Holy Communion
“A certain man made a great supper.”—Luke 14:16
In the gospel of this day we read that a rich man prepared a great supper. He then ordered one of his servants to invite to it all those whom he should find in the highways, even though they were poor, blind, and lame, and to compel those who refused to come. “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (v. 23). And he added that, of all those who had been invited and had not come, not one should ever partake of his supper. “But I say unto you, that none of those men that were invited shall taste of my supper” (v. 24).
This supper is the Holy Communion. It is a great supper, at which all the faithful are invited to eat the sacred flesh of Jesus Christ in the most holy sacrament of the altar. “Take ye and eat: this is my body” (Matt. 26:26). Let us then consider today, in the first point, the great love which Jesus Christ has shown us in giving us himself in this sacrament; and, in the second point, how we ought to receive him in order to draw great fruit from the Holy Communion.
First Point.—On the great love which Jesus Christ has shown us in giving us himself in this sacrament.
1. “Jesus, knowing that his hour was come that he should pass out of this world to the Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end” (John 13:1). Knowing that the hour of his death had arrived, Jesus Christ wished, before his departure from this world, to leave us the greatest proof he could give of his love, by leaving us himself in the holy eucharist. “He loved them unto the end”—that is, according to St. Chrysostom, “with an extreme love.”
St. Bernardino of Siena says that the tokens of love which are given at death make a more lasting impression on the mind, and are more highly esteemed. Quae in fine in signum amicitiae celebrantur, firmius memoriae imprimuntur et cariora tenentur—“Those things which are celebrated at the end as a sign of friendship are more firmly impressed on the memory and held more dear.” But, whereas others leave a ring or a piece of money as a mark of their affection, Jesus has left us his whole self as our food in this sacrament of love.
2. And when did Jesus Christ institute this sacrament? He instituted it, as the Apostle has remarked, on the night before his passion. “The Lord Jesus, the same night on which he was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks, broke and said: ‘Take ye and eat: this is my body’” (1 Cor. 11:23, 24). Thus, at the very time that men were preparing to put him to death, our loving Redeemer resolved to bestow this gift upon us. Jesus Christ was not content with giving his life for us on a cross: he wished also, before his death, to pour out, as the Council of Trent says, all the riches of his love, by leaving himself for our food in the Holy Communion. “He, as it were, poured out the riches of his love towards man” (Session 13, ch. 2).
If faith had not taught it, who could ever imagine that a God would become man, and afterwards become the food of his own creatures? When Jesus Christ revealed to his followers this sacrament which he intended to leave us, St. John says that they could not bring themselves to believe it, and departed from him saying: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?…This saying is hard, and who can hear it?” (John 6:53, 61). But what men could not imagine, the great love of Jesus Christ has devised and accomplished. “Take ye and eat: this is my body.” These words he addressed to his apostles on the night before he suffered, and he now, after his death, addresses them to us.
3. “How highly honored,” says St. Francis de Sales, “would that man feel to whom the king sent from his own table a portion of what was on his own plate? But how should he feel if that portion were a part of the king’s arm?” In the Holy Communion Jesus gives us, not a part of his arm, but his entire body in the sacrament of the altar, keeping nothing back. “He gave you all,” says St. Chrysostom, reproving our ingratitude, “he left nothing for himself.” And St. Thomas teaches that in the eucharist God has given us all that he is and all that he has. Deus in eucharistia totum quod est et habet, dedit nobis—“God in the eucharist has given us all that he is and has” (Opusc. 63, c. 2).
Justly, then, has the same saint called the eucharist a sacrament of love and a pledge of love. Sacramentum charitatis, pignus charitatis—“Sacrament of charity, pledge of charity.” It is a sacrament of love, because it was pure love that moved Jesus Christ to give us this gift and pledge of love: for he wished that, should a doubt of his having loved us ever enter our minds, we should have in this sacrament a pledge of his love. St. Bernard calls this sacrament the love of loves. Amor amorum—“Love of loves.” By his incarnation, the Lord has given himself to all men in general; but in this sacrament he has given himself to each of us in particular, to make us understand the special love which he bears for each one of us.
4. Oh, how ardently does Jesus Christ desire to come to our souls in the Holy Communion! This vehement desire he expressed at the institution of this sacrament, when he said to the apostles: “With desire I have desired to eat this Pasch with you” (Luke 22:15). St. Laurence Justinian says that these words proceeded from the enamored heart of Jesus Christ, who by such tender expressions wished to show us the ardent love with which he loved us. Flagrantissimae charitatis est vox haec—“This is the voice of the most burning charity.”
