April 19, 2020

With public Masses cancelled, Catholics rely on spiritual Communion

REGIONAL
By Sharon Roulier

The Blessed Sacrament is exposed in the Holy Spirit Chapel at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Springfield. (Photo from Catholic Communications video)

SPRINGFIELD – With churches closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Catholics have been unable to attend Mass and receive the Eucharist. During this time, many are finding comfort in feeling closer to Jesus Christ by reciting a prayer to make an act of “spiritual Communion.”

When the Holy Eucharist is not available to receive, a person can express the desire to receive it through a spiritual communion prayer. This can be a formal, informal or even nonverbal prayer. Although the origins of spiritual communion are not clear, it has been part of church doctrine for centuries. Many saints have written about it over the last 400 years.

St. Josemaría Escrivá wrote to young people: “What a source of grace there is in spiritual communion! Practice it frequently and you will have greater presence of God and closer union with Him in all your actions.”

St. Thomas Aquinas defined “spiritual communion” as “an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Holy Sacrament and a loving embrace as though we had already received Him.” 

St. Teresa of Avila wrote: “When you cannot receive Communion and cannot 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.”

“The Spiritual Communion Prayer helps us to realize how much we love the Eucharist, Jesus our eucharistic Lord always present to us,” said Springfield Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski in an interview with iObserve. “Our Spiritual Communion Prayer unites us with him in the Eucharist.”

Bishop Rozanski has been celebrating the weekly “Chalice of Salvation” televised liturgy in the Holy Spirit Chapel at St. Michael’s Cathedral for the last month, since a ban on large gatherings including church services was instituted due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Mass is celebrated without a congregation present.

The bishop said he understands that parishioners miss going to Mass in their parishes and receiving Communion.

(Photo from Bing images)

“Of course, for each one of us as Catholics it is our special privilege to receive our divine Lord in the blessed Eucharist,” said the bishop. “We pray always in our hearts that we hunger for him, because hungering for him means that we hunger for his presence with us. And the greatest sacrament given to us in his body and blood is the Lord Jesus who came to bring us salvation and life.”

No matter what one’s circumstances are during each day, one can find comfort by reciting a spiritual Communion prayer, like the following one, composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori in the 18th century:   

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 were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

“It is truly, the Eucharist, is our medicine for immortality,” said Bishop Rozanski. “We desire, we yearn for the Eucharist. But when we cannot receive it we have our Spiritual Communion Prayer to unite ourselves always with the Lord Jesus and his presence.”