ROME — Public Masses are banned throughout Italy, but
literally thousands of Masses are celebrated each day and, in addition to
watching them on television or computer screens, the faithful can receive
"spiritual Communion."
Pope Francis, after reciting a livestreamed Angelus prayer
March 15, told people, "United to Christ we are never alone, but instead
form one body, of which he is the head. It is a union that is nourished with
prayer and also with spiritual communion in the Eucharist, a practice that is
recommended when it isn't possible to receive the sacrament."
Obviously, receiving Communion is the way to participate
most fully in the Mass, but it is not always possible for everyone to receive
at every Mass, nor do many Catholics in the world even have regular access to
Mass.
The idea of "spiritual Communion" — inviting Jesus
into one's heart and soul when receiving the actual sacrament isn't possible —
is part of Catholic tradition.
In the 1700s, St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote a special prayer
for spiritual communion: "My Jesus, I believe you are really here in the
Blessed Sacrament. I love you more than anything in the world, and I hunger to
receive you. But since I cannot receive Communion at this moment, feed my soul
at least spiritually. I unite myself to you now as I do when I actually receive
you."
Auxiliary Bishop Paolo Ricciardi of Rome, writing in the
Vatican newspaper March 11, said, "This month all priests will continue to
celebrate Masses and even if they cannot participate, Christians will continue
to carry into the world the grace of years of abundance to face these weeks of
famine."
The bishop prayed that acts of only spiritual Communion
would help people "joyfully rediscover all of the good that the Eucharist
has given us from the day of our first Communion."
"Let us increase our desire to receive it again at
Easter with a renewed awareness of encountering the living Christ with joy on
our faces and in our hearts — and not with those faces we sometimes see at
Mass," he said, and "with a commitment to beginning again from the
Eucharist to give life to the world."
In countries where Catholics can and do receive the
sacrament frequently, they do not hear the term "spiritual Communion"
very often, but it has been mentioned even in recent church documents.
The Vatican's preparatory document for the 2012
International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin said those who cannot receive the
Eucharist can have spiritual Communion, declaring their desire to receiving the
Eucharist and uniting "their suffering of that moment with the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ."
The working document for the Synod of Bishops on the
Eucharist in 2005 addressed the idea of offering up the sacrifice of being
unable to receive Communion. It said: "Spiritual Communion, for example,
is always possible for elderly persons and the sick who cannot go to church. In
manifesting their love for the Eucharist, they participate in the communion of
saints with great spiritual benefit for themselves and the church. By offering
their sufferings to God, the church is enriched."
In "Sacramentum Caritatis," the document Pope
Benedict XVI issued in 2007 reflecting on the synod, he cautioned people
against thinking they had "a right or even an obligation" to receive
the Eucharist every time they went to Mass.
"Even in cases where it is not possible to receive
sacramental Communion, participation at Mass remains necessary, important,
meaningful and fruitful. In such circumstances it is beneficial to cultivate a
desire for full union with Christ through the practice of spiritual
Communion," Pope Benedict wrote.