Thanksgiving after Communion

Remain after Mass for at least fifteen minutes in thanksgiving — these may be the most intimate minutes of the week.

Why this practice

The saints tell us that the moments after Communion are the moments when the Heart of Jesus is most accessible to us. He is sacramentally within us; the time is unrepeatable. To rush out is to waste it.

Croiset is emphatic: "The thanksgiving after Communion is not a piety added to Mass. It is the conversation Christ has come to have with the soul."

How to begin

1Plan your schedule so that you can remain at least fifteen minutes after Mass — not less.

2During this time, do not read prayers from a book unless you need them. Be with Him directly.

3Bring your specific intentions — for someone you love, for a struggle, for the world — and lay them at His Heart.

4End the thanksgiving with an act of consecration of the coming day or week to Him.

Those fifteen minutes after Communion are the most valuable of the week. They are the audience He grants when He is within us.

— After St. Alphonsus Liguori

A prayer for this practice

Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thou art truly within me. I have nothing to ask but that Thou shouldst not depart, nor let me go far from Thee in the day to come. Take what is Thine.

Amen.

When you're ready

Spiritual Communion →