The Communion of Saints in Purgatory

Not only, however, do we have fellowship with the other members of the Church on earth, but also with those in Purgatory and Heaven. When we die we shall not be fit to live with God in Heaven.  We need to be perfect to do that.  So, instead, faithful Christians go to Purgatory where they stay until their souls are healed from the effects of their sins, and they are able at last to receive the reward of the pure in heart and to see God (Matthew 5:8).  To see God is to be in Heaven.  By praying for our departed relations and friends and thereby doing them good as they prepare for Heaven, we have fellowship with them.

The Communion of Saints in Heaven

People who are already in Heaven are, of course, the Saints.  You should not think of Heaven as being a long way off – it is simply where God is seen.  If you went in a space ship to some far distant planet, you would be no nearer God when you got there and no further from him; and so you would be no nearer to Heaven and no farther from Heaven. 

Spiritual distance

The distance between us and Heaven is not a question of miles or kilometres, it is a spiritual distance.  Here’s an example.  On Good Friday there were two thieves crucified with Jesus, one on either side.  One of the thieves died cursing and hating Jesus.  The other, who is known as the Good Thief, was sorry for his sins and asked Jesus not to forget him.  It is possible that the Good Thief was two or three feet farther away from Jesus than the other one was, but you can see that in a very true sense the Good Thief was much nearer to Jesus than was the bad thief.  And at the Cross, as St John waited there, although he had deserted Jesus in Gethsemane, he was nearer to him than was the Good Thief.  The nearest of all was Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

So the distance between us and Heaven is also a spiritual distance, and the nearer we are to Jesus the nearer we are to Heaven and to the Saints.  We have fellowship with the Saints in Heaven by asking them to pray for us, and they have fellowship with us by doing so.  For it is prayer which links us, not only with the souls of the Faithful Departed but also with the Blessed Saints.