19 24, May, 2020 catholicweekly.com.au COMMENT thenfind expression after Eas- ter by her partaking in the Eu- charist which theApostles cel- ebrated as thememorial of that passion” (EE, n. 56). St JohnVianney compared Spiritual Communionwith blowing on embers to rekindle the fire: “If we are deprivedof sacramental Communion, let us replace it, as far aswe can, by Spiritual Communion, which we canmake everymoment; for we ought tohave always a burning desire to receive the goodGod. Communion is to the soul like blowing a fire that is beginning to go out, but that has still plenty of hot embers; we blow, and the fire burns again. After the receptionof the sacraments, whenwe feel ourselves slacken in the love of God, let us have recourse at once to Spiritual Commu- nion.Whenwe cannot go to the church, let us turn towards the tabernacle; nowall can shut us Plenary and the common good Key to Spiritual Communion A s its name suggests, Spiritual Commun- ion is a prayer ex- pressing the desire to receiveOur Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. It can be said not onlywhen one is unable to re- ceive sacramental Communion but also in preparation for sac- ramental Communion. Thus, one might say the prayer at night in preparation for Communion the following day, or on waking, or before receiving Communion. Pope St JohnPaul II recom- mended this practice inhis en- cyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia : “Precisely for this reason it is good to cultivate inour hearts a constant desire for the sac- rament of the Eucharist.This was the originof the practice of ‘Spiritual Communion’, which has happily been established in theChurch for centuries and recommendedby saintswho weremasters of the spiritual life. Saint Teresa of Jesuswrote: ‘When youdonot receiveCom- munion and youdonot attend Mass, you canmake a Spiritual Communion, which is amost beneficial practice; by it the love of Godwill be greatly impressed on you” ( TheWay of Perfection , Ch. 35; EE, n. 34). Interestingly, Pope John Paul in that same encyclical spoke of Our Lady herself do- ing this inpreparation for Our Lord’s deathon the cross and for her receptionof Commu- nion fromthe apostles: “Inher daily preparation for Calvary, Mary experienced a kindof ‘an- ticipatedEucharist’ – onemight say a ‘Spiritual Communion’ – of desire andof oblation, which would culminate inher union withher Son inhis passion, and out fromthe goodGod” ( The Spirit of the Curé of Ars ). More recently St Josemaría Escriváwrote: “What a source of grace there is in Spiritual Com- munion! Practice it frequently and you’ll havemore presence of God and closer unionwith him in your life” ( TheWay , 540). And also: “Donot neglect to say, ‘Jesus, I love you’, andmake one Spiritual Communion, at least, eachday, in atonement for all the profanations and sac- rileges he suffers because he wants to bewithus” ( Furrow , 689). St Josemaría gave us the wording for a Spiritual Com- munionhe had learnedwhen hemade his first Communion andwhich is nowusedby peo- ple all over theworld: “I wish, my Lord, to receive youwith the purity, humility anddevo- tionwithwhich yourmost holy Mother received you, with the spirit and fervour of the saints.” Another popular Spiritu- al Communion is that of St Al- phonsus Liguori: “My Jesus, I believe that you are present in theMost Holy Sacrament. I love you above all things, and I de- sire to receive you intomy soul. Since I cannot at thismoment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually intomy heart. I embrace you as if you were already there andunite myself wholly to you. Never permitme tobe separated from you. Amen.” As regards the ben- efits, Fr StefanoManelli, OFM Conv., inhis book Jesus our Eu- charistic Love , writes: “Spiritu- al Communion, as StThom- as Aquinas and St Alphonsus Liguori teach, produces effects similar to Sacramental Com- munion, according to the dis- positionswithwhich it ismade, the greater or less earnestness withwhich Jesus is desired, and the greater or less lovewith which Jesus iswelcomed and givendue attention.” What ismore, theVatican’s Enchiridion of Indulgences (1968) indicates that “an act of Spiritual Communion, accord- ing to any pious formula, is enrichedwith a partial indul- gence” (n. 15).
