Spiritual Communion During the Easter Season

With churches now closed for over a month, more and more Catholics are becoming accustomed to ‘attending Mass’ via live-stream. But as I watched my Mass of choice recently (Fr. Charles Trullols at the Catholic Information Center in Washington, DC), I began to find it hard to remember what it is like to receive the Eucharist in person.

The first time I heard of the “act of spiritual communion,” was when the Archdiocese of Washington, DC closed in March. I started saying St. Alphonsus Liguori’s traditional spiritual communion prayer  with a sense of, “I hope this works!”  Eventually I learned that the act can be made at any time, not just in the context of a live-streamed Mass. Many saints over the ages have said the prayer not just in a time of separation from the sacraments, but simply when they felt the need to be close to Jesus.

I thought about the word communion: what does communion really mean, especially in isolation?

Solidarity with others

As I wrote recently, the current isolation we are experiencing, along with separation from our churches and the sacraments, presents an opportunity for solidarity with others. For example, I can unite myself in prayer with all those who, in my own lifetime, have suffered persecution for their faith, especially in places where the Church is underground. I can look back even further to Christians across all time who have had to live their faith in secret.

Similarly, I am able to develop in compassion for those who are more often than not without the sacraments because they cannot attend church.  These include the sick and home bound, those in nursing homes, and those imprisoned.

And now, I, too, have a direct experience of what it is like to go for a long time without dipping my hand in holy water, kneeling in a pew, smelling incense, and most of all, receiving communion – these physical markers of our faith.

Solidarity and the Body of Christ

Fr. Paul Scalia is the Pastor of St. James parish in Falls Church, VA, in the Diocese of Arlington. I asked him recently if making an act of spiritual communion is the same thing as being in prayerful solidarity with others. He said, not quite – but both have to do with the theology of the Body of Christ.

Christ is the head of the Body of Christ, he explained to me, and we are its members. The Mass brings many different types of people together, and they are united not by earthly reality, but by Christ, our shared baptism, and the reception of Holy Communion.

“This is the doctrine of the Body of Christ. We receive the same Lord as the apostles, as Our Lady, as the serfs in the Middle Ages, and as Pope Francis receives today,” Fr. Scalia explained. By virtue of our shared baptism, we are one in Christ, across all ages, and during the current pandemic.

“We are united profoundly in one body with everybody who is in Christ throughout time and throughout the world.” In our thoughts and intentions, Fr. Scalia says it is good to call to mind we are not the only ones who have been in this position, while acknowledging the real foundation of our unity, which is our one shared baptism.

“By being more united with him, we are more united with each other. It calls to mind our true union, which is in Christ.”

Substantially Present

Fr. Scalia emphasized that human beings need a physical reality as much as we need a spiritual – sometimes, more. This means that the spiritual act of communion made during virtual Mass is a stopgap for the real thing, receiving communion.

“We are not angels. We have bodies,” he explained. He says the apostle Thomas is a great example of this human need for the physical. “Thomas wants to touch the risen Lord. It is not enough for Him to have risen in a spiritual sense. He zeroes in on what is most important about the risen Christ. If He doesn’t have the wounds, it is not the real body, what good is it?”

So the Eucharist is significant not only because Jesus is spiritually present in the Eucharist, but because He is substantially present: body, blood, soul and divinity. During Holy Communion, we receive the entire Christ, not just the spiritual reality.  In other words, a virtual Mass cannot permanently replace the reality of physically attending Mass and receiving communion. This is why, when this is all over, it’s imperative that Catholics return to attending Mass!

How do I know it’s working?

Fr. Scalia says that when we call on Jesus in the act of spiritual communion, and ask him to be with us, we must trust that He is. In order to make a good act of spiritual communion during this unusual time, he recommends three things: recollection, intention and receptivity.

First, we clear our minds of what is distracting us (note to self: also a good practice for receiving actual communion). Then, recollect your intention to choose to be with Jesus. And, be receptive to His coming.

“The fact is, Jesus always desires to come to us and is trying to bring grace to us. It is not as though we are alerting him to something that has never crossed His mind!” he laughs. “Christ desires us to receive him in Holy Communion; it’s not a begrudging thing. This is also why we should desire to receive him.”

Spiritual Communion During the Easter Season

I shared with Fr. Scalia my own belief in the hopeful nature of Easter – even, perhaps, a foolish belief that by some Easter miracle, the world will return to normal.  This is however, tempered by the reality that, we may continue on in isolation and uncertainty for some time. How do we reconcile the true Easter miracle of Christ’s resurrection, with the reality of our current world?

Fr. Scalia says we do so by knowing that even in the darkest hours Christ is still risen.

“The externals for the disciples did not change after the resurrection, but in the deeper sense everything changed. That is the situation now – the truth that Christ is risen. Externally, things are still bad. However, in another sense we are reminded that even in the darkest hours he is still risen. In a sense, it’s something to appreciate even more.”

He says our current lack of things does not change the fact of Jesus’s resurrection. In a sense, it puts it into perspective.

“The resurrection did not make everything perfect, but offers a renewal of life.”

The Body of Christ coming together again

On Palm Sunday, during his live-streamed Mass from the Catholic Information Center chapel, Fr. Charles Trullols said he had a dream: that once all of this is over, there will be a line of people out the CIC door, wanting to come in and be with Jesus, physically. He hoped that the hundreds of people who have been watching would come together in real life to celebrate our faith, not just virtually, but in real time.

Like him, I look forward to the day when we can enter our churches again without fear, in a spirit of love, and with the joy of the Easter season. Until then I thank God that, no matter what, He is always with us, including when we meet Him both in the act of spiritual communion, and in prayerful solidarity with others.