During the suspension of public Masses I have been wanted to add an article on Spiritual Communion.
While we have to endure the deprivation of attending Mass, we do not have to feel deprived of the presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Spiritual Communion is very simple, it only takes a moment, and we can do it during our work, our studies or anything else we may be doing. Whenever we make a spiritual communion, we please God and receive an abundance of his graces.
Whenever we make a spiritual communion, we please God and receive an abundance of his graces. Saints throughout the ages have witnessed to the value of spiritual communion. In a vision, Our Lord explained it to St. Catherine of Siena by showing her two chalices: one made of gold, the other of silver. He told her that her sacramental Communions were preserved in the gold chalice and that her spiritual communions were in the silver chalice.
Spiritual Communion is very simple, it only takes a moment, and we can do it during our work, our studies or anything else we may be doing.
We can make a spiritual communion at any time and in any place, if we approach the devotion with “renewed faith, reverence, humility and in complete trust in the goodness of the divine Redeemer” and are “united to him in the spirit of the most ardent charity,” per Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Mediator Dei (The Sacred Liturgy). In spiritual communion, we embrace Our Lord as if we had received him in the Eucharist.
Three-step Method of Spiritual Communion by St. Alphonsus Liguori
1. An act of faith
This can be one using the formal prayer taught by the Church or an
extemporaneous one. The main point is to express to Our Lord our firm
belief in his goodness and mercy, and in his real presence in the
Blessed Sacrament.
2. An act of charity
Again either using the formal prayer of the Church or an extemporaneous one. The act should express our love for Jesus.
3. An act of desire
We express our desire to receive Our Lord Jesus Christ. We invite Jesus
to come into our hearts spiritually. St. Alphonsus recommended that we
even open our mouths as if receiving actual communion.
Advantages of the Spiritual Communion
Spiritual communion gives us a greater awareness of God’s presence in our lives and increases our faith in the Real Presence. The more we spiritually communicate, the more united we become with Christ. The Church recommends making spiritual communions as often as possible, even if we’re able to participate in Mass that day.
St. Pius X reminds us of the effect of the communion: In one who receives it worthily, the Eucharist preserves and increases grace, which is the life of the soul, as food does for the life of the body; It remits venial sins and preserves from mortal sins; It gives spiritual consolation and comfort, increasing charity and the hope of life eternal, of which it is the pledge.
St. Jean-Marie Vianney compared spiritual communion to blowing on fire and embers that are starting to go out in order to make them burn again.
If we are deprived of Sacramental Communion, let us replace it, as far as we can, by spiritual communion, which we can make every moment; for we ought to have always a burning desire to receive the good God. Communion is to the soul like blowing a fire that is beginning to go out, but that has still plenty of hot embers; we blow, and the fire burns again. After the reception of the Sacraments, when we feel ourselves slacken in the love of God, let us have recourse at once to spiritual communion. When we cannot go to the church, let us turn towards the tabernacle; no wall can shut us out from the good God.
Acts of Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love you above all things, and I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace you as if you have already come and unite myself wholly to you. Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen. — St. Alphonsus Liguori
I believe thou art present in the Blessed Sacrament, O Jesus. I love thee and desire thee. Come into my heart; I embrace thee. O never leave me. I beseech thee, O Lord Jesus, may the burning and most sweet power of thy love absorb my mind, that I may die through love of thy love, who wast graciously pleased to die through love of my love. Amen. — St. Francis of Assisi
Bishop Schneider recently published an article about the communion in times of a pandemic. He offers the following prayer for a fruitful Spiritual Communion:
“At Thy feet, O my Jesus, I prostrate myself, and I offer Thee the repentance of my contrite heart, which is humbled in its nothingness and in Thy holy presence. I adore Thee in the Sacrament of Thy love, the ineffable Eucharist. I desire to receive Thee into the poor dwelling that my heart offers Thee. While waiting for the happiness of sacramental Communion, I wish to possess Thee in spirit. Come to me, O my Jesus, since I, for my part, am coming to Thee! The love embrace my whole being in life and in death. I believe in Thee, I hope in Thee, I love Thee. Amen”
Brief Acts of Spiritual Communion
May the burning and must sweet power of thy love, O Lord Jesus Christ, I beseech thee, absorb my mind, that I may die through love of thy love, who wast graciously pleased to die through love of my love. Amen. — St. Francis of Assisi
“O love not loved! O love not known!” — St. M. Magdalene of Pazzi
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