Not receiving communion so often in the past

[Erin_Anne]

Frequent reception of the Eucharist is NOT good for the soul if one is NOT prepared. The priests of the 1920’s thru 1950’s may have been striving for this, but in my opinion the tradition of less frequent communion of the 1500 years prior to the 1900’s is what we should be striving for. Communion that was properly respected, and prepared for, eg, fasting and prayer, confession, observing the proper lenten fasts and other fast days and ember days of the church. To many SAINTS today for all this asetical discipline.

I agree with you.

Communion is something extraordinary - not to be taken lightly, or done robotically as I believe it is by many people; and how many of them are truly in a state of Grace? It’s a pretty safe guess that it’s not all of them.

If one chooses that they want to receive Communion frequently, ok… but they must realize that it involves a process of serious pro-action towards holiness. That is what has been lost.

 

[ProVobis]

I agree with you.

Communion is something extraordinary - not to be taken lightly, or done robotically as I believe it is by many people; and how many of them are truly in a state of Grace? It’s a pretty safe guess that it’s not all of them.

It’s probably a safe guess that half of them don’t even know about the Real Presence as well. But they go because they see everyone around them going and feel forced to go.

 

[Ohiomom]

Good points have been made by many about the feelings of people in the past. I do think now there is a lack of awareness of sin in some people. There are many things seen as “ok” by our culture that are not, but which are sometimes accepted by people who say they are Catholic. (artificial birth control, living together before marriage, materialism etc).

Some parishes have also contributed to this by only having confession available for an hour and a half on Saturday. I was blessed to belong to a parish in Ohio that offered confession times every day, including Sunday before every mass and the priests preached about sins as well as other issues. Now, the parish closest to where actually has confession before the late morning mass Monday-Friday and after the morning mass on Saturdays, in addition to Saturday afternoon. There is also confession in Spanish on Sunday afternoons and the priest is bi-lingual so if necessary someone non-Spanish speaking could attend.

 

[jamanne]

I would also like to comment on how it seems that every mass I attend ,almost everyone receives communion often to my embarrassment I;m the only one not going to the rails .why is this? I ve observed this in parishes in Canada and the U.S.As a previous post points out there;s almost no one showing up for confession .so am I the only one who commits mortal sin through the week ,and I try to confess at least bi weekly.It happens very frequently that only a few dont recieve last week i was the only one .

 

[ProVobis]

.so am I the only one who commits mortal sin through the week ,

Of course not. I would say most of the others are in complete denial as what are the odds that they go to Mass every Sunday, abstain from ABC, don’t commit sins of the flesh, don’t gossip, do penance every Friday, never overeat, and believe in the Real Presence? Quite astronomical, I would say.

 

[rwoehmke]

As a student in a Catholic School in the 40’s and 50’s, we attended Mass every school day, but received communion only on Sunday and first Friday. The fast from midnight combined with lack of breakfast arrangements except on first Fridays made it so. Also there was an attitude of not being worthy to receive that permeated Catholic Schools that I attended.

It disturbs me that some are disturbed by the fact that almost everyone goes up to receive at every Mass. The state of their souls is between them and God and is no one else’s business. Why would anyone not want to receive when each time we receive worthily our sanctifying grace is increased and we become more like Him who we receive. Vatican II was a clear call that not only the clergy and vowed religious were called to holiness, but lay people as well. Why not frequent communion?

 

[valient_Lucy]

Several hundred years ago, very few ever went to communion.** For that reason (I think it was around Pius X’s time) the Church mandated a once-a-year sacramental communion, which is still in effect today**.

Actually, the once a year communion at Eastertime goes back to the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

As a student in a Catholic School in the 40’s and 50’s, we attended Mass every school day, but received communion only on Sunday and first Friday. The fast from midnight combined with lack of breakfast arrangements except on first Fridays made it so. Also there was an attitude of not being worthy to receive that permeated Catholic Schools that I attended.

