The highlight of my week happens each Sunday, when I am able to experience with my Church family the solemnity and joy that is the Eucharistic part of the liturgy. When I distribute Communion, I am awestruck by what I see in the faces of the people receiving. There is a joy and solemnness that I see nowhere else. Each person seems to grasp how close this encounter with Jesus Christ is, and the intimacy involved.
There is another side of this experience though, that is extremely painful to me as the cleric distributing Communion, and to the person who may not be able to receive it. I am not referring to when someone comes up to me with their arms crossed, perhaps because they have not had a chance to go to confession yet and must wait until next week. I am referring to the person who is perhaps unable to receive the Sacrament due to a more lasting circumstance. Yet even there, I see grace at work, they are at Mass, there is the desire to maintain their relationship with Jesus, even if Sacramentally there are some limitations. This pursuit of their relationship with God, and their persistence, will not go unrecognized.
There is one other circumstance that I sometimes encounter, and that can be painful, and often misunderstood. That is when someone who is not Catholic cannot receive Communion at Mass. This is very disheartening for someone who is used to receiving each Sunday, but when they come to visit our Church they cannot. This is a long lasting repercussion of the Reformation, that continues to divide us to this day. As Catholics we believe in Transubstantiation, which means we believe that the bread and the wine that is placed on the altar, are transformed during the Epiclesis of the Mass, into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ. This happens mystically, but is based on the very clear statements that Jesus gave us at the last Supper (Matthew 26:26-28).
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While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.”* k27Then he took a cup, gave thanks,* and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you,28l for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.
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Notice the word covenant in the last line, this is not a word used at all lightly by the people, and certainly not by a prophet. The blood of the pascal sacrifice which saved us all, the blood of the Perfect Lamb Jesus, was not to be relegated to simple wine or a symbol. Moreover, if you read John 6:51-68)
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I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”a52The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?”53Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.54Whoever eats* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.57Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.b58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”59These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”61Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you?62What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?*63It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh* is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.64But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.c65And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”66As a result of this, many [of] his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.67Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”68Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
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Pay attention to the wording here, it is extremely clear from the standpoint of the language that our Lord uses, that this is not a parable – he is being very direct, and there is a direct purpose at work here. Jesus knows who will leave, and who will stay, despite His statements that for a Jew of that time period (remember the Jewish people were surrounded by pagan tribes that practiced blood sacrifice and cannibalism) would be extremely distressing and would appear to violate the law. This controversial address to those present left Him with the twelve, who would take His word on faith. This distinction in belief is the core of why as Catholics we treat communion differently. We believe that if someone is receiving the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, there is a specific manner in which they must be prepared. Belief is obviously the first step, but there is more. In order to receive one must do so in a worthy manner (see 1 Corinthians 11:26-29)
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.
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For Catholics this means that if you have not been to confession and received absolution, you would be receiving the actual body and blood of our Lord (again due to transubstantiation) in an unworthy manner. We would not want to place someone in this position either intentionally or unintentionally, so we are very careful about how we hold the Eucharistic portion of the Liturgy, and if we know that someone is present who does not believe these same things, and has not prepared themselves accordingly, we will request that they instead spend the time in reflection and prayer. We are not trying to exclude, we would LOVE to have everyone come to the understanding of the nature of Communion within the Mass, but until that happens, this is our best recourse for everyone’s sake.
The Deacons Bench 