Need immediate assistance, please help!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kenny_Kamel
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Kenny_Kamel

Guest
Hello all, this is my first post. Let me start off by saying that I AM NOT CATHOLIC. In fact I had been completely against all that is Catholicism until recently when I crossed paths with a person who has inspired me to open my mind and cast out any and all preconceived notions I had previously held towards the Catholic Faith.

This person inspired me to attend a Catholic Church service last weekend which I was completely blown away by, in the best possible way. Throughout that service I was taken back by all that I was clearly wrong about and I would even say that I was pleased and even enthusiastic about potentially joining the Catholic Faith.

Today I attended my second Catholic Church service which I was deeply affected by. I was able to witness true beauty in seeing the baptism of a newborn child and the message of the service was exactly what I needed to hear at the time. However, when it came time for communion I believe I committed, willingly, something terrible.

During my first attended service, the lady I had went with told me that I should not receive communion because I was not of the Catholic Faith, so I did not. Today I was sitting at the rear of the Church intending to avoid communion, however, the Priest made his way to me and offered me the Body of Christ. Even though I knew that I should probably not be doing this I accepted it and drank wine afterwords.

Later I had a conversation with the person who had inspired me to partake in Catholic Church services and once I told her about receiving communion she reacted in a way that was wholly unsettling to me. Even though I fully explained myself and accepted responsibility for what had occurred she blamed the Priest for being irresponsible. I, however, do not blame him because perhaps he was doing what he simply felt that he needed to do. I think I knew better but was just so caught up in the moment that I didn’t even begin to realize how poorly this would affect me.

Since then I’ve been scouring the internet for answers, I’ve read things such as that committing such an act (as a non-Catholic) is a grave sin even a mortal sin. I want to discuss this further with my lady who inspired me to start on this path, but in the meantime I would like to ask that anyone who might have any thoughts on this matter please speak up so I can help to rectify this situation I’ve found myself in.

The only thing I can think of at this time is to talk to the Priest as soon as possible, otherwise I have no ideas on what to do. If you can help I will go ahead and thank you ahead of time,

Kevin
 
The Catholic Church takes Communion very seriously. It is not just a symbol to us - it is the Real Presence of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it can be HARMFUL to people who receive it in an unworthy state (and this applies also to Catholics who receive it in a state of mortal sin). As St. Paul says:
For I have received of the Lord [note that Paul was not present at the Last Supper, so he received this from the Church, which he equates the same as from the Lord] that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
Click to expand...
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep [ie, have DIED]
1Cor 11:23-29 (KJJV)​
Click to expand...
The Catholic Church does not restrict Communion because She is elitist, but because She does not want to cause HARM to people. Our “closed Communion” is an act of charity, not an act of intolerance.

However, under Catholic theology, some sins may be “mortal” (ie, lead unto spiritual death):
If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one - to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.
1 John 5:16-17 (NRSV)​
Click to expand...
The reason that the Bible says we should not make intercessory prayer for a person in a state of mortal sin is because it can do no good. This person must (ordinarily) seek the Sacrament of Confession, as Jesus provided for in John 20:23.

HOWEVER, in your case, under Catholic theology, you are unlikely to be guilty of mortal sin (and, actually, in Catholic theology, it is impossible for anyone to say with certainty if anyone is guilty of mortal sin). But your situation seems particularly exempt.

Under Catholic theology, a sin can be “mortal” only if it meets all of three very specific criteria:

  1. *]The offense must be of a serious nature (receiving the Eucharist in an “unwortthy state” would satifify this requirement). If you are not Baptized then almost surely you would be in an “unworthy state.” If you are a Baptized protestant then you would probably be in this state, though this would require specific analysis.
    *]You must have full knowledge of the seriousness of this offense (because you are not Catholic, you have only been informed this is a “rule” of the Church, and may not have knowledge of the seriousness of this offense, and thus not be accountable on this term).
    *]Give full freewill consent to the offense (and, because the priest practically forced Communion upon you, you would almost surely be blamemess on this point).

