Who can receive Holy Communion?

Dear Father John, It is my understanding that only Catholics who are in the state of grace may receive Holy Communion. I know that only God really knows the state of a person’s soul. I am also aware that there have been hurts inflicted by very fallible and imperfect members of the Church that may prevent a person from fully and outwardly embracing the Church. If a person is not a member of the Catholic Church, but believes that the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Christ, why should they not receive Holy Communion?

I am honored to be an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. I have been approached while in this position by just such a person. I have given him the Holy Eucharist, but am feeling more and more uncomfortable because I have been told that that someone who is not a Catholic should not receive.  I do not want to drive a further wedge between him and the Church, but feel that I need to talk to him about it. What can I say? How can I explain to this person why he should not receive the Holy Eucharist?

A: This question is extremely difficult for me to answer. I can only provide general observations, but you are referencing some specific situations (or at least one) without detailing them. I apologize ahead of time if my answer doesn’t satisfy. I am also wondering a bit about what they explained to you in this regard when they prepared you to become an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist. Perhaps during that preparation you met someone closer to home that you may be able to approach about the specific situation you reference. Here also is a good summary of the biblical and Catechetical passages that are involved in this issue. Now here are a few more thoughts.

An Intimate Encounter

Receiving Holy Communion is a deeply personal encounter with Jesus Christ, who is truly present under the appearances of bread and wine, within Christ’s family of the Church. When Jesus gives himself to us in Holy Communion, he is saying many things, things like the following: “I know you and I love you. I long to share your life and to allow you to share my life. I want you with me, and I want my grace to heal, strengthen, enlighten, and guide your difficult journey through this fallen world. I give you this spiritual nourishment as a sign of my love for you and my commitment to you. All that I lived, taught, and suffered, I did for you…”

When we receive Holy Communion, we are accepting Christ’s love and Christ’s grace. That includes accepting all that he has taught, and all that his Church teaches, about the meaning of life and the path to fuller and fuller “union with” (this is what “communion” means) our Lord and Savior here on earth, and to a complete union with him forever in heaven. When we receive him, we are telling him: “Lord, I believe in you, and in all you have taught, and in all you have done for me. I believe in your Church, through which you give me this Blessed Sacrament. I long to follow you more closely. I long for my life to give you glory and to be a mirror of your goodness in this dark world. I promise to do everything I can to obey your commandments, since that is how you have asked me to show you my love (cf. John 14:15). I want to live in true friendship with you, today, tomorrow, and forever.”

Avoiding a Lie

Now, someone who does not accept what the Catholic Church teaches about faith and morals, cannot actually say those things. They cannot be in full communion with Christ in the Catholic Church, because the Catholic Church believes that Christ continues to act in the world through his Church. A Lutheran, an Episcopalian, or a Buddhist, for instance, does not accept all the basic teachings of the Gospels as explained in the Catholic Catechism, and so they are not in “communion” with Christ in his Church – if they did accept those teachings, they would become Catholic. So, for someone in that position to receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church is, in a sense, for them to say something that they really don’t believe (i.e., “I am in communion with Christ and his Catholic Church”) – it’s a kind of lie. (Here is a short essay I wrote explaining the differences between Catholic and non-Catholic Christians, and here is another short essay I wrote explaining the Church’s view of non-Christian religions.)

If someone who does believe what the Catechism teaches about faith and morals (and the Catechism is simply a systematic explanation of what Jesus taught in the Gospels and the Holy Spirit teaches in the rest of the Scriptures), but refuses to live by that teaching, they would also be contradicting themselves by receiving Holy Communion. Someone who is having an affair, for example, would need to repent of the sin, confess the sin, and make a firm resolution to break off the affair before receiving Holy Communion. An affair is a grave sin against marriage, against God’s plan for marriage, against God’s plan for the people having the affair. To receive Communion without repenting from and confessing that sin is like saying to Jesus, “I want to follow you, but I think you are wrong about the meaning of marriage and the evil of adultery, so I am just going to keep doing my own thing in that area.” It’s a contradiction; it’s saying that I am in communion with Christ, but then, in my next breath, turning around and rejecting him, slapping him in the face. It’s, again, in a certain sense, a lie.

