Part 2, lesson 4. That we can receive holy communion for the good and advantage of others

Q. As, by the advice of my confessor, I frequently approach the holy table, will you explain to me the second difficulty, concerning holy communion ?

A. This difficulty, at present very common, disquiets but too much the faithful who have the devotion to communicate fre quently. Many pious souls, whom our Lord admits to the holy communion of his body and blood, are often interiorly at tracted to communicate for the deliverance of the souls of pur gatory, or for the relief of the infirmities of their brethren, or to ask of God more effica ciously some grace that may be important for their souls, the good of their neighbor, and the sanctification of the church.

But, there are persons who condemn these intentions, say ing : are the adoration and faith of one who communicates so great a thing ? can his com munion relieve the souls of purgatorj? can it draw any bene diction upon the whole church ? This difficulty arises from not knowing sufficiently the value and merit of the communion of the faithful. Remember well these beautiful words of our Lord, which contain so much instruction: He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him.* These are words of great con solation for the whole church, and in particular for each one who communicates. They ex plain fully the principal inten tion of our Lord in his nuptial

• Qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, in ine raanet, et ego in illo. Joan, vi, 57.

banquet, in which he makes a soul taste the sweetest delights, and treats it as a spouse, testify ing to it that he enters by holy communion into all the inten tions of his spouse; it entering, on its part, into all those of Jesus Christ. In this consists the perfect union of our Lord with us, when he becomes perfectly one with us, and we perfectly one with him, as he is one with his father.

This being supposed, when we receive by holy communion the body and blood of our Lord, sve enter into all his designs and intentions, and use him as if he belonged to us; so that when we communicate with the intention of relieving a soul in purgatory, or drawing down the blessings of heaven upon the whole church, we have the right, in virtue of that holy union, to use all the prayers of our Lord, his zeal, fervor, merits, and sufferings, for the fulfilment of this object. We have a right to direct his prayers in whatsoever channel we please, and request him to ask whatever we desire for the good of the church; so that, what we would be ashamed of asking by ourselves, not being worthy of the least favor, we are sure to obtain, when we ask it through our Lord.

Indeed, He who was heard by his Father, for the respect due to his person, whilst living upon earth, is the same who prays in the Christian soul; and what he asks upon earth, as well as in the bosom of his Father, he is sure to obtain in consideration of the grandeur of his person and divine nature, and by the infinite merits of his prayers, sufferings, and tears, which he incessantly offers to God, according to the word of St. Paul,* that he appears for us in the presence of his father, with whom he is always inter ceding in our favor. t Our Lord

• Apparet vultui Dei pro nobis. Heb. ix, 24.

t Semper vivens ad interpellanduin pro nobis. Hebr. vii, 25.

wished to survive himself like Isaac, and live after his death in his holy sacrifice, always to pray to his Father for us and all our wants.

The heart of a Christian who communicates is a temple, it is an altar, it is the image of the bo som of God the Father. In that heart, Christ offers himself to God, as he did on mount Cal vary, and continues in the same dispositions and prayers, as at the time of his death.