Devotional Opportunities

Eucharistic Adoration:

IHM Church - All are invited to participate in Eucharistic Adoration every Thursday. The exposition will be on the main Church altar immediately following the 9:00 AM morning Mass until 12:00 PM and additional evening hours from 7:00 - 9:00 PM.

What is a Spiritual Communion? How to Make a Spiritual Communion.

Fr. Tom on Spiritual Communion
There have been many situations in the history of the Church when the faithful could not receive holy Communion such as illness or disability, imprisonment, persecution, lack of priests or even war.
• The twelve hour (or longer) “Eucharistic fast” often discouraged even the very pious from receiving communion.

• Saint Teresa of Avila (16th Century) expressed the longing and desire for the Lord to enter our heart with this advice: “When you do not receive Communion and do not attend Mass, you can make a spiritual communion, which is a most beneficial practice; by it, the love of God will be greatly impressed on you.”

• Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) expressed “spiritual communion” in this prayer: “My Jesus, I believe you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love you above all things and I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace you as if you were already there, and unite myself wholly to you. Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen.”

So how do you make a “spiritual communion?” Saint Peter Julian Eymard (1811-68), the French “apostle of the Eucharist,” suggested the following thoughts:
• “If you cannot receive sacramentally, receive by making the following acts:
• Conceive a real desire to be united to Jesus Christ by acknowledging the need you have to love his life;
• Stir yourself to perfect contrition for all your sins, past and present, by considering the infinite goodness and sanctity of God;
• Receive Jesus Christ in spirit in your inmost soul, entreating him to give you the grace to live entirely for him, since you can live only by him.
• Offer in thanksgiving a special act of homage, a sacrifice, an act of virtue, and beg the blessing of Jesus Christ upon yourself and all your relatives and friends.”

Saint Francis De Sales said that his experience in serving souls made him realize that the all powerful virtue of the Eucharist is that it “strengthens hearts in good, exempts them from evil, consoles them, and in a word makes them God-like in this world when we receive Christ with faith, purity and devotion.”

Friends, no matter how distant we may be physically, through the sincere desire for sacramental union with the church in great act of worship the Mass, we are intimately and really united to her and we can receive the fruits of the most holy Sacrament in our “spiritual communion.”

Walk in His footsteps.

Did you know the Stations of the Cross are posted outside the Church? Look for them on the pillars, in the portico, surrounding the Church building.

Use the PowerPoint to the right or click the link below.

https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/stations-of-the-cross

IHM School 8th Grade Class -
Living Stations of the Cross

Deacon Wally and Mrs. Beth created
the Station of the Cross videos for children.