Explanation of the Chaplet of Spiritual Communion

We can make an act of Spiritual Communion any time. It only takes a moment to ask Jesus to enter into our hearts. There are a variety of prayers asking for Spiritual Communion. A popular one is by St. Alphonsus Liguori:

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 into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment 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.

This prayer is a wonderful request of our Lord, and one that surely pleases Him. Christ said: “ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” We can trust that Christ will come to us if we ask.

St. Alphonsus’ prayer of spiritual communion is beautiful. It expresses a love for God. We could ask the same thing with a simple, “Jesus, enter into my heart.” Such a prayer, although very short, is very good. St. Alphonsus’ prayer expresses desire to unite with Christ with more eloquence and intensity. Between two people who deeply love each other, there are times when we want to express that love more deeply. A simple “I love you” is very good, but there are times when we desire to say more and express our love more fully. The Chaplet of Spiritual Communion was created precisely for this purpose. It is a way we can share our love and desire for Christ with Him.

The Chaplet is built on the form of the rosary, and it uses a regular set of rosary beads. The goal is to make an act of spiritual communion and to contemplate Jesus in the Eucharist. This contemplation is designed to help us build our faith in the Eucharist.

To contemplate the Holy Eucharist, three sets of mysteries are offered.

The first set is the Prophetic Mysteries. These five mysteries show how the Eucharist was prefigured in the Old Testament. By contemplating them, we can see that the Eucharist has been part of God’s plan all along. God gave clues to the Israelites to prepare them for the Eucharist. These start with sacrifice of Melchizedek. Next, the Passover Sacrifice is considered. Third, we contemplate the Israelites receiving manna in desert. The fourth mystery revisits Melchizedek with a prophesy from King David in psalm 110 showing that the Messiah will be like Melchizedek. The fifth mystery recalls Elisha and the multiplication of the loaves. By meditating on some of the Old Testament references predicting the Eucharist, we can better appreciate the truth of the real presence and recognize that the Eucharist is the fulfillment of God’s plan for our salvation. There are many other places in the Old Testament that prefigure the Eucharist, but these five are a good starting point.

The second set of mysteries are the Doctrinal Mysteries. Jesus teaches us about the Eucharist during His ministry. His disciples struggle with this, but the message is clear. Jesus offers His body and blood as the sacrificial meal providing us with salvation. We start with John the Baptist recognizing Our Lord as the Lamb of God. The next three mysteries are all from the Gospel of John and his Bread of Life Discourse. Finally, we conclude with Paul explaining that we need to recognize that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ, and we must receive worthily.

The final set of mysteries are the Fulfillment Mysteries. The Fulfillment Mysteries focus on Jesus preparing for and instituting the Eucharist. This starts with the first two mysteries during Jesus’ public ministry: The Wedding at Cana and the Multiplication of the Loaves. In these two miracles, Jesus demonstrates that He is giving us bread and wine. We then see in the third mystery the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist. The fourth mystery shows us the importance of the Eucharist, when Jesus is revealed to the disciples in Emmaus in the breaking of the bread. The fulfillment mysteries conclude with the first Christians converted by Peter devoting themselves to the Eucharist. By meditating on the Fulfillment Mysteries, we see how Jesus prepared the Apostles for the Eucharist with signs, how He instituted the Eucharist, and how the early Church devoted themselves to the Eucharist.

Throughout the chaplet, prayers are offered asking for faith in the real presence and for spiritual communion. With this chaplet, we work to be changed by the reality of the Eucharist. There are four benefits anticipated from praying this chaplet:

Deepening our faith in the Eucharist
Deepening our love of Mary under the title Mother of the Eucharist
Uniting with Christ in an act of Spiritual Communion
Preparation for our next Mass and Holy Communion

You can download this document and a single page version for each set of mysteries here:

Full Document: Chaplet of Spiritual Communion
One Page Prophetic Mysteries: Chaplet of Spiritual Communion – Prophetic Mysteries
One Page Doctrinal Mysteries: Chaplet of Spiritual Communion – Doctrinal Mysteries
One Page Fulfillment Mysteries: Chaplet of Spiritual Communion – Fulfillment Mysteries

