Quod sacra Communio de facili non est reliquenda.

The Fount of Grace and the Enemy's Opposition

The soul is urged to return often to Holy Communion as the source of healing and strength, even though the devil fiercely opposes it.

You must frequently return to the fount of grace and of divine mercy, to the fount of goodness and of all purity, so that you may be healed of your passions and vices, and so that you may deserve to become stronger and more watchful against all the temptations and deceits of the devil.¹² The enemy, knowing that the greatest fruit and remedy is found in Holy Communion, strives by every means and at every opportunity to draw away and hinder the faithful and the devout, as far as he is able.³⁴⁵

Satan's Assaults and the Call to Courage

Satan intensifies his attacks on those preparing for Communion, but his deceptions must be despised and Communion must not be abandoned.

For since certain people are preparing for Holy Communion, they suffer worse assaults and deceptions from Satan. The Spirit himself — as it is written in Job — comes among the sons of God, so that with his usual wickedness he may trouble them, or render the timid excessively fearful and confused, in order to diminish the fruits of their devotion, or carry away their faith by attacking it — if perhaps they might either abandon Communion altogether, or approach it with lukewarmness.^✦ But there is no reason to pay any heed to his wiles and illusions, however shameful and dreadful they may be; rather, all his phantasms are to be hurled back upon his own head. That wretch is to be despised and mocked, and Holy Communion is not to be omitted on account of his assaults and the disturbances he stirs up.

Overcoming Scruples and Anxiety

Excessive worry about devotion and confession must not hinder grace; one should confess quickly, forgive others, and not delay Communion over small difficulties.

Often, too, excessive worry about having devotion and a certain anxiety about making confession get in the way. Act on the counsel of the wise: put aside your anxiety and scruple, because it hinders the grace of God and destroys devotion of mind.⁶ Don't give up Communion because of some small trial or difficulty; but go quickly to confess and willingly forgive all the offenses you've done to others.⁷ But if you have offended someone, you yourself humbly beg forgiveness, and God will gladly forgive you.

The Danger of Delay

Postponing confession and Communion brings spiritual harm, deepening torpor and unfitness, while the lukewarm welcome delay to avoid the demands of a stricter life.

What good does it do to put off confession for a long time, or to postpone sacred Communion? Cleanse yourself as quickly as you can; spit out the poison without delay, hurry to receive the remedy, and you'll feel better than if you had put it off for a long time. If you put it off today for that reason, tomorrow perhaps something worse will come up, and so you could be kept from Communion for a long time and become even more unfit. The sooner you can shake off your present heaviness and sluggishness, the better — because there's no point in being anxious for a long time, passing through prolonged tribulation, and letting daily obstacles separate you from the things of God. In fact, putting off Communion for a long time does real harm: it tends to bring on a deep and heavy torpor.⁸ What a grief it is — certain lukewarm and dissolute people gladly welcome delays in confession, and for that very reason want to put off sacred Communion, lest they be held to a stricter guardianship of their own lives.⁹

The Blessing of Readiness and the Call to Rouse Oneself

Those who easily put off Communion show little love, while the blessed soul lives in constant readiness, and even if sluggishness creeps in, one must rouse oneself to God who favors good will.

Alas, how little love and how feeble their devotion — those who put off Holy Communion so easily!¹⁰ How blessed is that person, and how welcome to God, who lives in such a way and guards his conscience with such purity that he would be ready and well disposed to receive Communion every single day, if it were permitted him and he could do so without reproach.¹¹ If someone sometimes abstains out of humility, or because a legitimate obstacle stands in the way, he is to be praised for his reverence.¹² But if sluggishness has crept in, he ought to rouse himself and do what lies within him, and the Lord will be present to his desire — for the Lord looks with favor on the good will He finds in him.¹³¹⁴

Spiritual Communion and Sacramental Reverence

A devout person may spiritually commune with Christ at any time, yet ought also to receive sacramentally on appointed days with reverence, seeking God's honor and being kindled into love.

When a person is truly prepared, they will always have a good will and a devout intention of receiving Communion, and so they will not lack the fruit of the Sacrament.¹⁵ Any devout person can, on any day and at any hour, approach the spiritual Communion of Christ to their benefit and without prohibition.¹⁶ And yet on certain days, at the appointed time, one ought to receive the Body of one's Redeemer sacramenter, with heartfelt reverence, and aim more at the praise and honor of God than at seeking one's own consolation.¹⁷¹⁸ For as often as one mystically communicates and is invisibly restored, so often as one devoutly recalls the mystery of Christ's incarnation and passion, and is kindled into love of him.¹⁹

The Whole Burnt Offering and Common Life

One should prepare diligently, offer oneself wholly to the Lord at Communion, and observe the common discipline of the community rather than seeking private devotion.

