Communion no more than twice a day, why?

[dizzy_dave]

I’ve heard we as Catholics are only allowed to receive Communion twice a day and no more than that, why two times? Why not only once, or three times, why twice? Is it a sin to do so more than twice in a day?

 

[Christy_Beth]

Only once a day is fine. I think that the reason for the limit is to help those who are being too scrupulous. (sp?) Anyway, why would anyone want it several times a day? Are they in doubt about something? Or do they fear that they haven’t got “enough” of Christ?

 

[Ter]

I think allowing people to receive twice a day is to allow for occasions like someone goes to Mass every day going in the morning and then going to a wedding or something in the evening. You should be aware that you can only receive the second time if you attend the whole of the Mass i.e. you cannot arrive late or leave early.

I think the limit was set up to prevent people from making the mistake of confusing the Mass with Communion. Before this limit was declared in the 1970’s the situation existed in Ireland where people would receive Communion many times in a day, but they would leave a Church immediately after Communion and get to the next church just in time to receive Communion there. That is why the Church declared that you must attend the whole of the second Mass.

Finally, if we are receiving Jesus many times in the one day, how can we be adequately preparing for his coming.

 

[Catholic2003]

Prior to Vatican II, the rule was once per day. In the decade after Vatican II, various exceptions were introduced that would permit communion twice a day under specific circumstances. By 1973, there were around a dozen specific situations in which communion twice a day was permissible.

When the Code of Canon Law was revised in 1983, canon 917 allowed repeated communion provided the subsequent reception was at a Mass in which the person participates. The Latin word “iterum” was used, which can either mean “a second time” or “repeatedly”. The committee that drafted canon 917 seem to have intended “repeatedly” based on their discussion, e.g., that denying the Eucharist to a properly disposed person participating in the Mass was not in keeping with the spirit of the celebration as a communal meal.

However, in 1984 the PCILT issued an authentic interpretation that stated that “iterum” meant only “a second time”.

 

[mean_owen]

Does this limit apply to priests, too?

 

[Catholic2003]

Here is the rule for priests celebrating Mass:

Can. 905 §1 Apart from those cases in which the law allows him to celebrate or concelebrate the Eucharist a number of times on the same day, a priest may not celebrate more than once a day.

§2 If there is a scarcity of priests, the local Ordinary may for a good reason allow priests to celebrate twice in one day or even, if pastoral need requires it, three times on Sundays or holydays of obligation.

Canon 917 would seem to apply to priests receiving communion in a Mass that they did not celebrate or concelebrate:

Can. 917 One who has received the blessed Eucharist may receive it again on the same day only within a eucharistic celebration in which that person participates, without prejudice to the provision of can. 921 §2.

Canon 921 refers to Viaticum.

 

[puzzleannie]

just because something is not allowed doesn’t automatically make it a sin. holding hands during the Our Father is not prescribed in the rubrics, but doing it is not a sin (obnoxious, but not sinful).
The reason people were told not to receive communion more than once a day (and since V2 twice a day if you attend a full Mass) is that people were running from one church to the next to “grab” more communion, in the supersitious belief that they could obtain more grace that way, and attitude that abuses and misinterprets the meaning of the Eucharist.

 

[Dr.Colossus]

just because something is not allowed doesn’t automatically make it a sin. holding hands during the Our Father is not prescribed in the rubrics, but doing it is not a sin (obnoxious, but not sinful).

Except that in this case the Church has set a finite limit. To ignore it would be to disobey the Church, which is a sin. If the Church were to pronounce one way or the other on hand-holding during hte Our Father, to disobey would be a sin.

 

[Joan_M]

Ter:

I think the limit was set up to prevent people from making the mistake of confusing the Mass with Communion. Before this limit was declared in the 1970’s the situation existed in Ireland where people would receive Communion many times in a day, but they would leave a Church immediately after Communion and get to the next church just in time to receive Communion there. That is why the Church declared that you must attend the whole of the second Mass.

Finally, if we are receiving Jesus many times in the one day, how can we be adequately preparing for his coming.

Can you give any documentary evidence of this? I find it very hard to believe.