Prophetic Mysteries

1x Apostles Creed
1x Our Father
3x Hail Mary
1x Glory Be
1x O My Jesus

First Mystery: Melchizedek Offered Bread and Wine as a Sacrifice

Genesis 14:18-20
Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram with these words: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

1x:
O Lord, just as You prepared Mary to carry You, prepare us to receive You in the Eucharist and to be worthy to have Your body, blood, soul and divinity within us. In our sins, we offend You and reject You, but through Your divine mercy, we can be reunited with You. We are truly sorry for our sins and our rejection of You. Help us to approach You in humility and obedience, to seek Your forgiveness, and to trust in Your Divine Mercy so we me be purified and prepared to receive Your body and blood.

10x
Holy Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, lead us to your Son
and pray that we will always recognize Jesus in the Eucharist
trusting in the real presence of His body, blood, soul and divinity
for Our Lord’s flesh is true food, and Our Lord’s blood is true drink.
My Lord Jesus, come spiritually into my heart. Amen.

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Second Mystery: The Lamb is the Passover Sacrifice

Exodus 12:1,3,5-14
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. It shall not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted whole, with its head and shanks and inner organs. None of it must be kept beyond the next morning; whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned up. This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the LORD. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every first – born of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt-I, the LORD! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you. This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Third Mystery: The Israelites Ate Manna in the Desert

Exodus 16:2-8
Here in the desert the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “Would that we had died at the LORD’S hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!” Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Fourth Mystery: The Messiah will be a Priest like Melchizedek

Psalm 110
A psalm of David. The LORD says to you, my lord: “Take your throne at my righthand, while I make your enemies your footstool.” The scepter of your sovereign might the LORD will extend from Zion. The LORD says: “Rule over your enemies! Yours is princely power from the day of your birth. In holy splendor before the daystar, like the dew I begot you.” The LORD has sworn and will not waver: “Like Melchizedek you are a priest forever.”

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Fifth Mystery: Elisha and the Multiplication of the Loaves

2 Kings 4:38, 42-44
When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing the man of God twenty barley loaves made from the first fruits, and fresh grain in the ear. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said. But his servant objected, “How can I set this before a hundred men?” “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha insisted. “For thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'” And when they had eaten, there was some left over, as the LORD had said.

Closing Prayer

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 into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment 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.

Doctrinal Mysteries

1x Apostles Creed
1x Our Father
3x Hail Mary
1x Glory Be
1x O My Jesus

First Mystery: The Lamb of God

John 1:26-29
John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Second Mystery: Jesus is the Bread of Life

John 6: 49-51
“I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Third Mystery: Promise of Eternal Life

John 6:52-60
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Fourth Mystery: Jesus Challenges His Apostles to Accept the Teaching on the Eucharist

John 6:61-69
Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.” As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Fifth Mystery: We are Answerable for the Eucharist

1 Cor 11:23-29
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Closing Prayer

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 into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment 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.

Fulfillment Mysteries

1x Apostles Creed
1x Our Father
3x Hail Mary
1x Glory Be
1x O My Jesus

First Mystery: Wedding at Cana

John 2:1-10
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” (And) Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter. “So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.”

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Second Mystery: Multiplication of the Loaves

Mark 6:35-44
By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already very late. Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” He said to them in reply, “Give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out they said, “Five loaves and two fish.” So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass. The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties. Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to (his) disciples to set before the people; he also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish. Those who ate (of the loaves) were five thousand men.

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Third Mystery: Institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper

Luke 22:15-20
He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it (again) until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; for I tell you (that) from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.”

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Fourth Mystery: Christ Reveals Himself in the Breaking of the Bread

Luke 24:15-16, 25-35
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Fifth Mystery: They Devoted Themselves to the Breaking of the Bread

Acts 2:38-42
Peter (said) to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.” He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day. They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.

1x: Glory be

1x O my Jesus

Closing Prayer

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 into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment 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.

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This Chaplet was first published on the website EucharisticVirtue.com. This is site is dedicated to the Eucharist and to developing Virtue. On the site, there are many more Scripture passages on the Eucharist, hundreds of quotes from saints on the Eucharist and on Virtues. Plus some additional resources.

Scripture quotes were taken from the New American Bible.

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