It disturbs me that some are disturbed by the fact that almost everyone goes up to receive at every Mass. The state of their souls is between them and God and is no one else’s business. Why would anyone not want to receive when each time we receive worthily our sanctifying grace is increased and we become more like Him who we receive. Vatican II was a clear call that not only the clergy and vowed religious were called to holiness, but lay people as well. Why not frequent communion?

Great post!
Thank you!!

 

[ciero]

As a student in a Catholic School in the 40’s and 50’s, we attended Mass every school day, but received communion only on Sunday and first Friday. The fast from midnight combined with lack of breakfast arrangements except on first Fridays made it so. Also there was an attitude of not being worthy to receive that permeated Catholic Schools that I attended.

It disturbs me that some are disturbed by the fact that almost everyone goes up to receive at every Mass. The state of their souls is between them and God and is no one else’s business. Why would anyone not want to receive when each time we receive worthily our sanctifying grace is increased and we become more like Him who we receive. Vatican II was a clear call that not only the clergy and vowed religious were called to holiness, but lay people as well. Why not frequent communion?

I have NO problem with frequent communion, if communion is received with the proper preparation, such as frequent confession, fasting and a proper prayer life. This was the case in the Latin church up until fairly recently. It is still the case in the Orthodox church, where confession is required before each communion, as well as having attended Vespers the evening before and Matins on the morning of communion. In addition one fasts from 1 to 3 days before communion. I think the Western church has something to learn from their Eastern brethren.

Remember communion without the worthy-ness = condemnation, not sanctifying grace.

 

[Nowhere_Man]

I have NO problem with frequent communion, if communion is received with the proper preparation, such as frequent confession, fasting and a proper prayer life. This was the case in the Latin church up until fairly recently. It is still the case in the Orthodox church, where confession is required before each communion, as well as having attended Vespers the evening before and Matins on the morning of communion. In addition one fasts from 1 to 3 days before communion. I think the Western church has something to learn from their Eastern brethren.

Remember communion without the worthy-ness = condemnation, not sanctifying grace.

I thought in Eastern Churches a fast from midnight and frequent Confession was required, not every week.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

Of course not. I would say most of the others are in complete denial as what are the odds that they go to Mass every Sunday, abstain from ABC, don’t commit sins of the flesh, don’t gossip, do penance every Friday, never overeat, and believe in the Real Presence? Quite astronomical, I would say.

Perhaps; however, not all those things are mortal sins. Hopefully we will all be praying fo our fellow parishioners as they process up to communion and our prayers and sacrifices on their behalf, along with the grace they receive from the Eucharist, will combine to lead them to ever holier lives. Our zeal for souls will be demonstrated in our prayers and charitable actions, not in our simple comdemnation with no effort to “instruct the ignorant”.

 

[desertPavel]

(1) Fast was 3 hours before Mass started prior to V2. Fast had been from midnight in the early 50’s and before.

(2) There seemed to be have been more awareness of mortal sin before V2.

(3) More importance was given to spiritual communion before V2.

What puzzles me is the fact that the confessional lines are so short, yet practically every parishioner receives Communion on Sunday. I guess I go to a parish full of saints.

 

[frenchbeatle]

What puzzles me is the fact that the confessional lines are so short, yet practically every parishioner receives Communion on Sunday. I guess I go to a parish full of saints.

Or they could be in my situation: I am blessed to have a church to go to that is near my workplace. I usually go to confession there if I need to, rather than my home parish. So I’m sure there are people who think, “Wow, I never see her go to confession here, why does she receive Communion every week? What if she’s in mortal sin?”

The bottom line is that the state of their souls is between them and God; we should not judge. For all we know, they go to confession weekly, we just don’t see it happen. I agree with you that the emphasis on mortal sin has decreased; I’ve never heard a homily about not going to Communion without confessing mortal sin. But to assume that everyone who goes to Communion is unworthy just because you haven’t seen them in the confession line is a big leap.

 

[jamanne]

My Comments were not to criticize other people , I just wondered if I;m taking sin too seriously.our parish has a very limited Confession time .I ;m sure many people use other parishes but why does it always seem to be me that ;s only me holding back. I;ll talk to my priest about it this week .By the way not criticizing again but I have a neighbour who regularly beats up his wife I know because Ive been there to stop him and here he is on Sunday helping to givie out Communion .How do you deal with that?

