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For 18 months we have been engaged in a Eucharistic Fast. Except for a few occasions when the Reserved Sacrament was available we have participated in Spiritual Communion. This felt strange at first but now it has become almost normal.

In Canada the weekly reception of Holy Communion has not always been a common practice. A scarcity of ordained Anglican priests made reception impossible for many settlers from the British Isles. Indeed the early English explorers did not always have a clergy on board their vessels. The first recorded Service of Holy Communion conducted by an Anglican priest was on 4 September 1578 on the shores of Baffin Island. The Rev. Robert Wolfall, a graduate of Eton and King’s College, Cambridge, was part of an English expedition commanded by Martin Frobisher who was hoping to established a permanent settlement in this new land. By the middle of September he knew that he was not going to succeed and everyone, including Master Wolfall, returned to England. It was a very long time before the next Anglican Service of Holy Communion was celebrated in Canada.

We hope that the time will be short before we are safely able to gather in St. George’s to receive Holy Communion.

Bible Reading: Psalm 78: 18-25; John 6: 47-51