ADVICE FOR THE TIME OF COMMUNION, AND CONCERNING THANKSGIVING AFTER COMMUNION

Source: THE SCHOOL OF JESUS CRUCIFIED, Fr. Ignatius of the Side of Jesus, TAN BOOKS, 
with Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, 1895


 Endeavor to spend the time intervening between the recital of the foregoing acts and the moment of Communion as piously as possible, exciting yourself more and more to feelings of faith and desire to receive your dear Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Remain devoutly recollected, and remember that the benefit you derive from the reception of this most Blessed Sacrament will be proportioned to the piety of your preparation. Your immediate preparation for Communion should be made during the time of Mass. When the moment of Communion is arrived, and the priest says the Domine non sum dignus ["Lord, I am not worthy"], humbly bow down your head, modestly strike your breast, and renew your acts of contrition, humility and hope. Endeavor to excite yourself to feelings of holy joy and earnest desire to receive Jesus Christ the Bread of Angels. Go up to receive Communion with your whole soul inflamed with Divine love, with a modest and humble demeanor, your eyes cast down and your hands clasped; then modestly raise your head, open your mouth, and respectfully advance your tongue, which is to be the first to touch the adorable Body of Jesus. Imagine that you receive the sacred Host from the hands of blessed Mary, or from those of Jesus Christ Himself. Be careful not to fix your eyes on the face of the priest, or on any other object, or to recite vocal prayers at the moment of Communion, but let your heart alone pour itself forth in pious affections, unexpressed by the lips.
 
Remember that one single Communion well made would be sufficient to make you a Saint, since you receive into your heart the Holy of Holies, or rather Holiness itself---Jesus Christ, Who when on earth had but to touch a dead man on his way to the grave, and the dead man arose. A woman touched but the hem of His garment, and she was healed at the same moment. The virtue which then went forth from Jesus is by no means diminished now, neither is His power less, or His goodness exhausted. Besides, it is not merely the hem of the garment of Our Lord that you have the happiness to touch in the Holy Communion, but the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ that you there receive and eat.
 
What wonders then should be worked, and what holy effects produced, in the man who has the happiness of communicating! And yet very few miracles are worked nowadays by Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and very few spiritual cures wrought in those who receive Him in the Holy Eucharist. Spiritual maladies are the same after Communion as before; the passions, defects, and weaknesses of the soul remain unaltered. The soul is as cold and languid after Communion as though it had not partaken of the heavenly banquet, and continues to be imperfect and indevout, nay, even perhaps more depraved, after innumerable Communions, than before. Such a reflection, which is unfortunately but too true, must terrify every man who has the slightest sense of religion; for, the case of that sick person on whom the strongest and most efficacious remedies have no effect is almost desperate.
 
But whence, then, can it be that the adorable Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist bring no benefit, and are in fact almost entirely useless to so many Christians? Because they receive this Divine Sacrament without proper dispositions or preparation, and approach the sacred Table without devotion, with very little faith, with dissipated minds, through custom and, in short, as nothing more than a pious ceremony. Another reason is because they take but very little pains to thank their Divine Saviour when they have received Him, and do not profit by this most precious time to make known to Jesus all the wants of their soul, but immediately after communicating allow their minds to be distracted and drawn away to other objects. This is the opinion of St. Teresa.

Dear Christian, are you desirous that your Communions should sanctify you, and be sources of continual grace to your soul? If so, be not satisfied with making for each a preparation such as I have proposed to you above, but direct your utmost efforts to making truly devout and fervent thanksgiving to your Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, when you have received Him into your heart.

When you have received the Sacred Host on your tongue, endeavor to swallow it as soon as possible, and then, with your eyes cast down, and your whole soul devoutly recollected, imagine that you are clasping the Child Jesus to your heart, or that you are kneeling at the feet of Jesus upon the Cross. Embrace Him closely and lovingly, and say to Him, with all the tenderness of your soul: O my Jesus, I adore Thee, I love Thee, I thank Thee. I offer Thee my tongue, my mind, and my heart. I give Thee my memory, my understanding, my will, my thoughts, my affections, and my whole self. I beg Thee to accept this offering and this gift, and to give me grace to derive benefit from this Communion.
 
After having made this or a similar prayer in your heart, retire on one side, in order to converse unrestrainedly with your sweet Jesus, and give free vent to your grateful affection for the God who is now present within you. Remember that it is a fault not to employ at least a quarter of an hour in returning thanks to Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, who remains corporeally present within you for that space of time, that is to say, until the sacramental species are entirely consumed. And if it is so highly recommendable for a person to be more than usually recollected during the whole of the day on which he receives Communion, how much more should he endeavor to employ the quarter of an hour immediately following Communion with the utmost piety and fervor! This is the time, says St. Teresa, in which you may think of all the affairs of your soul with God.
 
If you cannot otherwise employ half or a quarter; of an hour with devotion and recollection of mind, you may slowly and attentively recite the following prayers, pondering deeply upon what you read, and making a slIght pause whenever you feel yourself particularly moved to devotion and fervor.



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