And, to lead us to receive him often in the Holy Communion, he promises eternal life—that is, the kingdom of heaven—to those who eat his flesh. “He that eateth this bread shall live forever” (John 6:59). On the other hand, he threatens to deprive us of his grace and of Paradise if we neglect communion. “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you” (John 6:54). These promises and these threats all spring from his burning desire to come to us in this sacrament.
5. And why does Jesus Christ so vehemently desire that we receive him in the Holy Communion? Because he takes delight in being united with each one of us. Through communion, Jesus is really united to our soul and to our body, and we are united to him. “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him” (John 6:57). Thus, after communion, we are, says St. Chrysostom, one body and one flesh with Jesus Christ. Huic nos unimur, et facti sumus unum corpus et una caro—“We are united to him, and we have become one body and one flesh” (Hom. 68 ad Pop. Ant.).
Hence St. Laurence Justinian exclaims: “Oh, how wonderful is your love, O Lord Jesus, who have wished to incorporate us so closely with your body, that we should have one heart and one soul inseparably united with you.” Thus, to every soul that receives the eucharist, the Lord says what he once said to his beloved servant Margaret of Ypres: “Behold, my daughter, the close union made between me and thee; love me, then, and let us remain forever united in love: let us never more be separated.” This union between us and Jesus Christ is, according to St. Chrysostom, the effect of the ardent love which he bears us. Semetipsum nobis immiscuit, ut unum quid simus…ardenter enim amantium hoc est—“He has mingled himself with us, that we may be one thing; for this is what ardent lovers do” (Hom. 61).
But, Lord, such intimacy with man is not befitting a divine majesty like yours. Yet love does not go looking for reasons; it goes not where it ought, but where it is drawn. Amor ratione caret, et vadit quo ducitur, non quo debeat—“Love lacks reason, and goes where it is drawn, not where it ought” (Sermon 143). St. Bernardino of Siena says that, in giving himself to us as our food, Jesus Christ wished to reach the very last degree of love, uniting himself entirely to us, as food is united to those who eat it. Ultimus gradus amoris est, cum se dedit nobis in cibum, quia dedit se nobis ad omnimodam unionem, sicut cibus et cibans invicem uniuntur—“The ultimate degree of love is when he gave himself to us as food, because he gave himself to us for total union, as food and the one eating are mutually united” (Father Segneri, vol. 2, Sermon 54). St. Francis de Sales has beautifully expressed the same truth: “In no other action can the Savior be considered more tender or more loving than in this, in which he, as it were, annihilates himself and reduces himself to food, to penetrate our souls and unite himself to the hearts of his faithful.”
6. Hence there is nothing from which we can draw so much fruit as from the Holy Communion. St. Denis teaches that the most holy sacrament has greater power to sanctify souls than all other spiritual means. Eucharistia maximam vim habet perficiendae sanctitatis—“The Eucharist has the greatest power for perfecting sanctity.” St. Vincent Ferrer says that a soul derives more profit from one communion than from fasting a week on bread and water. The eucharist is, according to the holy Council of Trent, a medicine which delivers us from venial sins and preserves us from mortal ones. Antidotum quo a culpis quotidianis liberemur, et a mortalibus praeservemur—“An antidote by which we are freed from daily faults, and preserved from mortal sins.”
Jesus himself has said that they who eat him, who is the fountain of life, shall receive lastingly the life of grace. “He that eateth me, the same shall also live by me” (John 6:58). Innocent the Third teaches that by his passion Jesus Christ delivers us from the sins we have committed, and by the eucharist from the sins we may commit. According to St. Chrysostom, the Holy Communion inflames us with the fire of divine love, and makes us objects of terror to the devil. “The eucharist is a coal that inflames us, that, like lions breathing fire, we may retire from that table, made terrible to the devil” (Hom. 61 ad Pop. Ant.). Explaining the words of the Spouse of the Canticles, “He brought me into the cellar of wine; he set in order charity in me” (Cant. 2:4), St. Gregory says that communion is this cellar of wine, in which the soul is so inebriated with divine love that she forgets and loses sight of all earthly things.
