Mass for Ballinderreen and Kinvara Parishes will be livestreamed on Facebook Live this Sunday (15th March 2020) at 10.30am and available on the Ballinderreen and Kinvara Facebook page as a recording after. Those not on Facebook should still be able to see the Facebook page from the internet at the address:

www.facebook.com/BallinderreenandKinvaraParishes

Kinvara FM will also probably make an audio recording.

Also, Bishop Brendan Kelly will celebrate Mass live on Galway Bay FM radio at 11.30am.

This will be a help in people making spiritual communion with the Lord during this period when we cannot hold public Mass due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus situation.

Here is a reflection on spiritual communion from the Parish of Lisdoonvarna and Kilshanny Facebook page:

WHAT IS A ‘SPIRITUAL COMMUNION’?

In the normal course of events we might not be able to receive Holy Communion for one reason or another. Maybe we’re too sick to go to Mass, or we’re in a foreign country with no opportunities for Mass. Maybe we’re in a state of serious sin and need to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation first, or maybe we haven’t made the one-hour fast beforehand. These circumstances can crop up fairly often.

Now, over the coming weeks – due to the new national health rules – many people who are daily participants in the Holy Eucharist, and who have deep devotion to Our Lord really and truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, will not be able to have the privilege of attending Holy Mass on weekdays, nor even on Sundays.

In all of these situations it is good to keep alive the ancient tradition of frequently making a ‘spiritual communion’. It is a beautiful part of our Catholic spiritual heritage and tradition, and it is something we can all do anytime and anywhere.

Saint Thomas Aquinas described acts of spiritual communion as “an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Holy Sacrament and a loving embrace as though we had already received Him.”

Saint Teresa of Avila wrote: “When you do not receive communion and you 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 Padre Pio experienced spiritual communion so intense that he described them in terms of his heart fusing with the heart of Jesus: “They were no longer two hearts beating but only one. My heart disappeared as if it were a drop in the ocean.”

Saint John Paul II encouraged the practice of making acts of spiritual communion whenever we cannot attend Mass, and also in circumstances where we might be present at Mass but our lives and souls are not properly prepared to receive the Holy Eucharist. Spiritual communion links us to the Eucharist, which in turns links us to our core vocation – which is to share in the Holy Communion of the Blessed Trinity.

The following is a prayer used by many saints and sinners over the centuries as a loving worshipful act of spiritual communion:

My Jesus,
I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love you above all things,
and I desire to receive you in my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally,
please come spiritually into my heart.
I embrace you now as if you were already there,
and I unite myself wholly to you.
Never permit me to be separated from you.
Amen.