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FREQUENT COMMUNION 

A COURSE 
O F 

SIX LENTEN SERMONS 

BY 

R E V . A D O L F C H W A L A , O . M . I . 

N E W YORK 
JOSEPH F. W A G N E R 





FREQUENT COMMUNION 

A COURSE 
O F 

SIX LENTEN SERMONS 

BY 

R E V . A D O L F C H W A L A , O . M . I . 

NEW YORK 
JOSEPH F. WAGNER 



Jftnprimt potest 
R E M I G I U S L A F O R T , S . T . D . 

Censor 

PEEKSKILL, N . Y . , January 14, 1915 

Copyright, 1 9 1 5 , by JOSEPH F. WAGNER, New Y o r k 

D e s c f t f l e d 



CONTENTS 
PAGE 

I FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N — O u r Saviour's Wish'1 . . . . . . I 

I I FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N — A Source of Great Graces . . . . 1 2 

I I I FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N — A Pledge of Eternal Life . . . . 24 

I V M E N , AND FREQUENT COMMUNION 36 

V FREQUENT COMMUNION—A Token of Love and Reconciliation 48 

V I FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N — A Comfort in Life and in Death . 57 





FREQUENT COMMUNION 

I . — F R E Q U E N T C O M M U N I O N — O U R SAVIOUR'S W I S H 

"Not by bread alone doth man live."—Matt, iv, 4. 

For thirty years our Saviour lived in retirement at Nazareth, 

until the moment came for Him to enter upon His public life. At 

the suggestion of the Holy Ghost He withdrew into the desert, in 

order by prayer and fasting to prepare for His glorious work, and, 

after fasting forty days and forty nights, He was, as the Evangelist 

tells us, hungry. Then the tempter assailed Him, urging Him to 

order stones to become bread. The devil was uncertain what to 

think about our Lord; not long before, John the Baptist, seeing 

Him approaching, had exclaimed: "Behold the Lamb of God, be-

hold Him who taketh away the sins of the world" (John i, 29), and 

at His baptism a voice from heaven had proclaimed: "This is my 

beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt, iii, 17). But 

now the evil spirit perceived that He, who had been revealed as the 

Son of God, was hungry, like an ordinary man. Coming to Him, 

therefore, the tempter said: "If Thou be the Son of God, command 

that these stones be made bread," and received the reply: "Not by 

bread alone doth man live, but by every word that proceedeth from 

the mouth of God." 

Some time elapsed, during which our Lord told His followers 

much concerning the kingdom of God, although a great deal was 

unintelligible to them as well as to the Jews, and then one day He 

uttered some emphatic words that astonished all His hearers. "I 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
am the bread of life. . . . If any man eat of this bread, he shall 

live forever" (John vi, 48, 52). 

It is of this bread, of the most holy Sacrament of the altar, that 

I wish to speak to you to-day. My purpose is to show you how 

necessary it is to receive it frequently, that we may live by it. 

To-day I intend to explain to you how much our Saviour desires 

us to receive Him often in this Sacrament, and I will base my 

argument on two things:—(1) Our Lord's own words; (2) the 

forms chosen by Christ for this Sacrament. 

I. 

Near Capharnaum our Lord fed a vast multitude with five loaves, 

and this miracle filled the Jews with such enthusiasm for Him that 

they actually wished to make Him their king, and said: "This is of 

a truth the prophet that is to come into the world" (John vi, 14). 

Jesus frustrated their design by withdrawing to a mountain, and 

when the Jews sought Him out on the following day, He reproached 

them with doing so merely because they had eaten of the bread 

and been satisfied, and now desired to witness another miracle. 

He knew that they had no real love of Him or His doctrines, and 

said: "Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which 

endureth unto life everlasting, whifch the Son of Man will give you. 

For Him hath God, the Father, sealed." Then the Jews inquired: 

"What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" and 

Jesus replied: "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him 

whom He hath sent" (John vi, 27-29). 

This stimulated the curiosity of the Jews, and they asked Him 

what miracle He would work to enable them to believe. The mir-

acle of the previous day seemed not to have convinced them that 

Christ was the Messias. Moses, too, had given them bread from 



OUR SAVIOUR'S W I S H , § 

heaven, not once only, but for forty years, and had supplied not 

only 5,000 persons, but the whole people of the Israelites with food. 

Christ promised now to give a far more wonderful kind of bread 

than Moses had given in the Wilderness, bread that would be to 

them the means of obtaining eternal life. Let us stop to consider 

this comparison. 

We may ask in the first place: Why did our Lord compare the 

most holy Sacrament of the Altar with the manna given to the 

Jews in the Wilderness? The point of the comparison lies in the 

fact that the Holy Eucharist was intended to be the daily food 

of Christians, just as manna had been the daily food of the Israel-

ites in the desert. Our Saviour did not refer to the Holy Euchar-

ist as a sacrifice, since the whole episode, as recorded in the Gospel, 

gave Him no opportunity for so doing. Nor did He speak of it as 

a future sacrificial feast, to be eaten once or on rare occasions, for 

He did not compare it with the miraculous bread given by the 

angel to Elias, although this bread possessed more wonderful prop-

erties than the manna of the Israelites, nor did He refer to the 

shew bread or loaves of proposition in the Temple, considered so 

sacred that only the priests might eat it. 

No, our Lord spoke of manna, because, like it, the bread that 

He intended to give, was to be eaten every day. Hence St. Thomas 

Aquinas says: "In as far as this Sacrament is food, it can be re-

ceived daily. Thus it is figuratively represented by manna, that 

was supplied daily to the people in the desert" (S. Th. iii. qu. 80 a. 

10. ad. 2). The Roman Catechism, too (p. ii, c. 4. qu. 58), refers 

to manna when exhorting the faithful to communicate daily. 

The wonderful bread promised by our Lord to the Jews, was 

given us on the eve of His Passion, when He changed the bread 

In His hands into His sacred Body, and the wine into His most holy 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
Blood. This was the first transubstantiation, and after it He said: 

"Do this for a commemoration of me" (Luke xxii, 19). What are 

we required to do ? To change bread and wine into His Body and 

Blood? Yes, but we ought also to do what was done after this 

change was effected, and receive this holy food. How often ? Our 

Saviour laid down no rule; He only said that we were to change 

bread and wine into His holy Body and Blood, and then receive this 

wonderful food. 

Let us see how the early Christians acted in this respect; how 

often did they communicate? Daily; for we read in Acts (ii, 46): 

"They continued daily . . . in the Temple, and breaking bread from 

house to house," wherever the Sacred Mysteries were celebrated, 

and "they were persevering . . . in the communication of the 

breaking of bread" (ii, 42). 

Like the Christians in the apostolic age, those living in the imme-

diately succeeding centuries approached the Lord's table daily. We 

read in the writings of the Fathers that it was the custom in 

churches of Rome, Africa, Milan and Spain for the faithful to com-

municate every day. To assist at Holy Mass and to receive Holy 

Communion were at that time identical. Every church resembled 

the cenacle, and the example of the Apostles was followed closely. 

Just as they, at the first Mass, received our Saviour's Body from 

His own Divine hands, so in the infant Church participation in the 

Eucharistic feast was inseparable from the liturgical Sacrifice of the 

New Testament. Thus, for instance, St. Justin, who died about 165 

A. D., writes: "After the priest has given thanks and blessed the 

whole people, those whom we call deacons give each person present 

some of the consecrated bread, wine and water, and carry the same 

to the absent. This food is called Eucharist, of which none may 

partake unless he believe in the truth of our doctrine, and be 



OUR SAVIOUR'S W I S H , § 

washed in the laver for the remission of sins, and live according 

to Christ's teaching" (Apol i, 65-67). 

We can learn more from these words than the fact that in early 

times the faithful always communicated whenever they were present 

at Mass; we can see how intensely eager they were for Holy Com-

munion. All their thoughts seemed to centre upon the Blessed 

Sacrament. The deacons carried it even to the absent, that they 

too might share in the Eucharistic banquet. The Fathers tell us, 

moreover, that the faithful used to take the consecrated Bread to 

their homes, so as to be able daily to receive our Lord's Body, 

although they lived under circumstances that made it impossible for 

the holy Sacrifice to be offered every day. 

Gradually, however, this ardent zeal for the reception of the 

Blessed Sacrament disappeared, and people began to communicate 

less frequently. At first they did so every Sunday, then only a 

few times in the year, but at once voices were raised in protest, 

urging all to return to the original custom of the Church, and to 

communicate frequently or even daily. 

Origen, who died in 251 A.D., addresses careless communicants 

in the following words: "You tell me that you come to church only 

on feast days;—are not the other days festivals, too? Are they 

not also days belonging to the Lord? Among the Jews it is the 

practice to observe only a few days as festivals . . . but Christians 

receive the flesh of the Incarnate Word of God every day. . . . 

You, too, are invited daily to come to the waters of God's word, 

and to draw of His fountain, as did Rebecca of old" (in Genes. 

Horn, x, 3). 

In spite of protests, negligence in receiving Holy Communion 

steadily increased, until the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 was 

forced to order all, under pain of mortal sin and exclusion from 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
Christian burial, to communicate at least once in the year, and thai 
at Easter. 

No one, however, ought to suppose that he is acting in accord-

ance with the spirit of the Church if he goes to the Sacraments only 

once a year. One Communion at Easter is the minimum required 

by the Church of the most lukewarm and indifferent of her chil-

dren, but her desire is for everyone to communicate often. The 

Council of Trent declared it to be the express wish of the Church 

that all assisting at Mass should approach the Lord's table. Now 

the Church strictly obliges us to hear Mass every Sunday, there-

fore she wishes us to receive Holy Communion at least on that 

day. The Roman catechism impresses upon all priests the duty of 

admonishing the faithful to receive this holy Sacrament still more 

often, and adds (p. ii, c. 4, v. 58) : "Just as men deem it necessary 

to supply their bodies with food every day, so they ought to take 

care to nourish and feed their souls, since obviously the soul has no 

less need of spiritual than the body of material nourishment." The 

Church, therefore, most earnestly desires us to communicate daily 

if possible. 

The rulers of the Church are unwearied in admonishing and en-

couraging us all to go frequently to Communion. I need refer only 

to two recent instances. In 1902 Leo XIII. addressed an ency-

clical to the bishops of the whole world, dealing particularly with 

the most holy Sacrament of the Altar, and begging them to do their 

utmost to revive the practice of frequent Communion. The late 

Holy Father Pius X., on December 20th, 1905, issued a decree urg-

ing all the faithful to go to Holy Communion daily, provided 

that they are in a state of grace and approach the altar with a right 

and pious intention. 

Those, therefore, possess very little of the spirit of the Church 



OUR SAVIOUR'S W I S H , § 

who go to Holy Communion only once or twice in the year. They 

can hardly claim to be good, loyal children of the Church, if they 

do the minimum that she requires, and do it, moreover, under 

threats of grievous sin and punishment. How far are they from 

complying with our Lord's command: "Labor not for the meat 

which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting." 

"He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting 

life" (John vi, 27, 57). 

II. 

The forms of the Sacrament also serve to encourage us to com-

municate frequently. Man naturally rises to a knowledge of spir-

itual things through his sense-perceptions. As St. Thomas Aquinas 

says (S. Th. iii, qu. 60, a. 4) : "The holy things signified by the 

Sacraments being spiritual and comprehensible only to the under-

standing, it follows that the signification of the Sacraments is repre-

sented by things perceptible to the senses." Hence we have, in the 

case of the Sacraments, outward signs or forms suggestive of the 

graces conferred through the Sacraments. For instance, the use of 

water in Baptism represents the purification of the soul from orig-

inal sin and even from actual sin. The most holy Sacrament of the 

Altar is given us under the form of food, in order that we may 

perceive it to be really nourishment. Now these outward forms 

show us unmistakably our Saviour's desire that we should receive 

Holy Communion often, or even daily. 

What is food? Certainly nothing unusual, for we take it every 

day. It is something quite ordinary, quite indispensable. We must: 

eat if we are to live. We can do without many things,—kins-

folk, home, property and even health, but we cannot live without 

food; it is absolutely necessary to our existence. Now when our 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
Lord said: "My flesh is meat indeed" (John vi, 56), He was refer-

ring to a means of grace as necessary and as indispensable as bodily 

food. My sacred Body, He said, is indeed (i. e., not figurative-

ly) meat, and therefore you ought to receive it daily as your food, 

not only once or twice in the course of the year. 

St. Thomas Aquinas writes: "The Holy Eucharist is spiritual 

food, and just as bodily food is eaten daily, so is it praiseworthy to 

receive this Sacrament daily" (S. Th., p. iii, qu. 80, a. 10, ad. 1). 

There are some kinds of material food that are not eaten every 

day by everybody. A poor man has common fare and a rich man 

partakes of choice and dainty dishes. Now if our Lord had left it 

to man to determine the kind of food to be used in the Sacrament 

of the Altar, the dignity of this Sacrament would probably have 

led him to choose something very costly. But our Saviour desired 

the faithful to receive His Body and Blood under the forms of 

bread and wine. Does not this show that He wishes us to receive 

Him often in Holy Communion? Bread is found on every table; 

it is the staple food of the poor, and the rich eat it with other 

things. It is eaten by young and old, by the sick and the healthy. 

Other kinds of food may vary, but bread is always the same, yet 

no one dislikes it or grows weary of it. In the same way we ought 

always to relish our supernatural bread and receive it often, if not 

daily. Such seems to have been our Lord's intention when He 

ordered bread to be the outward form of this Sacrament. 

In the "Our Father," Christ taught us to say: "Give us this day 

our daily bread," and almost all the Fathers of the Church under-

stand these words to refer to Hdly Communion. St. Augustine, 

addressing the catechumens, says (Serm. 57, 7) : "The faithful pos-

sess a spiritual food, that you too will possess and receive at God's 

altar. It will be your daily bread, indispensable in this life." 



OUR SAVIOUR'S WISH, § 
If we carefully consider the various petitions in tHe "Our 

Father," we shall see that we can hardly avoid understanding "our 

daily bread" as a reference to Holy Communion. We begin the 

prayer with the words: "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed 

be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come." That is to say, we pray that 

God's name may everywhere be sanctified and held in honor, and 

that His grace and love may rule in the hearts of all men. But 

how is this to be accomplished? "Thy will be done on earth, as it 

is in heaven." May everything be done that God desires and as 

He desires it. This, however, is too hard for frail, sinful man, 

whose self-will and self-love rebel against all self-denial, all bear-

ing of the Cross, and so Christ reveals to us a means whereby it 

will become easier for us to serve God,—viz., Holy Communion. 

"Give us this day our daily bread." 

