The why and how of Holy Communion


AND HOW OF
HOLY COMMUNION



Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2016

https://archive.org/details/whyhowofholycommOOmill



THE WHY AND
HOW OF

HOLYCOMMUNION

Ernest F. Miller, C.SS.R.

COPYRIGHT 1959

LIGUORIAN PAMPHLETS
REDEMPTORIST FATHERS

Liguori, Missouri



Imprimi Potest :

John N. McCormick, C.SS.R.

Provincial St. Louis Province

Redemptorist Fathers

June 22, 1959

Imprimatur:

»!& Joseph E. Ritter

Archbishop of St. Louis

St. Louis, June 30, 1959



CONTENTS

The Why and How of Holy Communion 5

The Definition of the Blessed Sacrament 7

The Proof of the Possibility of the Eucharist 9

The Promise 13

The Institution 16

The Tradition of the Church 17

The Eucharist — the Doctrine of Love 19
God's Way of Entering the Blessed Sacrament 21

The Sick Woman 24

No Mortal Sin 29

Necessity of Confession 31

Venial Sins 32

Fasting 34

Faith 40

Miracles i 41

Emotionalism 45

The Immediate Preparation 47

External Deportment 49

Distractions 54

Frequency of Holy Communion 55

The Effects of Holy Communion 61

Spiritual Communion 62





THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 5

THE WHY AND HOW OF

HOLY COMMUNION

Ernest F. Miller, C.SS.R.

This booklet is about the Blessed Sacrament, with particular

emphasis on Holy Communion. It is about the love of Our
Lord for the people of the world, as that love is proved in the

gift of the Blessed Sacrament to the people of the world. It is

about all the things that the people of the world can and should

do to show their appreciation to Our Lord for the gift of Him-
self in the Blessed Sacrament and about the rules that they

should observe in the reception of Holy Communion.

The Blessed Sacrament is the proof of God’s love for man.

A great deal is written in these times, probably a half
million words a day, on the subject of love. There are the

love-lorn columnists of the daily papers who attempt to settle
the problems that arise from a human love (between husband
and wife, boy-friend and girl-friend, fiance and fiancee) that

is too violent or too weak.

There are the novelists, the scenarists for the movies and

the script authors for the radio and the television who can
seldom conceive a plot unless it center about the love of a

man for a woman and a woman for a man.



6 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

There are the teen-agers who practice (or try to practice)
the art of love almost before they are housebroken and have

learned the secret of taking their food with a spoon and a

knife and fork instead of with their fingers.

It is strange that in all the words that are written and

spoken about love in the papers and the pictures, seldom (in

comparison) are there tales told about the love that exists

between a mother and her son, between children and their

parents, between a friend and a friend. Yet, this kind of love

is just as true and valid as that which exists between a boy

and a girl, between a man and a woman, between a husband
and a wife. Undoubtedly the reason for this silence is the

conviction of many moderns that love and sex go together,
that you cannot have the one without the other. And since
there is no sex connected with parental love at all it there-

fore has no right to space in papers and the expenditure of

words from the pens of authors.

It is not the purpose of this booklet to discuss and expose

the falsity of this position. Suffice it to say that the position

is false. May God enlighten and redirect the thinking of
those who are so naively and completely taken in.

It is stranger still that the secular papers and other media

of communication — television, radio, magazines etc. — are so
little concerned with the love that God has for man. Have
you, reading these lines, ever seen one column from a love-

lorn columnist in a newspaper on the love of Jesus Christ for

the poor, sinful creatures of the world? One short story in the
Saturday Evening Post or Life or Look or in any one of the
innumerable movie magazines from Hollywood giving a proof
of the love that God has for man? There are many columns
and many stories about the boy-girl relationshtip, about the
husband-wife relationship, about the triangle, about the love-



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 7

nest and the love-murder. But not one, or rather hardly one

word about the Creator-creature relationship.

To make reparation for so sad a silence the following
words are written. They are about the love that Our Lord
has for His people on the earth. They are about the proof
of that love as that proof is firmly established in the Holy

Eucharist or the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.

THE DEFINITION OF THE

BLESSED SACRAMENT

The Blessed Sacrament of the Catholic Church is the
presence of Jesus Christ in the substance of His Body and
His Blood under the appearance of bread and wine. The
Blessed Sacrament is not merely a memory of Our Lord, or a
memorial of the time He broke and ate bread with His apostles
at the Last Supper the night before He died. It is actually
Himself, dwelling on the altar in order to be close to the ones

whom He loves so much.

Because Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is substantially

present in the tabernacles of their churches, they genuflect on

one knee in adoration each time they pass before the tabernacle

(when they are inside the church), each time they come into
the church and before they enter the pew that they will occupy
for the duration of the service or of their prayers, and each
time they depart from the church after the service or their

prayers are finished. On leaving their pew they do not make
a turn towards the rear of the church without first making their



8 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

act of adoration of Jesus Christ by again genuflecting on one

knee.

When Catholic men pass before the tabernacle of a Cath-
olic church in a car or a bus or while on foot, they tip their hat.

Women and girls bless themselves in Catholic communities or,
in non-Catholic communities, merely bow the head and say
to themselves an aspiration like, ‘'J^sus I love You and adore
You.*'

But is there anything to this Catholic doctrine of the real

presence of Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread and

wine? Quite definitely there is.

The fact that a man cannot see Our Lord in the Blessed
Sacrament with his bodily eyes is no proof that Our Lord is
not there. One does not see the wind that sweeps through the
sky. Yet, one knows that it exists. One does not see the pipes
and wires that lie hidden beneath the streets of the big city.

But both the wind in the sky and the tangle of wires and

cables and pipes beneath the city can be found out to exist

by means of a bit of sincere investigation. So also can the

presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament be found out
to exist by means of a bit of sincere investigation.

It was Jesus Christ Himself who laid the groundwork for
the Blessed Sacrament and then, when the people had time
to gain their footing on so fantastic and unheard-of a founda-

tion, actually gave the doctrine to the world. In other words

Jesus Christ showed the people the possibility of the Blessed
Sacrament first, then promised it and finally instituted it shortly

before He died on the cross.

The laying of the foundation and the giving of the promise
came some months before the passion and the death of Our
Lord.



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 9

The Proof of the Possibility of the Eucharist

Our Lord had so amazed and entranced the people by the
magic of His words and the beauty of His doctrine that they

gathered by the thousands to hear Him speak when the word
got around that He was in the neighborhood. In fact, they
would not let Him alone even for a moment. They had to
follow Him wherever He went. When He stole away in the
dead of night to obtain for Himself a few days of spiritual and

physical rest, they found out where He went and without a
thought about food or drink chased after Him until they
found Him.

On one occasion He was in a quiet corner of the desert
where He surely thought that He was secure from the intru-
sion of outsiders at least for a short time when suddenly He
spied on the horizon an incredibly large crowd approaching
Him. It turned out that the crowd of people reached the tre-

mendous number of ten thousand. They were pushing forward
pell-mell to ferret out the Master and to learn wisdom from
His lips.

Well, the upshot of the whole thing was that Our Lord
had to feed them. And since He could not feed them in the
normal way due to the fact that there were no stores handy
with sufficient supplies on the shelves to provide for the needs

of so vast a multitude. He had to feed them miraculously.
They were so hungry that some of them were fainting. They
were so tired that most of them were ready to lie down where
they were and give themselves over to sleep. And they had
only a few loaves of bread and a small basket of fish amongst
the whole ten thousand.



10 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

This is what Our Lord did.

He took the few loaves of bread and the basket of fish
and He multiplied them into hundreds of loaves of bread and
baskets of fish. He told His apostles to distribute the food
amongst the people. And wonders of wonders, there was
plenty of food to go around. Indeed, there was much left over
that could not be eaten. The people couldn't help but notice
what had happened. It convinced them all the more that this
man was not one of the ordinary run. He had something. He
was something. As yet they did not know what it was.

Jesus had more of a reason for working this miracle than

the providing for the physical hunger of the multitude. He
wanted to prove to the people that there was no impossibility
or contradition in God's taking one loaf of bread and making

it stretch so far that it could feed a hundred and a thousand

people. Neither then could there by an impossibility or con-

tradiction in His placing His Sacred Body in the tabernacle
of a church and allowing it to be consumed by a hundred

people, a thousand people, without diminishing or disappearing.

The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes
was the proof of the possibility of the Blessed Sacrament as

the Holy Communion. And when men later on would scoff
at the idea of the one and same Lord being given out whole

and entire to five hundred people at the Communion railing as
though such a thing were out of the question, all one would

have to do in refutation would be to refer to the historical

fact of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes.

Not long after this miracle of the multiplication of the
loaves and fishes, the apostles got into a small boat to go

over to the other side of the lake and make preparations for

Our Lord's evangelization of that area later on. Meanwhile,
He would stay behind and take the rest that He needed and



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 11

in which He had been interrupted by His “fans” and follow-
ers. In due time He would catch up with them and the work
of the apostolate would again go on.

Hardly had the apostles pushed out into the deep of the

lake when a powerful storm blew up. Lightning flashed, thun-
der rolled and the waves grew so great that they threatened

to swamp the boat and to swallow up its occupants. Naturally
the apostles hardly viewed the danger with equanimity. They
were frightened to death. There would be no chance for them

if they were tossed into the sea in so furious a turmoil of

water; and already the boat was half filled with water. In an-
other moment it would be gone and its human cargo with it.

There was only one thing to do — cry out to the Master
to save them. The voices arose above the winds and the waves
and the rumbling, ominous thunder. “Master, save us! We
are drowning!” No answer. Once more they called out to the
absent Christ to come to their rescue, this time their words
silenced by the rushing and the howling of the winds. But

their words were heard by Our Lord.

A brilliant circle of light appeared on the water hardly a
stone’s throw from the boat. The apostles did not have to
look twice to know what it was. The brilliant circle of light
enclosed the body of the Saviour. He was walking towards
them on the water, as though there were no weight or sub-

stance to His body, and everywhere His feet touched the
water, the waves became calm and the calmness spread out
and went forth like the rings caused on a lake by the dropping
of a pebble until there was no storm left at all and the sea was
as quiet as a pavement or a puddle in a sheltered corner.

This miracle was worked to save the apostles. But in
conjunction with that purpose was a higher and more far-
reaching purpose. It was this.



