Communion

“ I offer this holy communion to Thee, O eternal Father, in union with the offering my dear Redeemer made of Himself upon the cross, in thanksgiving for my creation, redemption, and preservation, in union with all the intentions my divine Saviour had in the institution of this Most Holy Sacrament, that I may become more meek, humble, particularly charitable, obedient, patient, and mortified; that I may always do Thy will with exactness, fervor, and perseverance; and that in all my actions I may aim at perfection. ”

“ 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. ”

“ We now bow down to hold communion with Christ, but then we shall behold him as he is, in all his love and all his majesty; we now meet with God’s people in the affectionate sympathy of a common faith, but then we shall reign with the vast multitude of God’s chosen saints in the triumphant fellowship of a common glory. And to those who long for the reality, there is delightful encouragement in partaking of the figure. ”

“ Deceive not yourselves, then, my brethren; there is a way of receiving Jesus Christ, by which his presence is rendered useless to us; and would to God, that, in thus receiving him, we deprived ourselves only of those favours which follow a holy communion! Ah! my brethren, unless the communion gives birth to Jesus Christ in our hearts, it brings death to him there; if it does not render us participators of his Spirit and of his grace, it is the sentence of our condemnation: if it be not a fruit of life to our soul, it is a fruit of death. ”

“ LAST Sunday I spoke of the Catholic doctrine of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist; I pointed out what our faith taught us about the Blessed Sacrament and how the Mass was to our Catholic forefathers and to us to-day, the central act of worship of God; and that the Holy Communion in a very true sense is the food of our spiritual life, as it binds us to God and brings Him into our lives in truth and in reality, which is the end and object of every act of religion. ”

“ O my God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, present in me in the eucharistic species; fill me with that lively faith, profound humility, tender confidence, pure conscience, and ardent love, with which so many happy souls are inflamed in partaking of this sacred banquet, and supply by Thy mercy all my deficiencies. I offer my communion to render Thee the honor and glory which are due to Thy infinite majesty; to satisfy Thy justice, which I have provoked by my sins; to thank Thee for the innumerable benefits which I have received from Thy bounty ”

“ Had I been born a Catholic, I should have been an ardent champion of my Church. But how can I approve of the conversion of a person in your position? Do you not reflect that your husband is an officer of the Calvinist communion?"
"But it is the very prosaic nature of this communion which offends me. For in what a dull manner do our elders and deacons perform their sacred functions! Prayer, sermon, hymns—everything is with them a mere matter of enforced routine. How can they inspire others who have not themselves the gift of grace? ”

“ It is so in the sense that the Church is the communion of saints, conceived before the beginning of time a communion of those whom God has summoned to live with Him in the past, the present and the future. ”

“ For my food is the bread of angels and my God is not far from me and my God is in my soul! O dear Jesus, how liberal art Thou towards him that seeks Thee! How can I make return for this great kindness?
3. Consider, O my soul, that as often as you receive communion, you become, as it were, like Mary, the Mother of God, and a spouse of Jesus Christ: for in holy communion you may consider that the Lord comes to you as the little Child of Bethlehem. He becomes your Spouse because He loves you, takes care of you, and caresses you. ”

“ To say all in one word, a worthy Communion unites us so intimately to God, and procures for us such an abundant infusion of his gifts and graces, as caused a father of the Church to say, that “ a single Communion would suffice to make a saint.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ We should have but little in the world, but what is this, if it be made up to us, in communion with God and his people? If we thrive in faith, and love, humility, and heavenly-mindedness, what matter is it, though we do not raise ourselves in the world? Oh! Who would leave so much grace, and so much comfort in communion with Christ and his saints, for the probabilities of living a little more handsomely. ’Tis a strange thing to see how Christians generally judge. ”

“ What other end could there be to a life that was all passed in communion with God except that apotheosis and crown of it all, the lifting of the man into closer communion with his Father and his Friend? ”

“ We have, then, in this beautiful section, as we have seen, a picture of unbroken communion and its delightful issues. May our lives correspond! First, one with the King, then speaking of the King; the joy of communion leading to fellowship in service, to a being all for Jesus, ready for any experience that will fit for further service, surrendering all to Him, and willing to minister all for Him. There is no room for love of the world here, for union with Christ has filled the heart; there is nothing for the gratification of the world, for all has been sealed and is kept for the Master's use. ”

