Part II, Chapter XX

Of Frequent Communion

It is said that Mithridates, king of Pontus, having invented the mithridate, so strengthened his body by the frequent use of it, that afterwards, endeavoring to poison himself to avoid falling under the servitude of the Romans, he could not effect his object. To the end that we should live forever, our Saviour has instituted the most venerable sacrament of the Eucharist, which contains really his flesh and his blood. Whoever, therefore, frequently eateth of this food, with devotion,

So effectually confirmeth the health of his soul that it is almost impossible he should be poisoned by any kind of evil affection; for we cannot be nourished with this flesh of life, and at the same time live with the affections of death. Thus, as men dwelling in the terrestrial paradise might have avoided corporal death by feeding on the fruit of the tree of life which God had planted therein, so they may also avoid spiritual death by feeding on this sacrament of life. If the most tender fruits, and such as are most subject to corruption, as cherries, strawberries, and apricots, can be easily preserved the whole year with sugar or honey, why should not our hearts, however frail and weak, be preserved from the corruption of sin, when seasoned and sweetened with the incorruptible flesh and blood of the Son of God?

O Philothea! what reply shall reprobate Christians be able to make, when the just Judge shall upbraid them with their folly, or rather madness, in having involved themselves in eternal death, since it was so easy to have maintained themselves in spiritual life and health, by feeding on his body, which he has left them with that intention? Miserable wretches! will he say, why did you die, having the fruit and the food of life at your command?

“To receive the holy communion every day,” says St. Augustine, “I neither recommend nor discourage; but to communicate every Sunday, I persuade and exhort every one, provided his soul be without any affection to sin.” With the same holy doctor of the Church, I neither absolutely condemn nor approve of the practice of communicating daily, but leave it to the discretion of the ghostly father of him that would be directed in this point. As the dispositions required for daily communion ought to be the most exquisite, it is not prudent to recommend it generally to all; and as these dispositions may be found perfect in many holy souls, it is not advisable to dissuade generally from it, but it is better to leave it to be regulated by the consideration of the inward state of each individual. Wherefore, as it would be imprudent to advise every one, without distinction, to frequent communion, so it would be imprudent also to blame any one for it, especially if he followed the advice of a prudent director. When daily communion was objected against St. Catharine of Sienna, she returned this modest and graceful answer: “Since St. Austin blamed it not, I pray do not you blame it, and I shall be content.”

But as St. Austin, Philothea, strenuously exhorts us to communicate every Sunday, comply with his advice as far as you may be able. For, since I suppose you have no affection to either mortal or venial sin, you are in that disposition which St. Austin requires; yea, and in a more excellent degree, since you have not only an aversion to commit sin, but you do not even retain in you an affection to sin; so that, should your confessor think it proper, you may profitably communicate still more frequently than every Sunday. However, many lawful impediments may occur, not perhaps on your own part, but on the part of those with whom you live, which may occasion a discreet guide to advise you not to communicate so often. For example: if you live in a state of subjection to persons who are so ill instructed, or so capricious as to be troubled or disquieted to see you communicate so frequently, it would, in such a case, be advisable to condescend to their humor and receive holy communion but once a fortnight; but this is to be understood, when you can by no other means remove the difficulty. As there can be no general rule prescribed in this case, we must act according to the advice of our spiritual director; though I may say, with assurance, that the distance between the times of communicating, for such as desire to serve God devoutly should not exceed a month.

If you act with prudence, neither father, mother, husband, nor wife, will prevent you from communicating often; for if, on the day of your communion, you are not less diligent in the discharge of your duties, but acquit yourself of them with more cheerfulness and alacrity, however irksome they may be, there is no likelihood that any person will seek to prevent you from an exercise in which no kind of inconvenience is found. But if the spirit of those with whom you live is so perverse and unreasonable as to give you trouble on this account, as I have said already, your director will advise you to use some condescension.

I must say a word to married people. In the old law, God disapproved that creditors should exact their debts on festival days, but he never disapproved that debtors should pay what they owed to such as exacted it. It is an indecency, though not a great sin, to solicit the payment of the marriage debt on the day of communion; but it is not indecent, but rather meritorious, to pay it. Wherefore no one ought to be debarred from the communion for paying this debt, if otherwise their devotion incite them to desire it. The primitive Christians communicated every day, although married, and blessed with a generation of children; whence I infer frequent communion is by no means inconsistent with the state of a parent, husband or wife, provided the party that communicates be prudent and discreet. As for bodily diseases, there are none which can be a lawful impediment to this holy devotion, excepting that which provokes to frequent vomiting.

To communicate every eight days, it is requisite that one should be free from mortal sin, and any affection to venial sin, and have, moreover, a great desire of communicating; but to communicate every day, it is necessary we should overcome the greatest part of our evil inclinations, and that it should be by the advice of our spiritual director.

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