12 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

When the Blessed Sacrament was instituted later on, people
would undoubtedly say that such a doctrine was impossible

on the score that the body of a grown man weighed a hundred
and sixty or a hundred and seventy pounds. How could so
heavy a body be consumed like bread or locked up in a taber-

nacle that was too small for the containing of even the small-

est baby?

The answer lay in the miracle of the walking on the water.
If Our Lord's body could be made so light as to be able to
traverse the waves without sinking and without the need of

the powerful strokes of the swimmer, it could also be made
sufficiently weightless to be held within the confines of the

golden ciborium or within the mouth of the child just come to

the use of reason; it could be made sufficiently light to be
held aloft in the hands of the weakest priest — and all the
while remain the true body of Jesus Christ. The body that
walked on the water was the true body of Jesus Christ. So
also would be the body of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacra-

ment of the altar.

This miracle, as well as the miracle of the multiplication

of the loaves and fishes, was witnessed by more than one
person by more than one stable and well-balanced person.
Hardly could its reality be denied on the diagnosis of hysteria.

Seldom do a dozen or a hundred or a thousand people become

hysterical all at the same time.

These miracles really happened. They were the prepara-
tion that Our Lord made for the eventual institution of the
Blessed Sacrament. They were worked to show how reason-
able the doctrine of the Blessed Sacrament could be. The
definite promise of the Eucharist could now be given without
fear of a clamor coming from the minds and lips of men because
of the uniqueness of the institution and the miraculous power

that its continued existence would demand.



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 13

The Promise

Once more the Jews were gathered together. Once more

Our Lord was with them. The meeting was taking place on

the other side of the lake. The apostles had finally finished

their journey and succeeded in getting things ready for the

arrival of Our Lord. He was now with them. It had not
taken long for a crowd to come together. Many of the people
were the ones who had profited by the multiplication of the
loaves and fishes. A great buzzing was going on amongst
them, everybody talking about the strange thing that had

happened bn the other side of the lake when they were so
hungry and when there was nothing available to eat, and
how all of a sudden bread seemed to drop down upon them
as though it came from heaven.

It was all beyond comprehension. Who was this man who
had the power to do such fantastic things? And so the talk
went on, one and all comparing the miracle of the loaves and

fishes to the miracle of the manna that had come down from
heaven when the Jews were starving in the desert years before
as they were attempting to make their way from the captivity
of Egypt to the safety and happiness of the promised land

of Palestine.

Our Lord listened and said little.

Finally the moment came — the moment for the giving of
the promise of the Blessed Sacrament of the altar and the
Holy Communion for the hearts and the souls of men. The
stage was set. The preliminaries were over. Our Lord held
up His hand for silence. Gradually the buzzing ceased. All
eyes were turned on Him. What would He do now? What



14 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

Startling miracle would He work now? The air was tense with
excitement and anticipation.

First of all He chided them a little bit for placing so much
emphasis on the merely ‘'human'' bread that Moses had gotten
for them in the desert, bread that was merely human in this
that it was given solely for the purpose of satisfying hunger.
“Labor not for the bread that perishes,'' our Lord said. “Labor

rather for that which endureth unto life everlasting which the

Son of Man will give you. Moses gave you not bread from
heaven. But My Father giveth you the true bread from
heaven.''

He paused for a moment that His words might sink in and
be understood. Then, without further introduction. He spoke
of what He intended to do. “I am the bread of life. I am the
living bread come down from heaven. If any man eateth of
this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give

is the flesh for the life of the world.

The Jews looked at one another, wondering what was com-
ing next. These were indeed strange words. Our Lord went
on. “Except you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
His blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth
My flesh and drinketh My blood hath everlasting life and I
will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed
and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh and
drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him.''

These words are reported in the sixth chapter of the

gospel of St. John.

Of course some of the people immediately began to cry
out against the words of Our Lord in spite of the miracles
He had so recently worked and which they had seen with their
own eyes. It was not a case of their not understanding what



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 15

He meant. They knew what He meant well enough. It was
a case of their being unwilling to accept the other miracles be-

cause they saw them with their eyes. This miracle they did not

want to accept because they could not see it with their eyes.

In effect they said, '‘What does He think we are? Canni-
bals? Eaters of human flesh?'’ Without further investigation

they turned their backs on Our Lord and in spite of the won-
ders of which they had been the witnesses refused to talk with

Him any longer. This was a dodge on their part to escape
having to accept that which was spiritual in meaning and con-

tent. As long as a miracle helped them materially, fine. As
soon as a miracle made spiritual demands on them, they were
ready to deny it. They were worldlings, people of hard hearts
and soiled souls.

Our Lord did not call them back and tell them that they
were mistaken, that He did not mean the words in the sense
in which they took them, that He was talking figuratively
rather than literally. He let them go. In fact He emphasized
the literal meaning of the words by asking the apostles, "Will

you also leave Me because of what I have said?"

If only the Jews had waited a little while longer before

taking their departure, they would have found out what was
meant by "eating My Body and drinking My Blood." That
was their trouble, just as it is the trouble of many people of
the twentieth century. They couldn’t wait. They wanted the
explanation right away, and it had to be a "sensible" explana-
tion, an explanation that they could get ahold of with their

senses. Their first reaction was to paint a picture of people
actually cutting up Our Lord’s body as it stood before them
and eating it. Our Lord did not mean that at all.



16 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

The Institution

The actual fulfillment of the promise of the Blessed Sacra-
ment came the night before Christ died. It took place at the

Last Supper.

The story is too well known for elaborate retelling. Simply
it is this. Jesus and His closest friends, the apostles, were

having their last meal together before the passion and the cru-

cifixion of the morrow. It was a meal during which Our Lord
expressed His love for the people of the world a dozen times.

He even went to the extent of washing the feet of the apostles
as a testimonial of His love. But He reserved for the very
end of the meal the action that would be an everlasting proof

of His undying affection ^ the leaving of Himself even after
His death in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.

He took bread in His hands, blessed and broke and gave
it to his friends, saying, “Take and eat. This is My Body.*'
He did the same in regard to a chalice of wine. “Take and
drink. This is My Blood." And then, “Do this in memory of
Me.“

So that was it. That was what He meant when He talked
about eating His body and drinking His blood. By His divine
power He would change the substance of bread into the sub-
stance of His body and blood, allowing the accidents of bread,
such as weight, color, taste, size and so forth to remain, and

the accidents of His body, such as weight, color and so forth

to be concealed. This would be a change only of substances,
that is, of the essentials that make bread what it is and the
body of Christ what it is. Surely this change was possible
through the power of God.



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 17

Thus, from the standpoint of the Bible the doctrine of the

Blessed Sacrament is amply proved. And from the standpoint
of reason no contradiction is posed. But there is still another

proof, that of tradition.

The Tradition of the Church ®
^

There have been people in recent centuries who denied
that Jesus Christ had any intention of changing bread and

wine into His body and blood when He gave the promise to
the Jews after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and

the walking on the water and then later on when He said the
words, “This is My Body. This is My Blood. Do this in
memory of Me.“ They maintained that Our Lord meant all
kinds of things by the promise and by the words of institu-

tion at the Last Supper. In fact, everyone of them had a dif-

ferent explanation and drew a different meaning out of the two

episodes. But not a single one of them agreed with the Catholic

and traditional interpretation.

Their position is not very strong.

The people of the earliest Church held firmly to the be-
lief that the Blessed Sacrament was the actual substance of
the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Their writings are still
with us. They can be found in most public libraries of any size.
What the writings say about the Blessed Sacrament in the
first days of the Church is clear beyond doubt.

Take for example the testimony of St. Ignatius the martyr.
He wrote in the first century of Christianity, “Some people



18 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

withdraw themselves from the Eucharist because they do not

admit that it is the flesh of Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the
same which suffered for our sins. Those who deny this gift
die in their opposition and descend without hope into per-

dition.*’

St. Ignatius knew Ss. Peter and John personally. He was
their disciple. He had seen Our Lord after the resurrection
and probably had heard Him speak. He was acquainted with
St. Paul. If anybody knew what the apostles taught about the
“body and blood of Jesus Christ,’’ surely he did. In his writ-

ings he merely wrote down what he had received from the
apostles. And the apostles got their doctrine from Christ.

The words of St. Ignatius prove that Our Lord’s doctrine
on the Holy Eucharist is to be taken literally. Christ meant
what He said. He was not talking in figures of speech or
with a poetic license. And the whole early Church believed
the teaching with him and acted accordingly.

A hundred different names could be drawn up and their
writings listed of the Christians, many of them learned and
holy men, who lived in the first, second and third centuries
and- who put down on paper their belief in the real presence
of the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the

altar. This list can be found in any approved Catholic

theology or history of the Church.

In fact the doctrine was not denied on a large scale until

the sixteenth century when the Protestant “reformation’’ swept
over the western world. Until then, the “real presence’’ was

taken for granted by all those who called themselves Christian.



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 19

Is it possible that the early Christians who lived so close
to the time of the apostles, heard them speak, teach the cate-

chism and tell of their experiences with Christ should not

know what Christ meant by the words ‘‘This is My Body —
This is My Blood — Do this in memory of Me/' and that
the “reformers" who lived in the sixteenth century should know
fifteen hundred years after the last apostle died?

It is incredible, especially in view of the fact that amongst

the “reformers" no two leaders or the followers of the leaders

could ever quite agree on what the body of Christ in Holy

Communion really was. Before they finished interpreting the
texts concerned with the Blessed Sacrament, they had arrived at

more than three hundred different meanings for the simple

biblical words.

So, there can be little doubt in the mind of the thinking

man as to the meaning of and the proof for the doctrine of
the Holy Eucharist,

The Eucharist 'the Doctrine of Love

There can be little doubt either but that the Eucharist or
the Blessed Sacrament is the doctrine of love. It is the proof

of a love so great that never in the history of the world has

there been anything in the form of love to approximate it.

Our Lord is present in the Holy Eucharist under the form
of bread. That which appears to be bread is actually Jesus
Christ, This bread not only can be eaten but Jesus Christ
desires that it be eaten. Like food it is assimilated into the



20 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

body of the one who eats it. God's body is incorporated into
the blood and the bone and the very substance of a man’s

body, bringing about as close a union between two people as is

possible upon the earth. This is exactly what Our Lord wants.
“Unless you eat My Body and drink My Blood you cannot
have life in you.”

