Is it just me or do most Catholics recieve Communion wrongly

[BlyssfulDreamer]

Let he without sin cast the first stone. So maybe, since I am a lowly and humble sinner myself, I should never try and help my fellow man-along with helping myself-because I have no “right” for I would be a hypocrite. I am worthy of receiving chastising as well as reminding others of their faults. The two way street allows us to support each other and lean on each other when fighting sin may be tough. But I’m not going to allow my sin to be a green light for everyone to think it “OK” to continue because no one is reminding them of their sins.

If I were one of your fellow parishoners who had gone to Confession unbeknownst to you and without your watchful eye on me and you would come up to me and state your concerns I would be quite offended. Did someone appoint you the Chief Reminder of Sins?

 

[Mom_of_5]

This subject has come up fairly frequently. I am wondering why those who are looking for sinners in the Communion line aren’t praying and getting ready to receive the Body and Blood of Christ rather than wondering how many of those receiving Communion are not as worthy as they are. I wonder what God would say about this. Remember, He told us that we would be surprised at who will be in heaven and who will not be.

Love and peace,

Mom of 5

 

[monorail]

I had a similar question to the OP. My landlady wanted to come to church with me one weekend, which I thought was great. She’s not a Catholic and doesn’t normally attend mass. A little bit before we were ready to leave, she offered me some food and I thanked her and said that I’m required to fast for an hour before receiving Communion, and she giggled and said “Oh, is that how you do that?”

During mass, she went up and received Communion with me, even though she’s not a Catholic, doesn’t attend mass normally, and didn’t fast before Communion.

On the car ride back, I wondered whether to say anything to her about what it means to receive the Eucharist? I ended up staying silent. I am afraid of trying to appear “exclusive” or judgmental if I point out that the Eucharist is for those in full communion with the Church. I don’t want people to feel unwelcome. I know that’s not a good reason.

 

[rwoehmke]

Why would someone who does not believe in the real presence go forward to receive communion? While there may be some who do so because of “peer pressure” and insincerity, I would expect that not a few who do this see receiving as a positive liturgical ritual and an affirmation of what faith they do have. After all many denominations do not believe as we do, but still have some form of communion service.

As far as receiving in the state of mortal sin, I am not so sure that there are not people, maybe quite a few people, who really don’t know when they do something that is objectively mortally sinful. Follow the threads in the forum on morality and one soon becomes aware that there are folks out there who wouldn’t recognize some forms of mortal sin if it smacked them in the face.

As far as the lack of long lines at the confessional, I think that again is a symptom of what has happened to us as a people in the last fifty years. We once were terribly conscious of our sinfulness and perhaps mistakenly allowed ourselves to escape from that mindset during the social uproar of the late sixties and seventies when everything seemed to be up for grabs. Because of our escape many of our children and grandchildren have never been taught to have that mindset. It is a very mixed blessing to not be able to feel the oppression of our sins.

 

[TemplarKnight]

Unless you are sitting on their laps in the Confessional I would venture to say you do not know whether they have gone to Confession or not. You can talk about the law of averages and make any generalizations you want…you simply are guessing and do not know. Maybe as you go to “receive” Communion you might do well to put your mind on your own thoughts and not worry about those around you .

Really? So I have to be sitting in their laps? I guess I cannot be like the poster in this thread “CarrieH” and have a general discussion? Or I cannot see non-Catholics go up and “receive” communion? I have to be IN the confessional to know whether or not they’ve confessed? You can assume I’m making generalizations but you do not know who I am nor the circumstances in which I observe.

Also, I like the “mind your own thoughts and not worry about those around you.” I guess we should ignore that whole “love thy neighbor” commandment or the taking care of your fellow man aspect of our faith. Maybe we should leave the poor alone too because again, we don’t have the right to help them when we ourselves are sinners.

If I were one of your fellow parishoners who had gone to Confession unbeknownst to you and without your watchful eye on me and you would come up to me and state your concerns I would be quite offended. Did someone appoint you the Chief Reminder of Sins?

Talk about making assumptions. Do you honestly think I’m walking around pointing everyone’s sins out to them? Get real. I wouldn’t “come up to you” and state my concerns. I would only express my opinion if it was solicited.