 

[Yellow_Belle]

A major factor was the Jansenist heresy. It was mostly in France, but due to English persecution most Irish priests were trained in France. The Church in the eastern U.S. had a large proportion of Irish priests and bishops. So the heresy infiltrated there.(

Sigh. There are so many things wrong with this that I wouldn’t know where to begin

 

[JKirkLVNV]

Or they could be in my situation: I am blessed to have a church to go to that is near my workplace. I usually go to confession there if I need to, rather than my home parish. So I’m sure there are people who think, “Wow, I never see her go to confession here, why does she receive Communion every week? What if she’s in mortal sin?”

The bottom line is that the state of their souls is between them and God; we should not judge. For all we know, they go to confession weekly, we just don’t see it happen. I agree with you that the emphasis on mortal sin has decreased; I’ve never heard a homily about not going to Communion without confessing mortal sin. But to assume that everyone who goes to Communion is unworthy just because you haven’t seen them in the confession line is a big leap.

EXACTLY! I never go to my own parish for confession. Why? Because confession is scheduled for the same time as my schola practice. So I go to another parish that has confession on Saturday AM (and that line is always long). So anyone from my home parish could look at me and say, “I never see him at confession,” yet I go every week.

 

[frenchbeatle]

EXACTLY! I never go to my own parish for confession. Why? Because confession is scheduled for the same time as my schola practice. So I go to another parish that has confession on Saturday AM (and that line is always long). So anyone from my home parish could look at me and say, “I never see him at confession,” yet I go every week.

The parish I go to for confession has extremely long confession lines, so long that sometimes I worry I won’t get back to work before my lunch break ends. But the line does move pretty fast, and they have two priests. My home parish offers confessions before Mass, but that’s also the time I usually spend in the Adoration Chapel.

 

[ProVobis]

Well, if everyone goes elsewhere for confession, aren’t those confessions added up for that other parish? Am I missing something here? I’m sure those who look at confession lines don’t just look at their own parish. The SUM of confessions simply does nowhere line up with 98% of the SUM of those receiving communion in the English OF. It’s way out of whack. Either they’re all saints or they’re more ignorant of sin that those in the past. And why bother to learn about sin if ignorance gets you to heaven?

That said, I understand in the Polish OF, only about half of those present receive, even less than those in the EF. And the Polish attendance is soaring. Are the Polish much smarter than the English in matters of sin? It appears so.

 

[ProVobis]

My Comments were not to criticize other people , I just wondered if I;m taking sin too seriously.our parish has a very limited Confession time .I ;m sure many people use other parishes but why does it always seem to be me that ;s only me holding back. I;ll talk to my priest about it this week .By the way not criticizing again but I have a neighbour who regularly beats up his wife I know because Ive been there to stop him and here he is on Sunday helping to givie out Communion .How do you deal with that?

I agree. I’ve gone to Masses with friends who bragged about how far they went with their dates the night before. I’ve seen cohabitating couples receive. I’ve seen CE Catholics receive. I’ve heard juicy gossip before Mass from those who would receive. I’ve heard people who’ve explicitly stated they believed they were receiving less than Christ in communion. I’ve seen people eat and chew gum before they received.

And here people tell you not to judge? Really? What about poor example or scandal? That’s a sin too, even if people tell you they didn’t give full consent to their gluttony or cohabitation. There always is an outcry when we see pro-abortion politicians receive but the others we should not judge? It’s not really judgement though, as much as awareness. .

 

[ciero]

I thought in Eastern Churches a fast from midnight and frequent Confession was required, not every week.

The tradition varies from church to church and spiritual father to spiritual father, but the tradition is a 1 to 3 day fast from meat and dairy and NO food or water from midnight + confession for each communion. Weekly confession in the Latin church was the norm not that long ago. I remember as late as the 1970’s confession was expected weekly in the Latin church if you were going to receive communion, and in those days the confession lines were long. They heard confession all day Saturday, and before and DURING the Sunday masses. I dont understand where this laxity comes from.