[email protected] PREPARE YOUR HEART for an encounter with jesus 1 Create a space where you will be able to pray quietly. Focus on an image of Jesus and light a candle before Him. Make the Sign of the Cross. A c t S p i r i t u a l Com m u n i o n RECITE THE PRAYER for spiritual communion 3 Recite the prayer below slowly, meditating carefully on each word. Believe that Jesus will give you the grace of a real encounter with Him. READ the mass readings 2 Slowly pray the readings for Mass of the day. These can be found in a Missal or on the Unversalis App. of SILENCE 4 Remain in silence for some moments, with Jesus in your heart. Allow Himtoloveyouandtonourishyoursoul. how to make an My Jesus, I believe that Youare present in the Blessed Sacrament. I love Youabove all things, and I desire to receive Youinto my soul. Since I cannot now receive Yousacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace Youas if Youwere already here, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen. SPIRITUAL COMMUNION PRAYER LIFE, FAMILY AND OUTREACH ARCHDIOCESEOFSYDNEY LIFE, ILY AND O EACH ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY I n discussions about the Plenary Council, much has been said about need- ing to listen to the people of God, and for calls for greater justice and inclusion in the life of the Church. All of these are good in themselves, though a question for me has always been, on what terms is this listening and inclusion carried out? It seems that the princi- ples of Catholic Social Teach- ingmight forman informative backdrop to discuss the shape of both secular and ecclesial life andmore immediately, the shape of our journey through the Plenary Council. While Catholic Social Teaching is often understood as a standalone body of teach- ing, it should be noted that the first Pope to articulate Catholic Social Teaching, Leo XIII, was also the pope to promote the normalisation of the categories ofThomas Aquinas, in particu- lar themoral categories. This is relevant because in themind of Leo, Catholic So- cial Teaching was a subset of the Catholicmoral tradition. Put another way, the princi- ples of Catholic Social Teach- ing properly understood is a necessary outworking of the moral life, which in turn is tied to the life of virtue. In the inter- est of space, we will only look at one of themost well known foundational principles, name- ly the CommonGood. The Compendiumof the Social Doctrine of the Church (n. 164) defines the Common Good as “the sum total of so- cial conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their ful- filment more fully andmore easily”, and represents the “communal dimension of the moral good”. It is, in other words, the end state towhich human persons orient themselves, because it is in that state that human per- sons flourish. There are no exceptions on who enjoys this good, for it is common to all in the commu- nity. Quite simply, the common good represents the condi- tions of an open and inclu- sive sphere of life and Catho- lics would be right to aspire to it, both in the world and the Church.The question is: how does this state of flourishing come about?This is where the same paragraph of the Com- pendium becomes instructive. Ironically, the Compendi- um’s most instructive line on the common good states what it is not. The CommonGood “does not consist in the simple sum of the particular goods of each subject of a social entity”. It is not the accidental fruit of our own individual pursuits, wants and desires. Rather, the com- mon go d “is and remai s ‘common’, because it is indivis- ible and because only together is it possible to attain it”. Put another way, the Com- monGood is only possible when it is pursued in common, in accordance to the condi- tions appropriate to the com- munity. In other words, one cannot pursue one’s own private goals and designs and expect a good common to all to be borne out of it. Instead, it has to be the fruit of an ongoing and intentional collaborationwith a common end inmind. What should grab our atten- tion here is that this common end is not set by a private indi- vidual, but comes fromsome- thing beyond ourselves. In the Catholic tradition, this end is none other than Je- sus Christ who is, as Augustine said in one of his homilies: “the place we are going to and the way we are going by”. What does thismean for thinking throughwhat inclu- sionmight look like in the Ple- nary Council? Looking at the principle of the CommonGood, it seems to me that our inclusion should be premised upon a common participation in the only com- mon fund the Church truly has - the life of Christ. It might mean looking long and hard at the life that Christ is calling us to, rather than what I want life - or the Church - to be like and adorn it with the respectability of a Catho- lic brand. It couldmean adopting Christ’s pattern of self-gift, rather than the contemporary logic of self-seeking. Ultimately, trying to discern what it meansmight involve all of us having a deeper look intowhat is common in the Church, borne out in its histo- ry and traditions, and not sim- ply the fashionable opinions of specialists. TheChurch’s little-known treasure - its social teaching - offers a key to a successful AustralianCouncil Looking at the principle of the Com- mon Good, it seems to me that our inclusion should be premised upon a common partici ation in the only common fund the Church truly h s - the life of Christ.” 1300 554 552 www.girafferemovals.com.au •
[email protected] One of Sydney’s most trusted removalists 50 YEARS OF REMOVAL Fast. Safe. Efficient. Country • Interstate • Long or Short Term Storage For over 50 years the Keoghan family have run an honest, professional removals business. We service homes, units, offices, parishes, schools, colleges and government departments. Dr Matt Tan Dear Father, without being able to attendMass during the pandemic they tell us tomake a Spiritual Communion. What exactly is this? Father Flader Columnist