The treasury of heaven / Prayer to the Saints

[T.More]

Please help me understand how prayer to the saints relates to the Church’s treasury. A couple of relevant portion of the CCC is:

[1477](javascriptpenWindow(‘cr/1477.htm’) “This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission in the unity of the Mystical Body.”

Regarding intercession of the saints, the CCC tells us this:

“Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness. . . . They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus . . . . So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped.”

So, a reason prayers are ordinarily made to saints rather than other deceased individuals is that saints have these extra merits that can be applied to the living, right?

 

[John_Russell_Jr]

There is -

1. The church triumphant- souls in heaven.
2. The Church suffering- souls in purgatory.
3. The Church militant- us down here.
   The others help us by there constant prayers for us. Grace comes from God. They can help us to receive more. They can help us by their prayers- which the more holy they were in this life, the greater potency their prayers will have in the next. They don’t share their grace with us. For a good understanding read the ccc on the mystical body of Christ. A link follows on this too.
   There is also the mystical body of Satan- which strives to do the opposite to Christ. the early fathers spoke of this.
   Read up on the mystical body and it’ll become clearer-

catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0260ee.htm

 

[T.More]

Ok, the CCC says: “. . . [the saints] proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men. . .”

This merit achieved by the saints is why prayers are typically to saints rather than other members of the Church Triumphant, right?

 

[SPOKENWORD]

I though the treasury in heaven is where our deposits[good works] are stored from those saints here on earth. Our rewards are waiting for us when we get there… God Bless

 

[John_Russell_Jr]

T. More:

Ok, the CCC says: “. . . [the saints] proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men. . .”

This merit achieved by the saints is why prayers are typically to saints rather than other members of the Church Triumphant, right?

Once in Heaven you can acquire no more merit. This is the same for purgatory. The Saints can apply there merits to us by the value of their prayers on our behalf. The more virtuous, holy etc a Saint was in this life the more powerful their prayers for us in the next.
Mary is said to be all poweful by virtue of her all powerful prayer. So I suggest we pray to her, especially.
There is accidental glory that Saints receive when we pray to them too. Perhaps someone else can offer a good explaination of accidental glory.

 

[tuopaolo]

T. More:

So, a reason prayers are ordinarily made to saints rather than other deceased individuals is that saints have these extra merits that can be applied to the living, right?

Do you mean by “extra merits” more merits than other deceased individuals? If so your understanding is not far off, but if you mean something else then your understanding would not be correct. The treasury consists of all merits of everyone, not just “extra merits.” There’s no such thing as “extra merit” really.

 

[T.More]

My understanding is pretty fuzzy. By extra merits, I mean merits over and above those necessary to secure a place in heaven. Aren’t those the merits that are applied or is that just a wrong understanding on my part?

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines the treasury of heaven as “the superabundant satisfaction of Christ for human sins and the excess of merit of the saints which according to Roman Catholic theology is effective for salvation of others and is available for dispensation through indulgences.”

This “excess of merit” is what I understand from other sources to be what I described above.

 

[John_Russell_Jr]

This may help.

BASIS OF THE DOCTRINE

An essential element in indulgences is the application to one person of the satisfaction performed by others. This transfer is based on three things: the Communion of Saints, the principle of vicarious satisfaction, and the Treasury of the Church.

(1) The Communion of Saints

“We being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Rom., xii, 5). As each organ shares in the life of the whole body, so does each of the faithful profit by the prayers and good works of all the rest-a benefit which accrues, in the first instance, to those who are in the state of grace, but also, though less fully, to the sinful members.

(2) The Principle of Vicarious Satisfaction

Each good action of the just man possesses a double value: that of merit and that of satisfaction, or expiation. Merit is personal, and therefore it cannot be transferred; but satisfaction can be applied to others, as St. Paul writes to the Colossians (i, 24) of his own works: “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the Church,” (See SATISFACTION.)

(3) The Treasury of the Church

Christ, as St. John declares in his First Epistle (ii, 2), “is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” Since the satisfaction of Christ is infinite, it constitutes an inexhaustible fund which is more than sufficient to cover the indebtedness contracted by sin, Besides, there are the satisfactory works of the Blessed Virgin Mary undiminished by any penalty due to sin, and the virtues, penances, and sufferings of the saints vastly exceeding any temporal punishment which these servants of God might have incurred. These are added to the treasury of the Church as a secondary deposit, not independent of, but rather acquired through, the merits of Christ. The development of this doctrine in explicit form was the work of the great Schoolmen, notably Alexander of Hales (Summa, IV, Q. xxiii, m. 3, n. 6), Albertus Magnus (In IV Sent., dist. xx, art. 16), and St. Thomas (In IV Sent., dist. xx, q. i, art. 3, sol. 1). As Aquinas declares (Quodlib., II, q. vii, art. 16): " All the saints intended that whatever they did or suffered for God’s sake should be profitable not only to themselves but to the whole Church." And he further points out (Contra Gent., III, 158) that what one endures for another being a work of love, is more acceptable as satisfaction in God’s sight than what one suffers on one’s own account, since this is a matter of necessity.

More to follow. See next post.

From- newadvent.org/cathen/07783a.htm You can read all the relevan article here.

 

[John_Russell_Jr]

The existence of an infinite treasury of merits in the Church is dogmatically set forth in the Bull “Unigenitus”, published by Clement VI, 27 Jan., 1343, and later inserted in the “Corpus Juris” (Extrav. Com., lib. V, tit. ix. c. ii): "Upon the altar of the Cross ", says the pope, “Christ shed of His blood not merely a drop, though this would have sufficed, by reason of the union with the Word, to redeem the whole human race, but a copious torrent. . . thereby laying up an infinite treasure for mankind. This treasure He neither wrapped up in a napkin nor hid in a field, but entrusted to Blessed Peter, the key-bearer, and his successors, that they might, for just and reasonable causes, distribute it to the faithful in full or in partial remission of the temporal punishment due to sin.” Hence the condemnation by Leo X of Luther’s assertion that “the treasures of the Church from which the pope grants indulgences are not the merits of Christ and the saints” (Enchiridion, 757). For the same reason, Pius VI (1794) branded as false, temerarious, and injurious to the merits of Christ and the saints, the error of the synod of Pistoia that the treasury of the Church was an invention of scholastic subtlety (Enchiridion, 1541). According to Catholic doctrine, therefore, the source of indulgences is constituted by the merits of Christ and the saints. This treasury is left to the keeping, not of the individual Christian, but of the Church. Consequently, to make it available for the faithful, there is required an exercise of authority, which alone can determine in what way, on what terms, and to what extent, indulgences may be granted.