Union is always a sign of love, of divine love as well as

human love. Lovers will leave mother and father and all
things to be with the one whom they love. Examples of this
are. to be found in the lives of young men who are called to
the service of their country.

Very often these young men enter marriage just before
they leave home for camp where they are scheduled to take
their basic training* The girls they marry may be from
fine families in the big cities. They have a sufficiency of money
to buy beautiful clothes and a sufficiency of opportunity to

show them off before an audience. They are protected from the
heat of summer and the cold of winter. They have everything
they want.

Yet, they are willing to give up all these comforts and

conveniences in order to follow their new husband to a camp
that may be set up in the center of a woods, where there are
no decent homes to be lived in, no conveniences, no comforts.

They will suffer heat and cold and loneliness in order to be
with or at least near to the one they love. The deep love that
husband and wife have for each other demands that they be
united as closely as they possibly can.

Love feeds on union. And all the tears that are shed and
all the grief that is felt when a separation of loved ones is
necessary is nothing more than a bolstering up of the fact

that love and union go together. When two people do not de-
sire to be together, when they take no steps to be together,
they can hardly be said to be in love.



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 21

Surely, then, God shows His love for the people of the
world when He devises a medium for a union between Him-
self and the people of the world that is so close that there is

no other union like it, God could have thought up other ways
of helping people if that had been the only idea He had in His
mind. He could have even sent His angels to dispense the
help that was needed. But no. He decided that He would enter
the very hearts of people; that His own most precious blood
would flow through their veins; that His sacred body would

become one with their body so that they and He would form
but one principle of operation.

Truly this, as a testimonial and a proof of love, cannot be

challenged. Truly it is incredible. Truly could St. Alphonsus

Liguori cry out, '‘The pagans imagined their gods according

to their own caprices, creating gods of war and peace and
love and hatred, of great mercy and unbelievable generosity.

But no pagan in the wildest flight of fancy ever conceived a

god with a love as great for creatures as the true God has for
the children of men, indeed with a love so great that it moved
this true God to give Himself to the children of men actually
as their food and drink.*'

God’s Way of Entering the

Blessed Sacrament

But how and when does God take over the bread and wine
with His own substance and dwell there as He dwelt with
His mother and St. Joseph in the little home in Nazareth?
It does not happen automatically or accidentally or merely

because people believe with their faith that He is present in
the bread.



22 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

Jesus Christ takes up His residence in the holy Host as the

result of the power that is exercised by the priest in the sacri-

fice of the Mass. Only then. At no other time. And in no
other way. Our Lord made this arrangement when He was
here on earth, as the story of the Last Supper proved.

It is only necessary to repeat in a word what was said in

a number of words before. Our Lord took the bread and wine
and He changed them into His body and blood with the state-
ments and the command, “This is My Body — This is My
Blood.“ Then He said, “Do this in memory of Me." Do what?
Do what He did. Say the words and change the bread and
wine into His own most precious body and blood. The apostles
understood in these words of Our Lord the giving to them
of a power greater than that of kings and dictators, a power

over the heavens and in a sense even over the Lord of the

heavens.

Henceforth God would obey the apostles and the succes-
sors of the apostles, the priests of God's Church. No matter
how weak or sinful or ignorant, when they said Mass and
pronounced the words of consecration “This is My Body —
This is My Blood," the Master of creation would leave what-
ever He was doing in heaven, pass through the stars and the
clouds and stand before the priest in the substance of His

body and His blood for further orders. Amazing!

It must be kept in mind that only one possessing the

power can change the bread and wine into the body and blood
of Christ. It is not a case of anybody coming along and just
“believing" that Christ is present in or under the appearance

of bread and wine, and lo. He is there.

To be able to bring God down from heaven by the pro-
nouncing of certain words demands power, sheer, unearthly
power. That power belongs only to the priest, that is, to a



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 23

man who has been given the power by God to do so astound-
ing a deed. He received the power in promise on the day on
which the apostles received it from Christ and which they

handed down throughout the centuries in an unbroken line
until the day that he received it in actuality when he was
ordained.

Perhaps some people hate priests, even good and saintly

priests, because of this power that all priests possess. Per-

haps it is because the priest has so much power. It may be
a case of jealousy. Generally it is people who are tyrants
and have stolen a power that does not belong to them who
hate the priests the most — people like Hitler and Stalin and
Tito. They don’t want anybody to have more power than
they have. And so they do everything they can to wipe out
the priests once and for all. Then there will be nobody to
compete with them for '‘top gun” as they say in the West-
erns, by which is meant, for the highest and most powerful

position.

As a part of the Mass, that is, as a part of this tremen-
dous exercise of power whereby God is brought down on
earth, the priest consumes one of the consecrated Hosts. But

many other consecrated Hosts he places in the tabernacle in a
golden vessel called a ciborium. The Blessed Sacrament re-
mains in these consecrated Hosts as long as the accidents of

bread remain intact. When the accidents of size, appearance,
color etc. disappear through dissolution or destruction, then

our Lord takes His departure too. Thus, the consecrated Hosts

could remain in the tabernacle for months without dissolution

or destruction happening. All that time Our Lord is really
present.

The reason Our Lord is placed in the golden ciborium in
the tabernacle on the altar is first of all to give Him a place
to stay while He is here on earth in His body and His blood.



24 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

He was not accepted by the people of Bethlehem when the
time came for His birth. There was no room for Him in the
inn. Since that time the Church has always been careful to

provide a little house for Him in everyone of her temples
throughout the world.

Besides, the lovers of Our Lord are given a chance to visit
Him as long as He is in the tabernacle, to talk to Him as friend
to friend, to ask Him for the favors that they need and to
receive from His bodily presence the strength to carry on in

His service and to die in His love. Visits to the Blessed Sacra-

ment are very profitable for the salvation of the soul.

But the main reason for Our Lord's being placed in the
tabernacle is to give the people the chance to receive Him as
often as they can in Holy Communion. This is called "‘gbing
to Communion." This is just about the greatest ej^perience that
a man can have on earth — to kneel at the railing and to"" let
the great God of the heavens come down and move into his
heart almost as though he were on the same level with God.
There is nothing like it.

The Sick Woman

The story is told in the Bible of a poor woman who was
grievously ill. She was so ill that the doctors had given her

up completely, telling her that there was no hope and that the

only thing she could do was to resign herself to the death

that soon would come upon her. They had tried everything.
Nothing succeeded. There was nothing more that they could

do. They packed up their instruments and medical materials
and went away, leaving her alone with the condemnation of

death hanging over her.



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 25

It is easily imaginable how sad the woman was on receiv-
ing this doleful news. She did not want to die. She had much

to live for. She was in the prime of life. Yet, what could she

do? The doctors had no remedy to halt the ravages of the
germs that were attacking her. Surely she could not cure

herself.

While she was bemoaning her fate and wondering what

to do next, she heard a loud commotion taking place in the

street outside her house. Looking through the window, she

saw Jesus of Nazareth coming down the street, surrounded
by a great crowd of people who were jabbering and pushing
and pulling and carrying on as though they owned not only
the street but the Lord Himself. They had kicked up a huge
cloud of dust and this huge cloud of dust so completely en-

veloped them that they could hardly be seen except in snatches.

They seemed to be floating down the street in a kind of cloud
or fog. The din that they were causing, however, made it quite
certain that they were actually there and not a chimera or a

figment of the imagination.

The sick woman watched with interest. And then as though
by a blinding flash of inspiration the thought came to her that

perhaps here was her solution and her cure. The doctors could
not help her. But the doctors did not have all the answers.

There was one greater than the doctors. This one out in the
street. She had heard of the wonders that He performed, how
He gave back sight to the blind and speech and hearing to the
dumb and the deaf. It was reported that He had even raised
the dead to life. Why could He not help her? She must get
out there and ask Him before He got away. This would
probably be her last chance of seeing Him so close at hand.

How she got out to the street in her weakened condition
she could never adequately explain afterwards to her family

and friends when she related the experience of that day. But



26 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

she did get out to the street. She found herself in a most

advantageous position. Our Lord would practically have to
step on her to get by. She waited, the words on her lips that

she would say, “Master, Lord, help me. I am sick unto death.
You are my only chance of recovery. Cure me. Please.’' It
would take only a moment to say the words. But a moment
would be enough.

And then a strange thing happened. Jesus was right next
to her. Slowly He was moving by without His eyes having
fallen on her even for a moment. In another minute He would
be gone. If she did not cry out now, it would be too late. But

she could not cry out. Her tongue seemed to be tied within
her mouth and her lips sealed so that she could not open them.

She was too lowly and unimportant— that was the thought that
was sweeping through her mind. He was too great and mighty.
He might hurl a curse upon her or at least tell her to mind
her own business if she dared ask Him to cure her by a
miracle. What should, what could she do? The dust was blind-
ing her eyes and choking her throat and the crowd was nearly
trampling her into the ground.

Well, there was one thing that she could do — she could
touch the edge of the great Man’s garment as He swept by.
There was no reason to suppose that the power He possessed
could not pass through His garment into her disease-ridden

body and destroy the forces that were consuming it. Really,

it was not necessary for her to speak at all. He undoubtedly
knew all things. If He wanted to cure her, he would feel the
touch of her fingers even though they did no more than brush

against the cloak that He was wearing.

Haltingly she put out her hand and gently* placed it at

the very bottom of Our Lord’s cloak just as He was about to
pass beyond her reach. And strange! He felt the touch. Imme-
diately He stopped and looked down. There was the poor



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 27

woman, half sitting, half kneeling in the dust of the street,

now all blushes and embarrassment. What had she done!
What horrible presumption had she been guilty of! Where
could she hide? A deep silence came over the crowd.

Our Lord asked her for her story. What was the trouble?
What was she doing, crouching down there in the street?
Why didn't she get up and ask her question if she had a
question to ask? Let her speak up and He would see what
He could do.

In a rush of words the story came out. No longer was her
tongue tied now. She told Him how she had been given up by
the doctors, how she saw Him coming down the street and how
a new hope had been born in her heart. She told Him how
she had felt unworthy to cry out for a favor when there were
so many more important people around Him than herself who
were looking for favors too and who deserved His attention
more than she. After all. He was so mighty and holy, and she
was so small and unimportant and sinful. So, she decided that
there was only one thing she dared do, and that one thing was
merely to touch His garment and let Him do the rest.