We ought to go often to Communion. "I would gladly do so," 

some one will say, "if only I had time." My answer is, first, your 

excuse is a bad one; you have no time, because you do not wish 

to have time. Whoever has the good will, finds time for Holy 

Communion. I wish, however, to remark at once that I am far 

from wishing to urge anyone to go to Holy Communion, if thereby 

he would be obliged to neglect the duties of his calling and position 

in life; but, at the same time, I should like to point out that anyone 

who divides his time properly and makes a conscientious use of it, 

will always find that he can go to Holy Communion. It does not 

occupy much time! We waste hours in idle conversations, in eating 

and drinking; we even find time unhappily for sin; have we none 

at all for God? What we lack is not time, but good will. Anyone 

who is in the habit of going to Mass on week days can make his 

preparation during Mass, and need spend only a quarter of an hour 

in thanksgiving, and even this quarter of an hour is not time 



3L0 FREQUENT COMMUNION. 
wasted from his work, for it is a matter of common experience tHaf 

we work better and with greater industry after going to Holy 

Communion. If, however, a person is able to hear Mass only on 

Sunday, it surely is not too much for him to devote a quarter of an 

hour on Saturday evening to examining his conscience and making 

acts of contrition, and on Sunday morning to spend another quarter 

of an hour in going to confession. 

You say you have no time. I reply, secondly, that you ought to 

make time, just as you do for your meals. Your soul has to live, 

as well as your body, and will you do all that is necessary for the 

latter, and nothing at all for the former? Which is more impor-

tant,—what is earthly or what is eternal?—the body that will soon 

crumble into dust, or the soul, that will live forever ? What then is 

our chief business here on earth,—to serve the world or to secure 

the salvation of our souls? The fact that all day long we are 

busy about worldly affairs should be the precise reason why we 

ought to make time to go often to Holy Communion. We are in 

danger of altogether losing sight of what tends to the welfare of 

our souls, and consequently we run the risk of perishing eternally. 

Possibly you refrain from going to Holy Communion because 

you fancy it necessary, both before and after Communion, to repeat 

in church a great number .of prayers printed in your prayer-book 

and to make many acts of virtue. You may really «not have time 

for all this, and so I answer, thirdly, that what you suppose neces-

sary is no reason for staying away from the Sacrament. Of course 

we receive more grace in Holy Communion if we cooperate with it; 

but what does this involve? The least thing done with reference 

to Holy Communion, simply a pure desire to receive it, is enough to 

cause the Sacrament to take effect in your soul, and to preserve 

and increase sanctifying grace. 



OUR SAVIOUR'S W I S H , § 

You will in any case act more prudently if, being in the state of 

grace, you communicate with a good intention, than if you neglect 

to do so because you have no time to say long prayers in church 

before and after Communion. 

If you think about it, you will see that, by staying away, you 

lose a two-fold grace; first that which you might have merited by 

ever so short a preparation and thanksgiving, and, secondly, the 

eucharistic grace conferred in Holy Communion. Go, therefore, 

often to the Sacrament, even if you have very little time at your 

disposal, and believe that Christ will reward your desire for the 

Bread of heaven, by giving you graces in ever-increasing abun-

dance. 

Finally, consider whether it is not possible for you to begin your 

preparation at home, if you really have no time to make it in 

church. There is no law requiring it to be made there. Have 

you ever been told that your preparation must invariably consist 

of vocal prayers ? You need only remain recollected on your Com-

munion morning, offering up your ordinary work to our Lord, and, 

on your way to church, uttering short ejaculations, and I can assure 

you that you will have made an excellent and adequate preparation. 

If your circumstances do not allow you to stay .long in the church 

after receiving Holy Communion, to thank our dear Saviour for 

His kindness in coming to you, then be content to lay your petitions 

very briefly before Him, and to offer up your daily work in 

thanksgiving. During the day lift up your heart often to God, and 

offer Him little acts of self-denial, and our Lord will be quite sat-

isfied with this thanksgiving. You should never, however, inten-

tionally and without good reason omit or shorten your preparation 

and thanksgiving, or make them deliberately in a bad and careless 

manner. 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
The excuse therefore of having no time for Holy Communion is 

often worthless. Do not grudge the time that it takes you; even 

if it costs you some trouble and sacrifice, is Holy Communion not 

worth it? Cannot our Saviour compensate you a thousandfold 

for the time devoted to Him? Remember our Lord's words: 

"Not by bread alone doth man live, but by every word that pro-

ceedeth from the mouth of God"; and also, f'If any man eat of 

this bread, he shall live forever" (John vi, 52). Amen. 

I I . — F R E Q U E N T C O M M U N I O N — A SOURCE OF GREAT GRACES 

"Lord, it is good for us to be here."—Matt, xvii, 4. 

Our Saviour had foretold His sufferings and death to the Apos-

tles, and had said that they must follow on the same path, if they 

wished really to be His disciples. "Whosoever doth not carry his 

cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple" (Luke xiv, 27). 

Knowing, however, their want of steadfastness, which was the 

outcome of the weakness of their faith, He wished to bind them 

more closely to Himself, and so He led them up Mount Thabor in 

order to reveal Himself to them as being indeed the Son of the 

Father in heaven. "He was transfigured before them, and His 

face did shine as the sun, and his garments became white as snow. 

. . . And, lo, a voice out of the cloud, saying: This is my beloved 

Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him" (Matt, xvii, 2, 5). 

The sight of our Saviour in glory filled St. Peter with such intense 

joy that, scarcely knowing what he was doing, he cried: "Lord, it is 

good for us to be here." 

Our Lord's transfiguration is a symbol of the transfiguration of 

our souls in Holy Communion, when wonderful things take place 

within them, and they are, as it were, transformed into God. 



A SOURCE OF GREAT GRACES 13 
St. Augustine once heard the voice of God speaking within him 

and saying: "I am the food of the strong; grow, and thou shalt 

partake of Me; but thou wilt not transform Me into thyself, as is 

the case with ordinary food, but thou wilt be transformed into Me" 

(Conf. iv, c. 18). We may apply to the soul at the moment of 

•Holy Communion the words addressed by St. Paul to the Philip-

pians (iii, 21) : "Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . will reform the body 

of our lowness, made like to the body of His glory." The soul is 

then most closely united to the Divinity and the glorious humanity 

of our Redeemer, and shares here on earth in the glory of the God-

Man. This thought should encourage us to communicate frequently. 

Therefore, let us consider to-day: 

1. The wonderful effects of frequent Communion. 

2. The inadequacy of the excuse made by some people that tKey 

communicate seldom because of their unworthiness. 

I. 

When our Saviour was speaking of the most holy Sacrament 

of the Altar, He said: "The bread that I will give is My flesh for 

the life of the world" (John vi, 52). The life afforded to the 

world by this bread is not temporal but eternal and spiritual, it is in 

fact grace, which proceeds from Christ's merits in effecting our 

redemption. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John i, 17). 

How abundant is this grace! It was poured out even in Paradise 

to reconcile fallen man with God; it permeated the ancient world, 

maintaining in mankind faith in the true God; it inundated the 

Chosen People, preparing them for their Redeemer's coming; but 

never was it given so lavishly as after the first Good Friday, when 

our Lord had died on the Cross. Grace overthrew the force of 

paganism and brought new life into the world, recalling millions 

to God and leading them to the greatest sanctity. Who can enu-



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
merate the works of mercy that owe their origin to grace? Who 

can assign limits to the boundless ocean of grace? It makes itself 

felt in prisons as well as in monastic cells; it overwhelms a sinner 

on the very scene of his transgression, and stimulates the just to 

greater perfection; it penetrates to the garrets of the poor as well 

as to the mansions of the wealthy. All this grace came by Jesus 

Christ; He is the source whence it flows. Consider this fact atten-

tively, for it will help you to realize the supreme importance of 

Holy Communion. 

"God at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past 

to the fathers through the prophets" (Heb. i, i ) , and we may say 

the.same of the grace by means of which He speaks to the hearts 

of men. Grace comes to us in divers manners, but what is any 

other grace in comparison with that of Holy Communion? In it 

we receive Jesus Christ Himself, not a share of His grace, but our 

Redeemer, with all the wealth of His merits accumulated from the 

first moment of His life on earth to His last breath drawn upon 

the Cross; it is He who saves and sanctifies mankind. We may 

compare this wonderful Sacrament with the sun, whilst all the other 

graces bestowed upon men since the creation are but rays of this 

sun; or we may say that Holy Communion is like an ever-flowing 

stream, and all other graces, even the other Sacraments, resemble 

drops of water from this stream. 

How great is this Sacrament in itself! But how marvellous a 

thing is its reception! Our Saviour called the Holy Eucharist 

food: "My flesh is meat indeed" (John vi, 56). All food becomes 

part of the person consuming it, and hence with reference to the 

bread of heaven He said: "He that eateth My flesh . . . abideth 

in Me and I in him" (ibid. v. 57). In Holy Communion man is 

united in the most intimate manner conceivable with the God-Man, 



A SOURCE OF GREAT GRACES 15 
as intimately as with the food that he eats, yet with this difference, 

as St. Augustine says, that we do not assimilate the food, but it 

assimilates us, and makes us like God, as is stated also in the 

Roman Catechism (P. ii, c. 4, qu- 46). It is impossible to under-

stand such a union, or to describe the dignity of a man who is 

rendered, we may say, almost divine in consequence of Holy Com-

munion. 

On Holy Saturday when, in token of our Lord's resurrection and 

of the reunion of His body with His sacred soul, the Paschal candle 

is lighted, the Church exclaims: " O truly blessed night . . . in 

which heavenly things are united to those of earth, and things 

Divine to those which are human." These words are applicable 

also to a soul at the moment of Holy Communion. God is united 

with man, eternity with time, infinite sanctity with pitiable frailty— 

what a marvellous union! 
Why does Jesus Christ come io us7 Not for His own sake, 

but for ours. He comes primarily to maintain in us sanctifying 

grace, which is the life of the soul. Just as bodily food supports 

our natural life, so Holy Communion, being a spiritual food, sus-

tains our supernatural life. Hence when the priest gives us the 

consecrated Host, he says: "The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ 

preserve thy soul unto everlasting life." 

The reception of Holy Communion assumes that life is preseni; 

it does not give, but preserves life. Christ said: "As the living 

Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth 

Me, the same shall also live by Me" (ibid. v. 58). Our Lord's 

meaning is this: As I am one with the Father, and live by His 

life, so the man who is united with My divinity and humanity in 

Holy Communion is one with Me, and lives by My life. How in-

dispensable, therefore, is Holy Communion if we are to preserve the 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
life of the soul! Our Lord told us this most emphatically, saying: 

"Amen, amen, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son 

of Man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you" {ibid. 

v. 54). 

Surely we ought to be anxious to go to the Lord's table, in order 

not to lose life everlasting. This is the greatest loss possible, for 

the smallest degree of sanctifying grace is worth more than any-

thing that the world can offer. A stroke of good luck delights us 

all, and a man is delighted if he suddenly becomes rich; he thinks 

himself exceedingly fortunate, and takes all sorts of precautions 

to avoid being robbed of his money and reduced to the same state 

of poverty as before. But what is the greatest earthly happiness 

in comparison with that of possessing sanctifying grace, and eternal 

life in God? Should we not often receive Holy Communion, in 

order to preserve this happiness and to live forever in God? 

Holy Communion does not, however, merely sustain the life o i 

the soul, but nourishes and increases it. In the Roman Catechism 

we read: "Just as the"body is not only supported by means of 

natural food, but increases in strength, so the food of the Holy 

Eucharist does not only sustain the soul but adds to its powers 

(p. ii, c. 4, qu. 49). 

It could not possibly be otherwise. The prophet Isaias referred 

to this food, when he said: "The Lord of Hosts shall make unto all 

the people in this mountain (i. e., in the Messianic Kingdom) a 

feast of fat things, . . . of fat things full of marrow" (Is. xxv, 6). 

What vigor must it afford to those partaking of it! The other 

Sacraments give or augment sanctifying grace for some definite end, 

attaching to it some special or sacramental grace, thus Baptism gives 

grace to lead a Christian life, and Confirmation courage and 

strength boldly to confess the faith. But Holy Communion is 



A SOURCE OF GREAT GRACES 17 
intended to preserve and increase within us grace for every pur-

pose for which grace is bestowed, and together with sanctifying 

grace it preserves and increases all the graces that have their origin 

in that grace. No flowers can flourish in a bad soil; no physical 

faculties can attain their full development in an unhealthy body, 

and the same may be said of the soul. It cannot preserve its 

spiritual vigor without frequent Communion, and by means of 

Holy Communion this vigor is supplied to the other sacramental 

graces and virtues. We possess, therefore, no better means of pre-

serving and strengthening the grace of the Sacraments of Baptism, 

Confirmation and Matrimony than the frequent reception of Holy 

Communion, for this Sacrament both preserves and increases life. 

This is not all, however. By communicating frequently we not 

only preserve and increase sanctifying grace and the various sacra-

mental graces, but we strengthen also the virtues and gifts of the 

Holy Ghost,, which are bestowed upon the soul together with 

sanctifying grace. Hence Pope Innocent III. says: "By means of 

this Sacrament all virtues are strengthened" (de myst. altaris 4, 

44). So whoever communicates often, by increasing the theolog-

ical virtues, enters into closer union with God, and by strengthening 

the moral virtues regulates better his whole attitude towards God, 

his neighbor and himself, whilst by rendering the seven gifts of the 

Holy Ghost more abundant, he makes his understanding and will 

more accessible to the inspirations and prompting of the same 

Spirit. 

This partially explains another effect of Holy Communion, viz., 

that an increase of sanctifying grace and of the graces, virtues 

and gifts of the Holy Ghost connected with it, produces a diminu-

tion of the low and sensual appetites in man, and of the domina-

tion and influence of the body, for "as the Sacrament inflames 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
our minds more and more with the fire of love, it must inevitably 

allay the heat of evil desires" (Cat. Rom. II., c. 4, qu. 51). St. 

Augustine puts it very shortly thus: "The nourishment of love is 

the diminution of desire" (de quaest. 83, qu. 36, a. 1). Hence all 

spiritual directors advise those to communicate often who are tempt-

ed to break the sixth commandment, for "they go forth from the 

Lord's table like lions breathing out fire, a source of alarm even to 

the devil" (St. John Chrysostom. hom. 46 in Joan. n. 3). Holy 

Communion is the daily remedy for our sinful nature, and, as the 

Council of Trent stated: "It frees us from our frequent venial sins 

and preserves us from mortal sin." Both the inward and outward 

enemies of our salvation are conquered or at least repelled by it, 

but one who goes seldom to Holy Communion need feel no surprise 

if he falls into many sins. 

