Communion Fast observance

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It isn’t that people “can’t handle fasting”. A eucharistic fast of longer than one hour would preclude a large fraction of people from the possibility of daily Communion. Even one hour precludes it for some, and such as these can discuss it with their confessor.

Sure, we need more sacrifice and penance. But the Church encourages daily Communion as well, and is loathe to impose a discipline that would prevent it.
 
The point you and I disagree on is that fasting is some medieval torture that our society just can’t tolerate. We can talk circles here, and I will keep saying that what our society needs is a return to penance, a return to sacrifice, and a return to self mortification. Self-imposed, so that it comes from the heart to purify the soul.
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Yes, this seems rather silly. Suddenly in 1973 our entire work world changed. He’s agree that the rules are for our spiritual best and that must apply to the 3 hour rule. I don’t think our work lives have changed drastically from 1972 to 1973 and if we were OK with the 3 hour fast in '73 then why wouldn’t the Church be prudent if it ever changed it back to the 3 hour. Really, it’s the same for the midnight fast. I’m sorry but I think the people who lived in the early 1900s had a much harder life than we do now and much more physical and the Church, in her wisdom, deemed that we should fast from midnight and as cstos has agreed, it was in the spiritual best interest of the faithful then.
 
Over the course of the Twentieth Century the Church had been working to find ways to make daily Communion more common. The precise point at which a discipline is changed is irrelevant in itself (unless there is something very significant about it).
 
Another factor you should bear in mind is that for some people the availability of a Mass happens to conflict with a particularly busy point in their day. For example, a person may not have access to a morning Mass, may work near a church that has a noon Mass yet have a very busy lunch period, and may not live near an evening Mass. To say that this person must not receive Communion simply because they lead a busy life that puts them near only a noon Mass is, well, it’s uncharitable, although not deliberately so. It is also contrary to the mind of the Church which has slowly been finding ways to encourage daily Communion.
 
ctos said:
It isn’t that people “can’t handle fasting”. A eucharistic fast of longer than one hour would preclude a large fraction of people from the possibility of daily Communion. **Even one hour precludes it for some, and such as these can discuss it with their confessor. **

Sure, we need more sacrifice and penance. But the Church encourages daily Communion as well, and is loathe to impose a discipline that would prevent it.
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My goodness, ctos, I have never encountered anyone so focussed on food! What is so hard about fasting for one measly hour so that we can receive Our Lord? I work endless hours and I still can accomplish an overnight fast. But all the Church requires is one measly hour. To accommodate the weakness in our society, no doubt. I want to give Jesus more.
 
ctos said:
Another factor you should bear in mind is that for some people the availability of a Mass happens to conflict with a particularly busy point in their day. For example, a person may not have access to a morning Mass, may work near a church that has a noon Mass yet have a very busy lunch period, and may not live near an evening Mass. To say that this person must not receive Communion simply because they lead a busy life that puts them near only a noon Mass is, well, it’s uncharitable, although not deliberately so. It is also contrary to the mind of the Church which has slowly been finding ways to encourage daily Communion.
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I didn’t say they shouldn’t receive Communion because of their busy lives. They shouldn’t receive Communion if they have broken the fast. I’m not sure what you are talking about in regards to this situation. You seem to be trying to find an impossible scenario to prove your point. There’s no reason someone can’t have an apple 15 minutes AFTER receiving to relieve their hunger. This is only a few minutes after Mass and while they’re on their way back to work if they can’t take another 5 minutes to do it. This is getting rather ludicrous. You’ve pretty much done away with all fasting for any reason and have failied to provide any Church teaching saying that the fast can be reduced down to 15 minutes if someone leads a busy life. This is only for the sick, elderly and their caretakers and family that may be with them.
 
I am not focused on food for myself. I, too, happen to be able to fast for a longer time. But the Church needs to be concerned for all the faithful, and some of them would be precluded from receiving our Lord if the eucharistic fast is too long. What’s wrong with having an apple on the way back to work? It’s not enough to eat for the rest of the day, of course, and one may have needed to eat prior to the time of the Mass. The Church needs to consider the scenarios in which people actually live and work, lest people be arbitrarily shut out of opportunities for Communion.

The expression “one measly hour” is really what I am against. It reflects a lack of awareness of the Church’s desire to encourage daily Communion, and of the reality that for many people one hour is about the limit of what they can do–some less. The discipline must not become more important than the Sacrament.
 
ctos said:
I am not focused on food for myself. I, too, happen to be able to fast for a longer time. But the Church needs to be concerned for all the faithful, and some of them would be precluded from receiving our Lord if the eucharistic fast is too long. What’s wrong with having an apple on the way back to work? It’s not enough to eat for the rest of the day, of course, and one may have needed to eat prior to the time of the Mass. The Church needs to consider the scenarios in which people actually live and work, lest people be arbitrarily shut out of opportunities for Communion.

The expression “one measly hour” is really what I am against. It reflects a lack of awareness of the Church’s desire to encourage daily Communion, and of the reality that for many people one hour is about the limit of what they can do–some less. The discipline must not become more important than the Sacrament.
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Well, barring a medical condition, if people can’t handle fasting, it is because they are too weak and self-obsessed. One way to increase your spiritual strength is to do penance, self mortification and prayer.