Our Lord was impressed by the faith and the humility and
the confidence of the woman. And He rewarded her. He com-
manded her to stand up and not to give one single thought to
her sickness ever again. The woman stood up. Literally she
felt the sickness drain from her body. Our Lord touched her
forehead with His finger and moved on and was immediately
swallowed up by the dust and by the crowd. And almost as
though she had just been through a dream the woman found
herself alone in the street before her house.

But she was cured. The Lord had said so. Slowly she
started for her house. What had happened to her seemed
unbelievable. She felt her arms and legs and head to make



28 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

sure that she was awake. Yes, she was awake. And she was
cured! There wasn’t an ache or a pain in her whole body.

Not only that. She felt as fresh and as young as though she
had been shorn of twenty years. Oh, the wonder of it! Oh,

the goodness of the Wonder-Worker of Nazareth!

All this happened, according to the story in the Bible, to

one who did no more than touch Our Lord’s coat. And a
miracle resulted.

When the Christian goes to Holy Communion, there is a
great deal more accomplished than the mere touch of Our
Lord’s coat with a finger of the hand. The Master does not
walk up and down the Communion railing shaking hands with
people or letting them reach out and touch His arm or His

face as He passes by. He actually goes into the body and
the blood of the ones who receive Him^ That is what He
wants. That is what He commands. -

Yes, He even commands it. And so serious and earnest
is He in the command that He places a sanction on obedience
to the command.

He says, '‘Unless you eat My Body and drink My Blood,
you shall not have life in you/' It is like a millionaire who says
to a poor man whom he meets in the street and who never
did a single favor for him before, “I want to give you a million
dollars. And so urgently do I want you to take the million
dollars that I will see to it that you go to jail if you refuse

to take it.” Would anybody have to be threatened with a jail
sentence in order to be made to take a million dollars?

Should anybody have to be threatened with the prison of
hell in order to be made to take the body and blood of Jesus
Christ into his heart? What comparison is there between a
million dollars and the Blessed Saviour who not only made



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 29

man but also loves man so much that He died for him and
then came back to live with him and be his spiritual food and

drink in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar?

Yes, Our Lord placed sanctions on obedience to His com-
mand to receive Holy Communion. But the promises He gave
of help and strength and ceaseless protection to those who
receive Him regularly outweigh by far the sanctions* It is the
promises rather than the sanctions that should be considered.

None need fear the sanctions who does those things that will
bring to him the fulfillment of the promises.

The promises of Our Lord will be fulfilled on the condition
that Holy Communion be received worthily. Therefore, it is
hecessary to outline briefly the things that are necessary for

a worthy reception of the Sacrament of the altar so that the

recipient can be certain that he will obtain from the Sacrament

all the graces that God wants to give to him.

No Mortal Sin

First of alh when oiie goes to Communion, one must be
quite free from serious, unforgiven mortal sin. The reason
for this rule is obvious.

What is a mortal sin but a sign of hatred for God. It is a
repetition of the treachery of the apostle Judas. Judas pointed

out Jesus to the Roman soldiers who came to arrest Him but
who were not sufficiently acquainted with Him to know who
He was. The traitor accomplished his treachery by implanting
a kiss on the Lord’s cheek and saying, ‘‘Hail, Rabbi.” That
was the signal.



30 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

The soldiers went right to their mark. They seized Our
Lord and started Him on the road of His passion that was
to end only on the hill of Calvary. The deed of Judas was one
of immense and unbelievable cruelty and ingratitude. He posed
as Jesus* friend only that he might bring about His downfall

and death. And that, for a handful of coins!

St. Paul says in one of his letters to the Christians of his

day that the person who commits a deliberate mortal sin does
exactly the same thing. He poses as the friend of Our Lord
by going to church and wearing the appearance of Christian-

ity. But he is only the enemy and the hater of Our Lord. He
is a traitor.

What an awful thing for such a one to approach the holy
table and take God into his heart while that mortal sin is still
on his soul. It is like plunging a knife into the Sacred Heart

of Jesus Christ. It is the cruelty and ingratitude of Judas, the

traitor and ex-apostle.

St. Paul is not the only one who wrote about mortal sin
in the Bible. Our Lord had a great deal to say about it too.

A mortal sin makes of the person who has committed it a
whited sepulchre in the words of Our Lord. A whited sepulchre
is a tomb that is painted white on the outside, but in the in-

terior there is only corruption and dead men*s bones. Our
Lord meant, in using this figure of speech that the man in
mortal sin looks just like everybody else on the outside — well-
dressed, handsome, healthy, happy. But his soul has died and

is corruption like a corpse that has been buried in the ground.

Can one imagine a Christian placing the body and blood
of Jesus Christ in the midst of such corruption? Surely that

would be worse than throwing the consecrated Host to the

swine in the pig pen. Surely that would be a terrible sin. It is



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 31

a terrible sin. It is a sin known as the desecration of a sacra-

ment, a sacrilege. St. Paul maintains that anyone who re-
ceives the body of the Lord unworthily, that is, anyone who
receives Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin receives

the body of the Lord to his own destruction. His fate, unless
the grace of sorrow comes upon him, will be the fate of Judas.

Again in the words of Our Lord, “It were better if he had
never been born.“

Necessity of Confession

- The person who is in unfotgiven mortal sin must go to
confession before he goes to Holy Communion. It is not enough

for him to make an act of contrition and then to march up to

the railing as though he had no further obligation. He must
make a sincere confession and receive the absolution of the
priest. After he does that, it makes no difference what the sin

was, the man is allowed, and not only allowed, but urged to
take Our Lord into his heart in Holy Communion.

It is not right to stay away from Communion because of
past terrible sins, if the sins have been submitted to the keys

of the Church in confession and been entirely forgiven. Some
people persist in depriving themselves of the holy Sacrament

out of fear that they are not worthy. Their action has been

condemned by several popes. For a couple of hundred years
millions of people labored under that same fear of unworthiness
even after they made a good confession. Their fear stemmed
from a heresy that was known as Jansenism, named after its
founder Jansenius. The essence of Jansenism was the horrible
fear of the Justice of God. One was seldom worthy to receive
confession and Communion. Even once a year was almost too
much.



32 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

And when one finally did work up enough courage to go
to Holy Communion, one had to spend a week in the ihost

intense and nerve-wracking preparation. Going to Holy Com-
munion under the Jansenists was such an ordeal that one
almost became a neurotic before it was over.

This, of course, was all wrong. It is still wrong. Even
today some people act like the Jansenists of old.

One should not go to Communion without confession if one
is certain of mortal sin. But if the mortal sin is forgiven, there

is no reason in the world why one should not go to Com-
munion frequently.

It is certain beyond doubt that fundamentally nobody is

really worthy to receive in a heart that has been touched even

by a small sin the all-pure God. Nobody denies the truth of
that proposition. Still, in spite of our unworthiness God wants
us to unite ourselves with Him. God wants us to go to Com-
munion. The Church says that God wants it. Who is the
man then who dares to say that the Church is wrong, that he
is sti// too unworthy to receive Communion except once ^ or
twice a year? To hold such an opinion is to be guilty of pride
and insubordination to the Church of Jesus Christ.

Venial Sins

In regard to venial sins that were committed since the last

confession and that have not been confessed, such sins do not

demand confession before Holy Communion. Venial sins that
are common in a person's life are willful anger, gossip, lying,
the misuse of God's name just in passing and as a slang ex-
pression, shouting at one's wife or husband or children, delib-

erate distractions in prayer, and so on.



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 33

What does one do if one has upon the soul and
desires to receive Communion? Of course, one may go to
confession and tell the sins to the priest before receiving

Communion, But one does not have to go to confession first

before going to Communion. All one has to do is to make a

fervent act of contrition and the venial sins will be removed.

Either the contrition itself (if it is perfect contrition) will re-

move them or the contrition (if it is imperfect contrition, that
is, sorrow that is based on the fear of God’s punishments

)

joined with the Communion will remove them completely.

Some people are reluctant to"^ admit this teac^ may
be due to their lack of knowledge as to the distinction between

mortal sin and venial sin. Everything is serious to them.

Therefore, when God’s name slips off their tongue, or they
miss their morning prayers, they feel that they must go to

confession before they dare go to Communion.

These are the ones who will not go to confession until
almost the moment before they go to Communion lest they
do something advertently or inadvertently that may scruple
them m remaining away from the holy tabled This is not right.
Let such people know that unless they have committed a de-
liberate mortal sin, they may go to Communion even though
they have not gone to confession first.

At this point it might be very well to cry out a warning
against a false conscience that is all too common amongst some
Catholic people.

Confession is not needed for every Communion unless mor-
tal sin intervenes. Let that statement be read twice by the
readers of these lines. One does not have to go to confession
everytime one goes to Communion. If confession and Com-
munion always had to go together, the priest who says Mass
every day would be in a fine predicament. He would have to



34 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

keep a confessor in his employment as he keeps a sexton.

Otherwise the people would have no Mass.

However, this does not mean that one should not go to
confession for months, and receive Communion every Sunday,
merely because one has not committed a mortal sin. There

should be a regular time for confession even though one has

to say. “Father, I do not remember anything since my last
confession. But I am sorry for all the sins of my past life,
especially for all my sins against the fourth and sixth com-
mandments.'’ Frequent confession certainly can help to make
the Holy Communions more fervent and worthy. Therefore
they should not be neglected.

Fasting

Another requirement necessary for the proper reception

of Holy Communion is fasting.

First, in regard to the drinking of water. Water no longer
breaks the fast. One may drink water right up to the moment
before going up to the railing and still do nothing wrong in
receiving Our Lord. Formerly water did break the fast if it
was taken after midnight. No longer. Gone is the worry that
often existed in an older day about gargling with water, wash-

ing the teeth with water, and so forth. All the drinking and

washing and gargling wanted can be done now, and the water

even can be swallowed. Our Lord awaits the communicant
with a smile of welcome on His face.

Secondly, in regard to the drinking of liquids other than

water. The rule now is that liquids of all kinds excepting only
alcoholic liquors may be drunk up until one hour before the



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 35

reception of the Sacrament. That includes coffee, tea, orange

juice, milk; cream, in fact every kind of drink as long as there

are no spirits either in large quantities or small making up its

substance.