But whoever does not prepare himself otherwise—unless compelled by an approaching feast or by custom—will more often than not be unprepared. Blessed is the one who offers himself to the Lord as a whole burnt offering, as often as he celebrates or receives Communion.^✦²⁰ Do not be too drawn-out or hasty in celebrating; but keep to the common good measure of those with whom you live. You ought not cause others trouble or weariness, but keep the common way according to love of the ordinances, and rather serve the benefit of others than your own devotion or inclination.²¹

Read the original Latin

Frequenter recurrendum est ad fontem gratiæ et divinæ misericordiaæ, ad fontem bonitatis et totius puritatis, quatenus a passionibus tuis et vitiis curare valeas, et contra universas tentationes et fallacias diaboli fortior atque vigilantior effici merearis. Inimicus sciens fructum et remedium maximum in sacra Communione positum, omni modo et occasione nititur fideles et devotos quantum prævalet retrahere et impedire.

Cum enim quidam sacræ Communioni disponunt, pejores Satanæ immissiones et illusiones patiuntur. Ipse namque Spiritus, ut in Job scribitur, venit inter filios Dei, ut solita ejus nequitia perturbet, aut timidos nimium reddat et perplexos, quatenus fructus eorum affectuum minuat vel fidem impugnando auferat, si forte aut omnino Communionem relinquant, aut cum tepore accedant. Sed non est quidquam curandum de versutiis et phantasiis illius quantumlibet turpibus et horrendis, sed cuncta phantasmata in caput ejus sunt retorquenda. Contemnendus est miser, et deridendus, nec propter insultus ejus et Commotiones, quas suscitat, sacra est omittenda Communio.

Sæpe etiam impedit nimia sollicitudo pro devotione habenda et anxietas quædam de confessione facienda. Age secundum consilium sapientum; et depone anxietatem et scrupulum, quia gratiam Dei impedit et devotionem mentis destruit. Propter aliquam parvam tribulationem vel gravitatem sacram ne dimittas Communionem; sed vade citius confiteri et omnes offensiones aliis libenter indulge. Si vero aliquem offendisti tu, tu veniam humiliter deprecare: et Deus libenter indulgebit tibi.

Quid prodest diu tardare confessionem, aut sacram differre Communionem? Expurga te quam primum; exspue velociter venenum, festina recipere remedium, et senties melius, quam si diu distuleris. Si hodie propter istud distuleris, cras forsitan illud magis eveniet, et sic diu posses a Communione impediri et magis ineptus fieri. Quanto citius vales, a præsenti gravitate et inertia te excutias, quia nihil importat diu anxiari, diu cum tribulatione transire et ob quotidiana obstacula se a divinis sequestrare, immo plurimum nocet diu Communionem protelare: nam et gravem torporem consuevit inducere. Proh dolor, quidam tepidi et dissoluti moras confitendi accipiunt libenter, et Communionem sacram idcirco differre cupiunt, ne ad majorem sui custodiam se dare teneantur.

Heu, quam modicam charitatem, et debilem devotionem habent, qui sacram Communionem tam faciliter postponunt. Quam felix ille et Deo acceptus habetur, qui sic vivit, et tali puritate conscientiam suam custodit, ut etiam omni die communicare paratus et bene affectatus esset, si ei liceret, et sine nota agere posset. Si quis interdum abstinet humilitatis gratia, aut legitima impediente causa, laudandus est de reverentia. Si autem torpor obrepserit, seipsum excitare debet et facere quod in se est, et Dominus aderit desiderio suo pro bona voluntate, quam specialiter respicit.

Cum vero legitime præpeditus est, habebit semper bonam voluntatem et piam intentionem communicandi: et sic non carebit fructu Sacramenti. Potest enim quilibet devotus omni die et omni hora ad spiritualem Christi Communionem salubriter et sine prohibitione accedere. Et tamen certis diebus statuto tempore Corpus sui Redemtoris cum affectuosa reverentia sacramentaliter debet suscipere et magis laudem Dei et honorem prætendere, quam suam consolationem quærere. Nam toties mystice communicat et invisibiliter reficitur, quoties incarnationis Christi mysterium passionemque devote recolit, et in amorem ejus accenditur.