Prayer. Penance. Self mortification. All paths to holiness.

This is an endless circle.
 
if people can’t handle fasting, it is because they are too weak and self-obsessed
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It is not difficult to imagine a work circumstance that doesn’t admit of fasting prior to the only daily Mass one has access to.
This is an endless circle.
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It’s a straight line. 😛
 
ctos said:
I am not focused on food for myself. I, too, happen to be able to fast for a longer time. But the Church needs to be concerned for all the faithful, and some of them would be precluded from receiving our Lord if the eucharistic fast is too long. What’s wrong with having an apple on the way back to work? It’s not enough to eat for the rest of the day, of course, and one may have needed to eat prior to the time of the Mass. The Church needs to consider the scenarios in which people actually live and work, lest people be arbitrarily shut out of opportunities for Communion.

The expression “one measly hour” is really what I am against. It reflects a lack of awareness of the Church’s desire to encourage daily Communion, and of the reality that for many people one hour is about the limit of what they can do–some less. The discipline must not become more important than the Sacrament.
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:banghead: Does not the church provide for those that for medical reasons cannot fast? They are thinking of everyone when binding them to the fast and when loosing them from it. Disciplines and Sacraments work together. They are not opposed to one another. They are for the spiritual best of the faithful.
 
It is not difficult to imagine a work circumstance that doesn’t admit of fasting prior to the only daily Mass one has access to
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. Please name one. So far you haven’t named one that the Church approves of yet. Is the Church wrong?
 
bear06 said:
Disciplines and Sacraments work together.
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Egg-zactly.
paramedicgirl said:
why, is it so hard for you to imagine that some people will gladly go without food so that they can receive the Holy of Holies?
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There are some people for whom Communion would not be possible if the fast were longer than one hour. Indeed, for some people a one-hour fast is not possible. They should talk with their confessor to be sure that they are seeing the matter correctly, and to have the fast mitigated in their case. Alas, I cannot provide a cite (citation) for this.

The end! 😃

I don’t know why you won’t let me have my little point. So be it. 😛
 
ctos said:
Egg-zactly.

There are some people for whom Communion would not be possible if the fast were longer than one hour. Indeed, for some people a one-hour fast is not possible. They should talk with their confessor to be sure that they are seeing the matter correctly, and to have the fast mitigated in their case. Alas, I cannot provide a cite (citation) for this.

The end! 😃

I don’t know why you won’t let me have my little point. So be it. 😛
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They need to see their doctor, not their confessor. 😉
 
I dug a bit and found something related. From Responses to 101 Questions on the Mass By Kevin W. Irwin: “Now the rationale as to why the eucharistic fast has been so clearly mitigated over the past forty years is simply to allow more people to share in communion more frequently. In our century, there has been unprecedented papal encouragement that we receive the Eucharist as often as possible (beginning with Pius X in the early years of this century); mitigating the fast is another clear example of this encouragement.” p. 167.
 
ctos said:
I dug a bit and found something related. From Responses to 101 Questions on the Mass By Kevin W. Irwin: “Now the rationale as to why the eucharistic fast has been so clearly mitigated over the past forty years is simply to allow more people to share in communion more frequently. In our century, there has been unprecedented papal encouragement that we receive the Eucharist as often as possible (beginning with Pius X in the early years of this century); mitigating the fast is another clear example of this encouragement.” p. 167.
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Sad to say, that’s not usually balanced by frequent confession. If only that were the case, as I’m sure the Church intended it.
 
ctos said:
Egg-zactly.

This is becoming quite circular. Then you must be in agreement that it wouldn’t ever be wrong or detrimental for the Church to again change the fasting rules to something even stricter. But, alas, this doesn’t seem so.
There are some people for whom Communion would not be possible if the fast were longer than one hour.
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ctos said:
Egg-zactly.

There are some people for whom Communion would not be possible if the fast were longer than one hour. Indeed, for some people a one-hour fast is not possible. They should talk with their confessor to be sure that they are seeing the matter correctly, and to have the fast mitigated in their case. Alas, I cannot provide a cite (citation) for this.
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And anyone who knows anything about the discipline of the Church knows why you can’t cite your mitigated fast for busy people… it doesn’t exist! I’d drop it, unless you enjoy demonstrating just how stubborn your errors can be.

Regarding your first assertion, that a longer fast would make communing impossible, this betrays a failure to distinguish between impossibility and inconvenience. Holiness is not convenient. It is not the Church’s job to make it so, either. Reception of the Eucharist is dangerous - yes, I said dangerous - if one has not first prepared oneself, and the fruits of the Sacrament are not automatic. Those who spiritually commune can receive more graces than those who commune sacramentally because sacraments are not magic. That is why the discipline of pre-communion fasting has *never *been, and never will be, an arbitrary burden. It is designed to foster the preparation necessary to receive the sacrament to one’s benefit. Do you really expect us to believe that someone who is so busy he can’t even fast more than 15 minutes is in position to spiritually prepare himself for Communion with God?
 
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