FREQUENT COMMUNION: why and how to promote it

If the goal of our life is union with Jesus, then we have to go as often as possible to the sacrament by which Jesus "unites us to himself in a most perfect union." (St. John Paul II)

Our ultimate goal: union with Jesus

To be highly effective, we need to know our ultimate goal. The recently published Directory for Catechesis clearly states the goal of all the work of the Church and of catechesis: communion with Jesus Christ.  “Formation does not consist in acquiring information or filling ourselves with ideas," notes theologian and prelate Msgr. Fernando Ocariz. "The objective of formation is identification with Jesus Christ.”

Shortest and surest way to the goal: Eucharistic communion  

Once the end goal is clear, we have to use the best, most effective means to achieve it. St. John Paul the Great tells us that in eucharistic communion, "God joins us to himself in the most perfection union." Indeed, who else but Jesus himself in person can unite us to himself. 

Thus, other great saints have pointed out the superlative power of Holy Communion:

• Most beneficial and most delightful prayer (St. Alphonsus)
• Shortest and surest way to heaven (St. Pius X)
• Greatest way to enrich our soul with virtue and rapidly advance to a high degree of perfection (St. Teresa)

Biblical and early Christian practice: daily communion

Based on the logic of this supreme sanctifying power, the early Christians received communion not once in a while, but daily:

Every day they broke bread in their homes. (Acts 2:46) 

Together with other saints of the time, St. Cyprian, born around 210 AD, attests to this fact:

We are who in Christ receive the Eucharist daily, so as not to be separated from Christ through sin. 

This is not surprising because Jesus taught us to pray:

Give us this day our daily bread. (Mt 6:11)

Strongly encouraged: Help everyone to receive as often as possible, even daily

Thus, the Church through its Catechism says: 

“The Church strongly encourages the faithful to receive the holy Eucharist on Sundays and feast days, or more often still, even daily.” (C 1389) 

Given the clarity of the above, it is important for Christian educators to help children receive Jesus more often, if possible daily. 

This year 2022, Dualtech Training Center, after seeing that only 15% of the students were receiving communion during the school Mass, took specific steps to form the students and eventually reached 54% reception at one point.

This is what they did:

• The formation council clearly saw the importance of communion and decided to meet regularly, observe the numbers and take the necessary steps.  
• This council increased the allotted time for the class of Religion so they can have more time to discuss these most important topics: Confession, Holy Mass and Communion and prayer. 
• They allotted more time for Confession. 
• The training and mentoring council asked everyone to be involved and to pray for the students. 
• Reception of the sacraments was made the priority in the weekly report during the weekly meeting. 
• The first numbers reviewed in the meeting is how many received Holy Communion, how many went to Confession.
• They monitor the progress through a graph, and evaluate for further improvement. 
• The students are free to go to Mass or not. 
• The teachers explained the value of the sacraments almost daily, and encouraged the students to go to Confession and receive Communion. They also conduct orientation to prepare the students for Confession. Before the Mass, the teachers also give a 15-minute preparation before the Mass where the Gospel is read and meditated on. 
• The mentors pray for their mentees. This is their first task. They follow them up if they have questions. They listen to each student on why they were not receiving and help each one to overcome the problems, especially by encouraging Confession. 
• The chaplains spoke more about Confession and Communion during the homilies. During the seminar for new enrollees, they explain the sacraments and invite them to these, becoming their friends, and giving homilies to which the students can relate and apply to their lives. 
• The student leaders, who assist the teachers, invited their co-students to the sacraments. They also give Confession tutorials when needed; they give support and even accompany them to the Confessional. 

Guide to Holy Communion, the most delightful prayer

So that the students can enjoy the time with Jesus during communion with much fruit and look forward to it, this blog features a guide to Eucharistic communion, entitled Most Delightful Prayer: A Guide to Holy Communion, which you can access here. It contains general ideas from the saints on how to pray during the 10 to 15 minutes that Jesus is in us, and some traditional prayers for communion. To easily print and distribute the guide to the students, you can download it in PDF here, or you can redo the doc in Word here.