Thus, if one were to attend the nine o'clock Mass, and

Communion would not be distributed until around nine fifteen,

one could drink all one wanted to drink of non-spiritous liquids

up until eight fifteen. If one were attending the twelve o'clock

Mass, one could do the same up until about eleven fifteen.

No longer need one die of thirst before going to Communion
at a late Mass. No longer need one worry along on a com-
pletely empty stomach until the noon hour if one goes to the

last Mass on Sunday morning.

Thirdly, in regard to the eating of food. The fast no
longer holds from midnight as was mentioned above. There
was a day when a person had to keep quite conscious of that
midnight hour if a party was in progress and if a lunch was
served around the hour of midnight. And there was so much
worry about daylight saving time and sun time and all the

other kinds of time. All that is out now and the law has been
made quite simple and easy. Everybody can understand it
and everybody can follow it.

The law about food is this. Food may be eaten up to three
hours before going to Communion. Take the example again
of the man who goes to twelve o'clock Mass on Sunday morn-
ing. He worked hard all week. He needs the extra rest that
Sunday morning can give him. Until now he found it difticult
to go to Communion at the twelve o'clock Mass because of the
long fast that it entailed. Thus, he got to receive the Sacred

Host only every couple of months. This was not good for a
man who lived in the world and met a hundred temptations
every day. He needed God if he was to remain in the state
of grace.



36 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

Now the whole law is changed for him. He can take his
breakfast at nine o’clock, providing that he finishes around nine

fifteen, having bacon and eggs and any other solid food he

desires. He can do even more than that. If he becomes a bit
thirsty as the morning wears on, he can have a cup of coffee

or tea or a large glass of milk at eleven o’clock. And still,
when he goes to the noonday Mass he does no wrong in taking
Our Lord into his heart in the Eucharistic feast. What could
be easier than that? What excuse can he adduce now for stay-
ing away from the frequent, even the weekly reception of Holy
Communion?

Finally, in regard to sick persons. Many of the bars have
been let down in the interest of those who find difficulty in
fasting because sickness, whether it be temporary or chronic.

Sick people may take medicine without scruple right up to the
time of Holy Communion. The medicine may be liquid or solid,
pills or potions. There should be no hesitation on the part

of sick people to avail themselves of this permission provided

they are really sick. Nor does one need a doctor’s certificate
to prove that the sickness is real. The law says that sickness
allows the use of medicine before Communion. That should
be enough.

A case might be given of a woman who developed a terri-
ble cough during the night. The only thing that would stop
the wracking and torturing cough would be a good strong dose

of throat medicine that a doctor had prescribed for just such

emergencies. Would she be allowed to take the medicine if the
hour was two o’clock in the morning and if she wanted to go
to Holy Communion at the eight o’clock Mass? She certainly
would. And she would commit no sin.

In fact, she would be allowed to take the cough medicine

even though the irritation in the throat began at seven thirty

in the morning and she intended to be present at the eight



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 37

o’clock Mass. There is no time limit conditioning the use of

medicine before Holy Communion as far as the sick are con-
cerned.

Formerly a sick person was bound to seek the permission
of a confessor before she (or he

)
was allowed to take medi-

cine if he or she wished to go to Communion. Such a permis-

sion need no longer be sought. The confessor does not have

to be asked. The only condition required is that the person
be sick and that the medicine be necessary in order to relieve

the sickness.

In fact, permission need not be sought from the confessor

any longer for any of the things mentioned above in regard

to the fast and Holy Communion. It does not have to be
sought for the taking of water at any time, for the taking of

liquid up to one' hour before Communion, for the taking of

solid food up to three hours before Communion. Everything
has been made easier for the faithful so that they can hardly
bring forth a single valid reason for an infrequent visit to

the holy table. If they stay away through their own fault,
they won’t have a leg to stand on when God demands the
reason for their neglect of Him while they were still on earth
and needed His help so much in order to stay out of serious sin.

The relaxing of the rules for the Eucharistic fast has been
a great boon for children in Catholic schools. Parents were

loathe formerly to allow their very little children to go to Com-
munion in the morning if that demanded a relatively long fast
and then a cold breakfast afterwards. In some schools now
the Mass* is had at eleven thirty in the morning. The children
can take their breakfast at eight fifteen and still receive Holy
Communion at eleven thirty. And then after Mass they can
have their lunch. So, the new ruling can eliminate entirely the
disrupting of the meal routine for the children attending school.



38 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

One small word of advice might be given here to mothers
who are excessively solicitous about the physical health of
their children. If it so happens that the children have to fast

an hour or two before going to Communion because of the
schedule of Masses in the parish church, some mothers refuse

to tolerate the thought of allowing the children to suffer that

fast. They maintain that going for an hour or two without
food hurts the children.

They are wrong on two counts. First, they are wrong on
the count that the physical health of the body is more im-

portant than the spiritual health of the soul, that a piece of

bread and a bowl of gruel are more important than the divine

body and blood of Jesus Chirst.

And secondly, that the fasting will actually hurt the health
of even the smallest child. This point surely has to be proved.

There is no evidence to the effect that any child ever suffered

a shrinkage of the stomach or an attack of bleeding ulcers

because of putting off breakfast for an hour or two in the

morning. But there is much evidence to the effect that a child
can be tremendously helped by taking Our Lord into his body
at a time in life when temptations are beginning to make them-
selves felt and when habits for good or for evil are in the
process of being formed. A child who lives constantly with
God has little chance of meeting moral harm along the path
of life. This constant living with God is made possible through
the frequent reception of the Eucharist.

Furthermore, it is often noted that vocations to the priest-

hood and the sisterhood are most common amongst those chil-
dren who are encouraged by their parents to receive Our Lord
as often as they possibly can. Parents should keep this in

mind who are so worried about the bodily welfare of their chil-
dren. They should remember that God will demand a stricter
account of the way in which they took care of the souls of



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 39

their children than He will of the way in which they took care
of the bodies of their children. Bodies, even the bodies of the

children of parents, are destined to turn to dust. Parents can't

stop their children's onward rush towards the grave. The souls
of children are destined to live forever.

Though the obligatory fast for Holy Communion has been
practically removed, a Catholic acts wisely if he undertakes a

voluntary program of penance so as to make himself more
worthy to receive Our Lord when the time for the reception
of the holy Sacrament arrives.

If he wants to, he can keep the fast in all its rigor just

as people did all along before the Holy Father made the
changes. He does not have to keep it strictly, but he may keep
it strictly. The Pope did not forbid people to fast if they
want to fast. In fact, the Pope made a suggestion in the letter
that he wrote to the world announcing the mitigated fasting

rules to the effect that if people could fast before going to

Holy Communion, it would be a wonderful thing. It would

be most pleasing to God.

Most people, though prefer to rest from the fast for awhile.

They've been following it so long that it's a comfort and a

relief not to have to worry about it any longer. If that is the

way they feel, they can't be entirely blamed. Maybe at some
future date they can resume the fast on an optional basis,

probably obtaining more merit in consequence of the voluntari--

ness of the sacrifice than they would have, had they abstained
from food and drink from midnight until Communion time
because they had to. That is what the Pope means when he
hints that it would be a very nice idea if people did not give

up the fast entirely.

This much must be remembered. Penance is always neces-
sary in life because Our Lord said that it is necessary. It is
particularly necessary when a person is getting ready to receive



40 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

the great Sacrament. What does penance do? It pulls all the
dirty roots of selfishness and self-indulgence from out the

soil of the soul. It wipes all the dust of sloth and laziness off

the surface of the soul. It prepares a wonderful place for

the mighty Lord of the heavens to lodge when He comes
down to make His visit. It gives the devils in hell who put
out such mighty efforts to spoil the Lord's visit a terrific body
blow from which they are unable very soon to recover. Pen-

ance is necessary for a highly profitable Communion. Every-
one, therefore, should figure out his and her own penance and
work at it religiously.

Faith

There is more to a fruitful and salutary reception of Holy

Communion than approaching the railing after having observed
to the letter the regulations on fasting and after having made
sure that there is no mortal sin upon the soul, or if there is a

mortal sin on the soul, after having made a good confession.
One could fulfill all these conditions and still be as sterile as
a dead stick as far as any solid belief in the true presence of

Jesus Christ in the Eucharist was concerned. Faith is the first
requirement [or a good Communion. Without faith the Com-
munion is not good.

Faith moves the recipient of the Sacrament to believe firmly

and without reservation that the substance of the body and

blood of Jesus Christ is present in the Blessed Sacrament, and

that, on the word of Our Blessed Lord Himself. There is a
possibility of a man going to Communion with very little of
-this belief in his heart. He might go to Communion merely



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 41

because Catholics do so from time to time as a part of their

Catholic practice, or because it is expected of him by his

mother or his wife and he does not want to involve himself in

an argument.

It should not be difficult for a Catholic who is instructed
irt%is holy religion to believe in the Blessed Sacrament firmly

and without hesitation. The evidence in favor of the presence
of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is so strong that it hardly can

be denied.

There are the proofs from Scripture as those proofs have

already been outlined in this booklet. Then, there is the proof

from history, namely, the fact that all Christians through all

the Centuries believed in the real presence of Jesus Christ

under the appearance of bread and wine on the word of Jesus
Christ, Finally, there is the proof of innumerable miracles

thatP have been wbrked in connection with the Blessed Sacra-

ment that leave no doubt in the mind of reasonable men that
the Sacred Host is indeed the living God upon the altar.

Miracks

The story is told of a Catholic man who lost his holy
religion. Not only did he lose it, but he grew angry at it and
began to hate it. Why is it that so many people seem unable
to leave the Catholic religion alone once they give it up? They
have to join organizations that are opposed to it and do every-

thing in their power to wipe it from the face of the earth.

Perhaps it is a kind of defense mechanism. A man tries to
defend by violent gestures and sacrilegious proclamations the



42 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION^

wisdom of an action that he knows in his heart was unwise
from the very start.

At any rate, this man grew to hate the Catholic Church in
which he was baptized so much that he could find no peace of
mind until he discovered a way whereby he could give her a
severe and unhealing hurt. That was how he came upon the
idea of attacking and destroying the Sacred Host. He mapped
out his program well. This is what he did.