I don’t know when you’ve confessed-unless we’ve either have talked about it, i.e. you don’t believe you’ve “sinned” or I personally witness your sin, and then watch you receive communion. For example, let’s say you are married and at the beach having a few beers. You’re incessantly flirting (remember Jesus said adultery in the heart is the same as the physical act) with an attractive group of the opposite sex the next towel over. You realize you are late for the Saturday Vigil, so you rush to get dressed and go to Church. Still reeking of alcohol, you go and receive communion. You didn’t see the priest before service because you came barreling in right before the first reading. When did you confess?

BTW, I am the Chief Reminder for Sins for that guy who lives in the mirrors in my home.

 

[latinmasslover]

Does anyone recall that “admonishing the sinner” is a spiritual work of mercy? The Scriptures say that if we fail to inform others and they sin, WE are guilty and receive punishment.

Nobody here is saying that they’re perfect and therefore go around shouting “Sinner! Sinner!” We expect others to point out our sins to us as well, or what they see as a sin. It’s their obligation, it’s our obligation. Always with charity.

 

[rpp]

Here are some prayers. I have been tempted to print enough copies of these and put them into every pew at church. If more people prayed these, I think the Confession line and Holy Communion line would be in better proportion.

Prayer Before Mass
St. Thomas Aquinas
Almighty and ever-living God, I approach the sacrament of Your only-begotten Son Our Lord Jesus Christ, I come sick to the doctor of life, unclean to the fountain of mercy, blind to the radiance of eternal light, and poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth.

Lord, in your great generosity, heal my sickness, wash away my defilement, enlighten my blindness, enrich my poverty, and clothe my nakedness. May I receive the bread of angels, the King of kings and Lord of lords, with humble reverence, with the purity and faith, the repentance and love, and the determined purpose that will help to bring me to salvation. May I receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Body and Blood, and its reality and power.

Kind God, may I receive the Body of Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, born from the womb of the Virgin Mary, and so be received into His mystical body and numbered among His members.

Loving Father, as on my earthly pilgrimage I now receive Your beloved Son under the veil of a sacrament, may I one day see him face to face in glory, who lives and reigns with You for ever.

AMEN.

---

Prayer After Mass
St. Thomas Aquinas,
Lord, Father all-powerful and ever-living God, I thank You, for even though I am a sinner, your unprofitable servant, not because of my worth but in the kindness of your mercy, You have fed me with the Precious Body and Blood of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray that this Holy Communion may not bring me condemnation and punishment but forgiveness and salvation.

May it be a helmet of faith and a shield of good will. May it purify me from evil ways and put an end to my evil passions. May it bring me charity and patience, humility and obedience, and growth in the power to do good.

May it be my strong defense against all my enemies, visible and invisible, and the perfect calming of all my evil impulses, bodily and spiritual.

May it unite me more closely to you, the One true God, and lead me safely through death to everlasting happiness with You.

And I pray that You will lead me, a sinner, to the banquet where you, with Your Son and holy Spirit, are true and perfect light, total fulfillment, everlasting joy, gladness without end, and perfect happiness to your saints. Grant this through Christ our Lord,

AMEN.

 

[sneakers]

I’m not trying to be rude here however I have noticed this as a trend. I have not met many Catholics who normally attend Confession. I don’t know about you, however I don’t know any one who doesn’t have a Mortal Sin at least once and awhile. Furthermore, many Catholics don’t believe in Transubstantiation. It’s unfortunate. I’m not judging however I think that people should inform these people of their sin.

At my novus ordo parish, I notice that most people go to communion. Often, I am the only one left sitting there. I won’t receive if I know I have to go to confession. Our confession schedule is only half an hour on a Saturday afternoon.

On the other hand, at the Extraordinary Form parish I sometimes go to, that there are many who do not receive. Also, there is always a very long line for confession before mass.

 

[agr4028]

Here are some prayers. I have been tempted to print enough copies of these and put them into every pew at church. If more people prayed these, I think the Confession line and Holy Communion line would be in better proportion.

Most excellent. What a great way to share a point without coming off as judgemental.

much grass

 

[latinmasslover]

At my novus ordo parish, I notice that most people go to communion. Often, I am the only one left sitting there. I won’t receive if I know I have to go to confession. Our confession schedule is only half an hour on a Saturday afternoon.

On the other hand, at the Extraordinary Form parish I sometimes go to, that there are many who do not receive. Also, there is always a very long line for confession before mass.

