Continuing the dialogue, part two
by Maria Caulfield, MA
12/16/2024
Part two of a series addressing misconceptions about the Eucharist that were shared in regional listening sessions across the Diocese of Erie prior to the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality
(Click here to read part one)
As a quick recap, in part one, we discussed how Jesus in the Scriptures taught us that he is really, truly present in the sacrament of the Eucharist. When Jesus first told his disciples that they had to eat his flesh and drink his blood, many walked away, saying, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” (John 6:53-60) With the eyes of faith, however, we can recognize our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. 
Back, then, to the original question. If the Eucharist is so important, why don’t we let everyone receive Communion? Why so many rules? Certainly, a worthy reception of the Eucharist unites us to Christ and to his body, the church, giving sustenance and strength to persevere on the journey to heaven. An unworthy reception — when we are not in a state of grace —does the exact opposite.
St. Paul makes this abundantly clear, boldly proclaiming in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying.” (1 Cor. 11:27-30)
When we receive Communion, the priest raises the host and says, “The Body of Christ,” and we respond, “Amen.” Amen is an ancient Aramaic word used for emphasis and agreement. It conveys the idea of “certainly, absolutely.” Jesus used it to emphasize important teachings, for example: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” (John 6:53)
By responding, “Amen,” we emphasize and affirm our full belief that the host we receive is the Body of Christ, that the cup we receive holds the Blood of Christ. Our very reception of Communion is a statement of belief in the real presence, even if we cannot grasp it intellectually. Anyone who does not embrace this belief should certainly not affirm it.
This saying is hard; who can accept it?
Our Protestant brothers and sisters, devoted Christians though they are, do not share our belief in the real presence. If they were to receive the Eucharist, they would be perjuring themselves. The church wishes to protect their souls from such a wound: An unbelieving reception of Communion would only drive the wedge of sin between them and our Lord.
Even a believing Catholic may not present themselves for Communion if they are in a state of mortal sin. The catechism states, “Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of reconciliation before coming to Communion.” (CCC 1385)
This, then, is the mind of the church; not that people would stay away from the Eucharist, but that they would go to confession, become reconciled with God, and so be able to receive Jesus in Communion. The Eucharist is often referred to as the very “source and summit” of our faith. It makes sense that the church would protect and share the Eucharist with the utmost care and solemnity.
The church only exists to bring people into loving communion with God forever. She therefore teaches that only those who are in a state of grace may approach the Eucharistic table precisely because those who are not will only further endanger their eternal soul. Remember what St. Paul said: “Anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.” (1 Cor. 11:29) This truth is found in poetic form in an excerpt from the sequence before the Gospel on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi):
Bad and good the feast are sharing,
Of what diverse dooms preparing,
Endless death, or endless life.
Life to these, to those damnation,
See how like participation
Is with unlike issues rife.
It is encouraging to see that even this great saint, acclaimed as a doctor of the church, acknowledges that belief in the Eucharist cannot be grasped other than by faith, as he writes:
“Sight has fail’d, nor thought conceives,
But a dauntless faith believes,
Resting on a pow’r divine.”
The Eucharist is the Sacrament Most Holy, as the song goes, the source and summit of the Christian life (CCC 1324) because it is the real presence of Jesus, the body and blood, soul and divinity of God himself.
What could be more holy? God has humbled himself not only to become human, but to become our food. With what reverence and awe, with what trembling love should we approach him? Only if we have allowed God to heal us through baptism and confession, to give us the gift of faith and the grace of his own life within us, can our souls even bear such an intimate union with his divinity. To attempt to approach God so closely when mortal sin has destroyed our connection: that is to add sacrilege to sin.
This saying is hard. Who can accept it? Many object, pointing out that the Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak. (c.f. Evangelii Gaudium 47) That is certainly true. Yet medicine and nourishment can only help the living. Mortal sin is called mortal because it kills grace in our souls. Just as a dead man isn’t helped in the slightest by penicillin, so a person in the state of mortal sin receives no nourishment or healing from the Eucharist.
How can we still be a welcoming community?
Pastors should absolutely work with people in difficult circumstances, to welcome them into the community and (re)integrate them into the sacramental life. However, pastoral accompaniment is meant to help people back into the state of grace. It is not compassionate to allow a person in the state of mortal sin to receive Communion. True mercy holds them back and prevents them from inflicting even more wounds on their soul.
But there is good news! Jesus delights in raising people from the dead. Neither Christ nor the church have any intention of leaving anyone dead in their sin. “But God, who is rich in mercy … even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ, … raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens.” (Eph. 2:4-6)
Baptism takes us out of the kingdom of sin and gives us God’s own life within us. Confession binds up the lesser wounds of venial sin and restores the life of grace to the soul who is dead in mortal sin. We can be resurrected as many times as it takes to overcome mortal sin, and each time be welcomed back with joy. Healed and restored, we can begin the life of grace anew, strengthened by the Bread of Life, in true communion with God and with the community of believers.
The Eucharist is a profound mystery of faith. We can never fully understand exactly how the bread and wine become the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially while retaining their original outward appearances. Nevertheless, we have the assurance of faith that they do. The God who said, “Let there be light” and there was light, also has the power to say, “This is my body” and make it so.
The fact that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist is both a gift of incomparable value and a profound obligation. Hopefully, this article has helped people understand why, out of love and respect for the Lord, in the integrity of faith and out of care for our own souls — as well as eternal salvation — we should never approach the table of the Lord unworthily. However, since we are made children of God by baptism and with our sins forgiven by confession, we may humbly receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and rejoice to be so intimately joined to him and to each other.
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