Spiritual Communion
My
Jesus, I believe that You are truly 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 being already there and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
St.
Alphonsus Liguori
What is Spiritual Communion?
Spiritual Communion is the heartfelt desire to
receive Our Lord, even when we are unable because of circumstances beyond our
control like the present Covid-19 pandemic. The desire to receive him through
spiritual Communion is an act of love which prolongs our thanksgiving even when
we are not in the Eucharistic presence of Our Lord. The wish to live constantly
in his presence can be fuelled by acts of love and desire to be united with him
and is a means of drawing more deeply from the life of the Holy Spirit dwelling
within our souls in the state of grace. ‘The effects of a sacrament can be
received by desire. Although in such a case the sacrament is not received
physically... nevertheless, the actual
reception of the sacrament itself brings with it fuller effect than receiving
through desire alone.’ St. Thomas Aquinas.
Acts
of Spiritual Communion
I
wish, my Lord, to receive You with the purity, humility, and devotion with
which your Most Holy Mother received You, with the spirit and fervour of the
saints. Come Lord Jesus.
Give
me, good Lord, a longing to be with You...give me warmth, delight and quickness
in thinking upon You. And give me Your grace to long for Your holy sacraments,
and specially to rejoice in the presence of Your very blessed Body, Sweet
Saviour Christ, in the Holy Sacrament of the altar.
St.
Thomas More
Taken from ‘A Simple Prayer Book’ by the Catholic
Truth Society.