Christ assures you that by receiving His holy Body, you abide in 

Him and He in you; He tells you that He is the bread that cometh 

down from heaven, in order that whosoever eateth of it may not 

die, i. e., may not die the spiritual death through mortal sin; will 

you not believe His words? You have no excuse if temptation 

causes you to plunge into one sin after another, nor if you feel too 

weak to serve our dear Lord with an upright heart. You should 

ascribe all your misery and frailty to your neglect of Holy Com-

munion. You are a man who refuses to take advice; a sick person, 

who, though anxious to recover health, will not employ the remedy 

that he knows would soon put an end to his wretched condition. 

Do not try to lay the blame on the devil, the world and your own 

evil nature, if you perceive yourself to be so full of sins and im-

perfections. It is your own fault if you wilfully continue in your 

sins, and reject stubbornly the remedy that alone could restore 

health to your soul. 



A SOURCE OF GREAT GRACES 19 
H, 

I have said enough to show how futile an excuse for neglect of 

Holy Communion it is to say, as some people do, "We should often 

go to Holy Communion, if only we were worthy." 

We must never forget that, like all the other Sacraments, Holy 

Communion is not a reward for virtue, nor designed exclusively for 

the good, but it is a means of perfection. A sinner should receive 

it in order to be strengthened to resist evil, that he may go forward 

valiantly on the right path, and not sink down exhausted by the 

wayside. How foolish it is to say: "I should communicate often, 

but I feel myself not quite worthy to do so." Do you suppose that 

any creature ever could be truly worthy to receive God in Holy 

Communion? 

Imagine for a moment that Holy Communion had been instituted 

by God only as our viaticum, to be our preparation for the ap-

proaching union of our soul with Him in the next life. Do you 

think one of the saints, such as St. Francis of Sales, St. Charles 

Borromeo or St. Francis Xavier would have been worthy to receive 

Holy Communion on his death bed? No, indeed, no one would 

ever have been worthy to receive it, not even if he had lived as long 

as Mathusala in the innocence of St. Aloysius, the penance of St. 

Augustine or the zeal of St. Paul in the service of God. 

If any one aimed at being really worthy to receive God in this 

holy Sacrament, he would have to equal God in sanctity. The dif-

ference between Creator and creature is so vast that the collective 

sanctity of all the saints in heaven and on earth would never 

suffice to make a soul really worthy to receive Holy Communion; 

and as no one can possibly offer this to God, He does not require it 

of us. 

What do you mean by saying that you are not worthy? Are 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
you in a state of mortal sin? If so, I should certainly be the very 

last person to advise you even to make in this state your Easter 

Communion, not to speak of communicating frequently. If this is 

what makes you unworthy, you can and ought to get rid of this 

burden at once, and then the obstacle will be removed, and frequent 

Communion will be the best means of avoiding this unworthiness in 

future. 

But perhaps you mean that you are full of faults, slow to do 

right, and careless in performing your various duties. If this is 

the case, your excuse is worthless; and unless you go often to 

Holy Communion, your plea will serve only to secure your coft-

demnation. As demonstrated in our previous sermon, Holy Com-

munion is intended to be our daily bread, of which we partake as 

a remedy against our daily failings. One of the Fathers of the 

Church says: "If whenever the Blood of Christ is shed, it is shed 

for the remission of sins, I should always receive it, because I am 

always sinning and in need of a remedy" (Ps. Ambrose. 4 de sacr. 6). 

If you know that you are weak, why do you go so seldom to 

Holy Communion? The more you stay away, the fewer graces 

will you receive, and so you will grow still weaker and still more 

unworthy to receive this holy Sacrament. Why do you feel worthy 

to communicate at Easter or any other festival? Is it because it 

happens to be Easter or Christmas? No, it is because you have 

been to Confession and believe yourself to be in a state of grace. 

That is quite right; whenever you make a good Confession, you 

are fit to go to Holy Communion, and, strictly speaking, it is not 

necessary, though it is certainly desirable, to go to Confession, pro-

vided that you have no grievous sins upon your conscience. 

Every time we go to Holy Communion we gain strength to do 

right, and become more pleasing to God; therefore, any one con-



A SOURCE OF GREAT GRACES 27 

I scious of his own unworthiness, should make himself worthier by 

I communicating frequently. The longer he stays away, the more un-

I worthy he becomes. You yourself can bear witness to this truth. 

I How have you lived after a truly good Confession and Communion ? 

I Have you not been careful to do right and to serve God? Do you 

I not see that God's grace was influencing your soul? You avoided 

I immediate occasions of sin; you boldly withstood violent tempta-

I tions, and even began to practise certain virtues and to correct 

I certain faults. Was not all this due to the grace of Holy Com-

I munion? And if in time you grew lukewarm in God's service, 

I voluntarily giving way to little sins, until at last you again offended 

I God grievously, was this not the result of your communicating so 

¡seldom? Is it not necessary for you to receive the Holy Eucharist 
more often, if you were to persevere in your good resolutions? 

Our Saviour said: "My flesh is meat indeed." We have to take 

I food frequently in order to restore the bodily strength consumed in 

I the process of life. The strength of your soul, too, is exhausted in 

I the struggle for eternal life, and will you not go to Holy Com-

I munion to secure the preservation of the sanctifying grace that you 
I possess? Has not Christ told you that He is the food of your 
I 
I soul? Is it not unreasonable to suppose that by waiting you will 

I become more worthy to receive the Lord's Body? To make your 

I unworthiness an excuse for putting off Holy Communion is as 

I foolish as it would be to reject all food, and yet desire to live. 

I It is as senseless as it would be for a person in a high fever to say: 

I "I will send for the doctor when I am well again." Gerson says 

I that whoever acts in this way is like a man suffering from cold, 

I who waits until he is warm before going near to the fire. 

If you are conscious of being weak, go often to Holy Communion, 

I remembering our Lord's words: "He that eateth Me, the same also 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 

shall live by Me." If you want to be worthy to communicate often 

receive the Body of Christ more frequently. The greater the danger 

that you are in of losing sanctifying grace, the more urgent is your 

need of frequent Communion. If any one of you is keenly desirous 

of being freed from small defects and of living a life of true virtue, 

he should miss no opportunity of strengthening his soul with the 

graces of the Holy Eucharist; so let him approach the Lord's table 

daily, if he can possibly do so. No one who really is careful about 

saving his soul will stay away from Holy Communion, and when 

any one receives this Sacrament very seldom, he has only himself 

to blame, if his soul is weak and sickly, or even dead in sins. 

The Church has made it very easy to go to Holy Communion. 

In the decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, dated 

December 20th, 1905, Pius X. declares that the daily reception of 

Holy Communion is to be permitted to all who are in the state 

of grace and approach the Sacrament with the intention of pleasing 

God and of growing in virtue. You see that the Holy Father lays 

down no particular standard of perfection; we are required simply 

to be in the state of grace and to have the will to aim at perfection 

and to attain to closer union with Christ by means of Holy Com-

munion. The Church, therefore, makes it an easy matter for us to 

communicate frequently, and she is quite right in so doing. When a 

man is in the state of grace, he is a child of God, and entitled as 

such to associate with His Father and welcome Him daily. Who 

could forbid a child to do this? What do we mean by aiming at 

perfection? A man aims at it who is firmly resolved to suffer any-

thing, even a painful death, rather than offend God by grievous 

sin, though it were only a sin of thought. Must not such a soul be 

worthy to receive God every day? 

The excuse of not being worthy to go often to Holy Communion 



A SOURCE OF GREAT GRACES 3 

lis, therefore, absolutely invalid, as the Church has made it so easy 

1 to communicate worthily eveiy day, If, in spite of this facility, 

J you approach the Sacrament very seldom, you show that you either 

despise it or dislike it, as the Israelites disliked the manna in the 

[wilderness, or else that you are so much attached to your sins as to 

refuse to be worthy to receive it. 

Let us, therefore, go often to Holy Communion, to this abundant 

I source of all graces, just because we are weak and prone to fall, 

j Let us not follow the example of St. Peter when, after the miracu-

lous draught of fishes, he exclaimed: "Depart from me, for I am 

l a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke v, 8). 

Gerson (in cant. Magnif.) writes: " O great Prince of the 

I Apostles, what do these words signify? If thou art indeed a sinful 

| man, thou canst not beg Christ to depart from thee, but thou 

Ishouldst remain close to Him, that He may purify thy soul from 

[sin." 

Let us then go often to Holy Communion, for to us the altar is, 

las it were, Mount Thabor, where our souls may be transfigured, 

I and we too shall realize that it is in very truth "good for us to be 

I here." Amen. 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 

FREQUENT COMMUNION 

I I I . FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N — A PLEDGE OF E T E R N A L L I F E 

"When a strong man armed keepeth his court, those things are in peace 
which he possesseth."—Luke xi, 21. 

Having cured the dumb man possessed by a devil, our Saviour 

gave the following vivid account of the proceedings of an evil 

spirit that had gone out of a man: "He walketh through places 

without water, seeking rest, and, not finding, he saith: 'I will re-

turn into my house whence I came out.' And when he is come, he 

findeth it swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with him 

seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in, they 

dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than 

the first" (Luke xi, 24-26). 

Why was this whole company of evil spirits able to enter the 

man's soul? Because they found the house, i. e., the soul, unoccu-

pied, without a master, and consequently unprotected. 

Every man, as long as he is in this world, is liable to suffer thus, 

but one who seldom receives Holy Communion is peculiarly exposed 

to this danger. If by means of a good Confession and Communion 

he succeeds in driving the evil one out of his soul, his enemy will 

return and assail him more violently than ever, and as the soul, 

undefended by frequent Communion, grows weaker and weaker, 

it is soon again at the mercy of the devil, and "the last state of that 

man becomes worse than the first." 

It is otherwise with one who often receives his Lord in Holy 

Communion. He resembles the strong man armed against the foe, 



rA PLEDGE OF ETERNAL LIFE 3i 
1 and all his possessions are safe, especially sanctifying grace, which 

• constitutes his claim to heaven. 

Let us consider to-day two important points: 

x. That frequent Communion makes our eternal salvation doubly 

• sure. 

2. That those who communicate seldom are in great danger of 

•being lost for ever. 
I-

Frequent Communion is the way to heaven, the home that we 

• all desire to reach. But let us not forget our Saviour's words: 

• "How narrow is the gate and straight is the way that leadeth to 

• life, and few there are that find it" (Matth. vii, 14). We all feel 

I anxious when we look forward to eternity, for we all have to fight 

• a hard battle before we can obtain the crown of victory. Now, 

•this battle is against three powerful enemies: the world, that is 

• seated in wickedness (I. John v, 19) ; the flesh, that lusteth against 

• t h e spirit (Gal. v, 17) ; and the devil, who was a murderer from 

• t h e beginning (John viii, 44). But why should we fear? Our 

• Lord has said: "He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood 

•abideth in Me and I in him. . . . He that eateth this bread shall 

• live for ever" (John vi, 57, 59). How can we be afraid if God is 

• with us? The powers of evil may indeed be mighty, but they are 

• never so strong as the grace of Holy Communion. 

The prophet Elias fled into the wilderness to avoid the cruelty 

• of Queen Jezabel, who was seeking his life. On his way he felt 

• weary and hungry, and found no refreshment in the desert. So 

• he lay down under a juniper-tree and longed to die. At last he 

I fell into the sleep of exhaustion and slept until an angel touched him, 

• saying: "Arise, eat; for thou hast yet a great way to go" (III. 

• Kings xix, 7). Rising up, he saw bread and water, and having 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 

eaten and drunk, he walked in the strength of that food forty days I 

and forty nights to Mount Horeb. We have here a type of Holy I 

Communion. On our way to heaven we are constantly harassed I 

by evil spirits, anxious to destroy the life, not of our bodies, but of I 

our souls. The road often seems rough and tedious, and wel 

should like to rest and to abandon the flight from sin and the I 

effort to do right. But the Church supplies us with miraculous I 

food in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar, and says to us, as the I 

angel said to Elias: "Arise, eat, for thou hast yet a great way to go. I 

This is the Bread of Life, and he that eateth thereof shall never I 

die." If, therefore, we persevere in receiving Holy Communion I 

well and frequently, no one will be able to exclude us from heaven. I 

St. Thomas Aquinas (S. Th. iii, qu. 65, a. 1) explains this very I 

clearly by means of a comparison between the natural and spiritual I 

life of man. He says: With regard to the natural life we must I 

consider a man both as an individual and as a member of the human I 

race—as an individual, inasmuch as he is independent; as a member I 

of the human race, inasmuch as he belongs to it as a whole. Now, I 

as an individual, a man must first be born, then he must grow and I 

develop until he attains his proper size and strength, and in order! 

to do this he requires food. 

Something analogous takes place also in the spiritual life. At our I 

Baptism this life is given us, viz., sanctifying grace, which makes us I 

children of God. At Confirmation a man receives a sort of com-| 

pletion of the spirit, and becomes, so to say, a full-grown Christian. I 

But in order that he may continue to live, the most holy Sacramentl 

of the Altar is supplied him as food for his soul. "Except you eatl 

the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you shalt not I 

have life in you" (John vi, 54). We need this food often. Ma-| 

terial food gives a man strength and endurance only for a time, andl 



rA PLEDGE OF ETERNAL LIFE 3i 

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the same is the case with Holy Communion. Whoever therefore 

desires to remain alive must often take food, and whoever wishes 

to continue in God's grace and not to break down in the struggle 

to persevere must communicate frequently. It is only in this way 

that Holy Communion is to men refreshment on the road to heaven. 

There is, however, another, somewhat indirect manner, in which 

frequent Communion gives us everlasting life. The road to heaven 

is steep and narrow, and encompassed with many dangers; but, as 

we have seen, frequent Communion affords us strength and courage 

to persevere along this road to the end. It is often hard to find 

and easy to lose the right path. Sometimes it leads through thickets, 

sometimes through gloomy forests; it is not well trodden, and in 

many places is overgrown with grass. Here and there we may see 

some one in front of us, but we often lose sight of him, and then 

we have to be cautious and stop now and then to look about and 

make sure that we are on the right road. If we see that we have 

strayed from it, we must at once retrace our steps, lest we lose it 

altogether. Everyone who wants to be safe must often halt on the 

way to heaven, and either look for himself or inquire of others 

whether he is going right. Now each of our Communions is a 

halt of this kind; each is a light showing us the way to our Father's 

home in heaven. In Holy Communion we receive Jesus Christ, 

the light of the world, the light of mankind. St. Augustine re-

marks very aptly: "J u s t a s the Jews were plunged into darkness 

through Christ crucified, so are we enlightened by receiving Him 

crucified as food—manducando crucifixum et libendo illuminamur" 

(Horn. 45 in Joan. n. 14). 

