Just as the body needs food for the support of man's natural life, so the soul must be nourished for the preservation and the strengthening of its supernatural life. For this purpose Our Lord has given us a most precious food, His own body and blood. It is indeed a token of His immeasurable love for souls that He wills to come personally into our hearts in order to help and to console us in the difficulties and temptations of our journey through life. And He makes the conditions of receiving Him in Holy Communion very simple. Nothing more is necessary than that we have the proper intention and that we be in the state of sanctifying grace; venial sins do not make us unworthy. The Church, out of reverence for this great sacrament, demands that we observe the law of fasting described above, before Holy Communion, but in certain circumstances, particularly in danger of death, this law does not bind. Even though one is not sick, if there is danger of deathas in the case of a soldier going into battlehe may receive Holy Communion without fasting at any hour of the day or night.
Ordinarily it is permitted to receive Holy Communion only once a day, but there are exceptions to this rule. Thus, a person who has received Holy Communion in the morning may receive the Blessed Sacrament again as Viaticum if he falls into the danger of death in the course of the day. Again, a person who has already received Holy Communion could on the same day consume the Blessed Sacrament in order to protect It from insult or injury. Finally, a priest may receive Holy Communion more than once on the same daynamely, when he celebrates two or more Masses,
If we were permitted to receive Holy Communion only once in our lifetime we should surely prepare carefully for this great event. But we are allowed to receive this sacrament every day, except Holy Saturday, when the Easter Vigil Mass is celebrated after midnight. The frequency with which we can approach the holy table should not diminish our fervor. Each time we receive Our Lord we should prepare our souls for His coming, considering that we are to have a privilege even greater than that of Martha and Mary and the other friends of Christ who welcomed Him into their homes when He dwelt on earth.
Even when we cannot actually receive Holy Communion we can make an act of spiritual communion, which is an act of faith and love toward Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, with an ardent desire to receive Him.
Until comparatively recent times daily Communion was very rare in the Church. However, children were generally not admitted to their First Communion until they were about ten years old. But a great and holy Pope, Pius X, who ruled the Church from 1903 to 1914, urgently invited all Catholics to partake of the Divine Banquet frequently, even daily, telling them that the only necessary conditions are the state of grace and a right intention. He also laid down the law that children are to be admitted to Holy Communion as soon as they reach the age of reason, when they are about seven years old. Certainly Our Lord must be pleased that through the efforts of this great Pope He has the opportunity of coming so frequently into the hearts of His faithful, especially into the innocent hearts of little children.
Sometimes we hear a person say that he intends to receive Holy Communion for someone else, and we should understand correctly what is meant by this. We cannot receive Holy Communion for another in the sense that we can transfer to him the graces conferred by the sacrament, for these belong to the recipient alone. But we can receive Holy Communion for another in the sense that we can pray for him at the time of Holy Communion, when our prayers have great value, and if we receive Holy Communion for a deceased person we can offer for him any indulgences we may gain on that occasion.
No matter what difficulties we may encounter, no matter how many temptations we may have to overcome, no matter what sorrows may enter into our life, Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament will give us the grace and the strength that we need. And we are permitted not only to receive Him in Holy Communion but also to visit Him in the tabernacle, where He remains day and night, saying to us as He said long ago to those who were in pain and sorrow: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11: 28).