Dealing with Difficult Situations

If you know people who really want to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, but who are not currently in a position to be able to do so, I would encourage you to begin a relationship of spiritual friendship and instruction with them. Explain to them that Jesus too wants to give himself to them in this Blessed Sacrament. But explain to them that the Sacrament doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is a central part of a relationship in which we must accept Christ for who he truly is: the Lord of the universe and the one Savior. And so, we must acknowledge our dependence on him, and we must “repent and believe in the good news!” as he said in his first homily (Mark 1:15). We must help people in this situation to undertake and persevere on a journey to the fullness of faith. Otherwise, we invite them to live a kind of lie every time they receive Holy Communion, and we only make the situation worse.

While they are on this journey, we should encourage them to come to Mass, to participate in the Liturgy, to receive blessings and to join in the prayer of the Church. But until they have repented from their sin or professed the Catholic faith, they really can’t receive Holy Communion in the way that God desires, and in a way that will nourish their souls with his grace.

“Speaking the Truth in Love” (Ephesians 4:15)

This may be a difficult process. People may be offended. We have to try and understand where they are coming from, and be gentle and respectful and patient, and explain, and not condemn – but at the same time, we must believe deeply in the power of God’s grace to change hearts, and in the power of the truth of our holy faith to “set us free” (cf. John 8:32). We do no favors to anyone by obscuring or disobeying the teaching of our Lord and of his Church. In this area, we need to ask for God’s grace to give us prudence and compassion, so that we don’t “break the bruised weed or put out the smoldering wick” (cf. Matthew 12:2). This is what St. Paul meant, at least in part, by the phrase “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). It’s what St. Peter exhorts us to do: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). Sometimes we will make mistakes. But God can use even our clumsy efforts to build his Kingdom.

St. Paul was very clear about the reverence and right-heartedness required for worthy reception of Holy Communion: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Corinthians 11:27–28). Let us all pray that we will receive Jesus with the love he longs for, and help others do the same. He wants that – passionately.

Finding the truth about liturgy…

Dear Friends,

You wouldn’t know it by the content of this site, but I love the liturgy of the Church. I have prayed the Liturgy of the Hours since becoming Catholic. I am often mesmerized by every movement at Mass. I love the rhythm of the Church – the music – the seasons – the feasts – the solemnities. I am moved by the thought that as I engage in the liturgy I am engaging with billions of people both inside and outside of time who are joining together in worship that is not bound by time and space. I am awestruck by the idea that we meet Christ Himself every time we receive Him in the Eucharist. Still, I avoid the topic as a normal course on this blog.

Why? Because like me, the topic gets under your skin. And when it gets under the skin of a writer, and under the skin of the readers, and under the skin of responders, fights break out in the comboxes and divisions emerge; ugly and shameful divisions. The good news is that very little of that has happened here – my goal is to keep it that way.

Liturgy is just hard and challenging to deal with. So, instead of covering it on this site in a less-than-helpful way (at least not as a primary focus) I want to point you to a rock solid and trustworthy source on the subject, the Adoremus Bulletin.

For those of you confused, saddened or just positively curious about what you have experienced, Hellen Hull Hitchcock and the team at Adoremus will provide a light of clarity and precision. For those of you who love what is good, true, and beautiful, you will be deeply encouraged and reinforced in your love for Christ in the liturgy of the Church. For those of you who energetically agree with me about liturgical matters, but who will be far more effective when you clearly understand the mind of the Church on these matters, you will be blessed and armed for the necessarily gentle but persistent battle to restore a proper sense of reverence and awe in our worship of the God of the Universe. If you love the liturgy, please visit Adoremus… subscribe, learn, support. You won’t be sorry.

Should I ask my spiritual director (a priest) to also be my confessor?

Q: Dear Becky, I have a question for you. I have a priest spiritual director that I usually travel more than an hour to see every month. I go to confession weekly and am wondering if it would be best to see the same priest for confession for continuity, etc. Before my spiritual director relocated, I most often saw him for confession because it worked out that way, and, I believe it was God who arranged it that way. Would it be appropriate to ask my spiritual director to also provide confession when we meet?

