Thanksgiving after Communion
This is a beautiful practice in the Catholic Church! In actuality, it isn’t just a “practice” but rather an essential part of Holy Communion.
There is a difference between receiving the Eucharist and participating in Communion. Receiving the Eucharist is going through the line and receiving the consecrated host. Participating in Communion means having a real and intimate relationship, dialogue, togetherness, rapport with God. Oftentimes we observe people hurry out of Mass after receiving Communion instead of spending time with Him in order to make a real union with Him. It would be like having invited an important guest to your house. After all the cleaning and preparations, he finally arrives and you get up and leave!
In St. Augustine’s Confessions (Book VII, para. 16), he shares what he seemed to hear Jesus say,
“I am the food of the mature; grow then, and you will eat me. You will not change me into yourself like bodily food: you will be changed into me.”
Here is an example to keep in mind. If you eat a juicy steak, normally you are able to assimilate it. The reason that happens is because you are a healthy human being who is able to digest your food. In blunt terms, you are the stronger being than that dead cow on your plate. In the case of the Eucharist, the food of the angels, the situation is the exact opposite. The stronger presence is the Divine one. You don’t transform Him into you, but rather He transforms you into Him. We get to the point that we can say, not so much with our words but with our actions, along with St. Paul, “It is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in Me.” That is the goal in receiving the Eucharist and always doing our Thanksgiving after receiving Jesus in Holy Communion.
In this time of transformation after receiving the Eucharist, you can ask Jesus to give you the grace to transform your thoughts into His, your will in accordance to His, your actions to His actions.
We want to keep in mind that this is the most intimate time with God that we can have on this earth. The Fathers of the Church call the altar the wedding bed because on it, Jesus gives His life for His spouse, the Church. So after receiving the Eucharist, we are immersed in the marital embrace of Jesus.
In the ten minutes of your thanksgiving it is not necessary to feel anything special. It is like sunbathing. You can simply remain there in His presence and even if you don’t feel a thing, you will "tan" and be transformed by Him. No special thoughts or feelings are necessary. You can just rest in Him, like John rested his head on Jesus’ heart at the Last Supper.