Holy Communion, by increasing our knowledge and weakening 
our passions, strengthens our will, and in this way imparts energy 
to us on our way to heaven. St. Ambrose says (de iriduis 10, n. 60) 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
that just as our Saviour once cured St. Peter's mother-in-law, so 

in the Holy Eucharist He will diminish in us the lusts of the flesh. 

He has triumphed over sin, death and hell. He will help you to 

control your undisciplined desires and to weaken their hold upon 

you, so that you may not yield to them; He will show you how 

to overcome all the enemies that lie in wait for you. St. Cyril of 

Alexandria rightly says that a man who is careless about the recep-

tion of Holy Communion and refrains from it by his own fault 

under the pretext of feeling deep reverence for the Holy Eucharist, 

will not enjoy life everlasting, because, by neglecting this mystical 

union with Christ, he refuses to allow himself to receive life 

(in Joan, vi, 35). 

Frequent Communion necessitates frequent Confession, and each 

Confession is a halt on our way, encouraging us often to approach 

the Lord's table, and to advance with greater assurance along the 

rough, narrow, steep path that leads to heaven. In this way we 

obtain a better knowledge of ourselves, a keener perception of the 

dangers threatening us, and increased facility in discovering means 

to prevent us from going astray. If ever we are so unhappy as to 

lose our way through mortal sin, we shall soon come back to the 

right road, so that for this reason also frequent Communion helps 

us on towards heaven. 

As a man lives, so will he die. Many die as they have lived, 

without contrition and without the Sacraments. A terrible death 

indeed! But no one need fear dying thus who goes often to Holy 

Communion, for he is always ready to die, being always in the 

grace of God; he has no reason to dread eternity, and has a better 

right than others to hope for time to make a good preparation for 

death. In life it has been his delight to receive his Saviour fre-

quently, and our Lord will be glad to come to be his viaticum in 

h 

i 

11 

I 
I 

§ 



I
A PLEDGE OF ETERNAL LIFE 29 

death, so that the devout soul will enter eternity upheld by His 

hand. You see that frequent Communion is undoubtedly the best 

way to heaven. 

The case is different with one who communicates seldom; we 

cannot say of him that he is sure to reach heaven, in fact we might 

I almost fear the contrary. Think of a person who goes seldom 

|to Holy Communion. He is certainly not a model Christian, but 

a very ordinary mortal, if not actually a worldling. He communi-

Ijcates occasionally, chiefly because others do so, and he does not hvish to be singular. Consequently it is not love of the Blessed [Sacrament, not any desire for perfection, not a good and pious motive that makes him receive Holy Communion, but merely some •external compulsion, pride or human respect. Such Communions 
•do the soul more harm than good, as we shall see if we look into 

•the matter. 

One class of people who communicate seldom consists of those 

Wiving voluntarily under circumstances that are immediate oc-

casions of grievous sin. They are well aware, and if they are not, 

•their confessor tells them, that, in order to make their Confessions 

•valid, they must firmly resolve to avoid or abandon immediate 

•occasions of sin. It would cost them something to do this, so what 

• is the result? They go still less frequently to the Sacraments. 

•They have not the courage necessary to abandon occasions of sin, 

•and hence, in order to get absolution, they change their confessor, 

•suppress more or less important facts, and gloss over their sins; in; 

•other words, they try to get absolution by some trickery. As a 

•result the reception of the Sacraments affords them no peace of 

•mind, and their conscience never ceases to reproach them. Con-

sequently they communicate less and less frequently. If, however, 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
they adhered to the practice of frequent Communion, their con-1 

science being ever on the alert, the grace of Holy Communion would I 

soon lead them once for all to abandon immediate occasions of s i n , | 

and this would be of the greatest benefit to them. A man of this I 

kind refrains from Holy Communion, but not from occasions o f ! 

sin, and so his sins grow greater and more numerous, and his I 

conscience is dull. Perhaps from time to time he still approaches! 

the Sacraments, but he does so merely for the sake of appearances,! 

and God alone knows what his Confessions and Communions are I 

worth. I should not like to call them actually sacrilegious, but they I 

are certainly of very doubtful efficacy, and a proof of this lies in I 

the fact that such persons are never at ease when they think of I 

death, nor when their conscience is reawakened by some mission, I 

but they desire to make good their defective Confessions and C o m - 1 

munions. This is, however, a great grace that God does not bestow I 

upon everybody, and others go down to hell with their eyes closed I 

to their real state. "His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he I 

is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins" (Prov. v, 22). 

Another class of people who seldom go to Holy Communion is I 

that of the habitual sinners. Whoever commits a sin often, commits I 

it with ever greater ease, until it becomes habitual, and habit is I 

very rightly described as second nature. It is difficult for a man I 

to cure himself of any inborn evil tendency, and it is almost equally I 

feard to get rid of an acquired bad habit, especially if it is con- I 

bected with something that appeals to our senses and gratifies the I 

j lower instincts of our corrupt nature. Whoever really intends to I 

freak off a bad habit must either naturally possess a strong will I 

or acquire one by the grace of God. It is an article of faith that I 

man, unaided by grace, cannot avoid grievous sins, especially I 

habitual sins, but it is equally of faith that grace alone does not 



rA PLEDGE OF ETERNAL LIFE 3i 
sanctify a man unless he has the will to be sanctified. In order, 

therefore, to abandon a sinful habit, a man must himself firmly 

resolve to abandon it, and God must continually aid this 

resolution by His grace. The sinner must have recourse to the 

channels through which he can receive this indispensable grace, 

and the chief of them is Holy Communion. St. Ambrose writes 

(Serm. xix, in Ps. 118 n. 5) : "The Body of Christ is a cool shade, 

allaying the heat of our passions, extinguishing the fire of con-

cupiscence and diminishing the influence of our various emotions." 

We saw last time how Holy Communion suppresses our evil 

tendencies, so that we can say with St. Cyril of Alexandria: "The 

Holy Eucharist controls the law that rages in our members and 

destroys the impulses of our bodily passions" (in Joan. c. 17). 

But this applies only to frequent Communion; one single Com-

munion never yet overcame any sinful habit that had taken deep 

root in the heart, or had actually become a vice. Hence it behooves 

one who sins by force of habit to go to the Sacraments often and 

seek his restoration to spiritual health in Holy Communion, just as 

a man recoving from sickness regains his strength by adopting a 

suitable and nourishing diet. Frequent Communion will un-

doubtedly strengthen his will to resist the bad habit, if only he does 

his best to break it off. Otherwise he will fall back every time into 

the same sin, and his life will consist of brief periods of resistance 

separated by long intervals of yielding to his vicious habit. 

Would it be of any avail to him to communicate seldom ? Would 

this help him on the way to heaven, or prove eventually only a 

reason for his condemnation? Even if his rare Confessions and 

Communions were really good and valid, he would nevertheless be 

almost always in danger of being lost, since he would pass the 

greater part of his life in a state of sin. Many a drunkard ha$ 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 

died intoxicated; many a blasphemer has been overtaken by death! 

when beside himself with rage, and we see the truth of our Lord's I 

words: "The last state of that man was worse than the first." 

Finally there are many who go seldom to Holy Communion be-1 

cause they are indifferent, lukewarm or careless. They are not in I 

earnest about their religion, and therefore think very little of it, I 

and in the intervals between their Communions they live on in a I 

state of sin and temptation without any serious purpose of serving I 

God. The thought of grave neglect of duties has no power to 

rouse their conscience, and they regard God's laws as of small im-

portance or as no longer binding. If they go to Confession they 

do not really examine themselves, and they have no genuine con-

trition. They pay no attention at all to many sins unless their 

confessor happens to question them on the subject, and they are I 

quite satisfied with reading an act of contrition in a prayer-book. I 

Can this be what is meant by examining ourselves before receiving I 

the Lord's Body? 

The Communions of such people are most questionable. St. Paul 

says that whoever eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and 

drinketh judgment to himself (I. Cor. xi, 29), and shall be guilty 

of the Body and Blood of the Lord (ibid. v. 27). They cannot 

truly have the right faith, for otherwise they would neither com-

municate so seldom, nor approach the Lord's table in such a con-

dition. 

There is an argument that we unhappily hear very often, although 

those who use it have never seriously considered what it means. 

They say: "What is the use of going frequently to Communion? 

One always remains the same; I need only look at myself, or at 

any of those people who communicate often, and I find my opinion 

confirmed." This may be true of such as communicate seldom, 



rA PLEDGE OF ETERNAL LIFE 3i 
111 o r of those who communicate often but without the right intention, 
s I being influenced by habit, vanity or motives of human respect. 

There is no foundation at all, however, for such a statement regard-

ing those who communicate frequently or even daily, being in the 
1 1 1 state of grace and having a good intention. Anyone maintaining a 

t, I contrary opinion would be declaring that the Church wished us to 

a I perform a religious action that was either useless or even harmful 

g I to us. Such a thing is inconceivable. Pope Pius X. wished to en-

o courage us to communicate every day when in the decree dated 

i - 1 Dec 20, 1905, he stated that any Christian might worthily approach 

the Lord's table daily, provided only that he was free from grievous 

sin and had a good intention. 

I cannot, however, deny that even those who communicate daily 

can and do fall into little faults; but, we may ask, are all these im-

perfections to be regarded as sins in the case of a communicant? 

Before I answer this question let us consider what are the causes 

of many faults in people who are really good and trying to lead 

good lives. Some commit faults in consequence of their natural 

disposition; they may be irritable and excitable, or be deficient in 

education. A mere trifle is often enough to rouse their anger 

and make them give way to bad temper. They may not even be 

aware that there is anything wrong or offensive in their behavior. 

Others, again, are obliged to associate with people with whom 

they are quite out of sympathy. It is no wonder if there are 

points of friction, and if they offend against charity, patience 

and gentleness; they give way to frailties to which even the saints 

are liable. There are others who, when young, have been badly 

trained, so that their selfish tendencies have remained uncorrected, 

and perhaps they grew up in houses where there was but little faith 

or piety. They are consequently self-centred and indifferent to 

s. 

1? 

at 

>n 

ti, 



3L0 FREQUENT COMMUNION. 
religion and to the claims of charity, and even if in later life they 

enter upon a way of greater perfection, they are very apt to fall 

into many faults and sins. No one becomes holy in a day, and we 

ought not to be surprised if really pious souls are not free from 

little defects and sins. Moreover, many of these imperfections are 

unconscious and involuntary, and due not to any bad habit for 

which they are responsible, but rather to ignorance. Such defects 

ought not to be regarded as sins, and why should we take scandal 

at them? 

Consider, lastly, that Holy Communion can never directly remove 

all these causes of the involuntary and unconscious faults to which 

I have just alluded. Our Saviour did not promise, nor does the 

Church teach, that frequent or daily Communion completely re-

moves all voluntary sins and imperfections, and so we ought not 

to be astonished if those who communicate daily still wilfully 

commit venial sins. If you are offended at their still sinning wil-

fully, think what would become of them if they went seldom to 

Holy Communion. I should be afraid of their sinning grievously 

against God, and it is therefore a very great grace if the frequent 

or daily reception of the Holy Eucharist preserves such weak 

mortals in the state of sanctifying grace. 

In conclusion let us not forget that Holy Communion affects 

the soul in the same way as material food the body. By taking 

nourishment daily a child grows in course of time to its full stature, 

and the same is true of the soul. By receiving Holy Communion 

frequently for years in succession a poor mortal develops into a 

saint, a citizen of heaven. 

Our Saviour said: "If a strong man armed keepeth his court:, 

those things are in peace which he possesseth." Let us arm our 

souls with frequent Communions, that a stronger enemy may not 



rA PLEDGE OF ETERNAL LIFE 3i 

come and ruin them, for then our last state would be worse than 

our first. If we have a real desire for frequent Communion, God's 

grace will do the rest, and our Lord's words will be fulfilled. "If 

any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever" (John vl, 52). 

Amen. 



3L0 FREQUENT COMMUNION. 

I V . M E N AND FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N 

"Make the men sit down. . . . The men therefore sat down, in number 
about five thousand."—John vi, 10. 

What a wonderful sight must have been presented by the five 

thousand men who, having followed our Saviour, clustered about 

Him on the mountainside, eager to hear His words! Five thousand I 

is a large number, and when Jesus had miraculously multiplied the 

five barley loaves before their eyes their enthusiasm for Him in-

creased to such a pitch that they desired to make Him their king. 

They soon changed their minds, however, for when they gathered 

round Him on the next day at Capharnaum, secretly hoping to wit-

ness another miracle in evidence of His divine mission, our Saviour 

began to promise them another kind of bread, more wonderful than 

that which Moses gave the Israelites in the wilderness, namely, His 

own most sacred Body. They cared nothing for this bread, and 

so they went away murmuring and devoid of faith. 

This episode reveals to us plainly the behavior of worldly-minded 

people. As long as God showers temporal benefits upon them, and, 

as it were, miraculously multiplies the loaves, they are willing 

enough to serve Him. But as soon as the following of Christ costs 

them some sacrifice, even though eternal happiness is to be its 

reward, they act like the five thousand in the wilderness and 

abandon our Lord. Do we not see this with regard to Holy Com-

munion? Why do men communicate so seldom? They come, per-

haps, at Easter, and once or twice in the year, but that is all. Our 

Lord indeed said: "He that eateth my flesh . . . hath everlasting 

life," the greatest benefit that even God can give us, but they, like 



MEN AND FREQUENT COMMUNION 37 
many of His disciples, say: "This saying is hard, and who can hear 

it?" Yet the reception of Holy Communion is most indispensable 

for men, and I purpose to-day to show you: 
1. How necessary it is for men to communicate often; 

2. The reasons why men communicate so seldom. 

I. 

No one can deny that the souls of men are exposed to very great 

dangers. A man lives out in the world and is surrounded by temp-

tations. He hears others speak disparaging words of his faith and 

morals. He has companions who actually try to bring about his 

ruin. Bad examples confront him everywhere, however cautiously 

he behaves, and if he is to stand firm he will have to struggle hard 

against evil. A woman, being occupied at home, knows little or 

nothing of all these dangers, but it is obvious that the husband 

is peculiarly in need of Holy Communion, and that he ought really 

to communicate most frequently. Is it not precisely the man most 

tempted to sin against purity who has to struggle against the lusts 

of the flesh? He surely stands greatly in need of God's grace and 

ought to long for Holy Communion, for the source of grace and the 

bread of angels, to enable him to live chastely. Yet, as a matter of 

fact, such a man communicates very rarely, and hence there are 

fewer pure virgin souls amongst men and youths than amongst 

women and maidens. The infrequency of their communions is 

to a great extent the cause of this state of affairs. 

