The saints are presented to believers as role models whose lives are worthy to be imitated.
Heb 6:12: Do not grow lazy, but imitate those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises. (NAB)
Heb 12:1: Therefore, since we for our part are surrounded by this cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every circumstance of sin which clings to us and persevere in running the race which lies ahead; (NAB)
1 Cor 11:1: Imitate me as I imitate Christ. (NAB)
Phil 3:17: Be imitators of me, my brothers. Take as your guide those who follow the example that we set. (NAB)
Vatican II
For when we look at the lives of those who have faithfully followed Christ, we are inspired with a new reason for seeking the city which is to come (Heb 13:14; 11:10). At the same time we are shown a most safe path by which … we will be able to arrive at perfect union with Christ, that is holiness. In the lives of those who shared in our humanity and yet were transformed into especially successfully images of Christ (2 Cor 3:18), God vividly manifests to men his presence and his face. He speaks to us in them, and gives us a sign of his kingdom, to which we are powerfully drawn, surrounded as we are by so many witnesses (Heb 12:1), and having such an argument for the truth of the gospel. (Lumen Gentium, 50)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of the communion of the Church of heaven and earth in Section 954.
954 The three states of the Church. “When the Lord comes in glory, and all his angels with him, death will be no more and all things will be subject to him. But at the present time some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified, while still others are in glory, contemplating ‘in full light, God himself triune and one, exactly as he is”‘:
In other words, we have the Church Militant on earth, the Church Suffering in purgatory, and the Church Triumphant in heaven.
955 “So it is that the union of the wayfarers with the brethren who sleep in the peace of Christ is in no way interrupted, but on the contrary, according to the constant faith of the Church, this union is reinforced by an exchange of spiritual goods.”