The Importance of Making a Spiritual Communion and How You Can Do It Anytime.

Spiritual communion is a great way to cultivate our love for Christ in the Eucharist for those times when we can’t make it to Mass for a variety of reasons (no priest, something unexpected, weather, job, sickness, etc.). It doesn’t matter when or where you are, as long as you practice the devotion with “renewed faith, reverence, humility and in complete trust in the goodness of the Divine Redeemer” and are “united to Him in the spirit of the most ardent charity,” as Pope Pius XII says in his encyclical Mediator Dei (The Sacred Liturgy). Marge Fenelon, in an article in the NC Register, shares a four-step method from Redemptorist Father Jim White. He proposes the following:

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The Act of Spiritual Communion

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1. Make an act of faith.

The key here is to express to the Lord: our faith in his merciful love and his real presence in the Eucharist. You can come up with your own prayer or use a more traditional version. For example (USCCB):

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O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins and that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths, which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because you have revealed them who are eternal truth and wisdom, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. In this faith I intend to live and die. Amen.

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2. Make an act of love.

O Lord God, I love you above all things and I love my neighbor for your sake because you are the highest, infinite and perfect good, worthy of all my love. In this love I intend to live and die. Amen.

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3. Express our desire to receive him.

 

4. Invite Jesus to come into our hearts spiritually.

With a humble and contrite heart, we ask the Lord to come to us just as He would if we were able to receive the sacrament.

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Prayer of Spiritual Communion

 

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.