It is a man's duty to set a good example to his family. If the 

disastrous spirit of worldliness is to be excluded from his house-

hold, and if true Christianity is to flourish, the husband must lead 

the way. As the proverb says: "Example is better than precept," 

and a man can set no better example to his family than by going 



3L0 FREQUENT COMMUNION. 
often to Holy Communion. It is at once a confession of faith and 

the best means of maintaining the spirit of reverence, love and 

obedience. If the wife, children and servants see the head of the 

household going with faith and humility to Holy Communion, and 

returning to his place in church to commune silently with his 

Creator, his example is sure to stimulate others to do likewise, and 

thus will be a blessing to the whole family. How much all the 

members of this household will respect such a man! Men little 

know of how much happiness they deprive others by communica-

ting seldom. 

Moreover, by communicating often a man can exert an influence 

over a wider circle. Whenever religious life is at a low ebb in a 

parish, the men seldom approach the Sacraments, and as soon as a 

man falls off in his attendance the women, too, begin to communi-

cate less often, for his bad example affects them, and they are 

always influenced by the men's behavior. If things are ever to 

improve, the men must be induced to communicate often, and until 

this is done, it is useless to complain that the young people are 

good for nothing, and that quarrels and ill will prevail on all sides. 

A model parish in every respect is always one in which men rival 

women in the frequency of their communions. 

In the life of a German lay-brother, Heinrich von Vries, who 

belonged to the Order of Oblates, we read that as captain of a ship 

and member of a shipping company he lost all his property through 

the bad management of the company, and went into business on 

land in a parish where Holy Communion was much neglected. 

Being a pious man, he went each week several times to Holy Com-

munion, and this was something quite unusual. At first people 

laughed at him, but after a while others began to follow his good 

example and continued to do so long after he had entered the re-



MEN AND FREQUENT COMMUNION 39 

ligious life. If any man wishes to do permanent good in the place 

where he lives, let him go often to Holy Communion, and he will 

bring down a blessing upon the whole parish. 

Holy Communion is also a bond of union and a source of 

strength. We all know by experience how lonely and strange we 

feel in non-Catholic districts and surroundings. Diversity of faith 

gives rise to a kind of reserve, whilst unity produces a sense of 

being at home. Faith brings people together, and Holy Com-

munion does so still more effectually. 

A modern writer says that when people dine together they all 

take off, as it were, the distinctive attire of their various occupa-

tions and put them aside, so as to appear simply as natural and 

unaffected human beings. In a higher sense we may apply this 

remark to Holy Communion. Assembled round the altar, all are 

equal, all being God's children, brethren of Christ and joint heirs 

of heaven, have the same right to approach it. 

Holy Communion bridges over the gulf between rich and poor, 

high and low, "for we, being many, are one bread, one body, all 

that partake of one bread" ( i Cor. x, 17). 

Holy Communion has more influence upon the world than most 

people suppose. A complete transformation of society on the lines 

of Christian socialism is possible only if the men communicate in 

greater numbers. If they fall off from receiving the Sacraments, 

all the bonds of family and social life give way. 

After the revolution of February, 1848, some eminent statesmen 

went to M. Desgenettes, the priest in charge of the church of 

Notre Dame des Victoires, in Paris, and asked him if he knew 

of any means whereby the tide of anarchy might be checked. He 

thought over the question for a minute, and then said very de-

cidedly : "Gentlemen, go to Communion every week." 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
If the spirit of Christ is to dominate the masses, and peace and 

happiness are to prevail in each family, then let the men go often 

to Holy Communion, and their example will work wonders. 

My fellow Christians, at the present time we hear on all sides 

that men must close up their ranks and stand shoulder to shoulder. 

Let us assemble before the tabernacle and kneel shoulder to 

shoulder at the Communion rail. Unless Catholic men gather to-

gether there, they run the risk of being scattered by the revolu-

tionary spirit of the age, and therefore every one whose heart is 

filled with genuine love of his neighbor and true patriotism should 

communicate often. Otherwise the bond of union will be broken 

and human society will be ruined. 

II. 

If we try to discover the reasons why men communicate so 

seldom, I think we shall see that the primaiy cause is the weakness 

of their faith. We often are told that this is a nervous generation, 

and that peace and quiet have departed for ever. A boundless 

desire, for temporal and earthly possessions has seized upon all 

classes of the population, and the frenzied pursuit of pleasure is 

plunging mankind deeper and deeper into the quagmire of ma-

terialism. Under such unwholesome circumstances faith must 

inevitably suffer. Religion requires calm thought and recollection. 

The present time is one of superficiality and distraction. 

That progress has been made in every department of life is 

undeniable, and every man not well equipped for the struggle for 

existence is pushed aside and trodden down. The rush and turmoil 

of business at the present day have caused much injury to our faith 

and have produced a sort of half-hearted Christianity. A man 

whose whole time is occupied in worldly affairs has little or no in-



MEN AND FREQUENT COMMUNION 41 
terest in the things of eternity, and finally satisfies himself that 

there is no need for him to trouble about them. The lamentable 

consequences of this attitude of mind are obvious everywhere; such 

a man never goes to the Sacraments, takes no notice of Sunday, 

has no family life, and is completely indifferent to religion. The 

world to-day advises its children to make the most of life and to 

have a good time—and that is all. 

Therefore nowadays we need rest and recreation more than 

formerly, but ought we to seek them only in worldly amusements? 

Is there no better relaxation of mind than noisy entertainments? 

Yes, there is one place where you will find better refreshment than 

any worldly pleasure can afford, and that place is at the Com-

munion rail. The Church applies to the Blessed Sacrament the 

words of the Book of Wisdom (xvi, 20) : "Thou didst feed Thy 

people with the food of angels, and gavest them bread from heaven 

. . . having in it all that is delicious." And from the tabernacle 

our Saviour cries: "The bread that I will give is My Flesh for the 

life of the world" (John vi, 52). "Come to Me, all you that labor 

and are burdened, and I will refresh you" (Matth. xi, 28). "My 

peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, do I give unto you" 

(John xiv, 27). "And the peace of God, which surpasseth all 

understanding, keep your hearts and minds" (Phil, iv, 7). 

It was from Holy Communion that all the heroes of the Church 

derived strength to do the glorious work that they accomplished 

for the honor of God and the benefit of mankind; and it was here 

that they found rest when wearied by the antagonism of the world. 

Why have we so little faith, and why do we seek strength and rest 

where we shall never succeed in finding them? 

When the disciples returned to their Master after their first mis-

sionary journey (Mark, vi, 30), and told Him their experiences 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 

and the results of their Apostolic labors, He said to them: "Come 

apart into a desert place and rest a little." Our Lord addresses the 

same words to all Christians men and youths. After all your exer-

tions to acquire property, honor and pleasures, He invites you to rest, 

and that rest is provided in Holy Communion. He calls you all to 

come apart and tell Him all the trials of your life, all the sufferings 

and sorrows that are your daily lot. He bids you rest on His Heart, 

and take thence the consolation and strength that you need. Go, 

then, to Holy Communion. If Jesus does not comfort you, if the 

Son of God cannot help you, who else can do so? Where will you 

look for assistance? Rely upon our Divine Saviour, for He truly 

cares for you. He not only feeds the birds of the air and clothes 

the lilies of the field, but He, in whose hand is the soul of every 

living thing (Job xii, 10), will succor you in a very special manner 

if you pray to Him with confidence. 

Is it not Christ who gives us our daily bread? He does not 

only give us in Holy Communion the bread of everlasting life, 

but, if we ask Him, He will give us also material food. How well 

He knows our misery, and how ready He is to help us 1 In order 

to redeem mankind He took upon Himself the form of an artisan, 

a servant, as St. Paul says (Phil, i, 7), and lived a life of labor, 

toiling to earn His daily bread. Can He, who is all goodness and 

power, fail to sympathize with us? Christians, seek help of Him 

in Holy Communion, for He is, in the fullest sense of the word, 

our Emmanuel, our God with us (Is. vii, 14). 

Weakness of faith gives rise to another thing that deters men 

from frequent Communion, and that is cowardly fear of men. 

Many are convinced that, in order to live as Christians, they ought 

to communicate often. Many young men know by their own ex-

perience that they need to receive the Sacraments frequently if 



MEN AND FREQUENT COMMUNION 43 
their lives are to be pure and good, but they are afraid that someone 

will talk if they suddenly begin to be pious. They fancy that others 

will point at them and ridicule them, and so they resolve to go on 

as they have done hitherto and approach the Sacraments very 

seldom. I should like to question such a man and say: "Would you 

act in this way with regard to temporal matters? Would you 

abandon a profitable transaction because others, not understanding 

its advantages, might laugh at you? I think you would pay no 

attention to them; why, then, do you not behave as sensibly with 

regard to what is eternal? Do you not see how weak your faith 

is? Do you not know that the smallest grace received in Holy 

Communion is worth more than all the money in the world? How 

can you be so foolish as to neglect these infinite treasures for such 

trivial reasons? Why do you give way to this miserable fear of 

your fellow creatures? I am convinced that if enemies invaded the 

country and you were called out to defend it, you would not hesi-

tate to face the foe with true contempt of death. Why, then, are 

you so timid, and why do you refrain from Holy Communion, 

because you are too cowardly to bear a few mocking remarks? It 

is quite inexplicable. How applicable to you are the words in the 

Following of Christ (iii, 3) : "The world promiseth things temporal 

and of small value, and is served with great eagerness. Christ 

promiseth things most excellent and everlasting, and yet men's 

hearts remain torpid." 

Someone anxious to excuse his human respect may reply: "I 

used to be considered a good Catholic, although I went to the Sacra-

ments only a few times in the year. It is surely an innovation to 

ask me to go so often to Holy Communion." I have no wish to 

argue the point whether or no you really were a good Catholic, in 

spite of going to the Sacraments only once or twice a year. I t 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
may be that your companions thought you so, because they did not 

communicate any more frequently, but the verdict of your own 

conscience will hardly coincide with their opinion. If you are 

honest you will have to confess that prayer and thoughts of God 

and eternity were not enough to keep you from sin and to make 

you lead a really Christian life. You needed other, stronger aids, 

and now you perceive the necessity of frequent Communion. It 

is nothing new, as you mistakably suppose, but just the same 

strong, holy, daily bread that made our forefathers in the faith so 

steadfast in all dangers. 

If the present century resembles in some respects the godless and 

immoral age in which the first Christians lived, we, too, ought to 

seek strength and protection where they did, viz., at the Lord's 

table; we, too, ought to make it our practice to communicate fre-

quently or even daily. Such was the custom in the early Church, 

not Communion on rare occasions, which you advocate. 

And even if it were an innovation to go more frequently to the 

Sacraments, you ought to welcome it with joy, because of the extra-

ordinary benefits to be derived from it. Our century is full of 

innovations in industry, means of communication, material pros-

perity and science. You all adopt the new inventions in your 

business and homes, and do not at once reject them simply because 

they are novelties. Why should you act otherwise with regard to 

frequent Communion, and the great benefits that it confers upon 

us for this life and the next? Do not be inconsistent, half-hearted 

Christians, cowardly slaves to human respect. 

Surely, the men of the present day are poor creatures! Look 

at the early Christians, who often went to Holy Communion at the 

risk of their lives, whilst you fear the ridicule of bad or lukewarm 

Catholics. We often hear of manly courage, but this certainly is 



MEN AND FREQUENT COMMUNION 45 
noi displayed by a cowardly neglect of your duties as Christians or 

by actions against your better knowledge. Is it a disgrace to be 

considered a good Catholic? If not, why be influenced by human 

respect? If you were invited every week to a royal banquet, 

would you not feel honored and accept the invitation willingly and 

gladly? But when God, the King of Kings, does you the greatest 

honor conceivable to man here below, and invites you to His 

banquet, and although to be present at it would be most profitable to 

you, you shrink from accepting His invitation. Human respect 

makes you injure both yourselves and your neighbors. Be zealous 

communicants and the world will respect you. 

I am not asking much of you when I say: Go at least four times 

in the year to Holy Communion. A good Catholic must certainly 

communicate at Christmas, for it is his duty to thank our dear 

Saviour for becoming man in order to redeem us. Christmas is 

a family festival, but it has no higher meaning unless we think of 

our Lord. Make a point of going to the Sacraments, and at your 

Holy Communion pray for all the graces that you need, and beg the 

Infant Jesus to bless those dear to you and to bestow upon them 

His heavenly gifts in rich abundance. 

Every Catholic goes to Communion at Easter as a matter of 

course. He is bound not only to comply with the Church's law, 

but also to thank our Divine Saviour for His suffering and death. 

You are Catholics, children of the Church, and you have often 

publicly acknowledged this fact. Do so also in church, and there 

can be no better opportunity of proclaiming your faith and your 

devotion to the see of Peter than the feast of the two great 

Apostles, Peter and Paul. This should be a Communion-day for 

all Catholic men and boys. You know many loving souls that have 

passed away before you into eternity. They are perhaps the souls 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
of your parents, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors. The 

Church remembers them all on All Souls' Day. You ought to go 

to Holy Communion in order to offer up our Lord's Body for the 

faithful departed. It would be most ungrateful and un-Christian 

on your part not to be willing to do this to help them. 

Regard these four days at least as fixed Communion-days every 

year, and if you are able, approach the Sacraments on other festi-

vals, too. Communicate on one of our Lady's feasts as a token of 

love to your heavenly Mother. Observe the feast of your patron 

saint, your wedding-day or other important anniversaries by re-

ceiving your dear Saviour in Holy Communion. Enter upon no 

serious undertaking without first seeking counsel and help of Jesus 

in Holy Communion. Regard it as a great honor to be allowed to 

communicate often. It was to men, not to women and children, 

that our Lord first gave His holy Body, and will you men abandon 

Holy Communion to women? Was it not again to men that the 

Son of God entrusted Himself in the Holy Eucharist? Always 

remain true lovers of Holy Communion and frequent guests at the 

table of the Lord. 

When in the early ages of Christianity the horrible cry arose, 

"Ad bestias!"—"Cast the Christians to the wild beasts," men used to 

receive Holy Communion to strengthen them for the conflict that 

they would have to undergo; and then, when the wild beasts roared 

in anticipation of their prey, when the fires were kindled and the 

instruments of torture were ready, the Christians stood fearlessly 

before their judges and the hostile, fanatical multitude, and said 

boldly: "We are Christians." They had no fear of death. 

To-day we are surrounded by other enemies, bitterly opposed 

to our faith and eager to destroy, not our bodies, but our immortal 

souls. How much we need to strengthen our faith by means of 



MEN AND FREQUENT COMMUNION 47 
frequeni Communion! We, too, may win the crown of the con-

fessors; we, too, may be stalwart in our regeneration! Away with 

half-hearted Christianity and with all wretched human respect! 