A: The fact that you are receiving the sacrament of reconciliation weekly, and are traveling a good distance to see your spiritual director each month shows that you are serious about becoming holy.  Keep up the good work!

The short answer to your question is that it can’t hurt to ask.  We need to be considerate of our priests’ time, yet also remember that they became priests to help us to heaven.

Your concern for continuity shows that you understand the value of developing an ongoing relationship with your confessor, this is good.  And since we confess our sins, not to the priest, but to Jesus via the priest, receiving spiritual direction at this time is a very good idea.

Going to confession and receiving spiritual direction at the same time is a huge blessing.  There is special grace here because of the sacramental nature of confession, and it saves you from having to repeat or explain your struggles to your spiritual director when you see him each month.   If you have a good priest who can provide at the same time, both confession and sound spiritual direction, you are very blessed; this would be the optimal situation.

I can only assume from your question that the physical distance between you and your director has prevented you from seeing him more often.

That said, a few questions come to mind that you should discuss with your director.

First, does your spiritual director have the time/flexibility to see you more frequently?  If he does, do you have the means (time and cost of transportation), to make that trip more often? If not, you might want to alternate confession time (local for three weeks, then once a month with your priest/spiritual director).

Second, are you at a place where you can safely reduce the frequency of your confessions? If you are at a stage where you are not often tempted to mortal sin, it might be prudent to exchange frequent confessions for fewer that are more fruitful. You would, of course, still have the ability to make a confession with a local priest as needed.

That you believe God arranged for you to have this specific priest as your confessor is probably a reliable instinct.  If you think about it, having one person who sees the ‘whole’ of our spiritual life makes good sense. God knows what is best for us, and as we progress on the journey of the soul He may guide us to modify some practices in order to develop new ones.

Your spiritual director will be able to give you advice tailor made for your situation. Talk this over with him as appropriate matter for spiritual direction discussion.

Dreading an irreverent and careless implementation of the new missal translation… What do I do?

Q:  Dear Father John, I am looking forward with dread for the new missal translation in our parish. Our priest doesn’t take the liturgy very seriously and, well, I don’t think it is going to be good. Can you provide some practical insight into how I should look at all of this and prepare my heart?  I really care about how we honor Christ in Mass and already struggle a lot with the lack of reverence that I see.

A: First of all, for any of our readers who aren’t familiar with what the new missal translation is, I want to recommend a couple of resources.  The new English translation of the missal (the book containing the prayers, antiphons, and responses of the Mass) goes into action on the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011.  What is this new translation and why is it being instituted and what’s it all about?  Here are some worthy (in my opinion) explanations:  Life Teen’s video; The Bishops’ Conference videos (longer and less flashy than the Life Teen video; EWTN’s discussion with Fr. Mitch Pacwa (hour-long video interview).  And if you prefer to read about it, here are a few of the best resources:

National Catholic Register

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Now on to your question.

The Perfect Prayer

Clearly, you care deeply about the Mass, the perfect prayer, the origin of all Christian prayer, and the central act of worship of all time.  Your concern and even anxiety about careless or irreverent celebrations of the Mass come across strongly in your question.  But that concern can work against you.  Even if a priest appears to you to be celebrating the Mass irreverently, the Mass still remains the Mass.  Even if he is sloppy and blasé, the Church is still praying through him and Christ is still offering himself to the Father through him.  And this is really the main point about praying at Mass: it is our objective worship.  Of course we would love to be emotionally (as well as spiritually) uplifted by the external beauty of a papal Mass every day, but even when the externals are sub-par, the reality remains exactly the same.

Room to Grow?

If our devotion to Christ in the Mass, therefore,  is easily disturbed by a sloppy or irreverent priest, then we know that our faith has room to grow.  Are we truly seeking to please God, or are we seeking the sweetness of consolation for ourselves?  If we seek to worship God, then sometimes the less glorious liturgies are even better than the glorious ones.  Not because Christ doesn’t always deserve our very best – he does.  And the liturgy of the Church should shine with reverence and beauty and respect and mystery (this is one of the reasons we have a new translation coming).  But if true worship is about our trusting in God in spite of everything, just as Jesus trusted in his Father on the Cross, then we can actually exercise our trust even more when the externals of a particular celebration of Mass are rather mundane.  To pray devotedly in that situation requires a more mature faith, a stronger faith.  We have to truly believe that God is working through his Church, through his priest, even when the appearance of things seems to say something else.

