Should I abstain from the Eucharist during Lent?

[the_nuge]

As part of my Lenten penance I am considering abstaining from participation in the sacrament of the Eucharist. I abstained today at the morning Ash Wednesday Mass. This is not a food abstinence consideration, although I am joining it with a real attempt to prayerfully fast during Lent, more than those days required of Catholic adults.

I should say that I have taken the Eucharist in less than perfect circumstances before, and I wish to abstain during Lent to help bring myself to taking the body of Christ more perfectly in the future. Does this make sense and is it allowed?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Catholics are not required to receive Communion at every Mass they attend. They are only required to receive Communion once per year, during the Easter season. That said, I cannot recommend deliberately choosing to abstain from the Eucharist during Lent as a penitential devotion, however noble the motives. The Eucharist is Jesus Christ himself and the whole point of Lent is to draw nearer to him! In a time when Catholics were far more reluctant to receive Communion on a regular basis, St. Therese of Lisieux once said:

Our Lord does not come down from heaven every day to lie in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another heaven which is infinitely dearer to him – the heaven of our souls, created in his image, the living temples of the adorable Trinity.