Before the Battle of Austerlitz Napoleon turned to one of his 

regiments and addressed the following words to the soldiers: "I 

want a hundred men ready to devote themselves and to die for their 

country. I appeal to your courage." Then he was silent for a 

moment, scrutinizing the regiment, and cried: "Men prepared to 

sacrifice yourselves, take three steps forward." The whole regi-

ment advanced as one man—none lagged behind. 

We live in perilous times and hard conflicts await us. The 

Church calls to the men: "Come forward to the Communion rail." 

May none of you be cowardly enough to remain behind when this 

cry is ringing in your ears. 

Lacordaire said on one occasion: "Every Catholic must neces-

sarily be an apostle." Become apostles of the world in which you 

live, by means of receiving Holy Communion frequently. Amen. 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 

Y . FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N — A T O K E N OF LOVE AND 

RECONCILIATION 

"You have not known Him."—John viii, 55. 

How many benefits were lavished by God upon His chosen people! 

And how anxious our Lord always was to help His own nation! As 

St. Peter said: "He went about doing good" (Acts x, 38). Every-

one in Judea knew something of His kindness. What did He re-

ceive in return? Gratitude? No, we read in the Gospels what re-

turn was made Him. Once He was accused of having a devil, and 

when He quietly disproved this charge the people took up stones 

to throw at Him. Our Saviour desired nothing so much as 

the welfare of the Jews, but they would have nothing to do with 

Him. He said to them: "You say (of My Father) that He is your 

God, but you have not known Him," and He might with equal truth 

have added: "You fancy that you know who I am, but you know 

Me not." 

The same reproach might be brought againsi many people at the 

present time: "You believe that you know our Saviour, but you 

know Him not. How much good He has done you! The whole 

universe, the life of each individual and every moment of your 

existence proclaim His goodness, but you do not know him, because 

you refuse to recognize His benefits." 

Is it not something infinitely great and truly Divine, that our 

Saviour became man for us and died for us upon the Cross? Yet 

that is not all. He wanted us to receive the abundant graces of 

redemption not once only, but daily, in the most holy Sacrament of 

the Altar. But just as the Jews of old received Him not, when He 



'A TOKEN OF LOVE ' A N D R E C O N C I L I A T I O N . S* 
came to chem, so men and women nowadays care little about Him 

and are unwilling to welcome Him in their hearts. Let us consider 

two chief points to-day: 

1. That we owe it to the love of Christ, displayed in the most 

Holy Sacrament of the Altar, to receive Him frequently in that 

Sacrament. 

2. That the horrible ingratitude of others towards this Sacrament 

of love ought to stimulate us to receive it often in a spirit of 

reparation. 

The eternal Word declared once that it was His delight to be with 

the children of men (Prov. viii, 31). Now, as in God everything is 

perfect and infinite, this delight at being with us must have been 

boundless. We can obtain a glimpse of this delight in His Incarna-

tion, and we can see that the Word made Flesh, as God and man, 

would desire to remain with us always and everywhere. The Holy 

Land was a very small part of the inhabited world, and the years 

of our Lord's life only a diminutive fraction of the period during 

which the human race has existed. He died at the age of thirty-

three, without ever having gone beyond Palestine and Phoenicia. 

Was His delight at being with us to last only so short a time, and to 

be limited only to a single nation? No; His love devised a means of 

remaining in our midst, a means such as no created intellect, but 

only the vast, all-embracing love of God could have imagined, 

namely, the blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Although Christ 

ascended into heaven, He comes to us in the consecrated Host, in 

order to be with us everywhere, and to remain with us to the end 

of time. He is with us day and night, wherever the blessed Sacra-

ment is reserved. He is a Friend ever ready to sympathize with us 

and to help us, and we may go to Him whenever we are weighed 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
down by our crosses and sufferings, and tell Him our troubles and 

ask His help, for He said: "Come unto Me, all you that labor and 

are burdened, and I will refresh you" (Matth. xi, 28). 

But that is not all, for Jesus desires to remain with us to be our 

food. It is not enough for Him to be near us everywhere and 

always, but He wishes to dwell in the most intimate manner con-

ceivable within our souls; He wants to be united with us by becom-

ing the food of our souls. How great is His love for us wretched 

mortals! It could not possibly be greater, for it is indeed as great as 

His Divinity itself. Surely, it behooves us to set no limits to this 

love. If our Saviour delights in being the Food of our souls, it 

should be our most intense happiness to welcome Him. Love begets 

love. We cannot maintain that we love Him if we stay away from 

Holy Communion. 

Our Lord, however, intended to give us in this Sacrament further 

proof of His love, by making it remind us of His Passion and death. 

What should we be without our Saviour? The most miserable of 

all created beings. Christ became man, knowing us to be poor and 

wretched, and He died on the Cross that we might not perish for 

ever. He said plainly: "The Son of man must be lifted up, that 

whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but have life ever-

lasting" (John iii, 14, 15). God could have redeemed us in some 

other way, but it was His will to suffer for us, in order to make us 

realize better His love of man. "God so loved the world as to give 

His only-begotten Son." We owe everything, therefore, to Christ's 

Passion and death; this is the greatest benefit conferred upon by 

God; and hence, as St. Thomas Aquinas says (S. Th. iii, qu. 73, 

a. 5), men needed always to have something to remind them of 

their Saviour's sufferings. In the old dispensation it was chiefly 

the Paschal lamb, but in the new it is the Holy Eucharist This is 



'A TOKEN OF LOVE 'AND RECONCILIATION. S* 

why at the Last Supper our Lord gave His Body to the Apostles, 

saying: "This is My Body, which is given for you; do this for a 

commemoration of Me" (Luke xxii, 19). He intended the 

Eucharistic sacrifice to be offered continually in the Church, and the 

sacrificial Food to be received in constant commemoration of the 

redemption that He had effected. This Sacrament ought to be most 

dear to us, as in it our Saviour gives us Himself in commemoration 

of His death. Let us receive it often, and never forget our Lord's 

Passion and death. 

By going often to Holy Communion we ought to give expression 

also to our love, gratitude and appreciation of this great gift. St. 

Augustine says that Christ, though almighty, could not have given 

us anything greater; though omniscient, He did not know how to 

give a better gift; though He possessed all things, He had nothing 

better to bestow. The blessed Sacrament is at once the result of 

Christ's sufferings here on earth and the treasury of all His merits, 

accumulated from the moment when His Mother uttered her joyful 

•Rat, "Be it done to me according to Thy word," until He Himself 

cried on the Cross; Consummatum est, "All is consummated." 

The sacred Host represents to us Bethlehem and Nazareth, Geth-

semani and Golgotha. It contains the body of Christ, which He 

took of His most pure Virgin Mother, and which arose in glory 

from the tomb; it contains our Saviour's precious Blood, with which 

He redeemed us, and one drop of which would have been enough 

to redeem not our world only, but thousands and tens of thousands 

of worlds; it contains His most sacred Soul, the abode of graces 

and virtues in absolute perfection; it contains the Second Person 

of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God, who is one in nature with 

God the Father and God the Holy Ghost. 
The venerable servant of God, Mary Angela, had an intense de-



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
votion to the Blessed Sacrament. When very young she left her 

parents and her home, and entered religion for love of her Saviour. 

On her heart she wore continually a picture of the Sacred Host, on 

which she had written, "I live for His sake." When she felt death 

approaching, she added: "And I die for His sake." She lived and 

died for her Saviour in the tabernacle. 

If we were to consider the joy felt by our Lord, the Son of God, 

on entering our hearts, if we were to call to mind what He did and 

suffered for us, and that He desired this Sacrament to be a continual 

commemoration of it, if we kept our eyes fixed on this priceless 

pledge of His infinite love, we surely should feel impelled to receive 

this most holy Sacrament very often, to make it the centre of .our 

thoughts, and to live and die for it. 

In this way all false ideas of reverence which keep many away 

from frequent Communion, would vanish at once. Of course the 

deepest possible respect is due to our dear Saviour in the sacred 

Host, but in instituting the Sacrament He aimed at our good, rather 

than at receiving our homage. Hence we ought to beware of all 

exaggerated anxiety about going to Holy Communion, as this might 

only too easily prevent our approaching the Lord's table. I do not 

mean that we should be careless in our preparation for or in-

different in our reception of the Sacrament, but if you go to Com-

munion in the state of sanctifying grace and with a right and pious 

intention, thinking of Christ as your dear Redeemer, your greatest 

Friend and Benefactor, if you do your best to make a good prepara-

tion and thanksgiving as far as your abilities and circumstances 

allow, if you look upon Holy Communion as a remedy for all your 

weakness and frailty, then you will indeed and in truth receive the 

Holy Eucharist with the sort of reverence required by Christ and 

the Church. Yet, although it is so easy for us to communicate often, 



'A TOKEN OF LOVE 'AND R E C O N C I L I A T I O N . S* 
there is not much love shown to our Lord in the blessed Sacrament; 

He receives far more indifference and ingratitude than devotion and 

grateful love. 
II-

A t noon on the first Good Friday the sun's light failed, and a 

mysterious darkness brooded over Mount Calvary, so that it was 

difficult to see the three crucified figures. From that on the right 

proceeded from time to time groans of pain, from that on the left 

constant cries of agony and despair. Round the crosses stood an 

excited crowd, but the attention of all was centred upon the middle 

figure. Suddenly through the darkness rang out the words: Eloi, 

Eloi, lamma sabacthani, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken 

me ?" The bystanders shuddered. Again the voice of the sufferer 

on the middle cross was raised, crying: "I thirst." There was 

silence; all stood watching. "Now there was a vessel set there, full 

of vinegar. And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar about hyssop, 

put it to His mouth" (John xix, 29). Rallying His strength for the 

last time, He cried once more: "Father, into Thy Hands I commend 

My Spirit," and then, after casting one last glance at Jerusalem, 

and also at you and your sins, He bowed His head and said: "It is 

consummated." Our Saviour was dead, and He had died for us, 

because He loved us. 

How can we ever forget His death ? How can we be indifferent 

to all that He suffered for our sake? One would suppose it im-

possible, and yet it is the case. Ask those who seldom or never 

communicate, or who receive the Sacraments carelessly or un-

worthily—they never think of our Saviour's death. We might per-

haps understand their coldness and ingratitude, if Christ had not 

actually died for them, but He gave Himself up for pure love of 

man. If some stranger, not a loving father or dear friend, had done 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
only the smallest fraction of what our Lord did for you, I am con-

vinced that you would love him, and testify your love to him in 

many ways, and never forget him. Does our Saviour deserve less 

love than a man? How ungrateful we are! Suppose you were at 

the point of death, and the only means of preserving your life was 

for another to die in your stead. And imagine that a rich man in 

a distant country, as happy as you were miserable, hearing of your 

pitiable state and of the sole means of helping you, came forward 

and died a horrible death for your sake. Would you not cherish 

his memory ? Would it not be your greatest delight to think of him 

often, and to carry out his last wishes, if he had expressed any? Yet 

you do not think of your Saviour, who died a death of shame upon 

the Cross for your sake, and has delivered you from everlasting 

death, not once perhaps, but many times. Do you make light of 

Holy Communion, in which His death is commemorated? 

If ever anyone deserved our love and gratitude, it is our Saviour; 

but do we give them to Him? At the Last Supper, when He took 

the bread into His hands and uttered the words: "Take ye and eat, 

for this is My Body," He saw before Him Judas, into whose 

treacherous and ungrateful heart He was about to enter, and not 

only the one man Judas, but all the traitors who ever would receive 

Him unworthily, men and women, youths and maidens, people of 

every age and rank. As He held the consecrated Bread in His hand, 

He saw in spirit how in future consecrated Hosts would be trodden 

under foot, cast to animals and flung down into filth; He knew how 

little real desire men would feel for the Bread of heaven, how seldom 

and with what scanty devotion they would receive it. Nevertheless 

He gave Holy Communion to all the disciples, saying: "Do this in 

commemoration of Me." In order not to deprive loving souls of 

this heavenly Food, He gives Himself to all men. 



'A TOKEN OF LOVE ' A N D R E C O N C I L I A T I O N . S* 
Is it not, therefore, our most sacred duty to atone for the want 

of love and reverence displayed by others by going frequently to 

Holy Communion ourselves? If your father or mother were ill-

used or treated disrespectfully by strangers, you would certainly 

stand up for them; why, then, have you so little sympathy with 

Christ when He is insulted and despised by bad, indifferent Chris-

tians ? How much we have wounded our Divine Saviour! Certainly 

He never deserved that we should treat Him thus. He complained 

bitterly to His faithful servant, blessed Margaret Mary Alacocque, of 

the ingratitude of men, and especially of those who have especially 

dedicated themselves to His service. What would He say of those 

who receive Him seldom or even unworthily? I cannot bear to 

pursue this line of thought, for it is too painful. I feel inclined to 

say to such souls: "If you do not love yourselves or our Divine 

Saviour, if you have no pity on ourselves, at least feel pity for Him." 

Let us to-day promise our dear Lord in the Blessed Sacrament to 

turn over a new leaf. Henceforth we will communicate more often 

and more reverently, and lose no opportunity of going to Holy 

Communion whenever it is possible. If it is our Lord's delight to 

be with the children of men, it shall be our delight to be with Him. 

In future we will be careful to receive Him with the utmost purity 

and sanctity of heart, to which by God's grace we can attain. We 

will not be content to avoid grievous sins, but, for love of our Divine 

Redeemer, we will do our best not to offend Him voluntarily by little 

sins and omissions. If Jesus Christ has loved us, we must love Him. 

Let this be our fixed purpose. 

In the life of blessed Margaret Mary we read that she once saw 

the Infant Jesus, and not a consecrated Host, being given in Com-

munion to a sick person. The Divine Child appeared to be troubled 

and unwilling to enter this soul, and the servant of God, being full 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
of love for our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, was grieved at the 

sight, and retired to her cell, weeping. Suddenly she again beheld 

our Saviour in the same form as before, and He said sorrowfully: 

"I entered into that soul with grief; let me now find consolation and 

love in thy heart." 

How gladly would our Lord enter your hearts also, if He could 

find there some little compensation for the many insults offered Him 

in the Sacrament of His love! By the mouth of the prophet He 

says: "I sigh, and there is none to comfort Me" (Lam. i, 21), a sad 

utterance for a loving heart, and doubly sad if it falls on cold and 

indifferent ears! Let it be so no longer as far as we are concerned. 

O, dear Saviour, if it is Thy delight to be with us, it shall be our 

greatest joy often to be with Thee. If others despise and neglect 

this most holy Sacrament, we will receive it often in reparation for 

their ingratitude. Didst Thou seek one to comfort Thee, and find 

none? Seek no further, dear Lord, for Thou hast found us. Amen. 