One Sunday morning he went to Mass in the parish church.
At Communion time he approached the railing just like the
rest of the people. But his intentions were quite different from

those of the other people. He would prove to himself once and
for all that there was nothing to this business of the presence

of God on earth in the Sacrament of the altar. He would prove
that the Catholic Church was a fake for teaching so fantastic
a doctrine. This was the chance that he had been waiting for
a long time. But he would have to be careful lest he be caught

in his scheme and prevented from carrying it out.

Very piously he put out his tongue at the proper moment
and the priest, not suspecting anything evil in the man's heart,

placed the consecrated Host upon it. The man closed his
mouth and returned to his pew. Looking around to make sure
that he was not being observed he drew a handkerchief from
his pocket, put it to his mouth and ejected the Host that he

had just received into its folds. Then, bunching up the hand-

kerchief, he replaced it in his pocket, made a very pious genu-
flection and left the church.

He could hardly wait to get home to carry out the terrible
plan that he had in his mind. He was determined to tear the
Host up in pieces, to cut it up into such fine parts that there

wouldn’t be a speck of it left. That would be a sign that there



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 43

was nothing to the Blessed Sacrament, that in truth it was

nothing more than a piece of bread.

At last he arrived at his home. Carefully he closed the

front door of the house behind him. Fortunately there was no

one at home at the time. After laying the handkerchief on a

table and opening it up so that the Host was exposed, he se-

cured a sharp-pointed knife. Then, without delay he brought

the knife far above his head and drove it down with all his
force into the holy Species before him.

It was as though he had plunged the knife into a living

body. The Host was bleeding like a severed vein or artery.
The blood flowed over the table and dripped down onto the
floor. The knife fell from the man's hands and a great fear
came over him. This was something that he had not antici-

pated. This overthrew entirely his disbelief in the reality of

Christ's sacramental presence. He did not wait to see the end
of his experiment. With a cry of fear upon his lips he fled
from the house.

The members of his family found the bleeding Host. It
was seen by many people before the parish priest could get
to the house in order to carry the blood-soaked handkerchief

and the blood-red Host to the church. There the Host was
consumed at the next Mass. The handkerchief was placed in
a rich and gem-incrusted container and on special occasions

was hung up in a public place for the veneration of the people.

Of course, it is easy for a skeptic to deny that such an
event ever happened or that there is any miraculous signifi-

cance to it if it did happen. But thousands of men and women
have viewed the blood-covered handkerchief. Millions of peo-

ple have accepted the strange occurrence as an exercise of the

power of God for the enlarging of men's faith in the Blessed
Sacrament. And the Church has put her stamp upon it, not as



44 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

an article of doctrine that has to be believed, but rather as an

event that really happened and that certainly can be believed

as miraculous without naivete or credulousness.

Another story is told of St. Louis, king of France, and an

experience that he had with the Blessed Sacrament.

One day the king was doing some work in his office when
a servant of the palace rushed into the room and cried out

that the king must come immediately to the chapel because

the priest who was saying Mass there had just finished the
words of consecration and instead of the consecrated Host

resting on the altar as it should, there sat on the corporal in

the place of the Host a most beautiful little boy. The people
in the chapel were astounded. And the priest was so bewildered
that he did not know what to do next. ‘'Come,'' insisted the
servant, *'you must behold the miracle of the Lord.*'

King Louis was known for his strong faith in the real
presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. This time

his faith was really to be tested. But it passed the test. When
the servant had finished the story, the king turned back to his

work at the desk remarking that such miracles were for those
whose faith was weak. As far as he was concerned, he did
not need a miracle to convince him of the truth of the doctrine

of the Blessed Sacrament.

When people have a faith as strong as that, the grace of
God literally leaps into every corner of their soul as the result
of their Communions. When they do not have such faith, God
withholds the helps that otherwise their Communions would
give them. But why should they not have such faith? The
evidence for the truth of the Blessed Sacrament is neither weak
nor meagre. God Himself says that is true. Can God tell a lie?
Whoever believes God when God speaks practices faith. If one
wants to test the truth of God's statement about His presence



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 45

in the tabernacle, all one has to do is consult history, that is,

the unchangeable belief of Christian people from the begin-

ning and the miracles that people have seen in association with

the Blessed Sacrament from the beginning.

God is not expecting or demanding too much of a man to
expect of him and to demand of him a strong faith when he
goes to Holy Communion. After all, a man has to make some
small contribution in order to gain profit from the Sacrament.

God did enough in instituting it in the first place and then in
consenting to bury Himself in the human heart as often as the
request for such a startling lowering of Himself be made.

It is not too much to ask a man to believe God when He says
that the bread is changed into His body and blood. It is not

too much to expect of a man a strong and unwavering faith
in the truth of words of God. Surely faith is not too high a

price for the body and blood of Christ.

Emotionalism

It goes without saying that faith in the Blessed Sacrament

does not have to show itself in a liquid emotionalism that ex-

presses itself in much weeping and breast-striking and loud
sighing and sorrowing, much after the fashion of the person
who has met his mother or his father after long years of sepa-
ration.

The emotions have their place in religion, and those who
deny them a place are treading on dangerous ground. Some
of the extremists in the Church do not hesitate to scoflF at any-

thing in the devotion and the faith of the people that brings



46 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

forth even the tiniest flare of emotion. Religion must be classic-

ally cold and severe. At least it must be shorn of all things

that in any way at all would stir up emotion or feeling. Only
thus can the real needs of the soul be served. So they say.

This is false. There is room in religion for emotion. Man
is made up of both body and soul. And with both his body and
his soul does he adore God. It is hard to adore God with the
body if the emotions, so vital a part of the body, are suppressed.

So, emotion, if properly controlled, is in perfect order.

But let not the belief take over the soul that a Holy Com-
munion is no good unless the presence of God is actually felt
in the body, unless one glows all over at the very thought of

God coming down from heaven and taking up His residence
in the heart. Emotion is not required for the proper and worthy

reception of any of the sacraments. One could be as dry as a
week-old crumb on a bakery floor and still receive the full treat-

ment of God’s curative and strengthening grace during the

time of His union with the soul after Holy Communion.

Many of the saints felt no emotion for many years when
they went to Holy Communion. At other times God would fill
them with emotion. So it was with St. Phillip Neri. He would
weep copiously whenever he said Mass. So it is today with the
celebrated Capuchin friar over in Italy, Father Pio, who is
blessed with the stigmata, that is, with the nail-prints of

Christ’s passion in his hands and in his feet. He also weeps
when he says Mass, so great is the emotion that he experiences.

This is exceptional. Emotion as a result of Communion is
a special gift that God gives to some people for reasons known
only to Himself. To other people He does not give the gift.
They need not worry in consequence. On the word of the
Church their Holy Communions are worthy.



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 47

The Immediate Preparation

One should not approach the Communion railing without
first preparing the soul with a few cleansing and disinfecting

prayers. It is wise always to make a fervent act of contrition,

with special emphasis on the resolution not to commit any

more sins in the future, and particularly on the day on which

the Lord is received.

It is also good to make acts of faith (especially if the faith

is a bit weak), acts of hope and confidence in God, and above

all acts of the love of God, Holy Communion, as was stated

several times in the lines above, is the sacrament of love, the

sacrament of the union between God and man. It is God giving
Himself to man. No doubt God could find better things to do
in heaven than to come down to earth and enter the heart of a
man who perhaps in the past committed a thousand sins against
Him, Yet actually He does come down. He comes down with
His tremendous power, with His towering love, with His

desire to give help.

What can a man do under such circumstances except cry
out his love in return? What kind of a man is he who does not
even mention that he loves God even though God is about to
give Himself to him entirely? Always fervent acts of love
should be made before the Lord is received.

One can hardly do better in the way of preparation for
Communion than to say the Mass prayers in English that the
priest says in Latin.

The Church has given permission for the distribution of
Communion outside of the Mass; and that's that. There should



48 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

be no argument about it. No ordinary person in the ranks, be
he priest or lay person, be she holy nun or graduate of learned

colleges and advance-guard schools, knows better how and
when Holy Communion should be received than the Holy
Father, the vicar of Christ and the defender of the deposit of

Christian revelation.

Those are to be found who would not distribute Holy Com-
munion outside of Mass if their head were to fall in conse-
quence. They make the time of the reception of the Sacrament
more important than the Sacrament itself. The Pope does not
hold with them in their opinion.

Still, according to the teaching of the Popes, even though

Holy Communion may be received outside of Mass, it is bet-
ter if it is received during Mass.

The Mass and Holy Communion go together. The con-
sumption of the Holy Host symbolizes the death of Our Lord
on the cross. Receiving Communion at Mass makes possible a
much richer participation in the Mass. The Mass in all its full-
ness is not just for the priest. It is for everybody from the

oldest to the youngest, from the most holy to the most sinful.

Therefore, everybody from top to bottom should try to go to

Communion with the priest during the Mass.

If this is done, no better prayers can be found for the

preparing of the throne that will be occupied by the King than

the ancient prayers of the missal. In fact, many of these pray-
ers were written with this idea in mind, that those who would
say them would be receiving Communion with the priest. If no
other preparatory prayers were said at all except the prayers

of the Mass, the Mass prayers would suffice because they con-
tain over and over again the acts of contrition, love of God.

hope and faith. What more is needed?



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 49

External Deportment

At the time of Holy Communion there should be respect

in one's posture, modesty in one's vesture and devotion in one's

demeanor.

Respect means that one should not slouch at the railing,

or slouch up to the railing, look around at every noise in the

back of the church, keep too close a watch on the neighbor,

let the hands dangle at the side as they would were one

walking down the street, appear before Our Lord in dirty
clothes, unkempt hair and nails that have not seen or felt a

fije in a month.

When one is in the presence of the queen of England,
one shows respect. So also should one show respect when
one is in the waiting line for the imminent arrival of the King

of heaven. If one does not show the proper respect, the Lord

may ask some embarrassing questions about the absence of
the wedding garment. The ones in the Bible story who ap-
peared before the Master without a wedding garment were

lifted bodily from the room and cast outside into the darkness.

