By Father Troy Overton
As we face the challenges imposed by the impact of the COVID-19 Virus, one of the most personally difficult for me is the inability to celebrate Mass publicly and share the Eucharist with our parish community of St. Edward.
One way of addressing this absence is to make a “Spiritual Communion.” This is a real and important part of our Catholic tradition going back centuries. Nevertheless, I dare say most Catholics have never heard of it, do not understand it, or know how to make a spiritual communion. I hope these reflections will assist you in preparing for, making and living a spiritual communion with the Lord Jesus.
In times of unrest, political and religious upheaval, and even various forms of plague and disease, along with persecutions, Catholics have long resorted to making a spiritual communion when they could not attend Mass and receive the Blessed Sacrament. Our own personal life situation may also necessitate a need for making a spiritual communion. The important thing is to remember that as people of faith we long for union with Jesus and one another. This is precisely what a spiritual communion celebrates and expresses!
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.” We see here not just an emotional or mental connection, what you might call a heart-felt, sentimental oneness with the Savior, but a genuine and factual union with Christ. What is key here is our desire. God honors our desire to be one with Him in Jesus in and through our communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The basis of this practice was explained by Pope John Paul II in his encyclical,
Ecclesia de Eucharistia
: 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.”
While there are many versions of a spiritual communion, a popular one is this Act of Spiritual Communion, which was recommended by St. Alphonsus Liguori:
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Blessed Sacrament.
I love You above all things, and I desire You in my soul.
Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart.
As though You are already there, I embrace You and unite myself wholly to You; permit not that I should ever be separated from You. Amen.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, may He give you His peace.
