A general observation about sacrilege to the Eucharist

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copeland45

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If you commit a sin and you are unsure whether it is mortal or not, and then you receive Holy Communion, it is impossible to commit the mortal sin of sacrilege. (You do not have full knowledge that you are committing sacrilege, which is a requirement of committing mortal sin)

Why do I bring this up? Because I get tired of people saying: “if you’re unsure whether you committed a mortal sin, then you better stay away from Communion until you confess it. Better to be safe than to eternally damn your soul.” Such statements contradict Church teaching, i.e. the “full knowledge” clause of mortal sin.
 
If someone after a thorough examination of conscience (which is well-due, as St. Paul himself says, before approaching the Bread of Life) believes he or she may have committed a mortal sin, then one should confess, even if one is not 100% certain that it was mortal sin.

The Eucharist is worth of infinite respect, and even if we cannot blame someone of a sin of sacrilege against the Eucharist (which in fact would bring an automatic excommunication reserved to the Holy See) it is still better to be extra careful, not out of fear, but of reverence.
 
copeland45 said:
If you commit a sin and you are unsure whether it is mortal or not, and then you receive Holy Communion, it is impossible to commit the mortal sin of sacrilege. (You do not have full knowledge that you are committing sacrilege, which is a requirement of committing mortal sin)

Why do I bring this up? Because I get tired of people saying: “if you’re unsure whether you committed a mortal sin, then you better stay away from Communion until you confess it. Better to be safe than to eternally damn your soul.” Such statements contradict Church teaching, i.e. the “full knowledge” clause of mortal sin.
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One might not be committing the mortal sin of sacrilege but, one still partakes unworthily if one has committed a mortal sin and has not confessed it.
 
Zekariya said:
One might not be committing the mortal sin of sacrilege but, one still partakes unworthily if one has committed a mortal sin and has not confessed it.
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Which brings me to another point. Look at what you just said and realize the faulty logic. If you commit a mortal sin but you are not aware that you did, or you have doubt that you did (same thing as not aware, according to Church teaching), then it is 100% certain you didn’t commit the mortal sin in this first place. Why? Because you don’t have the FULL KNOWLEDGE required to commit it.

Then there is no doubt you are able to receive Holy Communion due to the Confiteor said at the opening of Mass, which removes venial sin.

These are not mere technicalities. These are Church teachings. The Eucharist is worth a thorough analysis of these issues. And until Confession is offered more often than 45 minutes on a Saturday, lay people will be forced to understand these issues to the finest detail.
 
copeland45 said:
Which brings me to another point. Look at what you just said and realize the faulty logic. If you commit a mortal sin but you are not aware that you did, or you have doubt that you did (same thing as not aware, despite what people here will say), then it is 100% certain you didn’t commit the mortal sin in this first place. Why? Because you don’t have the FULL KNOWLEDGE required to commit it.

Then there is no doubt you are able to receive Holy Communion due to the Confiteor said at the opening of Mass, which removes venial sin.

These are not mere technicalities. These are Church teachings. The Eucharist is worth a thorough analysis of these issues. And until Confession is offered more often than 45 minutes on a Saturday, lay people will be forced to understand these issues to the finest detail.
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If you are unsure that you have committed a mortal sin, you must abstain from the Eucharist. You are not properly disposed to partake of the Eucharist.
 
Zekariya said:
If you are unsure that you have committed a mortal sin, you must abstain from the Eucharist. You are not properly disposed to partake of the Eucharist.
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Wrong. That is your personal opinion and does not match Church teaching. The Church teaches that all non-mortal sin is absolved at the beginning of Mass. And if after that point you are not conscious of a mortal sin (“unsure” = not conscious), you are properly disposed to receive.
 
R_C said:
The Eucharist is worth of infinite respect, and even if we cannot blame someone of a sin of sacrilege against the Eucharist (which in fact would bring an automatic excommunication reserved to the Holy See) it is still better to be extra careful, not out of fear, but of reverence.
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First of all, it is best to focus on our own sins, not “blame” someone else’s. We have enough to do to tend our own house.

Secondly, LOL! You’re talking about Excommunication. Hit the brake pedal. Every Sunday I see more than 400 people receiving Communion at my church, and on Saturday less than 10 are at Confession. If these folks are committing sacrilege and are to be excommunicated, there goes the RCC in America.
 
copeland45 said:
Wrong. That is your personal opinion and does not match Church teaching. The Church teaches that all non-mortal sin is absolved at the beginning of Mass. And if after that point you are not conscious of a mortal sin (“unsure” = not conscious), you are properly disposed to receive.
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That is your personal opinion and does not match Church teaching.

“The 1983 Code of Canon Law indicates that the same requirement applies today. “A person who is conscious of a grave sin is not to . . . receive the body of the Lord without prior sacramental confession unless a grave reason is present and there is no opportunity of confessing; in this case the person is to be mindful of the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, including the intention of confessing as soon as possible” (CIC 916).”
Source: catholic.com/tracts/who-can-receive-communion
 
Zekariya said:
That is your personal opinion and does not match Church teaching.

