Spiritual Communion

After 35 years of becoming Roman Catholic, I am still learning things. Yeah, I know, go figure! Anyway, I came to an epiphany last year with help from a book I read. It is called: Spiritual Combat, by Fr. Lorenzo Scupoli, a priest who lived 1530-1610. The first edition came out in 1589 in Venice. It was translated into English in 1899, and is available from SOPHIA INSTITUTE in New Hampshire. St. Francis de Sales called this book 'golden', and his favorite, and carried a copy with him at all times. Well worth the reading if you should decide to obtain a copy.

Anyway, I was reading a chapter where he speaks of receiving 'Spiritual Communion'. I have used this on Sundays when I am unable to go to Mass for whatever reason. However, Fr. Scupoli suggests that we ask for It every hour of the day. I never even thought of doing this, and I can't think of why I didn't. Can you imagine of going to the Eucharist unworthily? Well, I'm thinking; if we do a Spiritual Communion during the day, wouldn't it help us not to do the things we do during the course of the day? Whatever we think, whatever we say, and whatever we do would be impacted if we thought of receiving Him spiritually. Would we be worthy to receive Him at any moment of the day?

Fr. Scupoli remarks: '...we may receive our Lord spiritually at every hour and at every moment. And nothing but negligence or some other fault on our part can deprive us of this privilege. Spiritual Communion may even be more advantageous to us and acceptable to God than many sacramental Communions, when the latter are received with imperfect dispositions. As often, then, as you shall dispose yourself and prepare for spiritual Communion, you will find the Son of God ready to give Himself with His own hands to you for your spiritual food.

By the way of preparation, turn your thoughts to Him for this end. And, after a short examination of your failings, mourn with Him over your offenses, and, with all humility and Faith, beseech Him that He would vouchsafe to enter into your poor soul with some fresh gift of grace, to heal it and fortify it against the enemy.

When about to do violence to yourself and to mortify some appetite, or to do some act of virtue, do all with the motive of preparing your heart for your Lord, who is continually demanding this of you. Then turn to Him and invite Him with earnestness to come with His grace to heal you and deliver you from your enemies, to the end that He alone may possess your heart. Or else, calling to mind your last sacramental Confession, say with enkindled heart, "When, my Lord, shall I again receive Thee?"
But if you desire to prepare yourself, and spiritually communicate in a more orderly manner, on the evening before, address all mortifications, acts of virtue, and every other good work to this end, that you may spiritually receive your Lord. And in the morning, consider what great happiness and benefit the soul gains by worthily receiving the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar (for in it lost virtue is regained, the soul is brought back to its first beauty and receives the fruits and merits of the Passion of the Son of God). And consider how pleasing it is to God that you receive it and possess these blessings, so that you may inflame your heart with a great desire to receive it to give Him pleasure.

When this desire is enkindled within you, turning to Him, say, "Inasmuch as it is not granted to me, Lord, today to receive Thee sacramentally, grant, O uncreated Goodness and Power, that I---every fault having been pardoned and healed---may now worthily receive Thee spiritually, every hour and every day, and provide me with fresh grace and strength against all my enemies, particularly against that one upon which, for Thy pleasure, I am making war."'
The above is just a part of this chapter, but it made me stop and think, about for the numerous times I could have been doing this and didn't. Let us together start receiving Him spiritually, and thanking Him for everything He has given, and beg Him to help us not to offend Him anymore. After all, He died for each one of us individually.

Fr. Scupoli ends with this: '...then, in a strain of thankfulness for the gifts and favors that the Lord has bestowed on you during that day, acknowledge Him as the Doer of all good, and return thanks to Him for having rescued you from so many open enemies and from so many more hidden ones, for having given you good thoughts and occasions of virtue, and for all other benefits that you may not have known, even though you received them.'

The Most Blessed SacramentFR. STEPHANO MANELLIImprimatur: 1973, Naples, Italy
Spiritual Communion, Part 1
Spiritual Communion is the reserve of Eucharistic Life and Love always available for lovers of the Eucharistic Jesus. By means of Spiritual Communion the loving desires are satisfied of the soul that wants to be united with Jesus, its dear Bridegroom. Spiritual Communion is a union of love between the soul and Jesus in the Host. This union is spiritual but none-the-less real, more real than the union between the soul and the body, "because the soul lives more where it loves than where it lives," says St. John of the Cross.

Faith, Love and Desire
As is evident, Spiritual Communion assumes that we have faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Tabernacle. It implies that we would like Sacramental Communion, and it demands a gratitude for Jesus' gift of this Sacrament. All this is expressed simply and briefly in the formula of St. Alphonsus Liguori:

"My Jesus, I believe that You are really present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love Thee above all things, and I desire to possess Thee within my soul. Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. --- (pause) I embrace Thee as being already there and unite myself wholly to Thee. Never, never permit me to be separated from Thee. Amen."

Spiritual Communion, as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Alphonsus Liguori teach, produces effects similar to Sacramental Communion, according to the dispositions with which it is made, the greater or less earnestness with which Jesus is desired, and the greater or less love with which Jesus is welcomed and given due attention.

A special advantage of Spiritual Communion is that we can make it as often as we like --- even hundreds of times a day --- when we like --- even late at night --- and wherever we like --- even in a desert, or up in an airplane.

It is fitting to make a Spiritual Communion especially when we are attending Holy Mass and cannot receive Our Lord sacramentally. While the priest is receiving his Holy Communion, our soul should share in it by inviting Jesus into our heart. In this way every Holy Mass we hear is a complete one, with the Offertory, the sacrificial Consecration, and Holy Communion.

The Two Chalices
Jesus Himself told St. Catherine of Siena in a vision how precious a Spiritual Communion is. The Saint was afraid that a Spiritual Communion was nothing compared to a Sacramental Communion. In the vision, Our Lord held up two ciboriums, and said, "In this golden ciborium I put your Sacramental Communions. In this silver ciborium 1 put your Spiritual Communions. Both ciboriums are quite pleasing to Me."
And once Jesus said to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, when she was absorbed in addressing yearning sighs to Him in the tabernacle, "I love so much a soul's desire to receive Me, that I hasten to it each time it summons Me by its yearnings."

It is not hard to see how much Spiritual Communion has been loved by the Saints. Spiritual Communion at least partly satisfied that ardent desire to be united to their Beloved. Jesus Himself said, "Abide in Me and I in you" (John 15:4). And Spiritual Communion helps us stay united to Jesus, even when we are far from a Church. There was no other way to appease the fond yearning that burned in the hearts of the Saints. "O God, my whole soul longs for You. As a deer for running water, my whole soul thirsts for God" (Ps. 41:2).

This is the loving sigh of the Saints. St. Catherine of Genoa exclaimed, "O dear Spouse (of my soul), I so strongly crave the joy of being with Thee, that it seems to me that if I were dead, I would come to life in order to receive Thee in Holy Communion." Blessed Agatha of the Cross felt such an acute yearning to live always united to Jesus in the Eucharist, that she remarked, "If the Confessor had not taught me to make Spiritual Communion, I could not have lived."
For St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds, likewise, Spiritual Communion was the only relief from the acute pain she felt when shut up at home far from her beloved Lord, especially when she was not allowed to receive Sacramental Communion. At such a time she went out on the terrace of her home and, looking at the Church, she tearfully sighed, "Happy are they who have received Thee today in the Blessed Sacrament, O Jesus. Blessed are the walls of the Church that guard my Jesus. Blessed are the priests, who are always near the most lovable Jesus." Spiritual Communion alone was able to satisfy her a little.

 

 

He's always waiting for us.