How come Mass attendance is mandatory, but reception of the Eucharist is not?

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I read that on another thread, and am confused about it. Can you explain?
 
twosweetgirls said:
I read that on another thread, and am confused about it. Can you explain?
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Because the purpose of the Mass is not the reception of Holy Communion (although it is strongly encouraged to receive it whenever it is possible) but the worship of God first and foremost. Every Catholic is required to assist at Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation because Mass is the corporate worship of the whole Church (on Sundays, the Lord’s Day, in commemoration of the Resurrection, and on holy days, in commemoration of particular mysteries of the faith): our presence at the corporate (corpus = body) worship of God by the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ, is our duty to God!

Even if we were to get nothing out of the Mass – no Holy Communion, no personal sanctification – we would still go, to worship God as He has revealed to His Church.
The Mass is not first and foremost a tool for Eucharistic piety or adoration. Eucharistic piety is a noble thing of course, and one of the most solemn moments of the Mass finds us adoring the Body and Blood of Christ, but that is not the primary end of the liturgical act.
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Neither is the Mass primarily a vehicle for the reception of the Eucharist – though frequent and worthy reception of the Eucharist brings with it many important graces of course. The Mass is not even primarily about our own sanctification.
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To comprehend the essential nature of the Christian liturgy bears minding the nature of the Jewish Temple liturgies and their sacrificial offerings and how that imperfectly foreshadowed the Christian liturgy and Sacrifice of Christ. The Christian liturgy is first and foremost an act of rendering due worship to God the Father through the perpetuated sacrifice and offering of God the Son. It is this sacrificial nature of the liturgy and the worship of God the Father that particularly drives the liturgical act. It is important that we have this proper understanding of the primary end of the Mass for all else flows from this.
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I suggest reading this brief essay, from which I pulled the above quote.
 
Also, if someone were not in a state of grace, a mandatory reception of the Eucharist would be a moral impossibility.
 
twosweetgirls said:
I read that on another thread, and am confused about it. Can you explain?
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Catholics *are *required to receive communion, yearly during “Eastertide”- the days between Ash Wednesday and Trinity Sunday, inclusive.
 
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

Matthew
 
The mass is equal parts the liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the eucharist. If one is in the state of mortal sin, one should not receive the eucharist. But attendance at mass is still necessary to hear the liturgy of the word. So while you might not be able to go to communion, your attendace is requred and you can take part in the liturgy of the word.
 
Prople forget that “excommunication” meant precisely “excluded from communion.”

There is an ancient canon that says that not receiving communion for three successive Sundays excommunicates you.
 
twosweetgirls said:
I read that on another thread, and am confused about it. Can you explain?
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it is mandatory, once a year during the Easter Season, for the faithful. For the priest, it is mandatory that he receive under the forms of both bread and wine at every Mass.
 
bpbasilphx said:
Prople forget that “excommunication” meant precisely “excluded from communion.”

There is an ancient canon that says that not receiving communion for three successive Sundays excommunicates you.
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we would have to see that in writing with a source
 
Such wonderful responses. . . I was just surprised because for me, not receiving Holy Eucharist at every Mass would be like, I don’t know, having dry cereal without the milk. (weak example, but the only thing I can come up with right now :o )
 
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