'A COMFORT, IN. LIFE AND JN. DEATH. 52 

V I . FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N — A COMFORT IN L I F E AND IN D E A T H 

"Behold thy king cometh."—Matt. xxi, 5. 

Our Lord's last Pasch was at hand, and the time had nearly come 

when the Son of man should be betrayed into the hands of sinners 

(Matth. xxvi, 45) ; but it was His will, before He suffered, to enter 

Jerusalem in triumph, that His people might have an opportunity 

of honoring Him publicly as their promised Messias. "Behold, O 

daughter of Zion, thy King cometh." The streets of the city re-

sounded with the cry: "Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He 

that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest" 

(Matth. xxi, 9). 

These events occurred five days before the Pasch (John xii, I, 

12), on the day when the Jews used to select their Paschal lambs, 

which must be without blemish, but they were not slain until the 

fourteenth day of the month (Exod. xii, 2, etc.). Our Lord chose 

to make His solemn entry into Jerusalem on this particular day, be-

cause He wished to show Himself to the Jews as the one true 

Paschal lamb. "Behold, O daughter of Zion, thy King cometh," 

even the Lamb of God, who will take away thy sins. 

Behold, O Christian soul, thy King cometh to thee also in Holy 

Communion. He comes as the Lamb of God, who bore thy sins and 

was sacrificed for thee on the Cross. To thee, as well as to Jeru-

salem of old, the prophet Sophonias exclaims: "Give praise, O 

daughter of Zion; be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter 

of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgment, He hath 

turned away thy enemies; the King of Israel, the Lord, is in the 

midst of thee, thou shalt fear evil no more" (Soph, iii, 14, 15). 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
I wish to dwell to-day upon one thought, which is full of comfort, 

and to conclude my course of sermons on frequent Communion by 

showing you: i. What consolation the frequent reception of this 

holy Sacrament affords us in all the sorrows and sufferings of this 

earthly life. And, 2. How consoling it will be to us at the hour of 

our death to look back upon our frequent Communions. 

I. 
The earth is a vale of tears, for the curse of sin weighs heavily 

upon mankind. Our times of happiness are rare, and we are sur-

rounded on all sides by crosses and suffering. Here a sick man 

groans on his bed of pain, there a broken heart mourns over the 

death of some loved one. Disappointment, too, is always with us. 

How many a wife and mother sheds bitter tears in secret over the 

loss of her happiness and the disappointment of her hopes L How 

many a father, sick and out of work, lies sleepless, dreading the 

fresh misery that the. coming day may bring! 

Life is indeed full of crosses, and man is born to bear them; he 

cannot cast them aside. If he throws away one, he will only find 

another still heavier than the first, and there is no one on earth able 

to relieve him. As Sirach, the wise man, says: "They (t. e., sor-

rows) compassed me on every side, and there was none that would 

help me. I looked for the succor of men, and there was none" 

(Ecclus. li, 10). All that our fellow creatures do is to lay heavy 

burdens upon us, and jostle us roughly as we try to bear our cross; 

the world never helps us. There is but one who is able and willing 

to lighten our burden—our Lord Jesus Christ. 

" I am the Lord, thy God, who take thee by the hand and say to 

thee: "Fear not, I have helped thee' " (Is. xli, 13). Christ Himself 

says: "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I 

will refresh you" (Matth. xi, 28). 



'A COMFORT, IN. LIFE AND JN. D E A T H . 52 
No matter how great our need and our trouble may be, no matter 

if all men forsake us, Christ will never fail us. How is it possible 

to doubt this? Did He not become man and die on the Cross for 

us ? Did He not give Himself to be our daily Food, as the result 

of His suffering? "The poor shall eat and shall be filled," exclaimed 

the Psalmist (Ps. xxi, 27), seeing in spirit the redemption and the 

sacred Host, the fruit of that redemption. "The poor shall eat and 

shall be filled," filled with comfort amidst the trials and sufferings of 

bodily and spiritual poverty. 

We must never forget that all pain and trouble are the con-

sequence of original and of actual sin, but Christ "hath loved us 

and washed us from our sins in His own blood" (Apoc. i, 5), and 

He has taken away also the punishment due to sin. The satisfaction 

that He offered to His heavenly Father for the sins of the human 

race was superabundant, and St. Thomas Aquinas teaches (S. Th. iii, 

qu. 49, a. 3) that the eternal penalty due to sin is remitted when the 

sin itself is forgiven through the merits of Christ's suffering. But 

His suffering affects us only if we apply it to ourselves in faith and 

love, as we do in receiving the Sacraments, and especially the Holy 

Eucharist. Being a sacrifice instituted for the remission of sin and 

the penalty of sin, this holy Sacrament remits the punishment of 

sin directly, and in Holy Communion it does so also indirectly, be-

cause it effects a union between the soul and our Saviour, and this 

produces acts of reparation and love. The greater the devotion and 

love with which we receive Holy Communion, the more completely 

shall we be delivered from the punishment due to our sins. 

Whenever therefore, we are weighed down by sorrow and pain, 

whenever we "mingle our drink with weeping" (Ps. ci, 10), let us 

go to the Lord's table. Every worthy Communion secures for us 

the remission of part of the penalty due to our sins, and so eases 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
our burden, for God will have less reason to punish us if we thus get 

rid of our penalties. Should it, however, be His will that we should 

suffer, for "whom the Lord loveth He chastiseth" (Heb. xii, 6), fre-

quent Communion will give us courage and strength to persevere, 

and the consolation of knowing that, as we are in the state of grace, 

our suffering is meritorious. It will, moreover, inspire us with 

confidence that what "is at present momentary and light of our 

tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal 

weight of glory" (II. Cor. iv, 17). 

There is, however, another way in which the frequent reception 

of this holy Sacrament affords comfort and help in all our troubles, 

and that is that it increases the efficacy of our prayers. The saints 

tell us that prayer is the key to the treasury of God's mercies. 

Through the Psalmist God says to us (Ps. xlix, 15) : "Call upon Me 

in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee." And St. James says: 

"Is any of you sad? Let him pray" (v, 13). 

No prayer can ever be more pleasing to God than that which we 

offer at Holy Communion. Our Saviour helped the woman with the 

issue of blood (Matth. ix, 22), the blind man on the way to Jericho 

(Mark x, 52), the woman of Canaan, and many others who had 

recourse to Him, because, as we read in Holy Scripture, they all 

had faith. Is not the reception of Holy Communion the best evi-

dence that we can give of our faith? If God is to hear prayer, it 

must proceed from a pure and innocent heart, and when is a man 

ever so careful to be pure and holy as when Jesus Himself is com-

ing to complete the purification of his heart? Our Saviour Himself 

said (John xvi, 23) that our heavenly Father will give us whatever 

we ask in His name, and so surely there is nothing that we may 

not hope to receive, when at Holy Communion Christ prays in and 

with us to His Father in heaven. 



'A COMFORT, IN. LIFE AND JN. D E A T H . 52 
How gladly does our Saviour help us when we have recourse to 

Him in this holy Sacrament! How kind and merciful He is! He 

had compassion on the multitude that followed Him, and healed 

their sick (Matth. xiv, 14). He worked a miracle to multiply the 

loaves, that the people might not go away hungry (Matth. xv, 36). 

Again and again in the accounts of His miracles we read that He 

had compassion on those whom He healed. He went up and down 

Judea doing good, and the same merciful Lord comes to us, too, in 

Holy Communion. He is still the same as when the Jews laid the 

sick in the streets, whenever He entered their villages or cities, "and 

besought Him that they might touch but the hem of His garment; 

as as many as* touched Him were made whole" (Mark vi, 56). 

We may, indeed, hope everything from Jesus, since we do not 

merely touch Him, but take Him into our hearts. He is so good, 

so gentle, and so merciful; go to Him, poor, troubled soul; He has 

called you; He will be your best comforter and helper, and the more 

often you receive Him in the Sacrament of His love, the better will 

you comprehend how sweet the Lord is (Ps. xxxiii, 19). 

Be sure that Christ will help you in Holy Communion. Trans-

port yourself in thought to the cenacle, just after He had given Holy 

Communion to the Apostles. How serious they all look! They have 

some idea of the great mystery, but cannot grasp its full value. "And 

when they had said an hymn, they went forth to the Mount of 

Olives" (Mark xiv, 26). What a strange and solemn scene! Jesus 

Christ and His disciples went down Mount Zion, He was in their 

midst, but also in their hearts, and at that sacred time He said: "If 

you abide in me . . . you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall 

be done un*o you" (John xv, 7). Do you see what efficacy is 

possessed by prayer offered at Holy Communion? You are not 

likely to receive at any other time a, favor withheld from you then. 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
Therefore the greater your trouble and the heavier your cross, tHe 

more often should you approach the Lord's table. Our Saviour has 

promised to help you, and He will certainly keep His word. He 

may make you pray for a long time, like the woman of Canaan, or 

the two blind men who followed Him persistently, but He is only 

allowing you to wait, in order to test your perseverance, and this 

is an additional reason for communicating frequently. He is per-

fectly sure to hear you sooner or later. 

No prayer offered at Holy Communion is ever wasted. After 

placing all our difficulties in our Saviour's hands, we may look for-

ward to the future with firm confidence. There is no friend so faith-

ful, no one so ready to help us as our Lord, if only we do not forget 

to receive Him in Holy Communion. Every one has a cross to bear, 

heavy or light, as God sees best. Let us then often go to the Lord's 

table, that the light cross may not grow heavier, and that the heavy 

one may become lighter. If any one refuses to seek help and con-

solation in Holy Communion, he ought not to complain if things are 

not well with him. He is like a hungry man who will not accept an 

invitation to a rich banquet, or a poor man who rejects the means 

offered him by some wealthy person to alleviate his troubles. 

II. 
One hour will inevitably come to every man—the hour of his 

death. It comes when we least expect it. As Job said (xiv, i , 2): 

"Man born of a woman, living for a short time, is filled with many 

miseries. Who cometh forth like a flower and is destroyed, and 

fleeth as a shadow." Some day you will be attacked by illness, and 

your sick-bed will prove to be your death-bed. At first, perhaps, you 

will not think seriously of your malady, but gradually you will grow 

worse, until all hope of recovery is abandoned. Some one will care-

fully inform you of your condition and tell you to prepare for death. 



'A COMFORT, IN. LIFE AND JN. D E A T H . 52 

The priest will be summoned, so that you may make your last con-

fession, and then, amidst the tears of your relatives and friends, 

he will give you the Lord's Body, saying: "Receive the viaticum of 

our Lord Jesus Christ, that He may preserve thee from the malig-

nant enemy and bring thee to life everlasting. Amen." 

At the conclusion of this course of sermons, let each of us ask 

himself: "What sort of Communion will my last one be ? Will it 

be to me a pledge of future glory or a reason for my still greater 

condemnation?" Be sure that your last Communion will resemble 

those that you make during life. As you live, so you will die. A 

holy life is followed by a holy death, and a bad life by a bad 

death. 

A man who receives the Sacraments seldom during his life, is 

not a model Christian. He goes seldom to Holy Communion be-

cause he is not firmly determined to avoid sin and do his duty. His 

many serious lapses into sin, his careless Confessions and his in-

different or even unworthy Communions bear witness to this fact. 

He serves the devil rather than God. He may go to the Sacraments 

at Easter, and once or twice in the year, but he devotes a very small 

part of his time to God's service, and spends most of it in a state 

of sin; and if, as may well be the case, his Confessions are invalid 

and his Communions unworthy, he is in continual slavery to the 

evil one. Suppose that his last hour comes, on which his whole 

eternity depends. Will Holy Communion really be to him a viaticum 

for his long journey into eternity ? Will he receive it in the state 

of sanctifying grace? I cannot tell; I only know that all saints 

and all priests agree in saying that a death-bed conversion is always 

doubtful. St Augustine says of such a man (serm. 39, 3) : "I can 

give him absolution, but not safety." Must not a person have never 

really cared about securing his salvation if he has approached the 



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
Sacraments seldom and with indifference, and has received them 

only, as it were, under compulsion from motives of human respect 

or for other equally bad reasons? If he had really desired to amend 

his life, he would have begun by going more often to Holy Com-

munion. 

It may be regarded as a good sign if on his death-bed he desires 

to make reparation for all the sins of his past life. But is this an 

easy task? He has put off making his peace with God until death 

is imminent, and the enemy of his soul is doing his utmost to de-

stroy it; he is weak and suffering, his memory is failing, and his 

physical pain leaves him perhaps little power of feeling true con-

trition. God gives us our whole life to be a preparation for eternity, 

not only the last hours of life. He offers us His holy Body to be 

our daily bread and refreshment as we wearily toil along the path 

of life, not simply to be our viaticum as we pass into eternity. Of 

course God is merciful even towards those who have abused His 

mercy in life, and He gives them grace to their last breath; yet 

it was not lightly, but very solemnly, that our Saviour said: "Amen, 

amen, I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man 

and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you" (John vi, 54). 

I personally should not like to quit this life without having often 

received Holy Communion. 

What abundant consolation must a person at the point of death 

derive from the thought of having communicated frequently. His 

soul being brought so closely into contact with our Saviour, has 

participated in His divine life, has eaten His Flesh, and drunk His 

Blood, so that he enjoys a pledge of everlasting life. He may say 

with the Psalmist: "In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped: let me never be 

put to confusion" (Ps. lxx, 1). "Thouhast said: He that eateth this 

bread shall live for ever'" (John vi, 59); behold, O Lord, I have 



'A COMFORT, IN. LIFE AND JN. D E A T H . 52 

trusted in Thy words, reward my faith. "Stay with me, because it 

is towards evening" (Luke xxiv, 29), the last evening of my life, to 

be followed by the endless day of eternity. Such a soul will be filled 

with peace, the prelude of the endless peace that it will enjoy in 

heaven. It will not be hard to die, when in life we have received 

Holy Communion often. 

If hitherto you have been careless and indifferent about tha 

Sacraments, become from henceforth zealous and devout communi-

cants. I am not urging you to communicate daily, although it is the 

desire of Christ and of the Church that all Christians should receive 

the Lord's Body every day. Some with the best intentions cannot 

possibly do so, and of others it would perhaps be too much to ask 

all at once. I will only implore you to increase the number of your 

yearly Communions, and this will gradually lead many to communi-

cate daily. I wish, however, to urge those who go to Communion 

every Sunday and hear Mass every day, to make up their minds 

to communicate daily at Mass. Do not stay away because of the 

little faults and omissions of your ordinary life; you can get rid of 

them by an act of perfect contrition just as well as by going to 

Confession. The Council of Trent (Sess. xiii, c. 2) declared the 

Blessed Sacrament to be a remedy whereby we are delivered from 

our daily transgressions and preserved from mortal sin. 

