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A woman in Cologne, Germany, prays inside the city's restricted cathedral March 15, 2020. (CNS photo/Thilo Schmuelgen, Reuters)
March 17, 2020
Catholic San Francisco
The global disruption to Mass attendance caused by COVID-19, including the complete shutdown of churches in some areas, has revived interest in the idea of spiritual communion, a practice dating back centuries that has been encouraged by popes and saints throughout the church’s history.
On March 15, Pope Francis, after reciting a livestreamed Angelus prayer, 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."
The Archdiocese of San Francisco has also encouraged Catholics to make a spiritual communion while they go without Mass. In a video posted to the archdiocese’s YouTube channel, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone explained that spiritual communion is for those who may receive the Eucharist but are unable to due to their circumstances.
To do so, he said Catholics should make an act of contrition and make an intention to “unite yourself spiritually with Our Lord in Holy Communion so his graces might abound more fully within you.”
St. Thomas Aquinas described it as “an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the most holy sacrament and lovingly embrace him” at a time or in circumstances when we cannot receive him in sacramental Communion,” the archdiocesan worship office explained.
“With the absence of public Masses in the Archdiocese of San Francisco due to the shelter in place order, the opportunity for receiving spiritual communion is particularly appropriate,” the worship office said. “Spiritual communion needs no special instruction; it only requires the same disposition as the actual reception of the sacrament and a turning to Jesus with the heart. No particular prayer or formulary is required; however, to help focus a proper intention, recitation of a prayer is suggested.”
The history of spiritual communion in the church goes back to its early centuries, with the fifth- century bishop St. Augustine indicating the value of spiritual communion in one of his homilies. Later saints, like the 16th-century reformer and mystic St. Theresa of Avila, said that through making a spiritual communion “the love of God will be greatly impressed on you.”
Spiritual communion can be made at any point in the day and can be done more than once. There are several popular prayers to help Catholics focus their intentions on uniting with Christ spiritually. A prayer written by St. Alphonsus Liguori goes, “My Jesus, I believe that you are in the Blessed Sacrament. I love you above all things, and I long for you in my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. As though you have already come, I embrace you and unite myself entirely to you; never permit me to be separated from you.”
Another was popularized by Opus Dei founder St. Josemaria Escriva. It read, “I wish, Lord, to receive you with the purity, humility and devotion with which your most holy Mother received you, with the spirit and fervor of the saints.”
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.
In 1983, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated those who cannot attend Mass can receive all the graces of the Eucharist in spiritual communion.
“Through their desire for the sacrament in union with the Church, no matter how distant they may be physically, they are intimately and really united to her and therefore receive the fruits of the sacrament,” wrote then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who led the congregation at the time.
The Vatican's preparatory document for the 2012 International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, Ireland, 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.
Catholic News Service contributed to this report.