Have you ever gone to mass and didn't receive communion ? Because you might have sinned?

[Moosebreathh]

Have you ever gone to mass and didn’t receive communion? Because you might have a sin?

 

[Zaccheus]

I have, and it feels bad.
I haven’t done it for a while now, which feels good.

 

[Fauken]

Everyone at Mass has sinned. The only person who has ever attended Mass without sin on her soul was Our Lady. I’m not sure I would say Jesus attended Mass in this context, otherwise I’d include Him as well. What you’re meaning to refer to is mortal sin, as venial sin does not make you unable to present yourself for communion.

 

[Fauken]

Hence why I don’t want to say attend. It’s not the same as what you or I do.

 

[IdaCatholic]

Not because I “might” have sinned. But because i have mortal sin that i have not confessed. I have formed my conscience. But yes, this happens.

 

[Jeanne_S]

Yes…

 

[Aquinas11]

All the time. Probably once every 2-3 months.

 

[PetraG]

You must avoid receiving Holy Communion when you are conscious of having committed a mortal sin. The Church says “conscious” instead of “suspicious” for a reason! You can (and surely all of us do) have faults that are going unrecognized, but we don’t sin by accident. We have to do something that on some level we knew was wrong to be guilty of a sin. To be guilty of mortal sin, we have to have committed a serious offense and known that it was serious when we did it.

Keep in mind, too, that the Church teaches that one of the effects of receiving Holy Communion is to wipe away venial sin. Holy Communion is nourishment and a medicine, not an audience granted in recognition of merit. It is a gift from Our All-Loving Savior that reaches out to our spiritual poverty and our inherent powerlessness to do good without the help of grace. At those times when we ought not go to Holy Communion, it is like when we have a serious physical wound makes it necessary to avoid eating or drinking until it is taken care of. What is medicine to the sick can still be very bad for those near death! It is for our own good that we are forbidden from receiving Holy Communion when we are in a state of mortal sin; it is not a punishment, but the right treatment for our serious condition!!

From the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
292. What are the fruits of Holy Communion?

[CCC] 1391-1397
[CCC] 1416

Holy Communion increases our union with Christ and with his Church. It preserves and renews the life of grace received at Baptism and Confirmation and makes us grow in love for our neighbor. It strengthens us in charity, wipes away venial sins and preserves us from mortal sin in the future.

Having said that, of course the Church strongly encourages confession of venial sins, too, even though they are wiped away by Holy Communion…again, from the Compendium:

306. Why can venial sins also be the object of sacramental confession?

[CCC] 1458

The confession of venial sins is strongly recommended by the Church, even if this is not strictly necessary, because it helps us to form a correct conscience and to fight against evil tendencies. It allows us to be healed by Christ and to progress in the life of the Spirit.

 

[Odilon]

Yes I have gone to Mass and not received communion. In my case, there was no “might have sinned” situation, I did indeed sin and therefore thought it best to not present myself for Holy Eucharist.

 

[TheLittleLady]

Because you might have a sin?

There are three conditions required for sin to be mortal, so, that removes the “might”. We have to KNOW it for the sin to be mortal.

Yes, there have been times when I have not received the Eucharist at Mass because I was aware of grave sin, other times because I had not kept the fast, and others because I had already received twice that day.

 

[catholic1012015]

Done it many times. Better to be safe than very, very sorry.

 

[stpurl]

Not to be nosy, Moose, but you only just joined and you’ve started a few threads, all asking rather personal questions. I’m sure that everybody is perfectly willing to answer these questions but perhaps in order for us to better interact with you, you could give us a little more information as to why you are raising these sorts of questions? Because sometimes people suffer from scruples, for example, and might become unduly distressed reading replies that feed into the scrupulosity. It would be a shame for that to happen.

 

[tstadheim]

All the time. I often skip Communion unless I’ve managed to make it to confession that morning or night before.

 

[PetraG]

Done it many times. Better to be safe than very, very sorry.

I write this out of clarification that your comment brought to mind, not to imply it has to do with the particulars of your situation or your point of view, which I can’t know.

I think it is better not to imply this is a “gotcha” sort of danger. The necessity to avoid Holy Communion when one is conscious of having seriously fallen from a state of grace does drive home the reality that mortal sins are really mortal. For instance, avoiding Holy Communion because one committed a serious sin and one is trying very hard to impress upon oneself the seriousness of the action may be something one does not because one has the capacity to avoid the sin but because one wants to develop the capacity to avoid the sin by employment of various means of “treatment.” The point is not punishment or avoiding out of fear of retribution but rather doing what is necessary to be free of the sin in the future and trying to abide by what the True Physician of our souls would direct us to do.

After all, a mortal sin doesn’t have to feel like a mortal sin or even feel as if it is something bad to be a mortal sin. It is fairly clear that the snake convinced Eve and Adam to “get past” their reservations about choosing to do something they were told very clearly was a deadly thing to do. We only have to know an action is a deadly sin, have the capacity to avoid doing it and yet choose to do it anyway. The culpability may not be high enough for a mortal sin if a serious sin is an ingrained habit, but avoiding Holy Communion in the hopes of raising one’s awareness of the matter could be reasonable.

Whenever a mortal sin becomes a habit one struggles with, however, I would suggest talking to one’s confessors about when to avoid Holy Communion and when to take the confessor’s judgment that the weakness is ingrained and better treated by frequent devoted and contrite reception of Holy Communion rather than by avoidance. It is something of a “medical” call, since the treatment of an ingrained habit might advise in favor of frequent reception of Holy Communion, not frequent avoidance of Holy Communion.

 

[catholic1012015]

@PetraG I’m not sure what your post means, but I don’t like going more than a few weeks without confession. Mortal or venial.

 

[Moosebreathh]

My family and fellow Catholics don’t like answering some personal questions. It’s easier if you ask a stranger what they think
It’s ok for a stranger to answer wrong.

 

[njlisa]

I won’t answer this with personal experience, as it is a private matter.

In general, a Catholic should routinely receive God’s forgiveness and healing through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

 

[PetraG]

@PetraG I’m not sure what your post means, but I don’t like going more than a few weeks without confession. Mortal or venial.

I’m saying that the Church teaches that reception of Holy Communion itself wipes away venial sin. It is was instituted by Christ as a weapon against sin. We wouldn’t avoid receiving Holy Communion as a remedy for sin except under rather serious circumstances, such as being in a state of mortal sin or else as advised by our confessor, who understands our spiritual state in its particulars from the point of view of a physician of the soul.

In general, a Catholic should routinely receive God’s forgiveness and healing through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Yes, and this is earnestly encouraged by the Church even when one is not in a state of mortal sin.

 

[catholic1012015]

@PetraG I see what you mean. I think the nuance here is that sometimes confession is not available when we need it to ask, or because the Holy Spirit may be nudging us about some defect, so we abstain to stay safe.

 

[Phemie]

Every couple of months and it persists until I can get to confession.