Canon law on Communion

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sr.christinaosf

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Does anyone know about the canon law stipulation regarding receiving Communion more than once in a day (and the requirement to participate at the Mass on the second occasion): does this use the regular 24 hour day or the liturgical day (e.g., starting Saturday evening)
Thank you.
 
sr.christinaosf said:
the liturgical day
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This is kind of an oddity; there really is no such thing. Certain things occur on the evening before specific days, but there’s actually no “liturgical day” in any way, shape, or form. Everything in Canon Law and disciplinary teaching operates on the 24-hour midnight-to-midnight day.
 
The apologists at Catholic Answers have answered this question here:





However, in the case of receiving communion on a Saturday night vigil Mass, and then again on a Sunday morning Mass, Fr Grondin from Catholic Answers notes that because the Church calculates a new day beginning at midnight, one would be considered as receiving communion on two different days even though the Mass is the same:
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Can Holy Communion be received on Sat. night and Sun. morning? Ask an Apologist
I received Holy Communion at the Saturday night Mass, so can I receive it again at the Sunday morning Mass?
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Does the Lord's Day begin Saturday at sundown? Ask an Apologist
I realize that as Christianity grew from Judaism (Jesus came to fulfill the law) that the Lord’s day became celebrated on Sunday instead of the old Jewish Sabbath of Saturday. I also notice that the Jewish Sabbath begins at sundown on the evening before, i.e. Friday evening. Does that mean our Lord’s day, Sunday, begins on Saturday evening? If so, should we be practicing any special devotions on Saturday evening in preparation for attending mass on Sunday?
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This also means that honoring the Lord’s day and refraining from unnecessary work on Sundays, etc begins at 12:00AM Sunday too (not from the time of the Saturday vigil Mass at 6pm):

 
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Good day sr.christianaosf!
Yes Sr. Christiana! There is a Canon Law about receiving a communion which goes like this:
Can. 916: A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.

Can. 919:
  1. A person who is to receive the Most Holy Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before holy communion from any food and drink, except for only water and medicine.
  2. A priest who celebrates the Most Holy Eucharist two or three times on the same day can take something before the second or third celebration even if there is less than one hour between them.
  3. The elderly, the infirm, and those who care for them can receive the Most Holy Eucharist even if they have eaten something within the preceding hour.
I’ve also encounter a Canon Law about communion of the laity, laity can only receive one or two host each day however it is not forbidden to receive more than twice. I have read this on Catechism of the Catholic Church.
 
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EugeneCharles said:
I’ve also encounter a Canon Law about communion of the laity, laity can only receive one or two host each day however it is not forbidden to receive more than twice. I have read this on Catechism of the Catholic Church.
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The only way you can receive more than twice is if you are dying and receiving Viaticum (Last Rites).
Can. 917 A person who has already received the Most Holy Eucharist can receive it a second time on the same day only within the eucharistic celebration in which the person participates, without prejudice to the prescript of can. 921, §2.
 
EugeneCharles said:
I’ve also encounter a Canon Law about communion of the laity, laity can only receive one or two host each day however it is not forbidden to receive more than twice. I have read this on Catechism of the Catholic Church.
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@Phemie provided the relevant Canon (you just missed it in your quotes), but I wanted to clarify one other thing in your post - it’s not number of hosts, but number of times you present yourself to receive. I’ve seen people get confused/needlessly concerned over that before. The priest can hand you three hosts at once if he so chooses for whatever reason, and that’s ONE reception of the Eucharist.
 
Code of Canon Law:
Can. 202 §1 In law, a day is understood to be a space of twenty-four hours, to be reckoned continuously and, unless expressly provided otherwise, it begins at midnight; a week is a space of seven days - a month is a space of thirty days, and a year a space of three hundred and sixty-five days, unless it is stated that the month and the year are to be taken as in the calendar.
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Note that it says a day is always 24 hours, so if it were expressly provided that a day began at 4pm on Saturday, it would end on 4pm Sunday. It’s not talking about “liturgical days” in that sense.
 
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Ok? I don’t see how that’s any different than what I said above. The Church could say a day begins at 1:37 am, but the plain and simple is that the Church never references a day as anything other than midnight-to-midnight (in the context of this discussion).
 
Yes Cor_ad_Cor! Thank You for this information! God Bless You!
 
Yes Phemie! Thank You for this information, this helps! God Bless You!
 
A day is a day. Period. So you could receive twice on the night of the 13th and twice in the morning of the 14th provided all the conditions were met, that’s 4 times in roughly 12 hours but two separate days.
 
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