Modesty in one's vesture also is demanded when one
comes near the God of all innocence and purity. This applies
particularly to the ladies. The styles of the moment rather
than decency and purity sometimes dictate what a woman,
even a Catholic woman, should wear. May God have mercy
on the souls of those who through the nakedness or semi-
nakedness of their bodies do the devil's work in leading souls
into serious sin. : -

Unfortunately women sometimes dress this way even when
they kneel at the railing waiting to come face to face with



50 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

Jesus Christ* Their neck-lines are entirely too low, the amount

of clothing they are wearing is too meagre and the kind of

clothing entirely inappropriate for the occasion. Shorts, beach-

wear, tight-fitting slacks are not proper for Holy Communion
when there is no necessity for such clothes. A woman does
not have to dress up in shawls and dresses and voluminous

coverings that will make her look like a sack rather than like
a woman. But surely God is too spotless and all pure not to
be honored by reasonably modest clothing. Nakedness does not

tempt or scandalize Him. But it can tempt and scandalize

others. That is why it is so displeasing to the Lord.

Even though nobody is tempted and scandalized at all,

there is something very unfitting in appearing naked or half-

naked before the King of Kings. It shows an extreme disre-

gard for the sacrednes of God. It shows no fear of God. It is

almost enough to bring down a clap of thunder on the heads
of such offenders. If there is any time in life when God should
be shown great respect, it is at the time of Communion. Respect
demands reasonably modest clothing.

And finally there should be piety and devotion in one’s
demeanor when Communion is received. In other words one
should try to keep one’s mind on what one is doing at the time

of the reception of Communion. There is no devotion in the
man or the woman who takes the holy Sacrament out of
routine and gives hardly a thought to the stupendous event

that is transpiring — the advent of Almighty God upon the
earth. Devotion demands the putting of one’s whole heart and
soul into the matter, of doing all that the rubrics and custom

demand for the devout acceptance of the body of Our Lord.
A man’s devotion depends on a man’s faith. If his faith is
strong, his devotion, or the way he handles himself in the
receiving of Holy Communion, will be right.

At the exact moment of the reception of Communion the
tongue should be put out, neither too far nor not far enough.



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 51

but sufficiently far so as to form a surface on which the Lord

can comfortably rest. The eyes should be closed, the head bent
slightly back. The mouth should not be closed with a snap
the moment the priest moves on after touching the tongue with

the Host.

As soon as it can conveniently be done, the recipient should
try to swallow the Host. The reason for this is the fact that
Holy Communion is not actually received until the Host is
swallowed. Our Lord said, ''Unless you eat my body . .
Eating the body of Our Lord consists not in chewing the holy
elements (the Host should not be chewed) but in swallowing

them. Therefore it is good if the mouth is kept a trifle moist

so that the Host will not stick to the tongue or the surface

of the mouth with the result that the Host cannot be swallowed

until it has dissolved.

After swallowing the Host, the correct thing to do is to

turn around and without a genuflection to the altar go back

to the pew and make a thanksgiving that will last at least ten
or fifteen minutes. There is no need for a genuflection to the

tabernacle because the Occupant of the tabernacle is now
present in the heart.

The prayers of the thanksgiving will depend on the depth
of the devotion and the faith that penetrate the soul. If faith

and devotion are strong, the first few minutes of the thanks-
giving will be given over to spontaneous aspirations of thanks

to God for deigning to come down, of love and affection, of
sorrow for sin and resolution not to commit sin in the future,

of petition for the things that are needed most in soul and body.
These first prayers should be said without prayerbook. They
need not be said with the lips. They should arise from the soul
as the fragrance rises from a flower.

It would seem that a person born and bred in the Catholic
religion, brought up on a regular fare of prayers to God, the



52 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

Blessed Mother and the saints should have no trouble at all
in concentration with some little success on the miracle that

has just been worked in his favor. God has come down to him
in person. He has not sent an angel or a saint or one of the
prophets of old. He has not even sent His mother. He Him-
self took time off from the running of the universe in order to

pay a visit to a friend of His on earth. Can anything more
magnificent than that ever happen to anybody no matter who
the person is?

Suppose a man were to be offered the choice of meeting the
president of the United States or, in the case of a young

person, the chance of meeting the most glamorous and famous

of the stars of the movies. Probably there would be no sleep

the night before the momentous event was scheduled to take
place. And what vast preparations would go into the choice
of clothes, the hairdo and all the other things that touched

the outward appearance. If the meeting were to be televised,

all the relatives and friends would be alerted to be sure and

have their sets tuned at the proper time.

And then, when at last the moment arrived to see and even
to talk to the great person, the words undoubtedly would gush

out of the mouth like water from a spigot — requests for auto-
graphs, for pictures, for hints on how to be a celebrated actor
or actress and so forth.

No distractions from friends or even from family would
be allowed to interfere with the interview. No book would be
needed in order that the mind might be kept strictly on the

subject and in order that the catastrophe might be avoided of

running out of things to talk about.

How different is it not when the interview is held with Our
Lord in Holy Communion. One would almost think that the



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 53

president of the United States or some well-curled or well-

bosomed character from Hollywood had more to offer than

the mighty God Himself. Not even three minutes of personal
conversation can be had with Jesus Christ after Communion
without a million stray thoughts wandering into the mind as

though they had a right to come in and go out as much as

they pleased like a star boarder, and not even the one who
raised Lazarus from the dead is big enough to block them out.

What is wrong with people that they cannot talk to the
Lord about their love for Him or at least about their desire
to have a strong love for Him, their hope in Him, their belief

in Him even for a few minutes after the reception of Holy
Communion?

Why can't they close their eyes (for the shutting out of
distractions

)
and tell Him about their troubles in their own

words? They have plenty of troubles. All one has to do is
lend an open ear to them on any day of the week and one
will hear enough almost to be deafened forevermore. But what

can an ordinary human being do to remove or to soften the
troubles of the neighbor especially when the troubles are quite
insoluble? Not much at all except to keep the ear open and the
tongue on its hinges for the expressing of a few words of
sympathy the moment the opportunity presents itself.

The same inability or incapacity cannot be said about
God. He is willing to listen just like everybody else who has
been blessed with the gift of pity. But He can do something
about the troubles. He is the one who rolls the thunder across
the sky, who strikes the matches in the heavens that make the
lightning. Is it possible that He could not take care of the
troubles that an individual has if that individual bright and
early each morning seized hold of Him and pressed Him to
his heart till the divine beating of the Sacred Heart silenced
the throbbing sorrows of the human heart?



54 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

But God must be asked for His help. He wants to be asked.
Very possibly He won’t take care of the problem that needs
solution unless He is asked. So He has arranged. That is why
it is so imperative that a short space of time immediately after

the reception of Holy Communion be given over to extempora-
neous, personal, intimate conversation with Our Lord. The
very word “Communion” means that — to “commune” with,
to talk to Him with whom the communion is established.

Distractions

Let no one draw the conclusion that in view of the fact

that many distractions keep pestering the mind all during the
thanksgiving and especialy during those first precious moments

(that is when the devil is most busy, for he knows the value
of those first moments after the communion with God has
been effected), there isn’t much point or use in trying too hard
to concentrate on one’s own improvised prayers and petitions
because the thanksgiving simply can’t be any good.

It is too bad that the mind cannot stick to the subject for

so short a time when the subject to be thought about is God.
But often times it can’t. The fact has to be admitted. And
there isn’t very much that can be done about it. Whether
God is present or not, extraneous and worldly thoughts keep
pouring in like flies through a screen that is full of holes.

It is discouraging to say the least. And one wonders what
God thinks about it all.

One thing is sure —^ God doesn’t think anything bad about
it. That is the absolute truth. God is not worried about the



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 55

distractions that can torture the mind unless, of course, the

distractions are deliberate. If one does not try to keep out the

distractions, God is not pleased. If one tries to keep out
the distractions by constantly struggling against the onslaughts

of the world, the flesh and the devil, God is highly pleased
and very probably calls the attention of the angels and the

saints to the fine battle that is being waged.

Distractions are not sins in themselves. They become sins
only when they are wilfully caused, or on coming into the
mind they are wilfully consented to and enjoyed. To cultivate
distracting thoughts at the time of Communion is like putting
Our Lord into the corner of a deep drawer and closing the
drawer when in fact He should be occupying the best chair
in the room. Our Lord is not one who demands attention.
But He is God. And as God He has certain rights that He
cannot very well abdicate.

Frequency of Holy Communion

How often should Communion be received? An answer can
be given to this question from various points of view.

First, from the point of view of the universal Church and
of all the peoples in all the countries of the world who make
up the universal Church.

The law of the Church for all the people of the world is
that they receive Holy Communion at least once a year, and
that, during the Easter season which is from the first Sunday
of Lent until Trinity Sunday, sixty days after Easter. So,
during a period of time consisting of one hundred days every
Catholic in the world who possibly can do so must receive
Holy Communion.



56 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

This sounds rather easy-going and lax. Only once a year?

Yes, only once a year according to the strict law. The law em-
braces everybody, the Alaskans as well as the victims of Com-
munism behind the Iron Curtain. For some of these people

Communion more than once a year is almost impossible. There
are few priests. There are almost no Masses. Christians may
have to travel many, many miles before they can find a church
where they can receive Our Lord. So, the Church in her
consideration and understanding tells such people to make a

strong effort to approach the holy table at least once a year.

That should be possible for almost everybody in the world

who has faith enough to know what the Eucharist is.

Not to go to Communion during the Easter Season, which
is called “making one's Easter duty," is a mortal sin. The
negligence does not excommunicate the culprit from the Church

but it does put him or her in a very dangerous position. If

death were to intervene before a confession could he made,

the everlasting punishment of hell might be the result. God
forbid that that should happen to anyone reading these lines.

The serious advice of the Church is that Holy Communion
should be received as often as possible — surely every month,
possibly every Sunday and if it can be done, every day. There
is no better place for lovers of God to start the day each day
than at the foot of the altar where Our Lord is waiting to
welcome them and to fill their heart and their soul and their

body with His divine presence. How can anything really harm-
ful happen during the day to those who go to Communion
each morning?

It would be a matter of grave importance for parents of

growing children to go to Communion every day. The reason,
over and above the salvation of their own soul, is the welfare
of their children. They do not want their children to turn
out to be failures, temporal or eternal, in the future. Well, the



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 57

future of the children depends on the present, which is in the

hands of the mother and the father. The power of the parents

to help the children does not depend too much on the com-

mands the parents give and the corrections they make. Rather

it depends on how they stand with God. Even the most spir-
itual command and advice will mean little if it comes from that
which is the equivalent of a corrupting swamp. And that is the
condition of the soul of the mother and the father who are
not close to God.