Boy, and I thought my NO parish was bad. We get an hour and a half for Confession on Saturday, and thirty to sixty minutes (depending on when the priest arrives) Tuesday nights.

Sad.

 

[He_Man]

Does anyone recall that “admonishing the sinner” is a spiritual work of mercy? The Scriptures say that if we fail to inform others and they sin, WE are guilty and receive punishment.

Nobody here is saying that they’re perfect and therefore go around shouting “Sinner! Sinner!” We expect others to point out our sins to us as well, or what they see as a sin. It’s their obligation, it’s our obligation. Always with charity.

Exactly, that is the point some (Templar) are trying to make. Thanks.

 

[maria_rose]

My priest once told us that there is a difference in lovingly correcting a fellow Christian or to condemn him/her.
Judge not lest you be judged, means not to condemn others for their actions, because you bring said judgment upon yourself. But there is absolutely nothing wrong in gently pointing out errors and correcting each other.
It is our Christian duty to help each other to refrain from sin.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

Unless you are sitting on their laps in the Confessional I would venture to say you do not know whether they have gone to Confession or not. You can talk about the law of averages and make any generalizations you want…you simply are guessing and do not know. Maybe as you go to “receive” Communion you might do well to put your mind on your own thoughts and not worry about those around you .

If a single individual was being discussed, BLyssful, you would be absolutely correct. But when speaking about a “trend” it can be legitimately assumed that the majority of recipients are not going to confession ANYWHERE. The basis for this assumption is that the amount of time available for confession multiplied by the total number of priests across the entire diocese is so much less than the amount of time spent dispensing communion multiplied by total number of priests and E.M.s across the entire diocese that it would require hearing confessions at a rate of .23 seconds/confession. It just doesn’t compute.

Or as John Paul II said when he came to Chicago, “I see the lines for communion, where are the lines for confession?” Or was he being judgemental too?

 

[latinmasslover]

that it would require hearing confessions at a rate of .23 seconds/confession. It just doesn’t compute.

Unfortunately, some Confessions are almost that short, with the priest rushing the penitant throughout, giving a quick “well, you’re doing good, pray for Iraq, I absolve you…” Scary!

 

[Newbie2]

I “know” that two of my coworkers receive Communion wrongly because we have talked about it. In fact, I had a discussion with one just yesterday. She was telling me of how she went to confession before Easter for the first time in ages, yet I know she goes to Mass on occasion and always receives. She told me that there are Church teachings which she doesn’t agree with, such as ABC, and that she doesn’t confess those things because she doesn’t think they are wrong and she has no intention of changing her ways. The other one is a cradle Catholic who married a Lutheran man and has gone to the Lutheran church for years. She brings her elderly, disabled mother to the Saturday vigil Mass and they sit in the front pew, and when the EMHC comes by, I have witnessed her receiving Communion right along with her mother. I don’t judge these people, but I do try to instruct them in gentle conversation and by setting a good example. And I pray that their eyes might be opened to the truth.

If she says that she has no reason for changing, then she already knows that she’s in the wrong. It’s not your business, then, other than to pray for her. Perhaps I’m assuming wrong, but if you’ve been in a conversation with her, you’ve brought up what’s “wrong” about what she’s doing.

So what is “wrong” about this woman receiving communion once a year in the Catholic Church with her mother?

Does anyone recall that “admonishing the sinner” is a spiritual work of mercy? The Scriptures say that if we fail to inform others and they sin, WE are guilty and receive punishment.

Nobody here is saying that they’re perfect and therefore go around shouting “Sinner! Sinner!” We expect others to point out our sins to us as well, or what they see as a sin. It’s their obligation, it’s our obligation. Always with charity.

That’s the key, Bro.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

Why would someone who does not believe in the real presence go forward to receive communion?

For the same reason that Protestants receive their communion, knowing that it is not really Jesus. What that reason is, I do not know, but it is the same reason. You may be correct that it is because they see it as a positive liturgical ritual - or like any human they just like getting something for nothing.

While there may be some who do so because of “peer pressure” and insincerity, I would expect that not a few who do this see receiving as a positive liturgical ritual and an affirmation of what faith they do have. After all many denominations do not believe as we do, but still have some form of communion service.

As far as receiving in the state of mortal sin, I am not so sure that there are not people, maybe quite a few people, who really don’t know when they do something that is objectively mortally sinful. Follow the threads in the forum on morality and one soon becomes aware that there are folks out there who wouldn’t recognize some forms of mortal sin if it smacked them in the face.

