Sexual abstinence before Holy Communion?

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fugadux

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Hello!

I read in the book What the Church teaches about Sex by Robert L. Fastiggi that the Catechism of the Council of Trent stated that sexual abstinence is to be observed “for at least three days before Communion” (Catech. Rom., part II, chap. VIII, n. 34) Is this still a teaching of the Catholic Church, is it morally binding by divine law or is it a discipline that can be altered by the Magisterium? And if it is a discipline, has it been altered by the Magisterium and can someone direct me to a citation?

It would seem to me that this is not observed today in practice at least and I would like to have this question settled before I marry. Since I practice (basically) daily Communion now, I’m wondering if me and my spouse-to-be can continue this practice, which has the recommendation of Pope St. Pius X or if we are obliged to reduce our frequency of Communion.

In Christ,
The Slave of Mary,
David
 
I’ve never heard of this rule… sounds “out of it” to me, anyway…
 
What the BLIP!!!

Where do you people get this stuff?

A lawfully married couple, who engaged in the delights of love in the privacy of their bedroom, could most certainly get up, get dressed, and head off for Mass to unite with their Lord in the Eucharist as long as they were in the state of grace, had obeyed the the regulations of fasting from food and drink, and were properly disposed towards the sacrament. Married love is just one of the things for which they could offer thanks.

Saint Paul says married couples can agree to abstain from sex for a time in order to devote themselves to prayer, but both partners have to agree to it. Partners can also agree to periodic abstinence if they have good reason to delay the birth of the next child.

The physical act of married love is a good. Why should any couple, who have engaged in it in it’s proper setting, hesitate to approach Holy Communion?
 
fugadux said:
Hello!

I read in the book What the Church teaches about Sex by Robert L. Fastiggi that the Catechism of the Council of Trent stated that sexual abstinence is to be observed “for at least three days before Communion” (Catech. Rom., part II, chap. VIII, n. 34) Is this still a teaching of the Catholic Church, is it morally binding by divine law or is it a discipline that can be altered by the Magisterium? And if it is a discipline, has it been altered by the Magisterium and can someone direct me to a citation?
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I have also never heard of such a teaching, and I would want to check to see whether there is an “F” for “Fiction” on the spine of the book, and also whether there are Imprimaturs and Nihil Obstats on the publisher’s page - and if so, what the standing is, of the Bishops listed.
It would seem to me that this is not observed today in practice at least and I would like to have this question settled before I marry. Since I practice (basically) daily Communion now, I’m wondering if me and my spouse-to-be can continue this practice, which has the recommendation of Pope St. Pius X or if we are obliged to reduce our frequency of Communion.
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I know lots of married people who receive Holy Communion daily, and who are also fans of the Catechism of the Council of Trent, so if such a thing were in that Catechism, I feel sure that those folks would be aware of it, and they would follow it - which they don’t - so I seriously doubt that such a teaching exists there, or anywhere, since it seems to me that the Church has always encouraged married people to partake of the gifts and joy of their Sacrament of Marriage as frequently as possible. 🙂

(Or mostly always; there are one or two exceptions with certain celibate theologians who had strange ideas about sex; fortunately, by the protection of the Holy Spirit, those ideas didn’t make it into any Catechisms that I am aware of.)
 
Here is the text from the Roman Catechism (see here):

Preparation Of Body

Our preparation should not, however, be confined to the soul; it should also extend to the body. We are to approach the Holy Table fasting, having neither eaten nor drunk anything at least from the preceding midnight until the moment of Communion.

The dignity of so great a Sacrament also demands that married persons abstain from the marriage debt for some days previous to Communion. This observance is recommended by the example of David, who, when about to receive the show*bread from the hands of the priest, declared that he and his servants had been clean from women for three days.

The above are the principal things to be done by the faithful preparatory to receiving the sacred mysteries with profit; and to these heads may be reduced whatever other things may seem desirable by way of preparation.
 
I think I’ll start a thread to list all the ways “Catholic teaching” can find to disparage and discourage all types of sex, including marital sex. The number must be phenomenal.

Sometimes I wish St. Monica hadn’t been quite so successful in her prayers.
 
Now I can write the closing chapter of my book entitled, " I’ve Just About Heard Everything and Then Some." In the texts, if one were to adhere to the Catechism of Trent, it states the term “recommended” which is not binding.

Why would the Church teach that a marriage must be consummated and then teach that that very act removes one from the Eucharist? Oh for crying out loud… Happy are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb…
 
teachccd said:
Why would the Church teach that a marriage must be consummated and then teach that that very act removes one from the Eucharist? Oh for crying out loud… Happy are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb…
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👍
 
teachccd said:
Now I can write the closing chapter of my book entitled, " I’ve Just About Heard Everything and Then Some." In the texts, if one were to adhere to the Catechism of Trent, it states the term “recommended” which is not binding.
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It also uses the verb “demands”.
 
A friend of mine says he actually heard with his own ears, his pastor responding to this very question.

[now, this is gross]

The pastor said, “Don’t block the aisle”.
 