I am not encouraging priests to be sloppy – every priest will have to answer to God for how he cares for the sacraments.  And believe me, that is a harrowing thought.  But as long as the priest isn’t making up his own Mass or otherwise being sacrilegious – as long as he is celebrating the Church’s Mass, then Christ is truly, objectively there.  And that should be enough for us.

The Mass is not primarily about me.  The Mass is the prayer of the Church, the prayer of Christ.  So if I don’t like my priest’s style, that’s a secondary thing.  The primary thing remains.

Getting Personal

In my personal journey into the Catholic faith, this realization played an important role.  Before being Catholic, when moving into a new area I would shop around to find a church I liked.  When I began to be drawn into the Catholic faith, I realized that Catholics don’t do that – they don’t need to do that.  They just go to their parish.  I still remember moving into a new apartment about a year before officially becoming Catholic.  I was so excited to find out what was to be my parish.  I called up the diocesan office, told them my address, and they told me which parish I was in.  And I went to Mass there.  No shopping required!  What a relief!  The externals, including the notably eccentric style of the priest, were quite different from the beautiful Masses I had attended in Italy during the first stage of my conversion.  And yet, the structure and the substance was the same.  And I knew that by attending that Mass I was plugging into something much bigger than me, much bigger than that particular priest, much bigger than my own preferences and comfort zone.

Preparing Our Hearts

The advent of the new translation of the missal gives us all a chance to renew our deep faith in that which is “much bigger” than all of us.  And this, I think, is the best way to prepare our hearts to receive the new translation: activating anew our faith in God’s action through his Church, through his sacraments, through his very human and very imperfect instruments.  The Mass transcends styles and preferences.  The Mass gives us something we desperately need in today’s world, which is so focused on personal feelings and subjective fulfillment.  It gives us a chance to enter into something not of our own making, and to unite ourselves to an objective act of worship that is Christ’s own prayer, his own sacrifice, his own act of worship, really made present for us – whether or not we happen to feel any spiritual warm-fuzzies, and whether or not we happen to like the way our priest celebrates.

Getting Practical

On a practical note, though, I want to assure you that you don’t need to stay stuck at a dead end.  If the style of celebrating Mass at your parish consistently makes it impossible for you to pray during Mass and to appreciate what is really going on, you are not required to stay there.  The Church only requires that we attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days, preferably in our own parish.  But we are free to go to other parishes if there is a good reason, or to a nearby monastery or convent.  Likewise, if real and serious liturgical abuses have crept into your parish, you have the right (and the duty) to inform your bishop.  It’s his job to care for the sacraments as celebrated in his diocese, and to assure that the faithful have access to the liturgical life as the Church intends it.

One more thing.  Your question reminds me of a startling quotation from the patron saint of parish priests, St. John Vianney, and I would like to close with it: “There are no bad parish priests; there are only parish priests whose parishioners don’t pray enough for them.”  Please keep praying for us priests!!!

PS: I am sure our readers could also provide some suggestions on how they deal with these challenges in a positive and constructive way…

The New Roman Missal Translation In a Nutshell

Just to be clear, when I say in a “Nutshell,” I am not calling Mark Hart a “nut.” Mark is one of the best modern communicators of our faith. This video is by far the best summary I have seen on the new translation. It was created for teens but the humorous approach should make this interesting for anyone. If you like it, pass this post along to help others gain a better understanding of the changes that are just around the corner.

PS: In anticipation of complaints from those who love the Liturgy as I do, I am most definitely not a fan of how I have seen the so-called “LifeTeen Mass” implemented. However, I believe that Mark’s involvement with Life-Teen will result in significant improvements. The purpose of this post is not to discuss LifeTeen but to rejoice in the new translation… my combox moderation will be consistent with this intent. I pray that all in the English speaking world with be profoundly blessed by this significant improvement in our translation.