Spiritual Communion
An Act of Spiritual Communion
St. Alphonsus Liguori
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
St. Alphonsus Liguori
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
The churches are closed. Well, they’re not totally closed. People can still stop in at different points during the day and pray, but in our local Catholic churches, Masses have been cancelled for the time being. Because of this, hundreds of thousands of Catholics are unable to attend Mass and receive communion on Sundays. It’s an unfortunate reality but one that we must endure for the sake of the health and safety of those neighbors that we are asked to love.
It does bring up a question, though: if a Catholic can’t go to Mass and receive communion, what should he or she do? How can someone be strengthened and connected to Jesus without the opportunity to receive his Body and Blood? The truth is that there’s no perfect substitute for the act of being present at Mass or the chance to physically receive our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The history and tradition of our Church, however, does offer us some insight into this situation, and one excellent place to begin looking for this answer is with Pope Saint John Paul II:
“In the Eucharist, ‘unlike any other sacrament, the mystery [of communion] is so perfect that it brings us to the heights of every good thing: Here is the ultimate goal of every human desire, because here we attain God and God joins himself to us in the most perfect union.’ Precisely for this reason it is good to cultivate in our hearts a constant desire for the sacrament of the Eucharist. This was the origin of the practice of ‘spiritual communion,’ which has happily been established in the Church for centuries and recommended by saints who were masters of the spiritual life. Saint Teresa of Jesus wrote: ‘When you do not receive communion and you do not attend Mass, you can make a spiritual communion, which is a most beneficial practice; by it the love of God will be greatly impressed on you.’”
(Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 34)
The answer the Pope provides us: a “spiritual communion.” This is a sentiment that would later be reaffirmed by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI:
“Even in cases where it is not possible to receive sacramental communion, participation at Mass remains necessary, important, meaningful and fruitful. In such circumstances it is beneficial to cultivate a desire for full union with Christ through the practice of spiritual communion, praised by Pope John Paul II and recommended by saints who were masters of the spiritual life.”
(Sacramentum Caritatis, 55)
Making a spiritual communion is an ancient tradition of the Church by which the faithful unite themselves to God through a special and intentional act of prayer. It’s an act based in the understanding shared by St. Thomas Aquinas that “the reality of the sacrament can be had through the very desire of receiving the sacrament” (Summa Theologica III, Q. 80, a.1). While Aquinas admittedly affirms that “the actual receiving of the sacrament produces more fully the effect of the sacrament”, he does not discount the importance of this spiritual desire, and this is a uniquely important truth at a time when someone is unable to sacramentally receive our Lord in the presence of the Eucharist.
Our world right now seems to be in precisely that kind of time. While we never cease to spiritually and prayerfully support one another, our love of neighbor does indeed require that we do everything we can at this moment to stay physically separated, a situation that means the cancellation of Mass. Thankfully, numerous priests have taken up the challenge of finding ways to allow their people to experience the Mass even if they cannot be present, especially through broadcasts on television or on the internet.
This is our reality – an unprecedented time in which our Masses are cancelled and will continue to be beyond the solemn and beautiful days of Holy Week and Easter. The hope, though, is that all of us might still find it within ourselves to celebrate these days and connect with our Lord, especially if we engage in broadcasts of these holiest of liturgies either on television or right here online. One excellent way to do that: to watch and pray during these liturgies and, at the moment the Eucharist would normally be distributed, to make a spiritual communion
How do I do that? To answer this question, we might turn to another one of the holy saints of our Church, Saint Leonard of Port-Maurice:
“When the priest is about to give himself Communion in holy Mass, do you, keeping composed externally and internally, excite in your heart an act of true contrition, and humbly striking your breast, in token that you acknowledge yourself unworthy of so great a grace, make all those acts of love, of self-surrender, of humility, and the rest, which you are accustomed to make when you communicate sacramentally, and then desire with a lively longing to receive your good Jesus, veiled in the Sacrament for your benefit. And to kindle your devotion, imagine that most holy Mary, or some Saint, your holy advocate, is holding forth to you the sacred particle; figure yourself receiving it, and then, embracing Jesus in your heart, reply to Him, over and over again, with interior words prompted by love: ‘Come, Jesus, my beloved, come within this my poor heart; come and satiate my desires; come and sanctify my soul; come, most sweet Jesus, come!’ This said, be still; contemplate your good God within you, and, as if you really had communicated, adore Him, thank Him, and perform all those interior acts to which you are accustomed after sacramental Communion.”
(The Hidden Treasure, Chapter 2)
That’s a powerful account from Saint Leonard, a deep, mystical, theological understanding of all that this moment of communion entails. At its core, though, that moment is a simple one: a moment between you and the Lord, a moment in which you want to receive him and he wants to offer himself to you.
While there is no single formula prescribed by the Church as to how to make an act of spiritual communion, it should be a time of reaching out to God and expressing our hope that we, in this spiritual way, might receive him. We can use prayers written by others, such as the beautiful “Act of Spiritual Communion” by St. Alphonsus Liguori that can be found at the top of page. Or, we can offer our own prayers, our own personal calling out to God. However we choose to do it, this moment should be:
When we orient our hearts in that way, seeking this spiritual communion with our Lord and Savior, we believe that his grace can touch us, even in the midst of the distance and separation we find ourselves experiencing today.
This is an extraordinary moment in our Church, in our communities, and truly throughout our world. It’s a time in which we need to call on God and be united with him. No, we cannot be present at Mass. No we cannot physically receive his Body and Blood. But that does not mean we cannot receive his love or be strengthened by him. Especially in our celebrations of Holy Week and Easter ahead, making a spiritual communion before, during, or after these beautiful liturgies is one powerful way to do just that.