    You may be accountable for the first of these criteria, but it is unlikely you are accountable for the other two, and thus, under Catholic theology, you have probably NOT committed a mortal sin (but, remember, no Catholic can say for SURE one way or another).

    It would not hurt to talk to the priest, at least to insure he doesn’t make this mistake in the future.

    But, in the future, if you attend a Mass, you may signal that you do not wish to receive the Eucharist (and receive a blessing instead) by crossing your forearms in front of you. This is a universally understood symbol (Catholics also do this sometimes).
 
OK, deep breath.

Welcome- I am so glad that you enjoyed the beauty of all that is the Catholic Church.

That being said I wholly apologize for the behavior - you are in no way to blame - you did not know. Now that you do - you should avoid taking Eucharist (Communion) in the future until you make a decision about what you would like to do in regards to entering the Church.

What religion are you coming from? Are you baptized?

You may want to discuss this with the priest to avoid this happening again in the future.

God bless,
 
First off, I would like to thank everyone for their kind replies. I have done quite a bit of thinking on this matter and what I’ve come up with is as follows:

I have attended multiple different Protestant denominations throughout my life but all left me feeling empty or at least not fulfilled. While I was told last weekend that I should not receive communion in a Catholic Church because I am not a Catholic, yesterday I had simply thought that communion IN a Catholic Church carried the same symbolism as it would in a Protestant Church. Since then I have come to find out the LITERAL meaning of communion that Catholicism adheres to, therein lies the conflict.

I did not know, yet I was told to not do this, but I did not fully understand until I committed to something which was offered to me. I will seek out the Priest today and discuss this matter with him to whatever extent.
joandarc2008 said:
OK, deep breath.

Welcome- I am so glad that you enjoyed the beauty of all that is the Catholic Church.

That being said I wholly apologize for the behavior - you are in no way to blame - you did not know. Now that you do - you should avoid taking Eucharist (Communion) in the future until you make a decision about what you would like to do in regards to entering the Church.

What religion are you coming from? Are you baptized?

You may want to discuss this with the priest to avoid this happening again in the future.

God bless,
Click to expand...
I would like to consider myself an agnostic, simply due to the fact that I have never adhered to any faith, religion, etc and am generally indifferent to them all. I have been baptized, this happened when I was in US Army basic training. We had a truly awesome Chaplain who helped me in so many ways, just from what I had learned from him and how he helped change me for the better… well I felt compelled to be receive baptism at his hands. Throughout my life I’ve “sampled” many different denominations, most prominent being Baptist, Lutheran, and LDS. When I say “prominent” I mean that those churches were the ones that I had spent the most time in and learned the most from, comparatively speaking as far as other visited denominational churches are concerned.

I have desired to talk to a Priest about RCIA classes and doing whatever I may to learn and soak up as much Catholicism as I can in the meantime. I loathe to think of doing this after I had spoken to him about the communion thing, but I will never allow myself to fear a conversation with another so I’ll give it a shot.

Thanks to all, may God bless every one of you kind hearts.
 
Kenny_Kamel said:
First off, I would like to thank everyone for their kind replies. I have done quite a bit of thinking on this matter and what I’ve come up with is as follows:

I have attended multiple different Protestant denominations throughout my life but all left me feeling empty or at least not fulfilled. While I was told last weekend that I should not receive communion in a Catholic Church because I am not a Catholic, yesterday I had simply thought that communion IN a Catholic Church carried the same symbolism as it would in a Protestant Church. Since then I have come to find out the LITERAL meaning of communion that Catholicism adheres to, therein lies the conflict.

I did not know, yet I was told to not do this, but I did not fully understand until I committed to something which was offered to me. I will seek out the Priest today and discuss this matter with him to whatever extent.

I would like to consider myself an agnostic, simply due to the fact that I have never adhered to any faith, religion, etc and am generally indifferent to them all. I have been baptized, this happened when I was in US Army basic training. We had a truly awesome Chaplain who helped me in so many ways, just from what I had learned from him and how he helped change me for the better… well I felt compelled to be receive baptism at his hands. Throughout my life I’ve “sampled” many different denominations, most prominent being Baptist, Lutheran, and LDS. When I say “prominent” I mean that those churches were the ones that I had spent the most time in and learned the most from, comparatively speaking as far as other visited denominational churches are concerned.

