Frequent Holy Communion, because of its wonderful effects, is the surest guarantee of keeping your youth and company-keeping pure and happy.
I. Holy Communion unites you more closely with Jesus, the Model of purity and the Author of all spiritual energy and holiness. You live in Him and He lives in you, for He said, “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood, abides in Me and I in him.”
II. Holy Communion gives you an increase of sanctifying grace, which makes you an adopted child of God, a temple of the Holy Ghost, and gives you a right to heaven. Sanctifying grace is the life of your soul, while mortal sin is its death.
Our Lord said, “Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you.” Sanctifying grace also makes you holy and pleasing to God. It adorns your soul with the only kind of beauty that is really worth striving for.
III. Holy Communion gives you sacramental or actual grace, which entitles you to special help in times of temptation and in the discharge of your duties, for it enlightens your mind and strengthens your will to do good and avoid evil.
For this reason Holy Communion is a medicine for your soul when it becomes sick because of sin.
IV. Holy Communion remits a part, or all, of the temporal punishments due to your sins.
V. Holy Communion is the best assurance that your prayers will be heard, if it is God’s will; for Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and if My words abide in you, ask whatever you will and it shall be done to you.”
No prayer can be more effective than that said after Holy Communion when Jesus is present in your heart as God and Man, as your best Friend, ready to help you by means of the many graces He wishes to grant you.
At Holy Communion you can ask Him to help you overcome the temptations you meet with in the world. He will give you the strength you need to keep pure and to be faithful to His holy commandments which are the foundation of true happiness.
You should fear nothing, if you are equipped with the strongest spiritual weapon —Holy Communion. It prevents mortal sin—the greatest evil in the world—from taking root in your soul and even washes away the stains of venial sin so long as you have no affection for it nor desire to commit it in the future. The coming of Jesus in Holy Communion awakens new love in your heart and encourages you to live in purity and sinlessness, which is a necessary condition for happiness.
Our Lord wants you to receive Holy Communion often. It was for this reason that He gave you this Sacrament as a source of grace so that you might live as a good Catholic and save your soul. This was His last will expressed at the Last Supper: “Take and eat; this is My Body, which is being given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
As priests say Mass each day and receive Holy Communion to fulfill this last wish of Jesus, the faithful should do likewise by receiving Holy Communion daily if it is at all possible.
For the first four centuries of Christianity the people received Holy Communion each time they assisted at Mass, for Communion is one of the principal parts of Mass. You miss so very much when you neglect to receive Communion during Mass. It is not a complete Mass.
At the consecration you have given the heavenly Father His own beloved Son as the greatest gift you could offer Him in adoration, thanksgiving, atonement and petition; at Communion the heavenly Father wishes to return that Gift to you as the best He can offer you; but you refuse the Gift.
And you need Jesus so very much; He does not need you! Live according to this principle:
Always a Communion at my Mass. Holy Mother Church earnestly wishes that you go to Holy Communion often, even daily, if possible. She speaks in the name of our Lord through the voice of Pope Pius X, the Pope of the Eucharist, “All the faithful, married or single, young or old, even children from the time of their first Communion are invited to go to Holy Communion frequently; yes, daily.”
Holy Mother Church requires only two things:
(a) the state of grace. This means you must be free from every mortal sin and must have made up your mind never to commit a mortal sin again. Doubts about whether you are in the state of grace or not do not keep you from receiving.
Make an act of contrition and go without any fear. You must be certain that you have committed a mortal sin before you can say that you may not receive. Venial sins do not keep you away. Be sorry for them and come to the Holy Table.
The fact that you were not at Confession does not keep you away, as long as you are not in the state of mortal sin. Confession at least every two or three weeks is advisable for frequent communicants, but not necessary.
If you cannot receive Holy Communion each morning, go at least on Sundays.
(b) A right and good intention. This means that you should not go out of mere habit, or because others are going, or because you want to be seen by people. You should go to please God, to be united with Him by love, and to receive Holy Communion as a divine medicine for your sins and faults.
The saints, too, urge you by their words and example to receive Communion often. It was especially by receiving this heavenly food that they became saints. Your own soul urges you to frequent Communion. It needs this spiritual food and strength to keep from sin and become holy.
Your most important duty in life is to save your soul by serving God. All that you desire in this life—peace and joy, success and health—depends upon God’s blessing, which you receive above all when you are united with Jesus in Holy Communion.
Come to Holy Communion daily if you can!
(From Clean Love in Courtship- Fr. Lovasik)
