Salesian Literature

Chapter 21:  Receiving Holy Communion

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Begin to prepare yourself for holy Communion, on the previous evening, by many longings and movements of love.  Go to bed a little earlier than usual, so that you are able to get up earlier the next morning.  If you happen to wake during the night immediately fill your heart and your mouth with words of love and in this way you will be able to welcome the Beloved with a loving fragrance.  He watches while you sleep, making ready to come with a thousand graces and favours, provided you are prepared to receive them.

 

In the morning, rise with great joy on account of the happiness you are hoping for.  Make your Confession[1].  Then go with great confidence, but also with great humility to receive this heavenly food which keeps you well and strong for everlasting life.  After you have said the sacred words, Lord, I am not worthy (Mt. 8:8), do not move your head or your lips any more, either to pray or to sigh.  Open your mouth gently and moderately.  Raise your head as much as is needed for the priest to see conveniently what he is doing.

 

Full of faith, hope and charity, receive Him whom, in whom, by whom and for whom you believe, hope and love.  Philothea, the bee gathers form the flowers the dew of heaven as well as the most delicious juice of the earth and changing them into honey carries it to the hive.  In the same way, the priest takes from the altar the Saviour of the world, true Son of God, who like dew has come down from Heaven, and true Son of the Virgin Mary, who like a flower has sprung from the earth of our humanity, and places him as a delightful food in your mouth and in your body.

 

After receiving him, arouse your heart and do homage to this King of Salvation.  Speak to him about your spiritual concerns.  Look upon him within you, where he has placed himself for your happiness.  In a word, welcome him as warmly as you can, and conduct yourself in such a way that from all your actions it may be known to all that God is with you.

 

But it may happen that you cannot have this blessing of actually receiving Communion at Holy Mass.  On such occasions, receive Communion at least in heart and in spirit: unite yourself by an intense longing to this life-giving flesh of the Saviour.

 

Your principal aim in receiving Communion must be to make progress, be strengthened and find comfort in the love of God.  You must receive out of love that which love alone gives to you.  The Saviour cannot be thought of in any other action more loving and more compassionate than this one.  In this action he, as it were, destroys himself and changes himself into food so as to enter our spirits and unite himself most closely to the heart and the body of his faithful

 

When worldly people question you about your receiving Communion so frequently, answer them that it is to learn to love God, to be purified from your faults, to be freed from your miseries, to be comforted in your troubles, to be strengthened in your weakness.  Tell them that two sorts of persons are to receive Communion often: whose who are perfect because, being well disposed, they would be very wrong if they did not draw near to the source and spring of perfection; and those who are imperfect, that they may be able to rightly to seek perfection; the strong, that they may not become weak, and the weak, that they become strong; the sick that they may become well and the healthy that they may not become sick.  Say about yourself, that being imperfect, weak, and sick it is necessary that you have frequent contact with him who is your perfection, your strength and your doctor.

 

Also tell them that those who do not have many worldly concerns should receive Communion often since they have the opportunity; and that those who have many worldly concerns should do the same because they need it; and that he who works very hard and is loaded with troubles must eat nourishing food frequently.  Let them know that you receive the Holy Sacrament to learn to receive it well, since we rarely do an action well unless we practise it often.

 

Receive Communion frequently, Philothea.  With the advice of your spiritual father, receive as often as you can.  The hares on our mountains become white in winter, since they neither see nor eat anything except snow[2].  I assure you that similarly by repeatedly adoring and feeding in this divine Sacrament, on him who is beauty, goodness and purity, you will become completely beautiful, completely good and completely pure.

 

 

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[1]  St. Francis has in mind weekly Communion and hence weekly confession.  He present convincing reasons for frequent confession in Part 2, Chapter 19 (especially paragraph 2).

[2]  Pliny.  Hares are usually grayish brown in colour. In regions where it snows they naturally turn white in winter.

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