Not receiving communion?

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alex_noel

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At Mass I notice quite a few people getting a blessing instead of communion. What are the reasons for them not receiving communion?

Are they re-married or something or are they in mortal sin and haven’t had a chance to go to confession?

If they are in mortal sin, why don’t they get it sorted and go to confession then?
 
They could have not made it to confession or they could be non-catholics.I would rather see the blessing than having people partake the Lord in mortal sin.God Bless
 
none of our business why somebody can’t receive communion at a certain time. we are obliged to put the most charitable construction on it we can imagine, or simply to ignore the situation as we have no right to speculate. I can think of at least 20 good reasons, none of them having to do with any state of sin, off the top of my head.
 
I was brought up that it was a major no-no to be taking notes as to who was going to communion and who was not. If you did “happen” to notice, you certainly didn’t talk about it with others.
 
Just a related question. Someone told me that the crossing arms and receiving a blessing is illicit. Is this true?

Scott
 
AFAIK, this is a custom that kind of just took on a life of it’s own.

Whether is it licit or not, I am not sure. Since it is not in the GIRM then it probably should not be done.

-Ted
 
Scott Waddell:
Just a related question. Someone told me that the crossing arms and receiving a blessing is illicit. Is this true?
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Even the USCCB has a statement saying that this is not liturgically correct. The distribution of Holy Communion is just that–the distribution of Holy Communion. It’s is not a communal procession or anything else. In some places, the people don’t go up row by row, the just go up randomly when they are ready. This way, it is harder to tell who went and who didn’t, and they don’t have this silly notion about “community” and whatnot.

If I see someone not taking Communion, I like to assume that they were very hungry before Mass, perhaps feeeling weak, and so had to eat something and couldn’t observe the fast before Communion.
 
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puzzleannie:
none of our business why somebody can’t receive communion at a certain time. we are obliged to put the most charitable construction on it we can imagine, or simply to ignore the situation as we have no right to speculate. I can think of at least 20 good reasons, none of them having to do with any state of sin, off the top of my head.
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+JMJ+

Absolutely correct.

As for the blessing being liturgically correct or not. Let’s please not get into the nitpickiness of this. That blessing could be a show of love that may cause someone to come back into the Church or to look into joing the Church. Whether blessings during the communion procession are part of the GIRM or not are a speck on the laundry list of liturgical abuses going on in many parishes. I chose to pray for those instances then whether a priest can give a blessing now or if they should do it later.
 
maryprayforme said:
+JMJ+

Absolutely correct.

As for the blessing being liturgically correct or not. Let’s please not get into the nitpickiness of this. That blessing could be a show of love that may cause someone to come back into the Church or to look into joing the Church. Whether blessings during the communion procession are part of the GIRM or not are a speck on the laundry list of liturgical abuses going on in many parishes. I chose to pray for those instances then whether a priest can give a blessing now or if they should do it later.
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I believe there is sufficient reason for sweating a detail like this. People start adding things in the rubrics-don’t-say-I-can’t-therefore-it’s-ok vein. They become abuses. The Church cracks down. The people feel hurt and oppressed because they lost something they never should of had in the first place. All of which they could avoided by sticking to the details.

Scott
 
A Eucharistic minister in our parish cannot receive communion because of an allergy she has to an ingredient in the bread. (Don’t ask me exactly what it is - I’m not good at remembering things like that!) It’s quite sad because she said she is conscious every week that there is something lacking.
 
Scott Waddell:
I believe there is sufficient reason for sweating a detail like this. People start adding things in the rubrics-don’t-say-I-can’t-therefore-it’s-ok vein. They become abuses. The Church cracks down. The people feel hurt and oppressed because they lost something they never should of had in the first place. All of which they could avoided by sticking to the details.

Scott
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+JMJ+

What I am saying is that this is the least of our problems. I place rewording the Liturgy, liturgical dancing, and so on. The main focus of the original post is that people were not receiving Communion. From what I gatehred from his post, he was bothered by the fact that they were not receiving it and why. Blessings from priests are not prohibited in the GIRM as I undersatnd it. This is a question for the apologists.
 
At Mass I notice quite a few people getting a blessing instead of communion. What are the reasons for them not receiving communion?
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The blessing part, I don’t get, as the priest blesses all of the people at the conclusion of the mass a few minutes later.

But the idea that everyone at mass should be expected to receive communion each Sunday is a new and novel one. Forty years ago, at most masses, only about 1 in 10 Catholic received communion on a typical Sunday. Most stayed in the pews. And it was less than that during previous generations.
 
maryprayforme said:
+JMJ+

What I am saying is that this is the least of our problems. I place rewording the Liturgy, liturgical dancing, and so on. The main focus of the original post is that people were not receiving Communion. From what I gatehred from his post, he was bothered by the fact that they were not receiving it and why. Blessings from priests are not prohibited in the GIRM as I undersatnd it. This is a question for the apologists.
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Actually, I have yet to visit any parish (and I’m a globetrotter, so I’ve seen many different parishes) that had liturgical dancing, funky word additions to the liturgy, or anything that constituted flagrant abuse, but most of them did have these so-called low-priority abuses. My guess is that these flagrant abuses churches are not going accept correction in any case (requiring more drastic disciplining), whereas these small things are done out of ignorance or carelessness and could be more easily corrected. I see your point about going after the whackiness, but I don’t think it is outrageous to suggest we make pretty good parishes better first. In sports terms, I’d say such churches were more “coachable”.

