Are we worthy or not?

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ApostolicClementines

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Before receiving Holy Communion we declare out loud that we are not worthy. But in 1 Corinthians 13 Saint Paul says that anyone who receives the Body or Blood unworthily eats and drinks condemnation on himself. What are we to make of this?
 
I would say, as believers in Christ, we are worthy.
That makes us Catholics beloved and worthy, like angels before God.

But, if we dare look deeper into our hearts…
and the closer and closer we approach the sacred…
speaking for myself…
I become somewhat afraid…

I know it’s by God’s Grace I’m at church…receiving Holy Communion.
Thus, I’m unworthy…under my own power and strength.
 
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We are not worthy of Christ’s sacrifice for us because we are sinners and we don’t “deserve” the mercy God gives us.

However, the Lord allows us to have His love and mercy as a free gift.

When Paul talks about being unworthy he isn’t speaking of the “general unworthiness” of humanity but of the times when we have a specific unworthiness due to sin that we have committed. If we receive the Eucharist with grave sin then we do so unworthily and “eat and drink condemnation”.
 
Jesus said to Maria Faustina ,no one is worthy to receive Me in the Eucharist,even after confession. who can be worthy enough, but it is his mercy. we receive it in grace which means well prepared at least weekly confession.with out mortal sins,for venial sins we say the i confess which would suffice.

Devotion to the Holy Eucharist - Divine Mercy

Devotion to the Holy Eucharist is devotion to Christ himself, present throughout the centuries in the Sacred Host. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the fervent celebration of the Holy Mass (or Eucharist), the worthy reception of Holy Communion (or Eucharist), and acts of reparation for the...
divinemercyforamerica.org divinemercyforamerica.org

I find myself so weak that were it not for Holy Communion I would fall continually. One thing alone sustains me, and that is Holy Communion. From it I draw my strength; in it is all my comfort. I fear life on days when I do not receive Holy Communion. I fear my own self. Jesus concealed in the Host is everything to me. From the tabernacle I draw strength, power, courage and light. Here, I seek consolation in time of anguish. I would not know how to give glory to God if I did not have the Eucharist in my heart. (Diary, 1037)
 
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We by ourselves are never worthy. Only through the mercy of God do we become worthy.

The Church has set down rules for the conditions that must be met to receive Communion and if we follow them we can be reasonably assured we’re not going against what St. Paul said…but we’ll always be “unworthy” no matter how “good” we are here on earth.
 
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ApostolicClementines said:
Before receiving Holy Communion we declare out loud that we are not worthy. But in 1 Corinthians 13 Saint Paul says that anyone who receives the Body or Blood unworthily eats and drinks condemnation on himself. What are we to make of this?
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We are not worthy but made worthy by Christ. By his death on the cross and by his resurrection, our sins are forgiven when we go before Him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
 
I think there are two different ways to think of ourselves as “unworthy”. The first is unworthy in the sense of undeserving. This is always true, because none of us is deserving of so great a gift as the Blessed Sacrament. The other sense of unworthy is unfit or undignified, which happens when a person’s soul is in a state of mortal sin.

Interestingly, in Matthew 8:8 which is the origin of the “Lord, I am not worthy” prayer said at Mass, the Greek word used is ἱκανός (hikanós); in St. Paul the word is ἀναξίως (anaxiós).
 
The centurion said those words to Jesus,
“Lord, I am unworthy that you should enter into my home,
only say the word and my servant shall be healed”

He must of loved his servant - very much - to track down Jesus.
 
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Can you or someone else explain the qualitative difference between the two words?
It always annoys me when our English translations don’t pick up on these things. I was thinking of it with respect to the Gospel yesterday also as it was the “Peter, do you love me?” one where the word “love” is used throughout in the English, but in the Greek there were different words used indicating different types/ levels of love.
 
Two types of worthy:

Type 1= person+ grace+ response to grace (the one Paul speaks about)
Type 2= person+ response to grace (ie done nothing to deserve it and some things to the contrary)
 
Two different senses of worthy.

(1) The “unworthy” response we give prior to communion is a quote from the Bible. As in that passage, we are reflecting how we, as mere imperfect human creatures, are not deserving to have the Eternal God come into our presence. It is wholly grace and gift that he does so.

(2) The Corinthians passage is talking about “unworthy” in the sense of not being prepared. We as humans will always be “unworthy” to receive the Eternal God in the Eucharist. But Paul is warning of approaching Christ with an improper disposition.
 
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I’m no Greek scholar but here’s what I could find. Links are to Bible Hub with much fuller info:

Hikanos can mean “sufficient in ability, i. e. meet, fit”.

Axios can mean “of one who has merited anything, worthy”.
an is a negative particle negating axios so anaxios should mean roughly the opposite.

[Edit: some examples of usage in Scripture of hikanos and axios]:
hikanos is used in the following verses:
Mt 3:11 “I am not worthy to carry his sandals.”
Mt 8:8 “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof”
hikanos is also used to mean “large”, like a large/sizable crowd, a large sum of money, or it can mean “long” with time. It also can mean “many”.

axios is used in the following verses:
Mt 10:11 “Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it.”
Mt 10:37-38 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.”
Mt 22:8 “The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come.”

So to venture a guess, axios refers to worth in the sense of merit or deserving, like when a person has by their actions become worthy. Anaxios would refer to a person who by their actions has become unworthy. Hikanos seems to refer to a person’s intrinsic worth/value rather than worth/merit acquired or lost by an action.
 
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ApostolicClementines said:
Before receiving Holy Communion we declare out loud that we are not worthy. But in 1 Corinthians 13 Saint Paul says that anyone who receives the Body or Blood unworthily eats and drinks condemnation on himself. What are we to make of this?
Click to expand...
Paul is precisely correct in this teaching.

Catholic Holy communion IS “really, Truly, and Substantially Jesus Christ in Person”; therefore it is a grave abuse; an abomination; a serious and direct attack on the Divine Presence itself, so receive it in Mortal sin, or in unbelief if this miraculous, mysterious reality.

God Bless you,
Patrick
 
I definitely don’t feel worthy. The key is just to try my best
 
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