Cosa troverai in questo articolo?
The saints often turned to spiritual communion when they could not receive sacramental Communion. Throughout the day, they would repeat a prayer several times in which they expressed their ardent desire to receive Jesus spiritually into their hearts, drawing great spiritual benefits from it. We, too, can follow their example by making many spiritual communions, especially during the most demanding moments of the day.
Saint Leonard of Port Maurice assures us: “If you practice the holy exercise of spiritual communion several times a day, I give you one month to see your heart completely changed.”
Saint John Bosco also recommended this practice: “If you cannot receive Communion sacramentally, make a spiritual communion, which consists in an ardent desire to receive Jesus into your heart.”
The Blessed Agatha of the Cross felt such an acute desire to live always united with the Eucharistic Jesus that she once said: “If my confessor had not taught me to make a spiritual communion, I would not have been able to live.”
For Saint Maria Francesca of the Five Wounds, too, spiritual communion was the only relief from the acute pain she felt when confined at home, far from her love, especially when she was not permitted to receive sacramental Communion. She would then go up to the terrace and, looking at the church, sigh through her tears: “Blessed are those who received you today in the Sacrament, Jesus. Fortunate are the walls of the church that shelter my Jesus. Blessed are the priests who are always close to Jesus, most lovable.” And only spiritual communion could calm her somewhat.
Saint Angela Merici not only frequently made spiritual communion and urged others to do so, but went so far as to leave it as an “inheritance” to her daughters so that they might practice it perpetually.
Was not the life of Saint Francis de Sales an uninterrupted chain of spiritual communions? He resolved to make a spiritual communion at least every quarter of an hour.
Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe had made the same resolution from a young age.
In a vision, Jesus appeared to Saint Catherine of Siena holding two chalices in His hands and said to her: “In this golden chalice I place your sacramental Communions; in this silver chalice I place your spiritual Communions. These two chalices are very pleasing to me.”
The Saintly Curé of Ars said: “Spiritual Communion acts upon the soul like a bellows on a fire covered with ash and about to go out. When we feel that the love of God is growing cold, let us hasten to spiritual Communion.” He also told the faithful: “When you see a bell tower, you can say: Jesus is there, because a priest has celebrated Mass there.”
“Whenever you desire me,” Jesus said to Saint Matilda, “you draw me into yourself. A desire, a sigh, is enough to place me in your possession.”
Pope Francis also recommends it: “United with Christ, we are never alone, but form one Body, of which He is the Head. This union is nourished by prayer and also by spiritual Communion with the Eucharist, a practice strongly recommended when it is not possible to receive the Sacrament. I say this to everyone, especially to those who live alone.”
WHEN TO MAKE A SPIRITUAL COMMUNION?
• During Mass, when we cannot receive sacramental Communion.
• During visits to the Blessed Sacrament, as recommended by Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori.
• In the morning as soon as we wake up and in the evening before falling asleep.
• After prayer, meditation, or spiritual reading.
• Before or after praying the Holy Rosary.
• At any time of day or night.
We can make a spiritual Communion ten times, twenty times a day, as often as we wish, since only a few moments are needed - brief aspirations addressed to Jesus in the Eucharist, imploring Him to come into us. Here, time is not what matters; what matters is the ardor and intensity of the desire, the soul's hunger and thirst, the heart's longing!
