And miles to go

Receiving the Holy Eucharist Worthily

The fifty days of Easter provide us with just as much opportunity to grow spiritually as did the forty days of Lent.  Eastertide is meant to be spent in reflecting on and meditating about our Lenten journey as we walked with Jesus up to Jerusalem and experienced with him his suffering, death and resurrection.

Central to that reality is the Holy Eucharist, the perduring gift of Christ’s Passion.  On Holy Thursday, we gathered with Jesus and the Apostles in the Upper Room.  Here we heard the words of Jesus, “Take and eat, this is my Body . . . Take and drink, this is my Blood.”  In the context of the Seder Meal, Jesus celebrates a new Passover wherein He becomes the Sacrificial Lamb of God.  That sacrifice is completed in His Crucifixion on Good Friday, surpassing by far all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.  But that sacrificial meal only becomes empowered in the moment of the Resurrection, wherein the Holy Eucharist is infused with the gift of new life, the resurrected life of Jesus.  Thus, we believe as Catholics, that the very substance (what something is) of bread and wine are totally changed into the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  We call this reality, “transubstantiation.”

By receiving Holy Communion, we enter into an intimate union with Christ Jesus (Catholic Catechism, n. 1391) that encompasses three elements:

1)     Participating in the one sacrifice of Jesus which is made fully present here and now;

2)      Being in communion with all those who make up Christ’s Body, the Church;

3)      A sharing in the Resurrection and Divinity of the Glorified Jesus as a new creation in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17).

This past November, the Bishops of the United States published a teaching document entitled, Happy Are Those Who Are Called to His Supper: On Preparing to Receive Christ Worthily in the Eucharist.  This initiative arose from a concern that Catholics and even non-Catholics are receiving the Holy Eucharist by rote, not reflecting on the unique gift being given nor on the spiritual condition of the one receiving.

The document sets forth the Church’s constant teaching that only those who are Catholic by Baptism and are in the state of grace may receive the Holy Eucharist.  Being baptized and sharing the Church’s faith are the two conditions for full participation.  During the Lenten season, catechumens refrain from receiving Holy Communion because they have not been baptized, even though they have been formally received as “the elect.”  Candidates refrain from receiving because they have not yet expressed their full, public belief in all that the Church teaches.  If this holds true for those in the RCIA, how much more so does this apply to those of other Christian denominations and persons of other faiths.  Exclusion from the Holy Eucharist also pertains to those who may have been baptized Catholic, but who knowingly and obstinately reject or repudiate the defined doctrines of the Church, especially in regard to moral issues.  Such persons are in a state of broken “communion” with the Catholic Church and thus for them to receive the Holy Eucharist is an act of personal hypocrisy and a source of scandal to others.

The Catholic Church does allow some exceptions to this approach of not offering the Holy Eucharist to non-Catholics, but those exceptions deal with the most extreme of circumstances:  The non-Catholic 1) must be unable to attend his/her own church for a long time, meaning a month or more; 2) must spontaneously ask to receive the Eucharist; and 3) must be willing to admit that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus as understood by the Catholic faith.  Clearly, such conditions would never apply to rural Minnesota in 2007.

Catholics, themselves, must be in the state of grace before receiving the Holy Eucharist.  This means they are free from mortal sin, which requires grave matter, serious reflection and full consent of the will.  This means, in essence, one knows that what he/she is doing is wrong and decides to do it anyhow.

The document lists examples of “serious matter” as they pertain to the Ten Commandments:

1)            Honoring as “divine” or central to life          anyone or anything other than God;

2)            Invoking God while swearing a false oath;

3)            Missing Mass on Sunday or a Day of      Obligation;

4)            Acting in serious disobedience against lawful      authority;

5)            Committing murder, including abortion and    euthanasia, sexual abuse, serious physical or    verbal abuse;

6)            Having sexual intercourse outside marriage;

7)            Stealing in a gravely injurious way;

8)            Slandering people through gossip that      undermines their good name;

9)            Producing, marketing or indulging in      pornography;

10)         Being envious of others to a point of wishing      them grave harm.

