Finding that love for God had greatly cooled in his time, St. Ignatius of Loyola placed the blame squarely upon a lack of devotion to the Eucharist. This, of course, makes perfect sense for they are one and the same thing—“every one who loves the Father, also loves the Son” (1 John 5:1). The Eucharist keeps our love for God from becoming abstract and always ensures that it remain fully human. Returning to Ignatius, he says that
“the early Church members of both sexes received Communion daily as soon as they were old enough. But soon devotion began to cool, and Communion became weekly. Then after a considerable interval of time, as devotion became still more cool, Communion was received on only three of the principal feasts of the year. . . . And finally, because of our weakness and indifference, we have ended with once a year. You would think we are Christian only in name, to see us so calmly accepting the condition to which the greater part of mankind has come.”
In short, we must return to our roots and receive Our Lord daily in the Eucharist.
Our Lord, on the Cross, gave all that was possible to mankind, emptying Himself of every ounce of blood, the symbol of life. This sacrifice will always remain distant to us individually until each one of us climbs the Mount of Calvary to receive it. Each Mass situates us really and truly, even if sacramentally, at the foot of the Cross. But it is not enough to merely be there, His blood must come upon us so that His life becomes ours. This is not symbolic, for the Creator of all that is needs no symbols, but real. “unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you” (John 6:53).
Meeting Our Lord’s Desire Head On
It should come as no surprise then that Our Lord so earnestly desired to give the Church the Eucharist (Luke 22:15). For our part, we should earnestly desire to receive Him. The Communion rail should be the place where the two desires collide and are consummated, igniting the fire of Divine Love in our souls. This holy desire should be wholly consuming. St. Catherine of Siena compares it to a candle that one carries to Communion:
“If you have a light, and the whole world should come to you in order to take light from it — the light itself does not diminish — and yet each person has it all. It is true that everyone participates more or less in this light, according to the substance into which each one receives the fire. I will develop this metaphor further that you may the better understand Me. Suppose that there are many who bring their candles, one weighing an ounce, others two or six ounces, or a pound, or even more, and light them in the flame, in each candle, whether large or small, is the whole light, that is to say, the heat, the color, and the flame; nevertheless you would judge that he whose candle weighs an ounce has less of the light than he whose candle weighs a pound. Now the same thing happens to those who receive this Sacrament. Each one carries his own candle, that is the holy desire, with which he receives this Sacrament, which of itself is without light, and lights it by receiving this Sacrament.”
Receiving Our Lord in the Eucharist is so vital to our existence that it was the first thing He told us to ask for ourselves; “Give us this day, our daily bread.” The Eucharist is the only “Daily Bread”. He tells us to ask food because He hungers to give. His hunger converts our hunger. As Christ tells St. Augustine, “I am the food of the strong; grow and thou shall feed on Me. But you shall not convert Me into yourself as the nourishment of your body, but you shall be changed into Me.” (Confessions Book 7 Ch 10).
Pope St. Pius X in his Decree Sacra Tridentina exhorted the Faithful to receive Our Lord daily in the Eucharist. But in order to do so fruitfully “one should take care that Holy Communion be preceded by careful preparation, and followed by an appropriate thanksgiving, according to each one’s strength, circumstances and duties.” We must “approach the Sacred Table Holy Table with a right and devout intention” that is animated neither by “custom, vanity or any human reason but with the desire to satisfy the good pleasure of God while growing ever closer to Him in charity.” We must receive Our Lord in order to quench His desire to give.
Tying together St. Ignatius sentiment with that of St. Catherine Siena helps us to grasp the ecclesiastical importance of fervent and daily Communion. Both the sign of and the cause of the mass tepidity is a lack of desire for the Eucharist. But when a Eucharistic remnant emerges that receives with St. Catherine’s holy desire, the love of Our Lord begins to spread like a flame as more and more candles are lit. The Early Church was filled with Daily Communicants and they set the world on fire with the love of Christ precisely because they were Daily Communicants. They gave what they received by bringing new converts to meet Our Lord in the Eucharist. If you want to change the face of the Earth then commit to living a thoroughly Eucharistic life. Catholics are Eucharistic Christians and thus meet Our Lord face to face every day.