PrayTheRosary Apostolate

Pope speaks on St. Pius X, drive to encourage frequent Communion

August 18, 2010

At his weekly public audience on August 18, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the achievements of Pope St. Pius X, and particularly that Pope’s drive to encourage frequent reception of Holy Communion and to open the sacrament to children at the age of reason.

Speaking to the crowd that gathered for his Wednesday audience in the courtyard of the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, the Holy Father said that the life of Pius X was marked by “humility and simplicity and great charity toward those most in need.” His great humility caused Pius X to feel unworthy of the papacy, Pope Benedict said. Yet his pontificate “left an indelible mark in the history of the Church.”

Pope Pius X—whose feast the Church will celebrate on August 21-- reorganized the Roman Curia, began the reform of the Code of Canon Law, and spurred the development of a new universal catechism, the Pope reminded his audience. Pius X was also instrumental in liturgical reform, most notably in encouraging frequent reception of Communion and allowing children aged 7 and over to receive the Eucharist.

- CNA

Thank you L.R. for the timely post. May I share the preaching of St John Vianney as a saintly appeal to receive Our Lord more often in Holy Communion:

"There is nothing so great, my children, as the Eucharist! Put all the good works in the world against one good Communion; they will be like a grain of dust beside a mountain. Make a prayer when you have the good God in your heart; the good God will not be able to refuse you anything, if you offer Him His Son, and the merits of His holy death and Passion. My children, if we understood the value of Holy Communion, we should avoid the least faults, that we might have the happiness of making it oftener. We should keep our souls always pure in the eyes of God."

 

 

"All the prayers of the Mass are a preparation for Communion; and all the life of a Christian ought to be a preparation for that great action. We ought to labor to deserve to receive Our Lord every day. How humbled we ought to feel when we see others going to the holy table, and we remain motionless in our place! How happy is a guardian angel who leads a beautiful soul to the holy table! In the primitive Church they communicated every day."

 

 

" If we are deprived of Sacramental Communion, let us replace it, as far as we can, by spiritual communion, which we can make every moment; for we ought to have always a burning desire to receive the good God. Communion is to the soul like blowing a fire that is beginning to go out, but that has still plenty of hot embers; we blow, and the fire burns again. After the reception of the Sacraments, when we feel ourselves slacken in the love of God, let us have recourse at once to spiritual communion. When we cannot come to church, let us turn towards the tabernacle: a wall cannot separate us from the good God; let us say five Patres and five Aves to make a spiritual communion. We can receive the good God only once a day; a soul on fire with love supplies for this by the desire to receive Him every moment. O man, how great thou art! fed with the Body and Blood of a God! Oh, how sweet a life is this life of union with the good God! It is Heaven upon earth; there are no more troubles, no more crosses! When you have the happiness of having received the good God, you feel a joy, a sweetness in your heart for some moments. Pure souls feel it always, and in this union consists their strength and their happiness."

       --Saint John Vianney