I have desired to talk to a Priest about RCIA classes and doing whatever I may to learn and soak up as much Catholicism as I can in the meantime. I loathe to think of doing this after I had spoken to him about the communion thing, but I will never allow myself to fear a conversation with another so I’ll give it a shot.

Thanks to all, may God bless every one of you kind hearts.
Click to expand...
Thank you for allowing us this glimpse into God’s proceedings in your soul. God bless you in your pilgrimage to Him and His Church. :angel1:
 
Kenny_Kamel said:
First off, I would like to thank everyone for their kind replies. I have done quite a bit of thinking on this matter and what I’ve come up with is as follows:

I have attended multiple different Protestant denominations throughout my life but all left me feeling empty or at least not fulfilled. While I was told last weekend that I should not receive communion in a Catholic Church because I am not a Catholic, yesterday I had simply thought that communion IN a Catholic Church carried the same symbolism as it would in a Protestant Church. Since then I have come to find out the LITERAL meaning of communion that Catholicism adheres to, therein lies the conflict.

I did not know, yet I was told to not do this, but I did not fully understand until I committed to something which was offered to me. I will seek out the Priest today and discuss this matter with him to whatever extent.

I would like to consider myself an agnostic, simply due to the fact that I have never adhered to any faith, religion, etc and am generally indifferent to them all. I have been baptized, this happened when I was in US Army basic training. We had a truly awesome Chaplain who helped me in so many ways, just from what I had learned from him and how he helped change me for the better… well I felt compelled to be receive baptism at his hands. Throughout my life I’ve “sampled” many different denominations, most prominent being Baptist, Lutheran, and LDS. When I say “prominent” I mean that those churches were the ones that I had spent the most time in and learned the most from, comparatively speaking as far as other visited denominational churches are concerned.

I have desired to talk to a Priest about RCIA classes and doing whatever I may to learn and soak up as much Catholicism as I can in the meantime. I loathe to think of doing this after I had spoken to him about the communion thing, but I will never allow myself to fear a conversation with another so I’ll give it a shot.

Thanks to all, may God bless every one of you kind hearts.
Click to expand...
My conversion to Catholicism started in Iraq in 2004 after receiving my first confession. Remember there are no atheists in foxholes.
 
Here is my recommendation: make a sincere act of contrition for any sin you committed in receiving the Eucharist. I’m inclined to think you did not commit a mortal sin because you did not have full knowledge of the grave matter at hand. Even if you were told " you should not receive", you still did not have full knowledge (in my opinion) because you did not understand why.

Here is an example of an act of contrition:
Code: 
        O my God, I am heartily sorry for
        having offended you, and I detest
        all my sins, because of Your just
        punishments, but most of all because
        they offend You, my God, who are
        all-good and deserving of all my love.
        I firmly resolve, with the help of
        Your grace, to sin no more and to
        avoid the near occasion of sin.
But you can just pray your own prayer asking for forgiveness. God is looking for sincere contrition and a desire to stay away from sin. It seems like that is right where you are at, so don’t beat yourself up about it. You are seeking God and that is what He wants. Now that you have received some instruction on the matter, you know that you should not receive the Eucharist again until you are received into the Church.

In the meantime, you can make a spiritual act of communion at the Mass and can approach with your arms crossed to receive a blessing (in most parishes, I think). I hope you follow through with RCIA; there is so much to learn about Jesus, the Church and the Sacraments. You will be amazed. Here is a link to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I think you may find it very helpful. The section on the Eucharist is illuminating.

God bless you! We will be praying for you.
 
Prayer_Warrior said:
In the meantime, you can make a spiritual act of communion at the Mass and can approach with your arms crossed to receive a blessing (in most parishes, I think). I hope you follow through with RCIA; there is so much to learn about Jesus, the Church and the Sacraments. You will be amazed. Here is a link to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I think you may find it very helpful. The section on the Eucharist is illuminating.

God bless you! We will be praying for you.
Click to expand...
Code: 
    An Act of
    Spiritual
    Communion
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top