St. Alphonsus Liguori

For when you cannot receive the Eucharist, but long to.

A spiritual communion is an act of desire: you cannot receive the Blessed Sacrament, so you ask the Lord to come to you in another way. The sick, the housebound, travellers, those who cannot get to Mass, and those who must abstain from receiving have prayed it for centuries.

The Prayer

My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.

I embrace You as if You were already there
and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

About This Prayer

The text is St. Alphonsus Liguori’s, and it is the most widely used of many such prayers. St. Thomas Aquinas described spiritual communion as "an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Holy Sacrament and a loving embrace as though we had already received Him." The Council of Trent taught that those who receive in this way experience its fruit and benefit.

It is not a substitute for Sunday Mass where attendance is possible, and it does not replace sacramental confession where that is needed. It is what love does when the door is shut: it waits at the door.