few days prior notice of my conversion, the vigil, everything. The next day, while they were still in town, they came by the house and we had coffee and talked about… corn syrup, of all things. Or, there was light banter. And then, when they got up to go, my father casually said "We should talk about theology, sometime."
Being a recent convert, and all, I got a little excited and gave him a book and told him where he could find all sorts of Catholic resources on the internet, going on for several minutes until he said "Ok, this all sounds good, but you should realize I’m not planning on converting." To which I said "Of course, of course" because, well, who plans on converting?
But I digress.
As the day wound on, I found myself thinking about the big picture of Catholic theology, how it differs from the Protestant view and what I know about it. If I could condense those differences down into a nutshell, into just a few words, what would those words be? And it came to me: Catholics really, truly believe in the Body of Christ, not just as a nice metaphor, but as a fundamental, transformative, all-changing reality.
You see, for Catholics, the term "Body of Christ", conveys two parallel and intertwining Mysteries. The first is the Eucharist, the literal body of Christ, made present in all the Catholic churches in the world through the solemn rite of the Mass (Consider the 3 accounts of the synoptic Gospels: "This is my body." "This is my blood." Consider John 6:51 through the end of the chapter: "Amen, amen, I say to you: unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.")
The second is the Church, Herself, and all her members, who become part of the Body of Christ through the sacrament of baptism (consider 1 Corinthians 12:13 "For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body…")
These intertwining Mysteries are reflected, themselves, in the sacrament of marriage, in which two individuals become one flesh, one body. John Martignogni, in one of his talks, pointed out that in Genesis we have a story of Eve being created from a rib taken from Adam’s side, and in the three synoptic Gospels, we have a story of the crucifiction of Christ, in which his side is pierced and blood and water, the sacraments of the church, baptism and communion, pour forth — the bride of Adam is brought forth from his side; the bride of Christ is brought forth from his side. The two are one.
This then, creates the framework for an understanding of the communion of saints: if we are all baptized into one body, the body of Christ, and reborn into everlasting life, then our communion is eternal. "And if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it: or if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it." 1 Cor 12:26
From the Catholic Dictionary at newadvent.org:
In this vast Catholic conception rationalists see not only a late creation, but also an ill-disguised reversion to a lower religious type, a purely mechanical process of justification, the substitution of impersonal moral value in lieu of personal responsibility. Such statements are met best, by the presentation of the dogma in its Scriptural basis and its theological formulation. The first spare yet clear outline of the communion of saints is found in the "kingdom of God" of the Synoptics , not the individualisticcreation of Harnack nor the purely eschatological conception of Loisy, but an organic whole (Matthew 13:31), which embraces in the bonds of charity (Matthew 22:39) all the children of God (Matthew 19:28; Luke 20:36) on earth and in heaven (Matthew 6:20), the angels themselves joining in that fraternity of souls (Luke 15:10). One cannot read the parables of the kingdom (Matthew 13) without perceiving its corporate nature and the continuity which links together the kingdom in our midst and the kingdom to come. The nature of that communion, called by St. John a fellowship with one another ("a fellowship with us"–1 John 1:3) because it is a fellowship with the Father, and with his Son", and compared by him to the organic and vital union of the vine and its branches (John 15), stands out in bold relief in the Pauline conception of the mystical body. Repeatedly St. Paul speaks of the one body whose head is Christ (Colossians 1:18), whose energizing principle is charity (Ephesians 4:16), whose members are the saints, not only of this world, but also of the world to come (Ephesians 1:20; Hebrews 12:22). In that communion there is no loss of individuality, yet such an interdependence that the saints are "members one of another" (Romans 12:5), not only sharing the same blessings (1 Corinthians 12:13) and exchanging good offices (1 Corinthians 12:25) and prayers (Ephesians 6:18), but also partaking of the same corporate life, for "the whole body . . . by what every joint supplieth . . . maketh increase . . . unto the edifying of itself in charity" (Ephesians 4:16).
The communion of the saints is without end — because we are one in the body of Christ — and so we have recieved an immovable kingdom.
More to come.
