Should someone receive Communion if he doubts whether he is in a state of grace?

[awmcg]

A friend had asked me if he should receive the Eucharist even though he was in doubt as to whether he had committed a mortal sin. Having recently been in the same situation I told him that I refrained from receiving because I would rather have forsaken my personal desire than to offend the Lord. Unfortunately, he didn’t heed my advice. He said that during prayer he felt the need to receive the Eucharist to strengthen his will to resist this temptation in the future.

Shortly after this episode, he went to confession and the priest told him, even in his doubt, that he did the right thing by receiving the Eucharist. I disagree with the good father’s advice. I feel that if one refrains from the Eucharist and is not actually in the state of mortal sin, that God would honor one’s fidelity and bestow the grace as if one had actually received Communion. Even if God does withhold that grace, I believe desiring to be obedient and trusting God rather than ourselves is a grace in and of itself.

I was just curious to get the perspective of someone more experienced in these matters.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Look at it this way: Perhaps the grace your friend received from Communion was what enabled him to go to confession, talk to the priest, and find out that what he did was not wrong.

Receiving Communion when in doubt as to whether or not you are in a state of grace is not the same thing as receiving Communion while in a state of mortal sin. If you are sincerely in doubt as to whether or not you are in a state of grace, then there is a possibility that you might be in a state of grace. If that is the case, then I can’t see any reason not to receive Communion, so long as the person goes to confession at the next reasonable opportunity to confess his sins and discuss his doubts with the confessor. This is particularly so for a scrupulous person who may struggle daily with certainty over whether or not he is in a state of grace.

I should note that your idea that God gives the grace of sacramental Communion without the person actually having received Communion is incorrect. He might well offer the graces of a spiritual communion, but one ordinarily must receive the Eucharist to be granted the grace of receiving the Eucharist.