I would like to receive Holy Communion in the mass and would do everything possible to make that happens but my bottom line would be to attend the mass, whether receiving or not.
If I donāt receive Holy Communion, it does not make my attendance in the mass any less, believing the word that we say in the liturgy of the Eucharist, āLord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof but just say the word and my soul is healed.ā
IMO, we can have a devotion to the Eucharist but not the Bible. I mean devotion in term of worship practice. We do not worship the Bible.
However, we should be proficient in the Bible, knowing its content and live by/according to them. We only can do that if the word of God that we hear in the Eucharist is to be really internalized.
Also, that we be fully aware that we have received the Body of the Lord, knowing now that we are one physically with Jesus, we go out into the world to serve and love Him.
Having received the Body of the Lord nourishes us, and his word gives us wisdom.
Therefore to me, both are complimentary in the life of a Christian and thus are needed; they are not at the expense of the other.
God bless Reuben J,
**CATHOLIC SENSIBILITY, DEI VERBUM 21
Quote: The Church has always VENERATED the divine Scriptures JUST AS she
VENERATED the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly
receives and offers to the faithful THE BREAD OF LIFE from the table of BOTH of GODāS
WORD and of CHRISTāS BODY.
For in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love
and speaks with them; and THE FORCE AND POWER IN THE WORD OF GOD IS SO
GREAT THAT IT IS STANDS AS THE SUPPORT AND ENERGY OF THE CHURCH,
THE STRINGS OF FAITH for Her (children), THE FOOD OF THE SOUL, THE PURE
AND EVERLASTING SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.
āFor the WORD OF GOD IS LIVING AND ACTIVEā (Hebr.4:12) and it HAS THE POWER
TO BUILD YOU UP and give you your heritage among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32) End quote.
THE CATHOLIC CHURC UNDERSTANDING OF THE BIBLE by Fr. John Harden SJ.
Quote: āThe Scriptures are holy because their main author is the all-holy God. But they
are also holy because they are able to sanctify those who READ the Bible as NO OTHER
LITERATURE in the world is capable of doing.
St. Thomas does not hesitate to speak of the Scriptures as a KIND OF SACRAMENT.
SIMULAR to what happens when we receive BAPTISM or the EUCHARIST.
The same Holy Spirit who first inspired the Bible CONTINUES TO ENLIGHTEN those who
now READ the Bible .ā End quote.
[CCC 108]; Still, the Christian faith is not a āreligion of the book.ā
Christianity is a religion of the āWordā of God, ānot a written and mute word, but incarnate and living.ā
If the Scriptures are not remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God,
must, through the Holy Spirit, āopen [our] minds to understand the Scriptures.ā End quote.
THE LAMBāS SUPPER by Scott Hahn Page 48
Quote: One of the great Scripture scholars of the early church, Origen (third century), urged
Christians TO RESPECT CHRISTāS PRESENTS IN THE GOSPEL as they RESPECT
HIS PRESENCE IN THE HOST.
āYou who are accustomed to take part in the divine mysteries know, when you receive the
body of the Lord, how you protect it with all caution and veneration lest any small part fall
from it, lest anything of the consecrated gift be lost.
For you believe, and correctly, that you are answerable if anything falls from there by neglect.
But if you are so careful to preserve His body, and rightly so, HOW DO YOU THINK THAT
THERE IS
LESS GUILT TO HAVE NEGLECTED GODāS WORD THAT TO HAVE
NEGLECTED HIS BODY?ā End quote.
God bless
LatinRight.**