Scott
 
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Kielbasi:
The blessing part, I don’t get, as the priest blesses all of the people at the conclusion of the mass a few minutes later.

But the idea that everyone at mass should be expected to receive communion each Sunday is a new and novel one. Forty years ago, at most masses, only about 1 in 10 Catholic received communion on a typical Sunday. Most stayed in the pews. And it was less than that during previous generations.
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+JMJ+

LOL! Go to a Byzantine rite mass and the priest blesses the congregation several times throughout the Mass.

But you are right in the fact that the Communion lines used to be much shorter. Many priests will tell you back in the day that the lines for Confession were long and the lines for Communion short. If someone is going up for a blessing rather than receiving the Eucharist in instances that are not sanctified (e.g. state of mortal sin, not Catholic, etc.) then that is the blessing.
 
As I grow in my spiritual journey, I see myself more & more as being unworthy to come into the Lord’s presence. This belief has been re-enforced by various private revelations which I have read (and which HAVE BEEN approved by the church) where Jesus reveals how much it pains Him to be received by an unworthy soul.

I, therefore, usually receive communion only if I’ve had the opportunity to go to confession just prior to Mass. Or, at most, the previous day. Anything beyond that, and I am reminded of the scripture passage that even an upright and holy man sins seven times against God in a single day. If an upright & holy man can sin seven times against God, I don’t even want to specualte how many times I have offended our Lord in a single day and if more than a day has passed between confession and communion, I feel I have too many sins on my soul to worthily receive our Lord.

For these reasons, you’ll see me sitting in the pews more often than walking up to the altar.
 
I for one am the one who sits in the pews or comes up for a blessing rather than go for Holy Communion.😃

It’s such a horrible feeling; my family abuses the Eucharist by taking it even in mortal sin. And I, coming back to the church, realised this rule, and I haven’t been to confession because it is in the unholy hour of 10:00PM on a Saturday, in which I oversleep.:sleep:

The blessing, though sufficient, is not enough for me. I just can not wait to go into confession and confess my mortal sin so far in the past, and receive BOTH body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. :yup:

It is already torture enough to every mass I go that I cannot partake in the Lord’s Supper. When you realise that it is the true food and true drink, you begin to desire it so much! :crying:

There were two teenagers, a girl (stereotypical blonde with all pink accessories and clothing) and a guy (plainly dressed and stubble with bushy hair) which I saw in the pews before me. The guy was very irritable and not paying attention to the homily by scratching and picking on his hands, while the girl listened intently, taking on every word of our priest. But when both of them received the Holy Bread, what reverence they gave in prayer after taking and eating it! O_O! :bowdown:

For me, I do not get irritated if people do not come up for communion (like me, who seems to be the only teen in my parish who recognises the hour fast beforehand), but rather those who take it unworthily, and it is such sacrilege because it is happening right now so often! :nope:
 
I’m not really being nosey. Its just that I seem to be noticing it more and more.

I used to go to The SSPX, although now I go to the Society of St Peter. In both places most people seemed to receive communion on a regular basis (but of course they are not into ‘blessings’)

I don’t agree with going to confession EVERY TIME you intend receiving communion. After all we only have to confess mortal sins, and we shouldn’t be commiting mortal sins very often. Vatican II encourages regular, weekly communion.

Is this not a bit Jansenist feeling unworthy all the time?
 
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Sowndog:
A Eucharistic minister in our parish cannot receive communion because of an allergy she has to an ingredient in the bread. (Don’t ask me exactly what it is - I’m not good at remembering things like that!) It’s quite sad because she said she is conscious every week that there is something lacking.
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The precious blood contains the complete body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ. Why would anything be lacking?
 
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Kielbasi:
The blessing part, I don’t get, as the priest blesses all of the people at the conclusion of the mass a few minutes later.

But the idea that everyone at mass should be expected to receive communion each Sunday is a new and novel one. Forty years ago, at most masses, only about 1 in 10 Catholic received communion on a typical Sunday. Most stayed in the pews. And it was less than that during previous generations.
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Your statistics don’t reflect my experience; however, the later the Mass on Sunday, the fewer who went to Communion because of really strict fasting laws.

You had to fast from Midnight.
 
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RomanRiteTeen:
The precious blood contains the complete body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ. Why would anything be lacking?
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That is true. I don’t know why she feels like this. maybe she just feels left out.
 
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