Spiritual Communion: Too Little Known

Sermon Preached by Rev. Fr. Bernard Uttley, O.S.B., on November 4, 2012

(Originally published in The Reign of Mary, No. 151, Summer 2013)

The holy doctrine and practice of spiritual Communion is often forgotten, underestimated, or misunderstood. Being little known, it is even less practiced. This is very unfortunate, for it is a wonderful practice, very much esteemed by the saints and extolled and recommended by the Church, as an incomparable source of grace and holiness. The Catechism of the Council of Trent says: “The shepherds of souls should teach their flock that there is not one manner of receiving the admirable fruits of the sacrament of the Eucharist, but that there are two: sacramental Communion and spiritual Communion.”

What is spiritual Communion? The great St. Thomas gives us a brief but perfect answer: “Spiritual Communion consists in an ardent desire of receiving Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament and in embracing Him with the same love as if you had actually received Him.” By spiritual Communion we invite Jesus Christ, present in the Blessed Sacrament, into our hearts by faith, desire, and love. Then, as if we had actually sacramentally received Him, we can make our thanksgiving. We should converse with our Divine Guest with holy affections — adore, thank, praise, bless Him, and beg His favors for ourselves and others, or simply remain in His presence in silent adoration and love. This is truly a Communion, as the Council of Trent expressly states, by which we actually participate in a considerable proportion of the graces and benefits of the Eucharist when it is not possible to receive sacramental Communion. It is an act of spiritual union with the Eucharistic Christ.

Of course, by spiritual Communion we do not receive the Body and Blood of Christ, but it does unite us with His adorable, Divine Person and Nature, in a secret, mysterious, and special manner. It is sometimes called “interior communion,” communion of the heart, invisible or mystical communion. It is also called a “virtual communion,” because it does have the power of making us spiritually participate in the fruits of the Eucharist without any external, visible sign or action as is the case when we receive sacramentally.

The truth about spiritual Communion should be very consoling for all who truly love Our Lord and desire intimate union with Him, but particularly for those faithful who cannot attend Mass and receive Holy Communion as often as they would wish for one reason or another, whether due to a lack of availability of priests, difficulty of travel, financial reasons, sickness, etc. However, care must be taken not to omit sacramental Communion whenever we have the opportunity. To omit sacramental Communion under the pretext that spiritual Communion will takes its place, is either to show bad will or at least a lack of understanding of the very foundation of union with Jesus in spiritual Communion, namely, the earnest intention to receive Him actually whenever it is possible for one to do so.

Spiritual Communion simply involves what we habitually do, or should do, when we actually receive sacramental Communion, namely, to receive Our Lord Jesus Christ with fervor and piety, ardently desiring Him to come into our hearts. The trouble is that we so often receive Communion out of mere routine, almost without thinking about it. We often go because everyone else is going, rather than from a sincere, interior desire for union with Jesus. Granted, even from such routine Communions we receive some grace. For the Sacraments work in us, as the theologians say, ex opere operato, that is, they work in us by the work itself; they bestow grace into our soul to some degree even without our having “fervor” or “attention,” as long as there is not the obstacle of a known, unrepented mortal sin.

On the other hand, the graces which we receive will be in proportion to the fervor, disposition, and desire of our soul: the more perfect and ardent the disposition and desire, the more precious the graces received. If our faith is strong and our love ardent and pure, God will show Himself very generous to us. The same goes for our spiritual Communions; however, spiritual Communion does not work like the Sacraments, ex opere operato, but ex opere operantis, that is, by the work of the worker — our own dispositions and desire. Everything in spiritual Communion, all the grace which we receive, as with our other private devotions, really depends on our interior desire and fervor. This is, in a sense, the beauty of spiritual Communion, for we cannot really practice this devotion out of mere routine.

I have and will always try to show the utter simplicity of prayer: that prayer does not, in and of itself, depend so much on this or that formula but rather on the interior disposition and intention of the heart, and that God sees these inward desires of the heart, even though they may not be articulated with the lips. “God is a Spirit and they that adore Him must adore Him in spirit and in truth.” These truths must always be reiterated and emphasized for we are apt to forget them and make prayer more complicated and distasteful than it need be.

The same goes for spiritual Communion. Nothing can be simpler or easier than spiritual Communion. If a prayer formula or a certain “method” is recommended for making a spiritual Communion, we must not feel that we have to use it in order to communicate spiritually. These methods and formulas — and this applies to all other private devotions as well — are meant only as helps and suggestions to dispose the soul for interior piety, not to shackle it down or clip the wings of devotion. Spiritual Communion ultimately rests not on this or that prayer formula, but on the sincere, ardent — although perhaps unfelt — desire of receiving Jesus Christ in the Holy Sacrament, as St. Thomas explains: “and in embracing Him with the same love as if you had actually received Him.”

We can use any words we wish to express this desire, such as, “Jesus, I love You; come into my soul,” “Come, my Jesus,” “I need You,” etc. But sincere desire, faith, and love, not words, words, words, are what matter most here. In 1923, in his book Holy Communion, Bishop De Gibergues, writes: “What must one do in order to communicate spiritually? Is it enough to make acts of faith and love toward Jesus present in the Eucharist? No. We must expressly formulate the desire to communicate; and in order that this desire may be sincere we must be so disposed that we would communicate sacramentally if it were possible. On the other hand, a simple desire, if deep and sincere, no matter how brief and rapid, is sufficient to constitute spiritual Communion. Obviously, the longer the desire is prolonged the more fruitful is the Communion. But by a simple impulse of the heart toward Jesus present in the Eucharist we communicate spiritually, we participate in the graces of sacramental Communion.”

