Holy Communion

“ So the Holy Communion touches alike private life and life in society, the life of recreation and the life of business, and unless it transfigures each of these departments of human experience it falls short of its purpose. Let the business man remember that he strains to see and touch the Most Holy at the altar that he may see and touch the Most Holy in the market; let the professional man and the man of letters, the day labourer and the scientist each in his sphere be carried from the vision of God in the Eucharist to the abiding fellowship with God in his special vocation. ”

“ Your participation of the holy communion must be regarded as the fresh act of your espousals, as the solemn renewal of your covenant; as your surrender, entire and unhesitating, to the service of the Lord. It is thus that you confess Christ, and witness of Him to the world. If you eat and drink without discerning this great purpose, you eat and drink unworthily; if you repudiate such purpose, either in thought or act, you crucify in your measure the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. ”

“ For the Holy Communion is, at least, as great an instrument of holy living as prayer, and the efficacy of both, on our part, rests on the same circumstances--penitence and faith: The former denoting our conversion or departure from sin, the latter our reliance upon God, and trust in His mercy and goodness. Should I go further, and say that prayers offered up at the Altar have more efficacy with God than other prayers have, it would be saying no more than the Catholic Church has always said and taught. ”

“ The Church, therefore, is fulfilling our Lord’s command, and providing for the salvation of souls, when she commands all the faithful to receive Holy Communion.
The effects of Holy Communion are rich in blessings. He who receives the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ worthily has, in His own words, everlasting life, and will be raised up by Him at the last day. “He abides in Me, and I in him. He will live in Mel” says our Lord. The Body of Christ is a living bread, which gives us supernatural and everlasting life, and is a pledge to our bodies of a glorious resurrection. ”

“ One of the most admirable effects of holy communion is to preserve the soul from sin, and to help those who fall through weakness to rise again. It is much more profitable, then, to approach this divine Sacrament with love, respect, and confidence, than to remain away through an excess of fear and scrupulosity. ”

“ Among the gifts of grace which the soul receives in holy communion there is one that must be numbered among the highest. It is, that holy communion does not permit the soul to remain long in sin, nor to obstinately persevere in it. ”

“ We must omit nothing in order to make a good preparation for holy Communion. As on this day Communion is received to repair the defects in all previous Communions, it is unnecessary to say with what devotion we should communicate. Our profound respect in the presence of Jesus Christ must be a proof of our ardent desire to repair all past irreverence. ”

“ Our souls and bodies are united in a mysterious manner to the Divine Person of our dear Lord and Saviour, who became man and died on the cross for our salvation. He calls us to this communion, and gives Himself to us as the sweetest pledge of His Divine Love, as the most precious means of our sanctification, as a comforting food, as a holy offering by which we may praise and give thanks to God, as a feast of joy and the kiss of peace to the forgiven sinner. ”

“ Since Jesus Christ is whole and entire under the form of bread, as well as under the form of wine, the practice of the Catholic Church of giving holy communion under one form is reasonable.
Good Christians frequently receive their Lord and their God in holy communion. He inspires them with feelings of love, gratitude, and adoration. He reminds them to think frequently of their Creator—to give Him their first thoughts in the morning and their last in the evening. He gives them strength to restrain their guilty passions. ”

“ BE persuaded that you cannot better atone and satisfy for your sins, than by offering Christ and his sacred merits (which you possess in the holy communion) both to his Eternal Father, and to himself. The holy communion is the best preservative against sin. Therefore, whenever you offer the Holy Sacrifice for the remission of your sins, fail not to communicate at least spiritually. ”

“ No one but Jesus Christ would be so, because God alone is worthy to receive God. But I assure you, my dear Christian, that the longer you are absent from communion, all the more unworthy will you be to receive it; the more rarely you go to the table of the Lord, so much the more numerous will be your faults, because you are thus deprived of the principal means of freeing yourself from sin and amending your life, namely, the Holy Communion. ”

“ Why does not the Church give Holy Communion to the people as it does to the priest under the appearance of wine also? A. The Church does not give Holy Communion to the people as it does to the priest under the appearance of wine also, to avoid the danger of spilling the Precious Blood; to prevent the irreverence some might show if compelled to drink out of a chalice used by all, and lastly, to refute those who denied that Our Lord's blood is present under the appearance of bread also. ”

“ It cannot be doubted that the great love which the first faithful had for Jesus Christ was the effect of Holy Communion, which they received daily. All who render themselves worthy, by the innocence of their life and the exercise of true piety, to communicate frequently, experience still every day, in this point, the admirable effects of frequent Communion. They love Jesus Christ more and more. Their love increases in proportion as they nourish themselves more frequently with this Bread of Angels. ”

“ If the children of the world ask you why you so often receive Holy Communion, answer them: Two classes of men should go to communion often; namely, the perfect and the imperfect: the perfect, that they may continue so, and the imperfect, that they may attain perfection. The strong, that they may not become weak, and the weak, that they may become strong. The sick, that they may recover health, and the healthy, that they may not become sick. As for yourself, go often to communion, as one imperfect, sick, and weak. ”

“ As a result of these measures, the people were so fond of holy communion, and so greatly enjoyed receiving it, that on some feast-days the crowd was as great as in cities of Europe; and with so thorough preparation, by fasting, discipline, prayer, fervor, and confession, that it seemed to be a primitive church. Thus their esteem for our holy faith is so increased that few are those who do not ask for or desire baptism. ”

