An Act of Spiritual Communion

by St. Alphonsus de Liguori

My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

When we cannot attend Mass we can still make an Act of Spiritual Communion. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, a spiritual communion is “an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Holy Sacrament and a loving embrace as though we had already received Him.” One good time to make a spiritual communion is while we are adoring Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, but we can make them at any time of the day or night, even multiple times a day.

The basic elements of an Act of Spiritual Communion are an Act of Faith; an Act of Love; a desire to receive Christ; and an invitation to Him to come into your heart.

“Spiritual Communion, as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Alphonsus Liguori teach, produces effects similar to Sacramental Communion, according to the dispositions with which it is made, the greater or less earnestness with which Jesus is desired, and the greater or less love with which Jesus is welcomed and given due attention.” (Father Stefano Manelli)

Pope St. John Paul II encouraged spiritual communions: “…[I]t is good to cultivate in our hearts a constant desire for the sacrament of the Eucharist. This was the origin of the practice of ‘spiritual communion,’ which has happily been established in the Church for centuries and recommended by saints who were masters of the spiritual life.

St. Catherine of Sienna once saw Jesus holding two chalices. He told her: “In this golden chalice I put your sacramental communions. In this silver chalice I put your spiritual communions. Both chalices are quite pleasing to me.”

St. John Vianney offered this counsel: “When we feel the love of God growing cold, let us instantly make a Spiritual Communion. When we cannot go to the church, let us turn towards the tabernacle; no wall can shut us out from the good God.”

St. Leonard of Port Maurice said: “If you practice the holy exercise of spiritual Communion several times each day, within a month you will see your heart completely changed.”