Even though the briefest words, or even merely the simple, ardent desire, be sufficient to communicate spiritually, we will nevertheless give here the following classical formula, given by St. Alphonsus, in order to help us form the proper disposition and desire within our hearts for spiritual Communion: “My Jesus, I believe that You are truly and really present in the Holy Sacrament. I love You with my whole heart, and because I love You, I am sorry for having offended You. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You, as if You had really come, and I give myself entirely to You; do not permit me to be ever separated from You.”

We can, of course, recite the mere words of the formula, but such words are not what this devotion is all about — it is essentially the ardent desire to receive Jesus. It is true that sacramental Communion is of itself of far greater value, for by it we truly receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, and it is capable of conferring more grace and of producing greater fruit, than spiritual Communion; yet if we make a spiritual Communion with better dispositions, with greater faith, more humility, reverence, love and desire, it is possible to receive more grace than by a sacramental Communion made half-heartedly and out of routine. This is what the saints and masters of the spiritual life all teach.

St. Leonard of Port-Maurice says: “Spiritual Communion is a treasure which enriches the soul with inestimable wealth, and is capable of producing the very same graces as sacramental, and in some instances greater.” St. Alphonsus, the great Doctor of the Church, teaches the same thing. The spiritual writer, venerable Alphonsus Rodriguez says: “God often bestows the same graces to those who communicate spiritually as to those who really receive under the Species. Nay, it may sometimes happen that he who communicates spiritually may receive more graces than he that actually communicates.” The great theologian, Cardinal de Lugo, also teaches that “the soul, because of the vehemence of its desires, may sometimes receive greater graces from spiritual, than from sacramental, Communion.” All this should teach us the primacy of desire and love in the spiritual life. This is what God really looks for and what He blesses more than anything else.

Best of all, there is no limit to the use of this devotion. We can communicate spiritually every hour of the day — the oftener the better. As we have seen, nothing is more simple and easy than to make a spiritual Communion. We can make one anywhere and anytime of the day or night, and as often as we wish. It is not necessary to be fasting, to have a priest, or to spend much time. All we have to do is to form the desire to receive Jesus, present in the Blessed Sacrament, spiritually, since we cannot receive Him sacramentally right at that moment. This desire can be wholly interior; we can express it in a longer formula or in a simple aspiration such as “Jesus, come into my soul,” etc. This is an ideal devotion to use throughout our busy day, for often we simply do not have the time or opportunity to kneel down and recite a long prayer. Spiritual communion, therefore, can be made during any work or occupation whatsoever.

As there is really no time or occupation in which we should feel guilty about praying, so there is no time in which we could not make a spiritual Communion. (If we do feel guilty, we should examine our conscience and our actions — are we in the midst of something sinful? Even more so do we then need prayer. “Do nothing,” said the Cure of Ars, “that you cannot offer to Jesus.”) We should often spiritually communicate in the course of the day and even during the wakefulness of the night. It is especially recommended to be made during Mass, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, before going to sleep, on rising, in times of danger, sickness, etc.

It is said that Blessed Angela of the Cross used to make a hundred spiritual Communions every day and the same every night. Some may wonder how she could make so many. St. Augustine gives us the answer: “Give me one that loves, and he understands what I say.” In other words, give me a soul that loves nothing but Jesus Christ, give me a soul that knows what love means, and he will not wonder at it. Spiritual Communion answers a need, a hunger of the soul. When we are separated from loved ones, we transport ourselves near them in mind and heart. It feels like “torture” to be apart, for love craves union. Thus does a lover of Jesus act in his relations with his Eucharistic God. He loves to think of Him and wishes to be united with Him. Spiritual Communion accustoms the soul to converse frequently with Our Lord and to live in intimate union with Him. It is love yearning for the beloved. It is love drawing the Beloved (Jesus) to itself.

In this age of apostasy, confusion, indifferentism, and difficulty of attending the true Mass, the faithful must come to set a high value upon the practice of spiritual Communion. It was often the only possible form of Communion for the early Christians who were unable to attend daily Mass in the time of persecution; it has been the Communion of the imprisoned, of the Martyrs, and of the hermits, throughout the ages. And it is, or may become, the only form of Communion for many of us in the future.

To those who have understood the central place of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Most Blessed Sacrament in Christianity, the doctrine of spiritual Communion gives them a means of sharing in the fruits of the Sacrifice and the Holy Eucharist wherever they may be, for the greater glory of God and for the redemption and sanctification of souls — their own first and foremost. “By it,” writes St. Leonard of Port-Maurice, “many souls have attained to high perfection.” The sick, or those not near a church, or anyone who has some other legitimate physical or moral reason for the impossibility of communicating sacramentally, the practice and benefits of spiritual Communion should be most consoling. Pope Pius XII writes: “The Church wishes in the first place that Christians — especially when they cannot easily receive Holy Communion — should do so at least by desire, so that with renewed faith, reverence, humility, and complete trust in the goodness of the divine Redeemer, they may be united to Him in the spirit of the most ardent charity.”

If spiritual Communion is made with great fervor, it drives boredom and sadness out of the soul, filling it with peace and serenity. It will powerfully help us to receive the Holy Eucharist with more fervor. It will greatly increase our union with Our Lord and obtain for us the grace and light we need to sanctify and save our soul in this confusing and spiritually dangerous world. “How praiseworthy it would be if this form of devotion were more widespread, especially among those who are deprived of sacramental Communion!” writes Fr. Perret, but alas, “It is regrettable that many people, even those who demonstrate great piety, do not seem to appreciate this form of devotion. They would not overlook it if they were more concerned about their progress in virtue.”

Spiritual Communion has always been greatly esteemed by the saints, who sought, by this powerful and precious devotion, to unite themselves to Our Lord and to nourish their love for Him. If we wish to rapidly and more surely rise to greater union with God and holiness of life, we should make frequent use of this devotion for it draws down precious graces into our soul.