THE SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

 THE MANY GRACES OF THE SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

    According to St. Thomas, spiritual communion consists of an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament and lovingly embrace Him as if we had actually received Him. 

    

    How pleasing these spiritual communions are to God, as well as the many graces He bestows through them, was revealed by our Lord Himself to Sister Paula Maresca, the foundress of the convent of St. Catherine of Siena in Naples. He showed her two precious vessels, one of gold and 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. 

 

    He also informed Blessed Jane of the Cross that each time she communicated spiritually, she received a grace equivalent to the one she received during actual communion. 

 

  Above all, it suffices to know that the holy Council of Trent greatly praises spiritual communions and encourages the faithful to practice them. Hence, all devout souls are accustomed to frequently engaging in this holy exercise of spiritual communion. St. Agatha of the Cross performed this two hundred times a day. St. Peter Faber, the first companion of St. Ignatius, claimed that making spiritual communions was of the highest utility for receiving sacramental communion well.

 

   All who desire to advance in the love of Jesus Christ are encouraged to make a spiritual communion at least once during each visit to the Most Blessed Sacrament and at every Mass they attend. It would even be better on these occasions to repeat the communions three times, that is, at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end. 

 

    This devotion is far more profitable than some suppose, and at the same time, nothing can be easier in practice. The aforementioned Blessed Jane of the Cross stated that a spiritual communion can be made without anyone noticing, without fasting, without needing the permission of our director, and that we can make it at any time we please: an act of love accomplishes it all.

⚜ ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

My Jesus, I believe that Thou art present 

in the Blessed Sacrament. I love Thee above all things 

and I desire Thee in my soul. 

Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, 

come at least spiritually into my heart. 

As though thou wert already there, 

I embrace Thee and unite myself wholly to Thee; 

permit not that I should ever be separated from Thee.

Dr. Nicholas Macedon OCD

Carmelite Priory, Oxford.            

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