Spiritual communion is an act of inner, conscientious and serious desire to receive Holy Communion and, more specifically, to unite with the Lord. It can be done by words or inner thoughts, which lead us to an intimate union with Christ, and Jesus will not fail to grant us His copious blessings.
Nowadays, spiritual communion can often be made as a desire for greater union and intimacy with God throughout the days of our lives. It is and can be the only means of union and intimacy with God for those who, for example, have not observed an hour of Eucharistic fasting, live in a situation of irregularity before the Church or practice another religion.
Spiritual communion is the path for people who cannot receive it sacramentally at Mass
Spiritual communion is the path for people who cannot receive the Body of Christ sacramentally at Mass, “but can receive it spiritually at the holy hour, when entering a church, when at home or at work, or in situations of difficulties you face in life. “Lord, may I never depart from You” (John 6:35), for “whoever eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:58).
It is good to cultivate the desire for full union with Christ through the practice of spiritual communion, recalled by John Paul II and recommended by holy teachers of spiritual life (SC,55). A visit to is a good opportunity to make this communion.
One of the best ways for divorced and remarried people to actively participate in the Christian community is, according to Church teaching, spiritual communion. May the magisterium recognize the relationship between grace and spiritual communion, which can be deduced especially from the invitation it makes to divorced and remarried people to unite with Christ through spiritual communion.
Church Documents
Furthermore: “The faithful must be helped to understand more deeply the value of participation in Christ’s sacrifice at Mass, spiritual communion, prayer, meditation on God, works of charity and justice” (cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Letter to the Bishops, 1994, n.6).
“The practice of spiritual communion, so dear to the Catholic tradition, could and should be promoted and explained to a greater extent to help the faithful to better communicate sacramentally, whether to serve as a true comfort to those who cannot receive communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, either for several reasons.
We thought this practice would help people alone, in particular the disabled, elderly, prisoners and refugees. The bishops of the Synod affirm that they are aware of those who cannot have access to sacramental communion, due to a family situation that does not comply with the Lord’s commandment (cf. Mt 19, 3-9).
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What the Church Says to Divorced People
“Some divorced people, who have remarried, accept with suffering the fact that they cannot receive sacramental communion and offer it to God. Others do not understand this restriction and experience inner frustration. We reaffirm that, even if your situation is irregular (cf. CIC 2384), you are not excluded from the life of the Church. We ask you to participate in Sundays and dedicate yourself assiduously to listening to the Word of God, so that it can nourish your life of faith, charity and sharing” (Message of the XI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to the People of God. Vatican City, October 21, 2005).
The post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum caritatis, of February 22, 2007, confirms: “Even when it is not possible to approach sacramental communion, participation in Holy Mass remains necessary, valid, meaningful and fruitful; in this case, it is good to cultivate the desire for full union with Christ, for example, through the practice of spiritual communion, recalled by John Paul II (170) and recommended by teachers of spiritual life” (171) SC,55).
In theology
It is important, according to Father G. Muraro, to rediscover the doctrine of the desire for the sacrament – through spiritual communion – to continue the presence of Jesus in the lives of the divorced. He appeals to the ancient principle, according to which the sacramental does not exhaust all the paths of grace. The theological place of reference to understand this alternative path is found in Saint Thomas, who deals with spiritual communion.
According to Saint Thomas’ explanation, the reality of the sacrament can be obtained before the ritual reception of the same sacrament, only by the fact that one wishes to receive it (cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologicae, III, q. 80,a , 4).
The value of spiritual communion as an extra-sacramental path of grace finds support in the fact that the Church “with firm confidence, believes that even those far from the Lord’s commandment and who now live in this state, will be able to obtain from God the grace of conversion and salvation if they persevere in prayer, in and in charity FC 84″ (cf. G. Muraro, I divorziati risposati nella comunitá cristiana, Cinisello Balsamo, Paoline,1994 in Sc. Catt. art. cit. 564-565).
Dom Edvaldo, by emphasizing the value and good of spiritual communion, encourages couples in second unions and advises them to make this communion at Holy Mass, duly willing and willing to receive the Body of Christ through sincere prayer.
If their love is so intense and passionate, it is possible that they will obtain greater spiritual benefit than those who, routinely and without any pity, receive the sacred host in our celebrations, but without any conviction and adequate spiritual preparation.
Father Luciano Scampini
Priest of the NS Aparecida parish, in Arq. Campo Grande