The angels in the life of the Church

From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by the watchful care and intercession of angels. [Mt 18:10; Lk 16:22; Ps 34:7; 91:10-13; Job 33:23-24; Zech 1:12; Tob 12:12] "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." [St Basil, Adv Eunomium III, 1:Pg 29, 656B] Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God. 336

Because the Holy Spirit is the anointing of Christ, it is Christ who, as the head of the Body, pours out the Spirit among his members to nourish, heal, and organize them in their mutual functions, to give them life, send them to bear witness, and associate them to his self-offering to the Father and to his intercession for the whole world. Through the Church's sacraments, Christ communicates his Holy and sanctifying Spirit to the members of his Body. 739

The intercession of the saints. "Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness.... [T]hey 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." [Lumen Gentium 49; 1 Tim 2:5]
Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life. [St Dominic, dying, to his brothers]
I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth. [St Therese of Lisieux, The Final Conversations, tr John Clarke (Washington: ICS, 1977), 102] 956

Communion with the dead. "In full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead; and 'because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins' she offers her suffrages for them." [Lumen Gentium 50; 2 Macc 12:45] Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective. 958

The whole Church is united with the offering and intercession of Christ. Since he has the ministry of Peter in the Church, the Pope is associated with every celebration of the Eucharist, wherein he is named as the sign and servant of the unity of the universal Church. The bishop of the place is always responsible for the Eucharist, even when a priest presides; the bishop's name is mentioned to signify his presidency over the particular Church, in the midst of his presbyterium and with the assistance of deacons. The community intercedes also for all ministers who, for it and with it, offer the Eucharistic sacrifice:
Let only that Eucharist be regarded as legitimate, which is celebrated under [the presidency of] the bishop or him to whom he has entrusted it. [St Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyrn, 8:1; SCH 10, 138]
Through the ministry of priests the spiritual sacrifice of the faithful is completed in union with the sacrifice of Christ the only Mediator, which in the Eucharist is offered through the priests' hands in the name of the whole Church in an unbloody and sacramental manner until the Lord himself comes. [Presbyterorum Ordinis 2, 4] 1369

Intercession is a prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus did. He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially sinners. [Rom 8:34; 1 Jn 2:1; 1 Tim 2:5-8] He is "able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." [Heb 7:25] The Holy Spirit "himself intercedes for us . . . and intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." [Rom 8:26-27] 2634

Since Abraham, intercession - asking on behalf of another has been characteristic of a heart attuned to God's mercy. In the age of the Church, Christian intercession participates in Christ's, as an expression of the communion of saints. In intercession, he who prays looks "not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others," even to the point of praying for those who do him harm. [Phil 2:4; Acts 7:60; Lk 23:28, 34] 2635

Prayer of intercession consists in asking on behalf of another. It knows no boundaries and extends to one's enemies. 2647

The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom, [Heb 12:1] especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were "put in charge of many things." [Mt 25:21] Their intercession is their most exalted service to God's plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world. 2683

"If any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him." [Jn 9:31; 1 Jn 5:14] Such is the power of the Church's prayer in the name of her Lord, above all in the Eucharist. Her prayer is also a communion of intercession with the all-holy Mother of God [Lk 1:38, 49] and all the saints who have been pleasing to the Lord because they willed his will alone:
It would not be inconsistent with the truth to understand the words, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," to mean: "in the Church as in our Lord Jesus Christ himself"; or "in the Bride who has been betrothed, just as in the Bridegroom who has accomplished the will of the Father." [St Augustine, De Serm Dom 3, 6, 24:PL 34, 1279] 2827