Pope St. Pius X and the Importance of the Blessed Sacrament

 

When Pius X ascended to the Papacy in the summer of 1903, he was already known to be devoted to the Eucharist. He was devoted to the Eucharist from his youth, and gave his priesthood over to serving It. As he matured, the ardour of his devotion only increased, especially the more he perceived It to be threatened or denigrated by others.

 

His Papal program as Pius X turned specific attention to the Eucharist for he grasped well that our faith has its focal point in Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Within the first five years, he published the decree concerning Frequent and Daily Communion. Shortly after that, he lowered the age for First Communion to the age of seven, more or less. He clearly recalled to the Church the instruction by the Council of Trent: "At each Mass, the faithful who are present should communicate, not only in spiritual desire, but also by the sacramental participation of the Eucharist that thereby a more abundant fruit might be derived to them from this most holy sacrifice".

 

Pius X addressed the age of First Communion in the subsequent decree Quam Singulari. He recalled first the joy Our Lord found in the company of children and that it had been the custom in the early Church to give Communion to infants and that "the Eucharist is an antidote whereby we may be freed from daily faults and be preserved from mortal sins".

 

Every person of our times must be grateful to him for his proclamations on the Eucharist. The cumulative effects of the Eucharistic decrees were remarked by priests and chaplains worldwide in the years to follow. A few years later Pope Pius XII had described these decrees as "inspired by God Himself to bring the faithful back to the ecclesiastic practice and fervour of the early Church".

 

Pius X reminded us that to approach the altar worthily does not depend on knowledge, but on having the proper intention and love (as well as to be in a state of grace). The young mind and heart are unfettered and undivided in interest, but what may be lacked in understanding is offset by ardour and purity of intention, and the effects of the Eucharist upon the soul are manifold, especially for innocent souls.

 

Holy Communion provides food for our interior life; It unites the soul to Christ; It floods the soul with spiritual sweetness and delight; It lessens concupiscence; It is the antidote to temptations and sin, to the attacks of the Devil, to bad companionship and objectionable recreation, to impure and sinful conversations, to bad literature and indecent movies, and to sinful desires and inclinations. The Eucharist delivers the soul from daily venial sins and strengthens it on path to virtue so it may more easily go to God.