“The 1983 Code of Canon Law indicates that the same requirement applies today. “A person who is conscious of a grave sin is not to . . . receive the body of the Lord without prior sacramental confession unless a grave reason is present and there is no opportunity of confessing; in this case the person is to be mindful of the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, including the intention of confessing as soon as possible” (CIC 916).”
Source: catholic.com/tracts/who-can-receive-communion
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If you are not sure whether you committed a mortal sin, then you are not “conscious of a grave sin” as stated above. Why? Again…for the millionth time on this forum …mortal sin requires FULL KNOWLEDGE.
 
copeland45 said:
If you are not sure whether you committed a mortal sin, then you are not “conscious of a grave sin.”
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Requirements for sin to be mortal:
  1. Its subject must be a grave (or serious) matter.
  2. It must be committed with full knowledge, both of the sin and of the gravity of the offense (no one is considered ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are inborn as part of human knowledge, but these principles can be misunderstood in a particular context).
  3. It must be committed with deliberate and complete consent, enough for it to have been a personal decision to commit the sin.
One can be conscious of grave sin and not fulfill the requirements for it to be a mortal sin.
 
Zekariya said:
One can be conscious of grave sin and not fulfill the requirements for it to be a mortal sin.
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If you have not fulfilled the requirements for a sin to be “mortal”, you are able to receive Communion.
 
First of all, when I speak about sin, I only focus on my own, and I have quite a lot of effort dealing with them already, so really not much time left to focus on others.

Secondly, sacrilege of the Eucharist according to Canon Law brings the penalty that I have mentioned. The reason I point it out is to show that in fact we cannot consider someone who is unsure of being in mortal sin but still partakes of the Eucharist as committing such a grave act. Sacrilege is a whole other business!

Speaking of not focusing on others, it is perfectly possible for someone not to be in a state of mortal sin every week, or to confess during the week. Ultimately, though, it is a matter of pastoral attention to educate the faithful on the importance of the proper disposition for Holy Communion. The fact that (worst case scenario) nobody goes to confession regardless and still receive communion does not make this valid, or good. It is wrong. And it is better to thoroughly examine our conscience and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation if we think we may be in a state of mortal sin, than to partake unworthily of the Body of Christ. Not that anyone is worthy of this great mystery, of course.

My advice is to be very careful in understanding what the Church intends for “full knowledge”, rather than applying our own interpretation. We speak of “being conscious of a grave sin”. And a good examination of conscience will reveal if a sin was grave or not.

Consider what the Catechism teaches us.
1385 To respond to this invitation we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment.
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St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: “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. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.”
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Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion.
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I don’t understand the fear for confession. The saints confessed weekly! In the world we live in, we can’t possibly be less sinful than them :o So perhaps we should examine our conscience more profoundly and not be afraid to confess, even biweekly or weekly, even if we feel we only have venial sins to confess.
 
I go to a tiny church. We have one Mass on the weekend. We recently moved the Mass from Sun. to Saturday so that it would be easier for priests to come to our parish. I have only lived here a few months and there have already been a few services with no priest so we had a Communion Service. There is no weekly confession time scheduled. Everything is by appointment or I guess maybe you could try to find another parish to go but the other one I attend is also “by appointment.” This is a pain in the butt if you ask me (I live in a rural area so the churches aren’t even that close to me). Last time I confessed I asked the Friar if he had a few minutes before Mass started. We went into the confessional and a woman decided she wanted to confess too I guess because she started peeking in the window and knocking lol! The day they had a penance service I was out of town for the holidays.

Every time I am nervous if I have committed a mortal sin I should pick up a phone and have a priest meet me somewhere so I can confess? In the past I have been defined as scrupulous. I have suffered from OCD Religious Scrupulosity. I have told priests about times I went to Communion and wasn’t sure about it and none of them scolded me. I cannot say without a shadow of a doubt that I have always been in the right when I went to Communion but I can say that there is a gray area if you ask me. I see both of your points-of-view here.
 
Zekariya said:
That is your personal opinion and does not match Church teaching.

“The 1983 Code of Canon Law indicates that the same requirement applies today. “A person who is conscious of a grave sin is not to . . . receive the body of the Lord without prior sacramental confession unless a grave reason is present and there is no opportunity of confessing; in this case the person is to be mindful of the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, including the intention of confessing as soon as possible” (CIC 916).”
Source: catholic.com/tracts/who-can-receive-communion
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Zekariya said:
I believe that you are wrong. You believe that I am wrong. I’ll leave it at that. 🙂
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Copeland: I believe you might have a misunderstanding of terms. Let me give an example. Let’s say tonight, in a fit of rage, you murder somebody. This is an objectively grave sin. It is possible (I’m not saying it’s likely) that you were in such a rage that you did not have full consent and therefore it is not a mortal sin. Regardless, you CANNOT receive communion until you confess your grave sin. It doesn’t matter whether it is a mortal sin or not, it just matters that it was a grave sin. The reason for this is that you could always make the case in your mind that you never really had full consent because if you did you wouldn’t be stupid enough to have committed the grave sin in the first place. If this were true, there would never be a situation where you’d have to abstain from receiving communion.
 
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