“ But now are many men made priests and in many places the Sacrament is celebrated, that the grace and love of God towards men might the more appear, the more widely the Holy Communion is spread abroad over all the world. Thanks be unto Thee, O good Jesus, Eternal Shepherd, who hast vouchsafed to refresh us, poor and exiled ones, with Thy precious Body and Blood, and to invite us to partake these holy mysteries by the invitation from Thine own mouth, saying, Come unto Me, ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. ”

“ Any excuse for not coming to Communion seems good enough for some Catholics, who want to keep friends and company with the world, the flesh, and the devil, and eat their dishes of avarice, lust, and pride. {291} I don't wonder they stay away; for let a man get his heart full of avarice, or burning with lust, or puffed up with pride, the very idea of Holy Communion is wearisome and distasteful to him. ”

“ Before receiving holy communion, direct your intention, that is, offer to God your Mass and communion for the glory of His holy name in thanksgiving for benefits received, in reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the outrages committed against the Blessed Sacrament, in satisfaction for your own sins, and in humble supplication that you may obtain new graces and blessings, above all the gift of final perseverance. ”

“ HOLY communion is receiving the body and blood of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. The clergy when saying Mass, except on Good Friday, receive under both forms. When not celebrating Mass, they receive only the one kind, the consecrated bread. In the early ages of the Church communion was given to the people under both forms. ”

“ And if thou hast offended any, humbly crave pardon, and God will readily forgive thee.
4. What availeth it to delay long the confession of thy sins, or to defer the holy communion?
Make thyself thoroughly clean as soon as possible. Spit out the poison with all speed, make haste to apply this sovereign Remedy, and thou shalt find it to be better with thee than if thou long defer it.
If thou omit it to-day for one cause, perhaps to-morrow another of greater force may occur to thee; and so thou mayest be hindered a long time from communion, and grow more and more unfit. ”

“ Frequent and daily communion, as a thing most earnestly desired by Christ our Lord and by the Catholic Church, should be open to all the faithful, of whatever rank and condition of life; so that no one who is in the state of grace, and who approaches the Holy Table with a right and devout intention, can lawfully be hindered therefrom. ”

“ That the Holy Communion is not only a commemoration of Christ's death, but a memorial or representation of His sufferings and death made before the Almighty Father, to put Him in mind of the meritorious sacrifice of His blessed Son on our behalf. ”

“ Now consider, on the one hand, what might be the effect of going to the Holy Communion with a direct feeling that, in that Communion, we, though many, were all brought together in Christ Jesus. And first, I will speak of our thoughts of those who are partakers of the Communion with us, then of those who are not. When others are gone out, and we who are to communicate are left alone with each other, then, if we perceive that there are many of us, the first natural feeling is one of joy, that we are so many ”

“ For us, too, these forty days are full of blessed lessons, teaching us that real communion with Jesus is attained by faith in Him, and that He is still working in and for us, and is still present with us. The joy with which the disciples saw Him ascend should live on in us as we think of Him enthroned. The hope that the angels' message lit up in their hearts should burn in ours. ”

“ He meets him indeed at all the stages, for there is a blessed communion with God, that springs immediately from remembering Him in His ways, and a still more blessed one that springs from rejoicing in His felt friendship and Fatherhood, and a yet more blessed one that comes from practical righteousness. For if there is anything that breaks our communion with God, it is that there linger in our lives evils which make it impossible for God and us to come close together. ”

“ Communion is nevertheless real and true. The members of the Church of the living God, however they may be scattered and divided, have communion and fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and being in fellowship with God, they are of one mind, and are knit together by common faith and mutual sympathy. They are all one with the same Head, and they have all one hope of their calling. ”

“ It is because our communion with God in Christ is so infrequent, hurried, and superficial. We should be like those luminous boxes which we sometimes see, shining in the dark with light absorbed from the day; but, like them, we need to be exposed to the light and to lie in it if we are to be light. 'Now are ye light in the Lord,' and only as we abide in Him by continuous communion shall we resemble Him or reflect Him. ”

“ I am afraid that very, very few so-called Christian people habitually feel, as they might do, the depth and blessedness of this communion. And sure I am that only a very small percentage of us have anything like the continuity of companionship which my text suggests as possible. There may be, and therefore there should be, running unbroken through a Christian life one long, bright line of communion with God and happy inspiration from the sense of His presence with us. ”

“ For here, too, we enter into Holy Communion—the {78} communion of simple, human, happy family life; here, too, we approach a sacrament, outward and visible signs of happy, quiet, home life—the signs of an inward and spiritual grace—the grace which lies below and interprets all human grace in man and woman—the grace of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. True, that grace is but little realised in the best of families—little consciously realised in the noblest life. ”

“ Communion of Saints.—An article of the Creed by which is meant the fellowship with, or union in Christ of all who are one with Him whether they are among the living in the Church on earth or the departed in Paradise. The Communion of Saints is specially realized in the Holy Eucharist. This spiritual food is our Lord's own divine substance and life, by participation in which the faithful Christian enters into a communion with his Lord which death cannot end or even interrupt. ”

“ Christ has prepared them for this trial of their faith by the vision of His glory on Mount Thabor. Thus He provides special aids for special difficulties. All the Apostles have been strengthened for the occasion by Holy Communion. A fall soon after receiving Communion does not prove an unworthy Communion. ”