{"id":847,"date":"2012-10-20T13:43:46","date_gmt":"2012-10-20T17:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=847"},"modified":"2012-10-20T13:45:05","modified_gmt":"2012-10-20T17:45:05","slug":"receiving-the-eucharist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/receiving-the-eucharist\/","title":{"rendered":"Receiving the Eucharist"},"content":{"rendered":"

The topic of who can receive Communion in the Catholic Church has come up a couple of times in recent weeks.\u00a0 It probably began about the time we had the “divorce readings” on Sunday.\u00a0 The topic of divorce and receiving Communion is often misunderstood.\u00a0 Divorce itself does not prohibit one from receiving Communion.\u00a0 For instance, a spouse who leaves a marriage because of abuse has not committed a sin.\u00a0 Only if a person remarries without first obtaining an annulment are they considered to be in a state of sin (adultery).\u00a0 Anyone who is guilty of mortal sin needs to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession)\u00a0(and seek to change the behavior) before receiving Communion.\u00a0 I would like to add a clarifying statement about divorce.\u00a0 Divorce itself is not a sin but if someone has engaged in sinful behavior such as adultery that led to the divorce, they would need to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation before receiving Communion.<\/p>\n

Adultery and remarriage are not the only sins that need to be confessed before receiving Communion.\u00a0 Any mortal (serious) sin<\/a> is to be confessed before receiving Communion.\u00a0 When the Church says that a person who has sinned shall not receive Communion without receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, it is not the intent to deny <\/em>the person Communion.<\/p>\n

To receive Communion in the Catholic Church, one must be in communion with God.\u00a0 If we have committed a mortal sin, then we have broken that communion and need to ask God to restore it through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.\u00a0 Without a doubt, all of us need the grace of receiving Communion.\u00a0 It is the Bread of Life that strengthens against temptation and sin.\u00a0 As a sign of our desire to follow God, we confess our sins and complete a penance to show our desire to be in communion with God.<\/p>\n

The belief that we need to be in a state of grace to receive Communion is based on our belief in the Real Presence.\u00a0 It is a foundational belief in the Catholic Church that through the power of the Holy Spirit the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ.\u00a0 So, receiving Communion is no small matter.\u00a0 We must take it very seriously.<\/p>\n

Another question that people ask about receiving Communion is “Why does the Catholic Church say that only Catholics<\/em> should receive Communion?”<\/p>\n

Again, it is the concept of being in ‘communion’ that is of concern here.\u00a0 To be ‘in communion’ means to share a common set of beliefs.\u00a0 If a person does not belief in the Real Presence, then they are not in communion with our beliefs.\u00a0 The same is true for other beliefs.\u00a0 (There are some uncommon exceptions in emergency situations that I will not to go into here.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

I want to be able to explain this better but I am not sure how to put it.\u00a0 Some people might wonder if we are offending non-Catholics by saying Communion is only for Catholics.\u00a0 It is not the intent to offend anyone.\u00a0 The Catholic Church takes Communion very seriously and desires that everyone <\/em>would be able to receive Communion as members of the Body and Blood of Christ.\u00a0 But to just say it is ok for everyone to receive Communion without a common set of beliefs belittles the notion of ‘being in communion.’<\/p>\n

I hope I have explained this well with care and compassion.\u00a0 I mean no judgment on anyone.\u00a0 I leave the judging to God.<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

Fr. Jeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The topic of who can receive Communion in the Catholic Church has come up a couple of times in recent weeks.\u00a0 It probably began about the time we had the “divorce readings” on Sunday.\u00a0 The topic of divorce and receiving Communion is often misunderstood.\u00a0 Divorce itself does not prohibit one from receiving Communion.\u00a0 For instance, …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Receiving the Eucharist’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11],"tags":[107],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-dF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":849,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847\/revisions\/849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}