Preparation for Holy Communion

The story of the manna with which God fed the Hebrews in the wilderness ought to remind the Christian of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which provides nourishment not merely to strengthen us for our work on earth, but which provides us with the grace that strengthens us for eternal life.  Pious consideration of this Sacrament caused many beautiful sermons, hymns, and prayers to be written.  St. Albert the Great wrote a lengthy series of sermons on this subject.  The following is a translation of one of these homilies:

"It is necessary for the one receiving the Sacrament to be prepared for this in three ways, for the Sacrament is most pure, filled with the living God, and united to him.  First, through the fullness of faith; second, through great purity; third, through devotion to prayer.  

"The first preparation is through the fullness of prayer.  Hebrews 10, 22: 'We approach him with our heart in the fullness of faith.'  With 'our heart' -- with our understanding, without error.  'In the fullness of faith' -- believing with all faith that which we do not see, namely, that the whole Christ, true man and true God, is under the appearance of bread.  Regarding the great merit of this kind of faith, it is written, in 1 Peter 1, 8: 'Believing in the Christ whom you do not see, you shall exult with unspeakable joy.'

"The second preparation is through great purity.  It is only fitting that the vessel be clean that is about to receive the most pure Body of Christ.  Exodus 16, 33: 'Take a vessel and put manna into it.'  A vessel, that is, that is singularly and excellently pure.  Thus, in Hebrews 9, 4, the Apostle said that the vessel must be a vessel of gold.  It is only fitting that the heart that is to receive the heavenly Bread should be the purest 'gold', through its great purity.  Pope Alexander [probably Alexander III, d. 1181] says: 'No sacrifice can be greater than that of the Body and Blood of Christ, nor is there any sacrifice more powerful than it, but it surpasses all others.  It must be offered to God with a pure conscience, and must be received with a pure mind.'  Hugh of St. Victor: 'A pure conscience is that for which there is no just accusation in the past, no sin in the present, and no weak will in the future.  Matthew 27, 58-59: 'Joseph sought from Pilate the Body of Jesus . . . and when he had taken the Body, he wrapped it in pure white linen.'  The Gloss on this says, 'He wrapped the Body of Jesus in pure white linen when he received it with a pure mind.'  Thus, the custom of the Church, that the Sacrifice of the Altar not be celebrated on silk or colored cloth, but on pure white linen.

"Now, there are three actions whereby the altar cloth is made white, and these actions are understood in terms of our 'whitening'.  First, the washing.  Second, the stretching.  Third, the drying.  Thus, the one who wishes to he made clean to receive our Lord must first be washed in the water of tears; second, to be 'stretched' through works of penance; third, to be 'dried' by the heat of his love of God from the humor of carnal desires.

Concerning the first, Hebrews 10, 22: 'Let us approach with our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.'  That is, purified by our tears from sins of the heart and the body.  Exodus 30, 19: 'Aaron and his children shall wash their hands and feet.'  That is, their works and thoughts with the water of compunction and confession, 'when they are about to draw near to the altar, lest they die.'  Jeremiah 4, 14: 'Wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, and you will be saved.  How long shall hurtful thoughts abide in you?'  Psalm 6, 7: 'Each night I shall wash my bed', that is, my conscience.  'I will water my couch with my tears.'

"Concerning the second: Exodus 26, 1: 'You shall make the curtains of the tabernacle from fine, twisted linen', that is, adorned by the works of penance, fasting, self-denial, prayers, and similar kinds of work, of the soul.  1 Corinthians 9, 27: 'I punish my body and lead it back into service.'  Ecclesiasticus 33, 28: 'Torture and fetters are for the wicked slave', that is, for the body.  'Send him to work, lest he be idle.'

Concerning the third, Psalm 21, 16: 'My strength is dried up as a potsherd.'  As though to say, I am purged from every perverse humor by the fire of divine love.  Psalm 18, 6: 'He has set his tabernacle in the sun' -- in order to dry it through divine love, for it to be made beautiful and clean.  Song of Songs 4, 7: 'You are all beautiful my love, and there is no stain in you', for you have been washed, stretched, and dried.  Numbers 11, 18: 'You have been sanctified.  Tomorrow, you shall eat flesh.'

The third preparation is through devotion to prayer.  Psalm 104, 40: 'They sought, and the quail came; and he filled them with the bread of heaven.'  Job 3, 24: 'Before I eat, I sigh.'  Thus, Mary Magdalene and the other women devoted to him, carried aromatic spices when they sought the Body of Jesus (cf. Luke 24, 1).  Thus, when we are about to approach the Body of The Lord, the prayer of devotion must be tasted beforehand.  Spiritual 'aromatic spices' of devoted prayer should be added to our preparation when it is lacking in fasting and confession.  In 2 Chronicles 30, 18-19, when a great part of the people ate the Passover when they were not sanctified, King Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: 'The good Lord shall have mercy on all who seek The Lord God of their fathers with all their heart, and he will not hold it against them that they were not sanctified.'  Augustine: 'Although a person may be bitten by venial sin, he may not have the will for sinning.  He may make satisfaction with tears and prayers, and confiding in the mercy of The Lord, he may boldly and courageously approach the Eucharist.' "