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SJP0309
Guest
Is grace provided when a sacrament is received without faith? Can a person simply receive communion in a course of habit or obligation and yet receive God’s grace?
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Trishie
Guest
Communion is too sacred a gift to receive with a mere cold sense of obligation or without faith. Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, comes to a person in holy Communion, and the person allows Him to enter their spirit but does not welcome Him, does not speak to Him, has no love for Him…what is that. Should we receive a great visitor to whom we owe eternal happiness and not (in a sense) offer Him a hug and coffee and a chair and talk with Him but indiffferently leave Him standing at the door?
Faith is not just a matter of feelings. You may not ‘feel’ faith. You may believe but not have the satisfaction of receiving Him with the love He should receive. This is in fact faith, even if it doesn’t feel like faith. The fact that you may feel no faith yet have faith, doesn’t mean you can’t welcome the Lord honestly and the best you can manage, with the intention of welcoming Him. Even if you heart feels nothing, it doesn’t mean you aren’t welcoming Him if you so so with quiet reverence and prayer, in which case you can receive grace.
If you do go to Communion only with disinterest and coldness, offering Him nothing, (not even the fact that you regret you can’t feel what you wish for Him, which is in itself a prayer which claims His mercy) then do you think that is worthy of grace or is it an insult.
Faith is not just a matter of feelings. You may not ‘feel’ faith. You may believe but not have the satisfaction of receiving Him with the love He should receive. This is in fact faith, even if it doesn’t feel like faith. The fact that you may feel no faith yet have faith, doesn’t mean you can’t welcome the Lord honestly and the best you can manage, with the intention of welcoming Him. Even if you heart feels nothing, it doesn’t mean you aren’t welcoming Him if you so so with quiet reverence and prayer, in which case you can receive grace.
If you do go to Communion only with disinterest and coldness, offering Him nothing, (not even the fact that you regret you can’t feel what you wish for Him, which is in itself a prayer which claims His mercy) then do you think that is worthy of grace or is it an insult.
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diggerdomer
Guest
yesIs grace provided when a sacrament is received without faith? Can a person simply receive communion in a course of habit or obligation and yet receive God’s grace?
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sheila0405
Guest
The reason Protestants aren’t permitted to receive Holy Communion is because they do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. We are warned by St Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians that to receive Holy Communion in an unworthy manner is to be guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ. So my question would be this: Has Eucharist become too ordinary, or is that person actively rejecting the Real Presence of Jesus? I think the answer hinges on those states of mind–habit vs active disbelief. In the first case I believe grace is available to reignite the soul, In the second case I believe that the person is committing a mortal sin.
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SJP0309
Guest
To: diggerdomer
The issue I have with your response is that the sacrament of the Eucharist might become simply a ‘work’ on the part of the recipient. I acknowledge that we don’t always ‘feel’ our faith and sometimes may seem to be simply ‘going through the motions’. However, my concern is that a person might begin to trust in the mere ‘participation’ in the sacrament and not focus on their faith in ‘who’ they are receiving and ‘what’ they are partaking of.
There is nothing we can do to ‘earn’ God’s grace, and so our actions must be a response to faith, not void of it. Does the person really believe in ‘who He is’ and ‘what He has done for us on the cross’? If so, and that faith leads a person to receive the Eucharist, then great. But without faith how can grace be received?
The issue I have with your response is that the sacrament of the Eucharist might become simply a ‘work’ on the part of the recipient. I acknowledge that we don’t always ‘feel’ our faith and sometimes may seem to be simply ‘going through the motions’. However, my concern is that a person might begin to trust in the mere ‘participation’ in the sacrament and not focus on their faith in ‘who’ they are receiving and ‘what’ they are partaking of.
There is nothing we can do to ‘earn’ God’s grace, and so our actions must be a response to faith, not void of it. Does the person really believe in ‘who He is’ and ‘what He has done for us on the cross’? If so, and that faith leads a person to receive the Eucharist, then great. But without faith how can grace be received?
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diggerdomer
Guest
hi SJP,
Yes my answer was incredibly minimal.
I agree with your concerns. That’s a real danger.
My point, though, is highlighting the other end of the spectrum, i.e. because our works do not earn us salvation/grace, grace is a gift of God and God is free to give that gift…even if an individual’s faith is imperfect, if they’re only going through the motions, and so on. It’s still God who acts first and primarily in the Sacraments.