As far as the lack of long lines at the confessional, I think that again is a symptom of what has happened to us as a people in the last fifty years. We once were terribly conscious of our sinfulness and perhaps mistakenly allowed ourselves to escape from that mindset during the social uproar of the late sixties and seventies when everything seemed to be up for grabs. Because of our escape many of our children and grandchildren have never been taught to have that mindset. It is a very mixed blessing to not be able to feel the oppression of our sins.

What I find particularly interesting about this thread is that just this morning as I was going to work my mind went through a kind of free thought association that led me to a similar place as this thread.

I have recently begun wearing a mantilla to Mass for many reasons, but one reason was to cultivate reverence. So this morning a glanced at the seat of the car and saw my mantilla. It reminded me of the TLM I attended Sunday. I had been amazed at the amount of chit chat going on prior to the beginning of Mass. I attributed it to years of waning reverence and that the people did not remember the absolute silence that was once found in church. But then I wondered if the lack of reverence might stem from a lack of faith in the Real Presence? Would people chit chat if they truly believed that God was physically there with them? This thought led me to the thought that if people really believed that the consecrated Eucharist was Jesus what wouldn’t they do to see that He received the respect and honor owed to Him. Would they die to defend the fragile wafer, we know to be Jesus? Of course, that lead to the next thought, WOULD I die to defend the Eucharist? Sadly, I had no answer to that, so I went to work.

This thread does not seem to me to be so much about confession prior to communion as it is about belief in the Real Presence and the resulting reverence owed to Him. If Pope Benedict XVI were coming to my house for dinner, I would wash myself and put on clean clothes out of respect. Just so, before receiving Jesus we would do well to go to confession. I just don’t see a whole lot of difference.

 

[rpp]

I have prepared a little booklet with the common Mass prayers. It is just two pages formatted so that you print it on both sides, fold it in half and trim it to the size of a typical missal. I do this for myself to make it easy to carry around.

The prayers are St. Thomas Aquinas’ Prayer before Mass, Prayer after Mass. Also, the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, Suscipe, Anima Christie, Act of Faith, Act of Hope and Act of Charity.

Since I do not have a web site I have no way of posting this to the Internet. If you want it, or have a way of posting it to the Internet, please email me and I will send it to you.

Note that none of the prayers carry a copyright so you are free to do whatever you want with it.

 

[Marvin_Schmidt]

Hello, All: At my Parish, the Priests quite often referance the number of communicants to pennitants. It seems that everyone wants the reward without earning it.

If Fr. Shea’s facts are accurrate ( I have not varified this, I trust he wouldn’t lie) about 72% of “Catholics” do not believe in transsubstantian, and only about 27% attend Mass regularly. This seems to indicate that many people hold the Southern Baptist idea of “once saved, always saved”. Not so.

At our Parish, we are blessed to have several Priests who would be very happy to spend hours in the Confessional, rather than minutes, but WE don’t ask them to by being there.

It seems to me that if a person is a Cafeteria Catholic, then maybe they should rethink their alliance with our church. Pope Benedict XVI ( before he was Pope) said he expects to see our church shrink in size, but increase in strength. Our church was not created to make us happy, but to save us. The idea of a piece of bread and bit of wine being converted to the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord cannot be explained. Without true acceptance and belief, it means nothing. To the 72%, it’s just bread and wine. Isn’t going to Communion with sin on your soul, very much like appearing at the dinner table without cleaning the dirt from your hands? Again, if you don’t believe in something it’s difficult to see that your actions are wrong.

I hope I’m running down the right path hear. What do you think ?

Marv:

 

[Island_Oak]

I absolutely cannot let it pass that someone with the screenname of Holden Caulfield has actually been given a free pass after posting such a grammatically tortured title to a thread–the subject of which most ironically is the sinful condition of others when accepting communion. I certainly hope the next time Mr. Caulfield finds himself in the confessional, the good Fr. imposes a few decades from Elements of Style!!

 

[BlyssfulDreamer]

While eating fish one Friday during Lent I was asked why I was a Catholic. Why…since we are obligated to go to Mass on Sundays and other “certain days of the year?” Why we had to go to Confession etc. etc.I was told it seemed like “a lot of hard work.” I said…“But the rewards are well worth it.”