On Frequent Communion

First Point - We ought to communicate often because Jesus Christ has invited us to do so when He said: "Come to Me all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you" (Matthew 11:28). Our weaknesses are not an obstacle if they displease us. Christ invites to this divine banquet the sick, the blind and the lame, in order to show us that no one is excluded for not having perfect health. He has instituted this sacrament under the form of bread to show us that our souls can no more live without this divine food than our bodies can exist without material nourishment. He gives us His body under the appearance of bread, because bread is the most ordinary food. We can often change the nourishment for our body, but this divine food is the only nourishment for our soul. Christ has promised manifold graces to those who approach this sacrament; and He has threatened with eternal punishment those who disregard it. He does not limit the power of priests to produce this sacrament, nor the time in which the faithful should approach it. Could He give us further proof of His infinite love for us and of His desire to have us communicate often?

Second Point - We should communicate often because the Church earnestly desires it. She gives us the unanimous opinion of the Fathers who are her interpreters. If the Eucharist, says Saint Ambrose, is the daily bread, why do you allow years to pass without approaching it? Why not receive daily that which will be a daily benefit to you? The Church clearly manifested her sentiments through the Council of Trent when she implored her children, through the charity of Jesus Christ, to give testimony of their respect for this Holy Sacrament by approaching it often; and again, when she declared that she ardently desires that all those who assist at the Holy Sacrifice should receive holy communion.

Third Point - We ought to communicate often on account of the advantages we will derive from it. God forbade man, under pain of death, to eat of the tree of knowledge; nevertheless man ate of it. God commands man, under pain of death, to eat this bread of life, yet man refuses to eat of it, although he experiences so many benefits from it. What blindness! In the other sacraments man receives grace, but in the Sacrament of the Altar he receives the Source and the Author of grace. God communicates His grace to man in the Holy Eucharist as often as there is no obstacle in the way, and, at the same time, He applies to the soul the price of His blood and the efficacy of His merits, and makes him participate in His spirit by uniting man with God. What advantages, but what blindness to disregard voluntarily the holy communion!

Do not say that you are fearful of approaching Holy Communion because you are unworthy; but strive to render your self worthy, so that you may approach it often.

Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you. - John 6:54

It is not presumptuous to approach holy communion often; but it is a horrible thing to approach it even once unworthily. - Saint John Chrysostom

- text taken from Meditations for Every Day in a Month, by Father François Nepveu