The best way to receive Jesus Christ is in Holy Communion at Mass. Yet for those times you cannot attend Mass and/or cannot receive Communion, you can still receive Jesus by making a Spiritual Communion in prayer.
St. Thomas Aquinas once defined a Spiritual Communion as “an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament and in lovingly embracing Him as if we had actually received Him.”
Here is a prayer composed by St. Alphonsus Liguori in the 18th century that can be used in receiving Holy Communion spiritually:
My Jesus,
I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament.
I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there,
and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