“ These sacraments will maintain the purity of your soul, and the Giver of grace will descend into your heart with His light and strength. After each communion entreat Our Lord, with earnestness and confidence, to teach you what are the designs of His sacred Heart in regard to you, and to strengthen you to make any sacrifice that may be necessary. And on your communion days give some time to serious reflection. Imagine that you are stretched upon your death-bed. Ask yourself if you were in that awful hour what state of life you would wish you had chosen. ”

“ But now they separated themselves from the strange children as well as from the strange wives. Those that intend by prayers and covenants to join themselves to God must separate themselves from sin and sinners; for what communion hath light with darkness? 3. It was a day of communion with God. They fasted to him, even to him (Zech. vii. 5) ; for, (1.) They spoke to him in prayer, offered their pious and devout affections to him in the confession of sin and the adoration of him as the Lord and their God. Fasting without prayer is a body without a soul, a worthless carcase. ”

“ On the morning of your communion, place yourself in the presence of God, invoke the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, your guardian Angel, your holy patrons and patronesses, and all the Saints and Angels. Reflect that it may be your last communion. ”

“ Having communion, is being entitled to partake of benefits and kindnesses, and bound to make suitable returns for them. And thus Christians, or saints, have communion or “fellowship” with “the Father, from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift;” with his Son Jesus Christ, (1 John i. 3; James i. 17,) through whom forgiveness and mercy is conveyed to us; with the Holy Ghost, whose sanctifying graces are conferred on such as duly qualify their hearts for the reception of them. And for these blessings we owe all thankfulness and all duty, in thought, word, and deed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ He who in faith acknowledges and in heart worships one God is in the communion of saints on earth, and in the communion of angels in the heavens. They are called communions, and are so, because they are in one God and one God is in them. ”

“ Communion, too, is spoken of, and it is an actual communion, because through it we have communion with Christ and share in His flesh and His divinity: yea, we have communion and are united with one another through it. For since we partake of one bread, we all become one body of Christ and one blood, and members one of another, being of one body with Christ. ”

“ Nobody but people we consider saved to be allowed to take communion with us! Nobody can meet God unless we introduce ’em! Self-appointed guardians of the blood and body of Jesus Christ! Whew!”
“Absolutely,” from Horace Carp. “And there is absolutely no Scriptural basis for close communion.”
“There certainly is!” shrieked Eddie. “Frank, where’s your Bible?” ”

“ 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. ”

“ The communion in grace, which the members of the invisible church have with Christ, is, their partaking of the virtue of his mediation, in their justification, adoption, sanctification, and whatever else, in this life, manifests their union with him. ”

“ In the monasteries of the Visitation, a Mass and general communion are offered for all benefactors, at their decease.
On the first Friday, or first Sunday of each month, offer your holy communion in union with the League of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the intentions of the Apostleship of Prayer. ”

“ The two sides of deep and still communion, and of strenuous effort based on that communion, must be found in the experience of every Christian who has received Christ, and is advancing through the imperfect manifestations of earth to the perfect union with, and perfect assimilation to, the Lord. ”

“ The communion which holy souls have with God consists in their having an eye of faith towards him, as a God that has an eye of favour towards them. The intercourse is kept up by the eye. (2.) The privilege of our communion with God is to be looked upon with wonder and admiration, [1.] ”

“ By a strict discipline, applying the general rule of the gospel to particular persons. "Whom you admit into communion with you, according to the rules of the gospel, God will admit into communion with himself; and whom you cast out of communion as impenitent, and obstinate in scandalous and infectious sins, shall be bound over to the righteous judgment of God." ”

“ Let us never fail, at each Communion that we make, to offer some pleasing sacrifice to Jesus Christ. Let us promise Him to apply ourselves to correct some defect, which we know to be greatly displeasing to Him. Let us bear in mind, that we shall never feel the sensible effects of Communion, if we are not careful to spend the rest of the day, in great interior recollection. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is the duty of all private christians to forbear communion in the mass, because it is a kind of idolatry, while they worship apiece of bread as God; as also image worship, and all other parts of their religion, in which they are put upon sin themselves, or that which is notorious scandal and symbolizing with them in their bread worship, or rather corruptions of the substance of God's ordinances. ”