Any Catholic who commits a mortal sin must receive the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation before going to Holy Communion.

must admit that part of our problem of going to Holy Communion is the manner in which ushers permit members of congregations to lineup row by row.  It would be better to encourage a more staggered approach as one finds in Europe.  Such an approach allows a person, who knows that he/she is not worthy to receive, can without embarrassment remain in the pew.

Here it also needs to be said that the presider must never offer a general invitation to the congregation that “everyone is welcome to receive.”  Such an invitation may well violate the consciences of those who know they should not receive.

I trust that this argument has an internal logic to it that can resonate in the consciences of the reader.  None of us, I am sure, desires to violate or abuse the Holy Eucharist.  None of us wants to receive our Blessed Lord unworthily.  May we always make sure that we approach this awesome Mystery with reverence and awe, allowing our Blessed Lord to “speak but the word” that our souls “may be healed.”

May God love you!

April, 2007

Falta Mucho por Recorrer

El pasado Noviembre, los Obispos de los Estados Unidos publicaron un documento de enseñanza titulado, Dichosos los Invitados a la Cena del Señor: Sobre la Preparación para Recibir Dignamente a Cristo en la Eucaristía. Esta iniciativa preocupante surgió a consecuencia que católicos e incluso las personas que no son católicos están recibiendo la Santa Eucaristía como algo rutinario y no reflexionando en el regalo único que se da ni en la condición espiritual quien lo recibe. 

El documento trata sobre la enseñanza constante de la Iglesia que sólo los católicos por bautizo y los que están en estado de gracia pueden recibir la Santa Eucaristía. El ser bautizado y el de compartir la fe de la Iglesia son las dos condiciones para una participación plena. Durante la temporada de Cuaresma, los catecúmenos se abstienen de recibir la sagrada comunión porque aún no han sido bautizados, a pesar que hayan sido electos formalmente. Los candidatos se abstienen de recibir porque aún no han expresado su creencia plena, pública en todo lo que la Iglesia enseña. Si esto es verdad para los del RCIA, cuanto más aplicaría a las otras denominaciones cristianas y personas de otras creencias. La exclusión de la Eucaristía Santa también es aplicable a los que podrían haber sido bautizados católicos pero quien a sabiendas y obstinadamente rechazan las doctrinas definidas de la Iglesia, sobre todo con respecto a cuestiones morales. Tales personas están en un estado de "comunión" deshecho con la Iglesia Católica, por ende para ellos recibir la Santa Eucaristía es un acto de hipocresía y para otros fuente de escándalo.  

Los mismos católicos deben estar en estado de gracia antes de recibir la Santa Eucaristía. Esto significa que ellos están libres de pecado mortal, la cual requiere de una reflexión seria y el consentimiento pleno de voluntad. Esto quiere decir que en esencia, uno se da cuenta que el/ella esta haciendo algo malo y lo hace de todas maneras.

Todo católico que comete un pecado mortal tiene que recibir el Sacramento de la reconciliación antes de ir a la Sagrada comunión.

Debo admitir que parte de nuestro problema a la hora de recibir la comunión es la manera como los acomodadores permiten que los feligreses formen una fila. Sería mejor animar a los feligreses informalmente como se ve en Europa. De tal manera permitiría que la persona internamente se dé cuenta si es digno de recibir o no. 

También se necesita que el celebrante no debe ofrecer una invitación a la congregación diciendo "todos están bienvenidos a recibir." Tal invitación bien puede abusar la conciencia de los que saben que no deberían recibir.

Confió que este argumento tenga una lógica interna que pueda resonar en la conciencia del lector. Estoy seguro que ninguno de nosotros desea abusar de la Eucaristía Santa. Ninguno de nosotros quiere recibir a nuestro Señor Bendito indignamente. Que siempre nos acerquemos seguros a este Misterio imponente con un temor reverencial, permitiendo que nuestro Señor Santísimo "hable la palabra" que nuestras almas "sean sanadas."

¡Que Dios los bendiga!

(April, 2007)