Our Lord calls you, saying: "Come, eat my bread and drink the 

wine that I have mingled for you" (Prov. ix, 15). Come, Christian 

maidens, our Lord's holy Body will preserve your virginity, the 

fairest ornament of your souls. You cannot resolve at the same time 

to lead chaste lives and to communicate seldom; the two things are 

incompatible. Come, Christian boys and young men, for you fre-

quent Communion is a matter of life and death. You are at an age 

when you are exposed to great temptations, and your future life de-



3L0 FREQUENT C O M M U N I O N . 
pends upon what you are now. If you do not often approach the 

Sacraments now, you should fear for your salvation; for it may well 

be that your passions will carry you away from God. Come, 

Christian parents, you will some day have to give an account to God 

for the souls of your children. You have no reason to fear if you 

are accustoming them to receive Holy Communion often and 

worthily, but remember you must set them a good example. You 

have already accomplished much, if you have been careful to com-

municate with your children regularly, at least on all the chief 

festivals. Come all, all who hear my words. A true Catholic, who 

is in earnest about his religion and anxious to save his soul ought 

never to be satisfied with communicating seldom. Without a fre-

quent reception of this holy Sacrament no truly Christian life is 

conceivable. Remember that the most holy Sacrament of the Altar 

is to us all, in Holy Communion, the Bread of Life, and whosoever 

eats of this bread shall live for ever (John vi, 48, 52). Amen. 



- I « B 

• 

. W t i T * y . W « í ' • , < • , . „ _ _ 



1 - I 1 





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SOCIAL ASPECT I N ^ 
HOLY COMMUNION 

Mutual Union of Recipient With Christ and 
Other Communicants 

The mutual union of the faithful 
with Christ, so close that it brings 
lis into corporate unity with Him 
and through Him with other com-
municants, is one of the great ef-
fects of Holy Communion, which, as 
the Baltimore Catechism defines it, 
"is the receiving of the Body and 
Blood of Christ." The social aspect 
of the Blessed Eucharist, through 
this mutual union, is forcibly 
brought out in the new book, "The 
Doctrine of the Mystical Body of 
Christ," by Abbe Anger, translated 
by the Rev. Dr. John J. Burke, 
C.S.P., and published by Benziger 
Bros. 

Through the Eucharist we are in-
corporated into Christ. We form but 
one with Him. The natural result of 
this living union with Christ Jesus 
is the mutual union of His members, 
one with another, their "concorpor-
ation." 

St. Paul expressly teaches it: 
"We, though many, are the one 
Bread, the one Body, all who eat 
of the one Bread" (I Cor. x, 17). 
St. Thomas, commenting on this, 
says: "St. Paul shows that we are ali 
one in the Mystical Body of Christ." 
He states the fact of the union and 
then he gives the reason. "The Holy 
Eucharist unites us to Christ and 
unites us as well one to another, 
makes us 'concorporeal.' " 

The Council of Trent declares 
that Christ willed to make the Eu-
charist "the symbol of this one only 
Body of which He is the Head, to 
which He would have us united as 
members by the close bonds of faith, 
hope and charity, even to the point 
where among ourselves, we would 
speak the same mind, and know not 
any divisions." The sacraments ef-
fect that which they signify and 
symbolize. The Eucharist effects 
both the union of the faithful with 
Christ and the union of the faithful 
one with another, in the Mystical 
Body. 

By the Eucharist we are trans-
formed in Christ: we are made mem-
bers one of another. The Holy Eu-
charist is, therefore, in a supreme 
way the sacrament of charity and 
of love. "0 sacrament of filial de-
votion, 0 symbol of unity, 0 bond 
of charity!" It is of course true, as 
Billot states, that the habit of char-
ity increases in direct proportion to 
grace received. Grace is conferred 
by all the sacraments. The worthy 
reception of any sacrament brings 
an increase, therefore, to the habit 
of charity. But the Eucharist has 
as its own proper and special end—-
the increase of the habit of charity 
and the perfection thereof, whether 
this habit be viewed in itself or in 
the exercise thereof. 

The Eucharist "perfects and 
strengthens the virtue of charity. It 
may be regarded as the true remedy 
for that, native tendency towards 
egoism wnich leads a man to think 
of himself as the center of the uni-
verse. The Eucharist brings to the 
heart of man his need to serve 
others. The Eucharist perfects the 
exercise of charity, giving fresh im-
pulse to the zeal of those who sacri-
fice self, sustaining them amidst 
numberless contradictions, trials and 
ingratitudes. 

The object of this charity is God 
and our neighbor. We readily see 
now that it is impossible for one 
truly to love God and not love his 
neighbor. The second commandment 
speaks of our neighbor. It is like 

unto the first, which speaks of God 
(Matt, xxii, 38, 39). One canntft 
separate Christ Jesus from His mem-
bers or from His Father. The Eu-
charist obligates us to charity, for 
charity finds in the Eucharist a new 
basis and a new food. In His dis-
course after the Last Supper, our 
Lord repeatedly recommended it to 
His disciples. As He asked for the 
oneness of the faithful with Himself 
and with His Father, He begged also 
for their oneness one with another. 
The latter cannot be without the 
former, nor the former without the 
latter. Christian perfection knows 
its most exact, its fullest expression 
in this: "that all may be one, as 
Thou Father in Me and I in Thee: 
that they all may be one in Us" 
(John xvii, 21). 

To receive the Holy Eucharist is 
to be in communion with the body 
of the Church: it is to unite oneself 
through Christ with all the members 
of the Mystical Body even as they 
themselves are united to the Head. 
Consequently, one thus unites him-
self to the saints in heaven, above 
all others, to the Blessed Virgin, to 
the souls in purgatory, to his broth-
ers upon earth, and in a special way 
to those who, under Christ, are the 
visible heads of the Church here— 
the Pope and the Bishops. Hence 
the usefulness of Holy Communion I 
in giving us the Catholic spirit, the I 
Catholic sense. Hence also the neces-
ity for us who receive Holy Com-
munion to make our feelings with 
regard to our neighbor square with 
the charity symbolized in this sacra-
ment. We are one'because of the 
Holy Eucharist. We are pictured as 
such. There would, never be any oc-
casion of making a lie out of what 
the Holy Eucharist signifies if we 
would but reap its fruits. There-
fore, St. Augustine presses this ap-
peal. "If you would with profit re-
ceive the Holy Eucharist, above all 
else be ye yourselves what It sym-
bolizes. Be united to the Church; 
be united among yourselves; be the 
Mystical Body of Christ." 

We shall be pardoned for insisting 
on this social conception of the Eu-
charist, so familiar to the Fathers 
and to St. Thomas. It seems to us 
almost to have disappeared in the 
shadows of this, our day. Re-read 
the early Fathers, particularly St. 
Ignatius, St. Cyprian, St. John Chry-
sostom, St. Cyril, St. Augustine, and 
it is evident that they never sep-
arated the unity of Christ with the 
faithful from the unity of the faith-
ful among themselves.,. Hence they 
speak (particularly St; Ignatius 'and 
St. Cyprian) of union with the 
Church and union with the Bishop. 
Assuredly they meant as do we, Holy 
Communion, the receiving of the 
true Body and Blood of our Savior. 
For them, the Church was insep-
arable from her Head. So firmly 
they believed Christ and the Church 
to be one that they dared not sep-
arate what God had joined together. 
For them Christ and the Church 
made the one same spiritual person-
ality. The bond of union is the 
Holy Eucharist and the Holy Spirit. 
From their understanding of this 
truth was born their tender, strong, 
sensitive love for the Church. 

For them, then indeed, to receive 
Holy Eucharist is to be united to 
Christ—but to the complete Christ, 
the Head and the members. So in 
their works this social aspect of the 
Holy Eucharist parallels and is often 



we wan 
»sing, and unless that comes and un-
|ss there is a renewal of the spirit 

Christ as against the spirit of the 
lorld in the populations of these na-
lons, it is going to get worse and 
lorse, and then, through despair, 
Inly God knows what might happen. 
Ihe present government might go 
|own under that pressure of despair. 
fe don't want that. We love our 
ountry. 

'Some of the men who have grown 
Inormously wealthy have so stuffed 

lemselves with money that they 
_annot even think. They have lost 
111 sense of feeling for their fellow 
lan . I do not want to draw on my 
|ersonal experiences, but going along 

the pages of experience among the 
ery rich I have met some that were 

|oble souls. I would like to name 
of them, Henry Higginson, 

ames J. Storrow. They were two 
reat men. These men were enor-
mously wealthy and were the most 
enerous hearted souls whom I ever 
_st in my life. It is not every day 
flat I talk as plainly as this, but 
lere are two men that Boston can 

leally be proud of, and America and 
fumanity can be proud of them. 

'I might mention dozens of things 
¡gainst the rich. There are a great 
lumber of rich men who ought to 
le flogged. They have grown insen-
lible to everything around them, 
lome of them are supposed to be 
Catholics. Don't be hoodwinked, 
[hey are not, 

"Some Catholics are wonderful 
I knew Jim and Nick Brady 

|nd their sister, Mrs. Parrel). The 
TO boys are now dead. There is 

[ot a Catholic cause in all America 
hat the Bradys have not furnished 

lioney to. So we are able to quote 
(rom both sides, two noble men who 
>ere not Catholics in the letter of 

ae law, but were Catholics in spirit, 
Ind here is the noble Catholic family 
jrtrich devoted its all to the further-
ance of worthy causes. 

'On the other hand, I regret to 
lay, there are some Catholics who 
Irose from nothing, and I think some-
limes they are the worst-—those who 
liave suddenly risen from nothing 
Ind do not know the true value of 
money. They grabbed and grabbed 
Ind grabbed. They never did any-
Ihing for anybody. They never gave 
pnything to the Church. 

"I know of a case where one of 
Ihem was approached as a matter of 
ponor, because I felt it would be an 
lonor, out of his enormous wealth, to 
lelp one of our institutions for the 
leaf and dumb. When this man was 
riven the opportunity to come for-
ward with some of the money bags 
In which he was sitting and have him 
lut up a house as a memorial to him, 
|e practically insulted the priest that 

sent there. 
"That's what this mechanical in-

dustrial age has brought about. Some 
If the great big bankers, heads of 
pusiness and some of the so-called 
lerchant princes have been the cause 

|>f this terrible situation. We are not 
Ihrough with it yet. It has brought 
pntold suffering to the world. 

"Unless something happens to 
Inake people think less of money and 
Inore of the big things of life, then 
Christianity has failed. Christianity 
lias never failed. This time it will 

liot fail." 

who was consecrated April 16, 1913. 
Bishop Duffy and his people have 
built one of the most beautiful Cathe-
drals in the West at Grand Island. 
It is a consecrated building. 

Many Polish in Diocese 
Though the Polish people are not 

the majority, they are strongly rep-
resented in the diocese, perhaps 
a third of the total. The nam-
ing of an American of Polish ex-
traction as Bishop makes an inter-
esting combination in the hierarchy 
of Nebraska. Bishop Rummel of 
Omaha is of German descent and 
Bishop Kucera, Lincoln, of Bohem-
ian. All three of the Bishops are 
American born. 

The Grand Island diocese is onek 
of the group of dioceses in which 
The Register enters every home with 
a diocesan edition. On behalf of 
the editorial staff and its readers, it 
extends sincerest felicitations and 
the heartiest of welcomes to the dis-
tinguished Chicagoan who has been 
selected for the Bishopric. 

The date of the consecration has 
not yet been announced. The cere-
mony ordinarily occurs on the feast 
of an Apostle, unless it is set for 
another day by special permission. 
Any Sunday is also one of the days 
when it can occur, but is rarely 
chosen as it would be incon-
venient f o r ' visiting clergymen. 
Among the days available in the near 
future would be January 18, Feast 
of St. Peter's Chair at Rome, or 
January 25, the Feast of the Con-
version of St. Paul. The ceremony, 
though this has not yet been form-
ally announced, will likely be held 
at the Holy Name Cathedral, Chi-
cago. The installation at Grand 
Island will be held shortly after-
wards. : The jurisdiction of a Bishop 
begins with his installation. 

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FEW HOLIDAY CHECKS FROM 
AMERICA TO IRELAND NOW 

Dublin.-—This is a thin holiday 
season for many poor Irish Catholic 
families, particularly in the West, 
who used to look forward to receiv-
ing from $20 to $200 in Christmas 
remittances from relatives in the 
United States. Last year saw the be-
ginning of the change brought about 
by the world depression. Fewer and 
smaller checks reached the Irish 
cabins. Money used to be sent home 
from America to pay the passages to 
the United States of relatives in Ire-
land. This year the position is re-
versed; the money is being sent out 
to pay the return passages to Ire-
land of emigrants from Ireland who 
have, in the dearth of employment, 
failed to earn a living. 

HOPE'S MESSAGE CHEERED 
IN FRENCH CHAMBER 

Paris.—The essential passages of 
the Sovereign Pontiff's letter appeal-
ing for a charitable crusade to com-
Ibat the disasters of unemployment 
•were read in the Chamber of Depu-
t i e s in a discussion of the unemploy-
ment crisis in France. Henri Meek, 
|deputy from the Lower Rhine, sec-
retary general of the Federation of 

(Independent Unions of Alsace and 
(Lorraine, asked the chamber to be 
Jnspired by the noble words to work 
(to help all those who are suffering so 
^terribly in the present crisis. The 

?ope's message was heartily ap-
Iplauded. 

LONDON SUBURB NAMES 
STREET "SAINT A N T H O N Y " 

London.—St. Anthony's road will 
in the future be the name of the 
thoroughfare in which St. An-
thony's church and the Franciscan 
friary at Forest Gate, a London 
suburb, are situated. Khedive road 
was the former address. Francis-
sans petitioned the West Ham coun-
cil to change the name to mark the 
saint's seventh centenary. All the 
householders in the street were can-
vassed and 80 out' of 120 favored 
the change. None opposed it. The 
local council gave its unanimous con-
sent. 

NOTED IRISH EDITOR WILL 
WRITE FOR N.C.W.C. PAPERS 
Washington.—William H. Bray-

den, distinguished Irish journalist, 
has been appointed correspondent 
for Ireland of the N.C.W.C. News 
Service, it is announced. Mr. Bray-
den was, from 1892 to 1916 editor of 
The Freeman's Journal. He has also 
been Dublin correspondent of the. 
Associated Press and The Chicago 
Daily News in this country, The Uni-
verse in London, and The Month of 
Auckland, New. Zealand.' Mr. Bray-
den succeeds Joseph J. Mooney, who 
has been appointed judge advocate 
general of the Free State army.