A Great Storehouse of Great Stuff

    I spent over two weeks in Italy this past summer with my brother Peter. We visited churches and museums in Sicily, Pisa, Siena, Florence, and Rome. One clear takeaway: the Roman Catholic Church possesses an overwhelmingly great depository of truth, goodness, and beauty, both tangible and invisible. 

    As you approach the proverbial storehouse you will notice that it is being curated by mere mortals. Angels are on other assignments. Some curators don’t have the best of intentions. A few have outright evil motives. 

    But the vast majority of the Church’s gatekeeper servants are not newsworthy because of their faithfulness. They quietly seek to do the will of God for the benefit of the Church and the world.

    To deny oneself of the riches of the Church because of scandal is itself a shame. Don't let the offense of church people acting badly block your pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty... of God Himself. St. Augustine prayed, "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

Spiritual Communion Prayer. My spin.

"Oh my Jesus, I firmly believe that You are really and truly present here in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar: Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. Lord, I bow before You in adoration. 

Jesus, how I long to receive you in Holy Communion. But since I cannot at this time, please come in afresh by your Holy Spirit. 

I open the door of my heart as if I were receiving You:

Body of Christ, amen.

Blood of Christ, amen.

Lord, never let me be separated from You. But grant that I may be found in your friendship, in the state of grace at the hour of my death.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

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    This is my take on a traditional prayer for spiritual communion. It was composed in a Eucharistic adoration chapel.

    But another context where this can be prayed is at Mass when a person is unable to receive.