The celebrant of the Mass is always the first person to receive Holy Communion, which is received slightly differently from how the rest of the faithful receive. There is no minister to say to the priest: “The Body of Christ.” If you pay close attention, you may see the priest whispering some words before he communicates. Here is what he says: “May the Body of Christ keep me safe for eternal life.” He says the same thing when receiving from the Chalice, with the exception of replacing the word “Body” with “Blood.”
In the resource that I mentioned last week, Explanation of Prayers and Ceremonies of Holy Mass, there is a beautiful reflection that helps us in understanding this prayer, not just as it applies to the priest, but as it applies to all who receive Our Lord in the Eucharist:
The Priest speaks as if he were to communicate but once only in his life. One communion would of itself be sufficient to preserve our soul unto Life Eternal, for such is the intrinsic efficacy of this Divine Sacrament, provided for our wants by God.
(Dom Prosper Guéranger, Explanation of Prayers and Ceremonies of Holy Mass, 64)
Although it may be a bit of a sobering thought, this reflection invites us to consider the final time we will receive Holy Communion. At every Mass, it is quite possible that this may be the very last time we receive Holy Communion. If we actually knew that to be the case, how differently would we prepare our hearts to receive Jesus in the Eucharist? Again, this might be a bit of a sobering thought, and I do not mean to strike panic in our hearts by thinking of it, but we also have the rather ominous words that Jesus Himself left us: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Mt 25:13) So why wouldn’t we want to make every reception of Holy Communion as devout as possible, for it has the power to grant us eternal life!
The Church desires to feed her children with the Bread of Life at the very end of their earthly journey. One of the so-called “Last Rites” is to receive Holy Communion as viaticum. Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “As the sacrament of Christ’s Passover the Eucharist should always be the last sacrament of the earthly journey, the ‘viaticum’ for ‘passing over’ to eternal life.” (CCC 1517) There are people who receive viaticum at home or in their hospital beds as they are about to die, and there are those who, unknowingly, receive viaticum at the last Mass they ever attended. There is actually something very consoling about this, for if the thought of not knowing when the Lord will come to call us home fills us with anxiety, we are given the peace of knowing that the last Eucharist we received is a powerful grace to help us in passing over into the promise of Eternal Life in Heaven. All the more reason to make sure we are going to Mass every Sunday, if not more frequently, for doing so in the state of grace will be the best means we have of being prepared for that unknown day and unknown hour.
The fact that we do not know when it will be the last time we receive Holy Communion should make every time we receive Holy Communion special. It reminds me of the words that St. Teresa of Calcutta asked to be printed in the sacristy of every chapel of the Missionaries of Charity for the priests to reflect on: “Priest of Jesus Christ celebrate this Holy Mass as if it were your first Mass, your last Mass, your only Mass.” We can easily adapt that to our reception of Holy Communion, priest or not: “Son/Daughter of Jesus Christ, receive this Eucharist as if it were your first Eucharist, your last Eucharist, your only Eucharist.”
Father Alford