Traditionally I think the aspect you’re getting at is referred to as the “fruits” of the sacramental grace. If we receive communion grace is imparted regardless of our frame of mind, attention, and so on (that’s part of the consequence of our belief in the Real Presence)–assuming of course there’s some minimal level of faith/intention on our part. We would really benefit much more greatly, though, if we are “properly disposed” to the celebration, i.e. being as open as we can to the experience and the gift of grace. We will better realize the grace, the fruits, the more we “properly dispose” ourselves to.
In the end, though, it’s still up to God to give grace as God will.
Cheers
Yes my answer was incredibly minimal.
I agree with your concerns. That’s a real danger.
My point, though, is highlighting the other end of the spectrum, i.e. because our works do not earn us salvation/grace, grace is a gift of God and God is free to give that gift…even if an individual’s faith is imperfect, if they’re only going through the motions, and so on. It’s still God who acts first and primarily in the Sacraments.
Traditionally I think the aspect you’re getting at is referred to as the “fruits” of the sacramental grace. If we receive communion grace is imparted regardless of our frame of mind, attention, and so on (that’s part of the consequence of our belief in the Real Presence)–assuming of course there’s some minimal level of faith/intention on our part. We would really benefit much more greatly, though, if we are “properly disposed” to the celebration, i.e. being as open as we can to the experience and the gift of grace. We will better realize the grace, the fruits, the more we “properly dispose” ourselves to.
In the end, though, it’s still up to God to give grace as God will.
Cheers
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Br.Rich_SFO
Guest
A person can receive a Sacrament even in a State of Mortal Sin and they still receive the Sacrament. They may commit a serious sin in doing so and would not receive any Sacramental or Sanctifying Grace. A person who receives in a State of Grace but with little faith would diminish the Grace they are capable of receiving.Is grace provided when a sacrament is received without faith? Can a person simply receive communion in a course of habit or obligation and yet receive God’s grace?
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Cluny
Guest
Is grace provided when a sacrament is received without faith?
Yes, but it might be grace for judgement, and the person receives the grace-filled sacrament unto his own sin and condemnation.
** Can a person simply receive communion in a course of habit or obligation and yet receive God’s grace?**
Assuming there is no major sin on the person’s conscience, and generally does have faith, regardless of how or what he happens to be feeling at the moment, he would receive the grace of the sacrament fully and worthily.
Obviously, the grace will bear more or less fruit in accordance with the person’s general faith.
I know a man who has great faith in Our Lord and His Eucharistic presence–but he also lives with great and constant pain from fibromyalgia and other ailments.
He might be zoned out from pain meds, or thinking about how his back is hurting, at the very minute the Priest comes to where he is in his wheel chair.
But his general attitude of faith is very strong, regardless of how he is feeling at a given second.
Yes, but it might be grace for judgement, and the person receives the grace-filled sacrament unto his own sin and condemnation.
** Can a person simply receive communion in a course of habit or obligation and yet receive God’s grace?**
Assuming there is no major sin on the person’s conscience, and generally does have faith, regardless of how or what he happens to be feeling at the moment, he would receive the grace of the sacrament fully and worthily.
Obviously, the grace will bear more or less fruit in accordance with the person’s general faith.
I know a man who has great faith in Our Lord and His Eucharistic presence–but he also lives with great and constant pain from fibromyalgia and other ailments.
He might be zoned out from pain meds, or thinking about how his back is hurting, at the very minute the Priest comes to where he is in his wheel chair.
But his general attitude of faith is very strong, regardless of how he is feeling at a given second.
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Slave2Christ
Guest
The functions of Sacraments are described by the Latin operato ex opere, meaning they “operate outside of the operator”. The Sacraments confer grace simply because they are being performed, provided the recipient is in a state of friendship with God (not in mortal sin). Receiving them, however, with an inappropriate mindset will diminish the amount of fruits and blessing that they can confer. In a sense, a lack of faith, thankfulness, etc. can block the positive temporal effects of the Sacrament to an extent, but will not completely nullify it. The power in the Sacrament is of God, not from the performer or the recipient.Is grace provided when a sacrament is received without faith? Can a person simply receive communion in a course of habit or obligation and yet receive God’s grace?
All this being said, it is infinitely better to receive the Sacraments with due reverence and faith than to merely “go through the motions.”
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Slave2Christ
Guest
Excuse me, the phrase is ex opere operato, “from the work being done”. Same concept however.The functions of Sacraments are described by the Latin operato ex opere, meaning they “operate outside of the operator”."
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