God will work through the parents for the future happi-
ness and success of the children if the parents are willing to

make the sacrifice of going to Communion as often as they
can. Imagine the power the parents wield over their children

if no day passes without their kneeling at the railing in order

to gather God into their arms so that He may be brought
home for the protection and the spiritualizing of the children!
What harm can ever come to children who have parents like
that?

Daily Communion is a ‘‘must’' also for young people pre-
paring for marriage by means of courtship. These young peo-

ple, no matter how high their ideals, know that there is fire
in their blood. They are fully aware of the fact that it is not
easy for two young people deeply in love with one another

to remain pure and innocent when they are out on a date.
The following statement is made without fear of contradiction.
Young people will be able to remain pure on their dates if they
go to Communion daily with great fervor and faith.

Daily Communion is the answer to many of the questions
that are raised in the life of teen-agers. Perhaps teen-agers

of all people have the hardest time these days to stay near

to God.: They are hounded on all sides by a pagan world
that would convince them that whatever they feel like doing
is all right as long as they do not get into trouble or cause



58 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

trouble to others. Their passions are growing stronger every

day. They want to be independent of authority. They are
surrounded by bad example. Who can save them except God?
And where can they find God except in the daily reception
of the Eucharist?

For all people, old and young, rich and poor, learned and

unlearned, the daily reception of Holy Communion is a sign of
predestination. Who is the person who is not afraid of what
is going to happen after death? Will the sins of the past, even

though they have been confessed with sorrow and sincere reso-

lution against their repetition, be brought forth by God at the
end as a cause for condemnation?

That fear makes one very unsure about heaven. It makes

one tremble at the thought of appearing before God and giving
an account of all the thoughts, words and deeds of life. Some-

times the thought insists on coming into the mind that there

isn’t going to be much chance of being happy in eternity. The
sins of the past are simply too many and too great.

At this point an unqualified reassurance can be given and

can be had. If daily Communion was the pattern of life for
many years before death, and if these many Communions were
received fervently, there is moral certitude that heaven is the

place where the soul will live for all eternity. What was it that
Our Lord said? '‘If any man eat My Body and drink My Blood,
that man will have life everlasting

"
There is the promise of

God. And God tells no lies. He said that the person who
receives frequently, everyday if such a thing is possible, will

not go to helL

Holy Communion, therefore, is the safest insurance that a

Christian can take out on a home in heaven. It is backed not
only by the bank of heaven but by the word of God. It is the
surest thing in the world. In fact, it is not even a gamble. Any



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 59

Catholic who refuses to pick up this insurance, especially in
view of the very low rates (a few hours fast; the state of grace)

is not very convinced about the length of eternity, about the

wondrous happiness of heaven and the terrible pains of hell.

The Holy Father is so convinced of the power of Holy Com-
munion to get people to heaven that he allows children just

coming to the use of reason to approach the altar and take Our
Lord into their hearts.

An objection can be raised here, and often is raised, to
the effect that it would seem that Our Lord's words should not
be interpreted in so literal a sense. The objectors propose two
arguments to uphold their contention.

First, they say that there have been many cases of people
who received Holy Communion almost daily and later on lost
the faith and did not come back even on their deathbeds. The
early reformers were such cases. Martin Luther, who was a
priest, who abandoned his priesthood and founded Protestant-
ism, said Mass everyday for many years. Of course, he re-
ceived Our Lord in his Masses as does every priest when he
says Mass.

Yet Martin Luther died outside the Catholic Church, hat-

ing and damning the Catholic Church and everything connect-
ed with it. If Martin Luther was not the victim of halluci-
nations, insanity or complete ignorance, and if he did not re-
pent before he died, he surely lost his soul. What is to be
said, then, about his frequenting the Sacrament of the altar

every day for so many years before finally falling away from
the Catholic religion entirely? Why did not Communion save
him?

Other cases are told of girls who went through a Catholic
academy and received Holy Communion regularly for the
whole time they attended the school. Shortly after they grad-



60 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

uated, they fell in love with a divorced man and attempted
marriage with him. Some of them lived in an invalid marriage
and died in an invalid marriage. What about them? Why did
not Holy Communion keep them from the danger of losing
their soul?

The answer is this.

There must have been something wrong with the Holy

Communions that were received. Our Lord was not received
with the proper dispositions. Possibly these people were not

even in the state of grace when they went to Communion.
Possibly Martin Luther, even while he was saying Mass, was
denying in his own mind, as he did so vehemently later on by
word of mouth, the validity of the sacrifice of the Mass and the
truth of the real presence of Jesus Christ under the appearance

of bread and wine. Perhaps the girls from their freshman year

on never fully prepared themselves for the Sacrament and

never made a good thanksgiving afterwards.

Whatever the explanation, it is certain that the failure
was on their part and not on the part of Jesus Christ. Jesus
Christ promised all those who received Him fervently the re-
wards of heaven. Quite definitely He meant, even though He
did not spell it out in so many words, that the Communion
would have to be sincere as well as frequent. It would be a

funny business if all one had to do was to go to Communion
no matter what the dispositions.

Secondly, the objectors say that a literal interpretation of

Christ's words will send all Protestants and Jews to hell who
do not believe in the Blessed Sacrament. We answer at once
that such a conclusion is entirely unwarranted.

God judges people according to their conscience. If they
never heard of the Blessed Sacrament and felt no qualms of

conscience in not receiving it, surely God won't hold them



THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION 61

guilty of breaking His command. Nobody can be guilty of a

deed that will condemn him to hell unless he knows that he is

doing wrong and willingly goes ahead and performs the deed

anyway.

So, the ignorance of non-Catholics as to the truth of the

real presence is no argument at all against the statement that

he who receives Holy Communion fervently and frequently is
morally certain of going to heaven.

The Effects of Holy Communion

The effects produced by a frequent and fervent reception
of Holy Communion are almost unbelievable.

First and foremost, the commission of serious sin in pre-

vented. A man may have passions as strong as the most de-
cadent and immoral person in the world. The temptations may
be innumerable. Still, in spite of the drive of passion and the

wearing force of temptation, the soul is able to remain free

from mortal sin. This is a miracle of the highest order, espe-

cially if the resistance to mortal sin has to go on over a long

period of time. There is no doctor, no specific medicine, no

scientific legerdemain that can bring about so astounding and

miraculous an effect.

Secondly, Holy Communion can take away venial sin. If
there is venial sin on a soul before Holy Communion and the
one who receives makes a good act of contrition just before
going up to the railing, even though the contrition is based

only on the fear of God's punishment in purgatory, the venial

sins are forgiven the moment the Lord is enfolded in the em-
brace of the heart. There are some who believe that venial
sin can be taken away only by confession. They are mistaken.



62 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

Contrition and Communion can bring about the cure com-
pletely.

Thirdly, Holy Communion can strengthen the soul to such
an extent that it may be able to do the most heroic things for
Almighty God in the future. There are many examples not
only in the lives of saints proving the truth of this statement

but also in the lives of ordinary, everyday Christian men and
women who bear the burdens and the heats of the day with-
out complaining and without ever even giving a thought to

the possibility of collapsing and giving up.

They allow the children to come to them that God wants
them to have; they raise their children according to Christian

principles; they live up to their holy religion in all the demands

and commands that she gives them. They lead heroic lives,
unsung and unrewarded here on earth but someday to be rec-

ompensed a thousandfold in the house of God, It is the frC'^
quent reception of Holy Communion that makes this heroism
possible. Without the real presence of God in their hearts they
would never rise above the mediocre in the pursuit of personal

perfection and hidden sanctity.

However, the power of the Blessed Sacrament is proved

for all the world to see in the lives of the saints. And in the
life of no modern saint is it proved more completely than in

the life of the great North American martyr, St, John Brebeuf,

Spiritual Communion

There are times when it is quite impossible for a devout
person to receive Holy Communion, When one is sick and
cannot retain the Sacred Host on the stomach; when riding on
a train, when there is no priest nearby who can give out the



63THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

Blessed Sacrament; when one has inadvertently broken one’s
fast.

What can be done by the person who wants to go to Holy
Communion and cannot because of circumstances that render
a pilgrimage to the holy table quite out of the question?

An act of spiritual Communion can be made.

Perhaps the best way of explaining the meaning of an
act of spiritual Communion is to give an example. The follow-
ing is the act of spiritual Communion that was written by St,
Alphonsus Liguori, It has the full approval of the Church,

“My Jesus, I believe that Thou are present in the Blessed
Sacrament of the altar, I love Thee above all things, I desire
to receive Thee into my heart. Since I am unable to receive
Thee sacramentally, I wish to receive Thee at least spiritually,
I embrace Thee as though Thou wert already in my heart and
unite myself entirely to Thee, Never permit me to be separated
from Thee,'’

It has been said many times that Our Lord hears every
word we say to Him, Even “My Jesus, help me" is registered
in heaven and will receive its answer. Surely then an act of
spiritual Communion is heard. Surely God comes down in
spirit and occupies a place in the heart.

Spiritual Communion is a most wonderful and efficacious
form of prayer. It should be used often. If the form of spiritual

Communion of St, Alphonsus Liguori does not appeal to a
man, let him make up his own. It is the desire for the pos-
session of God that counts, not the form of the words used.
Spiritual Communion should be accompanied by acts of faith,
hope, love and contrition just as as is real Communion. And
favors should be asked for too. God wants it that way.



64 THE WHY AND HOW OF HOLY COMMUNION

However, in spite of the value of spiritual Communion,

there is nothing this side of heaven that can take the place of

real Communion the joining of the human and the divine,
of God and man in a union so close that only a God could
conceive it and make its operation possible. If man realized
what he had and what miracles resulted from it if he made
use of it to the fullest possible extent, the railings of the

Catholic churches would not be as empty as they are around

the country and around the world.

May Mary, the mother of God, enlighten men's minds with
a true understanding of the Blessed Sacrament. And may she
strengthen their wills to use the Blessed Sacrament often and

with great fervor. Therein lies their salvation.





Printed in U.S.A.