The Communion of Saints

A wise, elderly priest once celebrated an early morning Mass. Later that day, someone asked him, “How many attended Mass this morning?” and he answered, “There were thousands there—but I only saw three of them.” In other words, in addition to the three early birds in attendance, the priest included the thousands of souls from purgatory allowed by God to be present at this Mass, along with a multitude of invisible but very real angels and saints, “especially Our Lady, St. Joseph, and St. Michael the Archangel. We don’t see everything that’s going on at Mass, and we would be overwhelmed and amazed if we could. Many deceased persons being cleansed and healed in purgatory are allowed to be present, especially if the Mass is being offered for them and especially if they had a great devotion to the Eucharist during their lives.

Far more often than we realize, persons in Heaven—especially the loved ones of those present in the congregation—are here with us in church, filling the pews and worshiping the Lord. The guardian angels of every person present in church are bringing forth gifts of love and trust and self-surrender—except some of these angels are empty-handed because the human beings entrusted to their care are only physically present in church, with their hearts and “attention elsewhere. How sad these empty-handed angels appear. All these things are happening, unseen by us, because of the Divine Presence of Jesus Himself. He is robed in glory and seated on a heavenly throne above and behind the altar, and then—at the moment of consecration, when the bread and wine are changed into His Body and Blood—He comes down and stands in place of the priest, with holy light and fire radiating outward and filling the church.

According to many visionaries and prophets, all these things happen at every Mass— something impossible if Holy Communion were merely bread and wine. Our active participation in the Mass is the closest we can come to Heaven while still on earth, for the Eucharist truly is Christ’s Body and Blood and a foretaste of the new life awaiting us. The Eucharist is not imaginary or symbolic but actually is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ, and It’s not supposed to be received in a routine or half-hearted way—and certainly never while in a state of serious sin. Instead, we must approach the altar with as much love, gratitude, and awareness as possible—for this is how we open our hearts to Jesus our Savior and prepare ourselves for that day when He will welcome us into His Kingdom.