And yet people continue to post things to the effect that the Church has always upheld and promoted the dignity of marital intimacy. And I’ve also read postings that even deacons, no less, are allowed intimacy with their wives before service on the altar. Which is it? Deacons who assist at daily Mass apparently have very small families.
 
Short answer:

You don’t have to abstain from sex for three days before receiving Holy Communion.

Longer answer:

The following article by a professor of Catholic studies divide Catholic Church teaching into four categories based on authoritativeness: Church dogma, definitive doctrine, authoritative doctrine, and prudicial admonitions and Church discipline.

lists.oakland.edu/pipermail/stjohnfisher/2007-January/000038.html

It seems to me that the three days of abstinence is something that would maybe qualify as a prudicial admonition by the Catholic Church. It would, at very most, be an authoritative teaching that may be incorrect.

Also, the fact that it says, “this observance is recommended…for three days,” indicated that there’s no set amount of time that a couple is required to abstain.

It is also noteworthy that the fast from food and water, just a paragraph above the sexual abstinence, has been greatly modified since then.

Also, I could be off, but people at that time I think often received communion at most about once a month because they were very afraid of receiving unworthy. People back then (Trent was 1545-63) often were scared of Jesus rather than loved Jesus, which is why Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary (who lived a century later) and expressed His desire be be loved by people, and for people to receive Him in Holy Communion more. This could be why Trent recommended this absurd (IMHO) three day period of abstinence.

theotokos.org.uk/pages/fatima/sacredh.html
marypages.com/MargaretMaryAlacoque.htm
newadvent.org/cathen/09653a.htm
 
This appears in more than one place in that catechism:
But as every blessing is to be obtained from God by holy prayer, the faithful are also to be taught sometimes to abstain from the marriage debt, in order to devote themselves to prayer. Let the faithful understand that (this religious continence), according to the proper and holy injunction of our predecessors, is particularly to be observed for at least three days before Communion, and oftener during the solemn fast of Lent.
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Perhaps if it bothers people, it might do to investigate older practices of the fast during Lent. Much has changed in the communion fast and the Lenten fast.
 
Before we follow this advice, we need to know whether of not daily communion was a practice back then. If not, then this advice does not apply because there would be no living Catholics if it had been followed.
 
atassina said:
Before we follow this advice, we need to know whether of not daily communion was a practice back then. If not, then this advice does not apply because there would be no living Catholics if it had been followed.
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The catechism of that time encourages the idea of frequent, even daily reception. It is in the same chapter that Just Lurking quoted.

It is not necessary to follow the fasting discipline of that catechism, though. It is only necessary to follow the current fasting discipline.

I doubt the Catholic population would expire if the daily communicants suddenly stopped reproducing. There does not appear to be enough who are simultaneously young and married to cause that.
 
atassina said:
Before we follow this advice, we need to know whether of not daily communion was a practice back then. If not, then this advice does not apply because there would be no living Catholics if it had been followed.
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As I noted in my last post, post 15, people rarely received communion back then, much less daily.

Unless I’m wrong (and I’d be open to correction), part of the reason why Jesus instituted, through Saint Margaret Mary, first Friday devotion is so that people will receive Holy Communion at least once a month! Jesus had to establish a special devotion so that people would receive communion once a month!

With more research, it seems to me like this lack of receiving Holy Communion had a lot to do with Jansenism:

“Even in the first period of Jansenism, they were so influenced by its rigorism that they omitted their Easter duty and refused viaticum because they were not sufficiently detached from creatures. Jansenist priests were known never to say Mass; others considered it a matter of principle to reduce reception of the Sacraments to a minimum, so that Catholics were found who had not made their First Communion by the age of thirty. In one of his letters, St. Vincent de Paul describes the situation in Paris where, he says, “We no longer see persons frequenting the Sacraments, not even at Easter, the way they formerly did.” Speaking of annual Communions, he reports that “Saint Sulpice has 3,000 less; the parish of Saint Nicholas du Chardonnet, after having visited his families in the parish after Easter, in person and by proxy, told us recently that he discovered 1,500 of his parishioners who had not been to Holy Communion; and the same is true of others.” Many people used to receive at least once a month. “But now scarcely anyone can be seen going to Holy Communion on the first Sunday of the month and on feast days . . . unless a few at the Jesuit churches.”
It was at the height of this heresy that St. Margaret Mary was favored with the apparitions of Our Lord at Paray-le-Monial. This fact alone would make us look for some connection between the two events. If not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the knowledge of God, there must be more than coincidence in the revelations of the Sacred Heart taking place in the same country and at the same time that a heresy was rampant which threatened to remove the Blessed Sacrament from the lives of the faithful. However we do not have to speculate on the subject because all the evidence in the life of St. Margaret Mary proves that the Holy Eucharist is an essential element in the devotion to the Sacred Heart.”

therealpresence.org/archives/Sacred_Heart/Sacred_Heart_001.htm
Pug said:
It is not necessary to follow the fasting discipline of that catechism, though. It is only necessary to follow the current fasting discipline.
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I agree.

The disciplines at the time of Trent, which were probably influenced by the approach they had to receiving Holy Communion then, has been changed. If one is only going to receive Holy Communion at most once a month, than it might as well be a major event that you substantially prepare for by fast and abstinence.
 
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