Spiritual Communions and Our Guardian Angels by Liz Middlemore The Angelus, May 1992 As a child, we said a beautiful prayer every morning and this is how it went: O holy Angel at my side go to the Church for me. Kneel in my place at Holy Mass where I desire to be. At Offertory in my stead take all I am and own And place it as a sacrifice upon the altar throne. At holy Consecration's bell adore with Seraph's love, My Jesus hidden in the Host come down from Heaven above. And when the Priest Communion takes, O bring my Lord to me, That His sweet Heart may rest on mine And I His temple be. As an adult, reflecting on this tradition, I thank our dear Mother Mary for having given me a mother who taught us the necessity of morning prayers with this one included in them. Pondering this tradition which has carried over into our children's morning prayers, I have finally realized just what a treasure of grace it is. Said day in and day out, this prayer can instill a desire to be at daily Mass and a knowledge of some of the parts of the Mass. It can assist in the formation of attitude one should have at Mass, that of offering and adoring. Most importantly, it is a Spiritual Communion which is our way of begging Our Lord to come unto us when we cannot receive Him in Holy Communion. Looking about with open eyes at the encroaching evil, the scarcity of good priests and therefore the scarcity of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the importance of teaching our children to make Spiritual Communions is increased. Who knows but that this might be the necessary preparation for a time when a Spiritual Communion could be the only source of daily nourishment for their souls. And so, our family will begin each day that we are unable to assist at Holy Mass, by sending our Guardian Angels in our stead. We will send our hearts along with our Angels to adore the Eternal Father with and through the Son at Calvary and find ourselves strengthened anew through our Spiritual Communion for whatever the day may hold. Then, throughout the day, together at Noon after the Angelus and at the 3:00 Hour of Mercy recalling the hour Our Divine Lord gave Himself up for our salvation, and finally at bedtime, we'll say our other Spiritual Communion to beg Our Lord to increase our love for Him and render our hearts like unto His. O Jesus, I turn toward the holy tabernacle where Thou dost live hidden for love of me. I love Thee, O my God. I cannot receive Thee in Holy Communion. Come nevertheless and visit me with Thy grace. Come spiritually into my heart. Purify it. Sanctify it. Render it like unto Thine Own. Amen. Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. [3 times] The Cure d'Ars said: "If we are deprived of Sacramental Communion, let us replace it, as far as we can, by spiritual Communion, which we can make every moment; for we ought to have always a burning desire to receive the good God. Communion is to the soul like blowing a fire that is beginning to go out, but that still has plenty of hot embers; we blow, and the fire bums again. After the reception of the Sacraments, when we feel ourselves slacken in the love of God, let us have recourse at once to spiritual Communion. When we cannot come to church, let us turn towards the tabernacle: a wall cannot separate us from the good God; let us ... make a spiritual Communion. We can receive the good God only once a day; a soul on fire with love supplies for this by the desire to receive Him every moment." And so, let all of our families send our Guardian Angels to Mass each morning together and then throughout the day re-invite Our Lord into our hearts together. Moms, we can do this often by ourselves over the dishes and laundry, dirty floors and wrinkled shirts, but let's help to instill this habit in our children. They need to learn in their earliest years Whom to turn to in need and in everything. VIEW THE IMAGE HOME---------------------E-MAIL www.catholictradition.org/Angels/guardians1.htm