It does bring up a question, though: if a Catholic can’t go to Mass and receive communion, what should he or she do? How can someone be strengthened and connected to Jesus without the opportunity to receive his Body and Blood? The truth is that there’s no perfect substitute for the act of being present at Mass or the chance to physically receive our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The history and tradition of our Church, however, does offer us some insight into this situation, and one excellent place to begin looking for this answer is with Pope Saint John Paul II:
“In the Eucharist, ‘unlike any other sacrament, the mystery [of communion] is so perfect that it brings us to the heights of every good thing: Here is the ultimate goal of every human desire, because here we attain God and God joins himself to us in the most perfect union.’ Precisely for this reason it is good to cultivate in our hearts a constant desire for the sacrament of the Eucharist. This was the origin of the practice of ‘spiritual communion,’ which has happily been established in the Church for centuries and recommended by saints who were masters of the spiritual life. Saint Teresa of Jesus wrote: ‘When you do not receive communion and you do not attend Mass, you can make a spiritual communion, which is a most beneficial practice; by it the love of God will be greatly impressed on you.’”
(Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 34)
The answer the Pope provides us: a “spiritual communion.” This is a sentiment that would later be reaffirmed by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI:
“Even in cases where it is not possible to receive sacramental communion, participation at Mass remains necessary, important, meaningful and fruitful. In such circumstances it is beneficial to cultivate a desire for full union with Christ through the practice of spiritual communion, praised by Pope John Paul II and recommended by saints who were masters of the spiritual life.”
(Sacramentum Caritatis, 55)
Making a spiritual communion is an ancient tradition of the Church by which the faithful unite themselves to God through a special and intentional act of prayer. It’s an act based in the understanding shared by St. Thomas Aquinas that “the reality of the sacrament can be had through the very desire of receiving the sacrament” (Summa Theologica III, Q. 80, a.1). While Aquinas admittedly affirms that “the actual receiving of the sacrament produces more fully the effect of the sacrament”, he does not discount the importance of this spiritual desire, and this is a uniquely important truth at a time when someone is unable to sacramentally receive our Lord in the presence of the Eucharist.
Our world right now seems to be in precisely that kind of time. While we never cease to spiritually and prayerfully support one another, our love of neighbor does indeed require that we do everything we can at this moment to stay physically separated, a situation that means the cancellation of Mass. Thankfully, numerous priests have taken up the challenge of finding ways to allow their people to experience the Mass even if they cannot be present, especially through broadcasts on television or on the internet.
This is our reality – an unprecedented time in which our Masses are cancelled and will continue to be beyond the solemn and beautiful days of Holy Week and Easter. The hope, though, is that all of us might still find it within ourselves to celebrate these days and connect with our Lord, especially if we engage in broadcasts of these holiest of liturgies either on television or right here online. One excellent way to do that: to watch and pray during these liturgies and, at the moment the Eucharist would normally be distributed, to make a spiritual communion
How do I do that? To answer this question, we might turn to another one of the holy saints of our Church, Saint Leonard of Port-Maurice:
“When the priest is about to give himself Communion in holy Mass, do you, keeping composed externally and internally, excite in your heart an act of true contrition, and humbly striking your breast, in token that you acknowledge yourself unworthy of so great a grace, make all those acts of love, of self-surrender, of humility, and the rest, which you are accustomed to make when you communicate sacramentally, and then desire with a lively longing to receive your good Jesus, veiled in the Sacrament for your benefit. And to kindle your devotion, imagine that most holy Mary, or some Saint, your holy advocate, is holding forth to you the sacred particle; figure yourself receiving it, and then, embracing Jesus in your heart, reply to Him, over and over again, with interior words prompted by love: ‘Come, Jesus, my beloved, come within this my poor heart; come and satiate my desires; come and sanctify my soul; come, most sweet Jesus, come!’ This said, be still; contemplate your good God within you, and, as if you really had communicated, adore Him, thank Him, and perform all those interior acts to which you are accustomed after sacramental Communion.”
(The Hidden Treasure, Chapter 2)
That’s a powerful account from Saint Leonard, a deep, mystical, theological understanding of all that this moment of communion entails. At its core, though, that moment is a simple one: a moment between you and the Lord, a moment in which you want to receive him and he wants to offer himself to you.
While there is no single formula prescribed by the Church as to how to make an act of spiritual communion, it should be a time of reaching out to God and expressing our hope that we, in this spiritual way, might receive him. We can use prayers written by others, such as the beautiful “Act of Spiritual Communion” by St. Alphonsus Liguori that can be found at the top of page. Or, we can offer our own prayers, our own personal calling out to God. However we choose to do it, this moment should be:
- An act of faith
- An act of love
- An expression of our desire to receive him
- An invitation for Jesus to come into our hearts spiritually
When we orient our hearts in that way, seeking this spiritual communion with our Lord and Savior, we believe that his grace can touch us, even in the midst of the distance and separation we find ourselves experiencing today.
This is an extraordinary moment in our Church, in our communities, and truly throughout our world. It’s a time in which we need to call on God and be united with him. No, we cannot be present at Mass. No we cannot physically receive his Body and Blood. But that does not mean we cannot receive his love or be strengthened by him. Especially in our celebrations of Holy Week and Easter ahead, making a spiritual communion before, during, or after these beautiful liturgies is one powerful way to do just that.