Qui autem se non præparat aliter, nisi instante festo vel consuetudine compellente sæpius imparatus erit. Beatus, qui se Domino in holocaustum offert, quoties celebrat, aut communicat. Non sis in celebrando nimis prolixus aut festinus; sed serva communem bonum modum eorum, cum quibus vivis. Non debes aliis generare molestiam et tædium, sed communem serva viam secundum amorem institutionum, et potius aliorum servire utilitati, quam propriæ devotioni, vel affectui.

Scripture echoes

↩Job.1.6-Job.1.12 — Now there came a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and the Adversary also came among them. Job.1.7 — The LORD said to the Accuser, 'Where have you come from?' The Accuser answered the LORD and said, 'From roaming through the earth and walking back and forth in it.' Job.1.8 — Then the LORD said to the Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil." Job.1.9 — Then the Adversary answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Job.1.10 — Have you not put a hedge around him, around his house, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have spread across the land. Job.1.11 — But stretch out your hand now and strike all that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. Job.1.12 — And the LORD said to the Adversary, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand; only do not lay your hand on him." Then the Adversary went out from the presence of the LORD.
↩Rom.12.1 — Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship.

Notes

1 ↩gratiæ and misericordiaæ: medieval orthographic æ = ae; rendered as 'grace' and 'mercy' per approved lexicon.
2 ↩quatenus introduces a purpose clause ('so that'), governing both valeas and merearis; the two purpose clauses are linked by et.
3 ↩Communione rendered as 'Holy Communion' per approved lexicon for Eucharistic contexts in Book 4.
4 ↩quantum prævalet is an idiomatic construction meaning 'as far as he can / as much as possible.'
5 ↩positum agrees with fructum/remedium (neuter accusative); the participial phrase sciens … positum functions as a causal/circumstantial modifier of the enemy's action.
6 ↩Scrupulus rendered as 'scrupule' to preserve the technical devotional sense of excessive moral anxiety, not merely generic worry.
7 ↩Gravitas rendered as 'difficulty' to capture the sense of weight or burden without the technical philosophical sense of 'gravity.'
8 ↩The connective 'immo' is rendered as 'in fact' to capture its corrective/intensifying force — the author shifts from saying prolonged anxiety doesn't matter to saying active delay actually causes harm.
9 ↩The negative-purpose clause 'ne…teneantur' is rendered as 'lest they be held to' to preserve the sense that Communion obliges the recipient to greater self-discipline, which the lukewarm wish to avoid.
10 ↩charitatem rendered 'love' per lexeme policy for charitas; could also carry the theological-virtue sense of 'charity.'
11 ↩ut at token 16 rendered with purpose force ('that he would be ready'); a result reading ('so that he is ready') is also possible.
12 ↩humilitatis gratia: 'out of humility' captures the causal genitive; gratia here is 'for the sake of' rather than the theological term 'grace.'
13 ↩autem rendered adversatively ('but'); a continuative reading ('moreover') is also possible.
14 ↩pro bona voluntate: rendered 'on the good will' — the Lord responds to the person's goodwill.
15 ↩præpeditus: lemma uncertain; possibly a variant of impedio or a deponent form. Context suggests 'duly prepared' or 'properly made ready.' The translation follows the temporal reading of Cum ('when') rather than a causal or concessive one.
16 ↩spiritualem Christi Communionem: 'spiritual Communion of Christ' — the Latin distinguishes this interior, spiritual communion from sacramental reception, which is treated in the following sentence.
17 ↩cum affectuosa reverentia: rendered 'with heartfelt reverence' — affectuosa conveys deep interior affection, not mere sentiment.
18 ↩The sentence sets up a deliberate contrast between spiritual communion (available daily) and sacramental reception (on appointed days), while subordinating personal consolation to the glory of God.
19 ↩toties…quoties: correlative construction ('as often as…so often as') expressing a reciprocal relationship between sacramental communion and devotional remembrance. The invisible restoration (invisibiliter reficitur) refers to interior spiritual renewal.
20 ↩holocaustum evokes the Old Testament whole burnt offering (Leviticus 1), here applied to the self-offering of the communicant.
21 ↩affectui rendered as 'inclination' to capture the sense of personal devotional preference that should yield to communal good.