Prayer and Mysticism

HOW A HOLY DESIRE FOR THE EUCHARIST SANCTIFIES

An act of love which God preserves in silver vessels.

By Robert Robbins

Communion with God Outside Mass

In these times of uncertainty, one is unsure how to satisfy their Sunday obligation while at the same time not compromising their Catholic conscience, because there are so many groups now which seemingly splinter the Body of Christ into a multiplicity of sectarian factions, none of which appear to have any claim on being Catholic.

From the mainstream Catholic church which celebrates the sacrilegious new mass, to indult Latin mass chapels which recognize but resist the one they pray in communion with and call pope, to the Society of Saint Pius X chapels who take resisting the See of Peter to another level, to Sedevacantist chapels which deny the pope is the pope, to pray-at-home Catholics, which are seemingly so rare and odd as to be axiomatically incredible if not crazy, one is at a loss where to turn to be with God and adore Him in spirit and truth.

God is a spirit; and they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth.

John 4:24

The crisis in the Church is real, and there are many different ways good people, Catholic people, try to solve the problem. Leaving aside that quandary for another day, what follows here is how to have communion with God even if you cannot make it to mass.

Faith and Charity Required

Catholics who cannot attend mass are encouraged to perform an act of spiritual communion, which holy practice has been taught by the Church for centuries as a way to communicate with Christ.

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), writing in the Summa Theologica, a book of instruction in theology for seminarians and literate laity, teaches that spiritual communion is not only a way to communicate with Christ, but is actually the very end or effect of the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Aquinas says, “The effect of the sacrament can be secured by every man if he receive it in desire, though not in reality.” That is to say, the man who desires to receive the Holy Eucharist receives the effects of the sacrament itself without ever actually receiving the sacrament.

Further, Aquinas teaches that it is through faith and charity that we communicate spiritually with Christ and receive the effect of the sacrament.

“Therefore, as the perfect is divided against the imperfect, so sacramental eating, whereby the sacrament only is received without its effect, is divided against spiritual eating, by which one receives the effect of this sacrament, whereby a man is spiritually united with Christ through faith and charity.”

The Roman Catechism (1566), which was commissioned by the Council of Trent as the official catechism or compendium of Catholic doctrine designed for the clergy, echoes the Angelic Doctor’s teaching on spiritual communion when it teaches about the three-fold way of communicating: sacramental only, spiritual only, and sacramental and spiritual, the second of which concerns us here.

“Others are said to receive the Eucharist in spirit only. They are those who, inflamed with a lively ‘faith which worketh by charity,’ partake in wish and desire of that celestial bread offered to them, from which they receive, if not the entire, at least very great fruits.”

Again, spiritual communion is defined as a desire for the Bread of Angels, urged on by faith and charity, without which such desire for communion is vain. This is because the Holy Eucharist presupposes both faith in God and love of God.

Silver and Gold

Gold is the most precious metal but silver is a close second best. As recounted by St. Alphonsus de Ligouri (1696-1787), bishop and Doctor of the Church, in his work, Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Blessed Lord Himself keeps our spiritual communions in vessels of silver.

“How pleasing these spiritual communions are to God, and the many graces which He bestows through their means, was manifested by our Lord Himself to Sister Paula Maresca, the foundress of the convent of St. Catherine of Sienna in Naples, when (as it is related in her life) He showed her two precious vessels, the one of gold, the other of silver; He then told her that in the gold vessel He preserved her sacramental communions, and in the silver one her spiritual communions.”

In the same work, St. Alphonsus says, “He also told Blessed Jane of the Cross, that each time that she communicated spiritually, she received a grace of the same kind as the one which she received when she really communicated. Above all, it will suffice us to know that the holy Council of Trent greatly praises spiritual communions, and encourages the faithful to their practice.”

Spiritual Acts

An act of spiritual communion presupposes other acts which are prior to it and which should be performed just before a spiritual communion to ensure the greatest possible salutary effect in our soul.

Act of Faith 

O MY GOD, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in Three Divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I believe that Thy Divine Son became Man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived. 

This act is necessary for salvation, as without faith it is impossible to please God.

But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him. 

Hebrews 11:6

It is very sad that there are so many people, so many, who do not seem to have faith. No one can judge another’s heart except God, but there seems to be very little faith in the world today. But that was to be expected.

But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth? 

Luke 18:8

Act of Charity

O MY GOD, I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because Thou art all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured.

Love is the life of a Christian. Communion is, in simple terms, entering into the life of Christ, dwelling with Christ and allowing Christ to dwell within us. Without love, then, of God, spiritual communion is impossible. Further, without love of our neighbor, which means anyone other than ourselves, the door to spiritual communion with God is shut in our face.

If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not?

1 John 4:20

Act of Contrition

O MY GOD,  I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

We can believe in and have a profound love for God, but we are imperfect lovers when we sin against Him. That is why, prior to saying an act of spiritual communion, we should say an act of contrition. Doing so, we dust off our hearts which become little silver tabernacles God fashions for Himself for our spiritual communions.

Act of Spiritual Communion

MY JESUS, I believe that Thou are truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. I love Thee above all things, and I desire to possess Thee within my soul. Since I am unable to now to receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace Thee as being already there, and unite myself wholly to Thee; never permit me to be separated from Thee. 

The act of spiritual communion can be said whenever and wherever we please, as many times as we wish, and without having to fast or drive hours to a mass center or chapel run by clergy we cannot be sure are licit anyway. The mass is vital to the life of the Church, and the Holy Eucharist is an indispensable part of the faith of every Catholic. But if fact or conscience keeps us from being able to attend mass and receive the Most Blessed Sacrament, a spiritual communion is always available without having to compromise our Catholic faith.