Missing Easter Duty

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Hanna_C

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So if someone were to fail to take Communion during the Easter Season, would they be obligated to take it as soon as possible? Or just next Easter? Or no more than a year after they last took it?
I know it would be best to take it as soon as possible, but I’m asking what’s required. (And please back it up if you can.)
 
One would be obligated to go to confession as soon as possible and confess this and any other grave sins.

One would then be a in a state of grace, and should have no reason to refrain from receiving the Eucharist as soon as possible.
 
Can. 920 §1. After being initiated into the Most Holy Eucharist, each of the faithful is obliged to receive holy communion at least once a year.

§2. This precept must be fulfilled during the Easter season unless it is fulfilled for a just cause at another time during the year.

Beyond that, you are going to have to ask a Canon lawyer how the Church defines “just cause”.

NOTE: Easter season is defined differently in some countries (e.g. Ireland).
 
Yes, that’s during Easter season. But what if Easter already came and went?
 
Hanna_C said:
Yes, that’s during Easter season. But what if Easter already came and went?
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I feel I ought to point out that today is Trinity Sunday. Your specific time frame has not yet passed. Today is the last day in the United States, if I recall correctly.
 
Hanna_C said:
I thought Easter ended at Pentecost?
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Yes, well, I don’t get it either, but they have set specific days in the US that officially count for the duty, and Trinity Sunday is the last day, inclusive, for whatever reason. Not for Easter itself, but for fulfilling the duty to which you refer.

Give me a few and I’ll try to find a real reference for you on that.
 
Thanks, but don’t bother. I doubt any churches would offer it this late.
 
1ke said:
One would be obligated to go to confession as soon as possible and confess this and any other grave sins.

One would then be a in a state of grace, and should have no reason to refrain from receiving the Eucharist as soon as possible.
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👍
 
Not doing so well finding the full story, but it seems to be a special permission or indult for the United States. I will give you a Q and A from Our Sunday Visitor here:
A. Here’s a reply from Father Reginald Martin:
These days we hear very little of the “Easter duty,” but the Church’s Code of Canon Law states, “All the faithful, after they have been initiated into the Most Holy Eucharist, are bound by the obligation of receiving Communion at least once a year” (Canon 920). The mandate continues, “This precept must be fulfilled during the Easter season unless it is fulfilled for a just cause at some other time during the year.” Since the Second Council of Baltimore (1866), Catholics in the United States have had permission to fulfill their Easter duty from the First Sunday of Lent until Trinity Sunday (the Sunday after Pentecost).
But I’ve read it in many places, mostly Catholic dictionaries and the like. Here is one such online, but it is a little old (I don’t know, the 60’s? I don’t know when Fr. Hardon died).

Where I live it is not too late which is why I spoke up, but we have Sunday evening masses around here. Most places don’t.
 
This probably arises from the fact that Trinity Sunday was in fact, in the past, the last day in the Octave of Pentecost, when Pentecost had an octave. Now the only two feasts with octaves are Christmas and Easter, but there used to be many more.
 
OraLabora said:
This probably arises from the fact that Trinity Sunday was in fact, in the past, the last day in the Octave of Pentecost, when Pentecost had an octave. Now the only two feasts with octaves are Christmas and Easter, but there used to be many more.
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Exactly. in the EF Pentecost still has an octave, so the frequent alleluias that characterize the Easter season did not end until the day before yesterday, i.e., the Saturday in Whitsun week, the last red day.
 
Hanna_C said:
Is there anything to back up the “as soon as possible” thing?
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Once outside of the Easter Duty time frame, I know of no sin concerning not making it be as close as possible to that time frame. I only know of the once a year thing. Make sure to go within a year of last time. Maybe 1ke knows something more, though.

I strongly recommend, however, that you receive communion more often than yearly, if possible. Jesus is our love! Love yearns for closeness to the beloved.

Oh, just in case it is relevant, there is also a once a year requirement on confession of mortal sins. You also need to be mindful of that.
 
Pug said:
Once outside of the Easter Duty time frame, I know of no sin concerning not making it be as close as possible to that time frame. I only know of the once a year thing. Make sure to go within a year of last time. Maybe 1ke knows something more, though.

I strongly recommend, however, that you receive communion more often than yearly, if possible. Jesus is our love! Love yearns for closeness to the beloved.

Oh, just in case it is relevant, there is also a once a year requirement on confession of mortal sins. You also need to be mindful of that.
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As far as when to receive Communion after this time (Confession and Communion for this year) you would want to receive Communion during the next Easter season (and Confession if there are any mortal sins to confess during this next year).
 
Brigid34 said:
As far as when to receive Communion after this time (Confession and Communion for this year) you would want to receive Communion during the next Easter season (and Confession if there are any mortal sins to confess during this next year).
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It sounds to me like you might be suggesting that if hypothetically the last time the poster went to communion was Christmas 2012 that the precept says they can wait until Easter of 2014 now that they’ve missed Easter of 2013? This would make it very much well over a year without communion. I would not attempt this without asking a priest or other real expert if the precept allows that. I will quote a commentary on canon law. This is hand-typed, no link:The dioceses of the United States have an indult which allows the Easter duty to be satisfied from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday. The satisfaction of the eucharistic precept outside this period requires a just cause, such as illness, but it must be satisfied within the space of one year. The year is reckoned from the previous communion.
p 1114 New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law. Paulist Press.

I think the hypothetical person ought to go before Christmas 2013 and yes they should go during Easter in 2014 as well. But the uncertain person should definitely ask a priest how to proceed.
 
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