7. Some will say: “I do not communicate often because I am cold in divine love.” Gerson answers them: Will you then, because you feel cold, draw back from the fire? On the contrary, when you are tepid you should approach this sacrament more often. St. Bonaventure says: “Trusting in the mercy of God, though you feel tepid, approach: let him who thinks himself unworthy reflect that the more infirm he feels himself, the more he requires a physician” (On the Profession of Religious, ch. 78).
And in “The Devout Life,” chapter 21, St. Francis de Sales writes: “Two sorts of persons ought to communicate often: the perfect, to preserve their perfection; and the imperfect, to attain perfection.” There is no doubt that whoever wishes to communicate should prepare himself with great diligence, so that he may communicate well. Let us pass to the second point.
Second Point.—On the preparation we ought to make in order to derive great fruit from the Holy Communion.
8. Two things are necessary in order to draw great fruit from communion: preparation before, and thanksgiving after. As to the preparation, it is certain that the saints derived great profit from their communions only because they were careful to prepare themselves well for receiving the holy eucharist. It is easy, then, to understand why so many souls remain subject to the same imperfections after all their communions. Cardinal Bona says that the defect is not in the food, but in the want of preparation for it. Defectus non in cibo est, sed in edentis dispositione—“The defect is not in the food, but in the disposition of the one eating.”
For frequent communion two principal dispositions are necessary. The first is detachment from creatures, and the casting out of the heart of everything that is not God. The more the heart is occupied with earthly things, the less room there is in it for divine love. Hence, to give full possession of the whole heart to God, it is necessary to purge it of worldly attachments. This is the counsel which Jesus himself gave to St. Gertrude. “I ask nothing more of you,” he said to her, “than that you come to receive me with a heart emptied of yourself.” Let us, then, withdraw our affections from creatures, and our heart shall belong entirely to the Creator.
9. The second disposition necessary to draw great fruit from communion is a desire to receive Jesus Christ in order to love him more. “He,” says St. Francis de Sales, “who gives himself through pure love alone ought to be received only through love.” Thus, the principal end of our communions must be to grow in the love of Jesus Christ. He once said to St. Matilda: “When you communicate, desire all the love that any heart has ever had for me, and I will receive your love as you would have it be.”
10. Thanksgiving after communion is also necessary. The prayer we make after communion is the most pleasing to God and the most profitable to us. After communion the soul should occupy itself in affections and petitions. The affections ought to consist not only in acts of thanksgiving, but also in acts of humility, of love, and of offering of ourselves to God.
Let us therefore humble ourselves as much as we can at the sight of a God who has made himself our food, even after we had so greatly offended him. A learned author says that the most fitting sentiment for a soul after communion is one of astonishment, exclaiming: “A God to me! A God to me!” Let us also make many acts of love toward Jesus Christ. He has come into our souls in order to be loved. Hence he is greatly pleased to hear, from one who has received him: “My Jesus, I love you, and I desire nothing but you.” Let us also offer to Jesus Christ ourselves and all that we have, that he may dispose of all as he pleases, repeating again and again: “My Jesus, you are all mine; you have given yourself entirely to me, and I give myself entirely to you.”
11. After communion, besides these affections, we ought also to present our petitions to God with great confidence, begging his graces. The time after communion is a time in which we can gain treasures of grace. St. Teresa says that at that time Jesus Christ remains in the soul as on a throne of grace, saying to her what he said to the blind man: “What wilt thou that I should do to thee?” (Mark 10:51). As if he said: “But me you have not always” (John 12:8). Now that you possess me within you, ask me for graces: I have come down from heaven on purpose to dispense them to you; ask whatever you wish, and you shall be consoled.
Oh, what great graces are lost by those who spend but little time in prayer after communion! Let us also turn to the Eternal Father, and, bearing in mind the promise of Jesus Christ—“Amen, amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it you” (John 16:23)—let us say to him: My God, for the love of this your Son, whom I now hold within my breast, give me your love; make me all yours. And if we offer this prayer with confidence, the Lord will certainly hear us. Whoever does this may become a saint by a single communion.
Points for Reflection
1. “Trusting in the mercy of God, though you feel tepid, approach: let him who thinks himself unworthy reflect that the more infirm he feels himself, the more he requires a physician” (§7)
2. “I ask nothing more of you than that you come to receive me with a heart emptied of yourself” (§8)
3. “The time after communion is a time in which we can gain treasures of grace” (§11)