The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 190: Receiving Holy Communion (2024)

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

The Catechism goes over the prerequisites to receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, as well as how often the faithful can and should receive him. Fr. Mike ensures that we understand the gravity of our obligation to go to the sacrament of Reconciliation before receiving Communion. As St. Paul said, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1384-1390. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity and God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is Day 190. Congratulations!

That's a milestone. We're reading paragraphs 1384-1390. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes a Foundations of Faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. You can click follow or subscribe to your podcast app for daily updates,

daily notifications, which you already know. I mean, for Pete's sake, this has been a part of your life. That last one hundred and ninety days. That's amazing. Or at least last hundred and eighty nine days. Here's day one ninety. You know, what do they say? Thirty days to build a habit.

Ninety days to build a habit. You've been building this habit for one hundred and ninety. I mean, again, it's a milestone. I think it's a milestone. And congratulations. It's just really incredible. Thank you for those who have not only joined us, but also prayed for us. I say every day I'm praying for you and truly at the Mass, every single Mass I offer, I'm always, always remembering all of you. And I have no idea. Sometimes people share, here's what I'm going through. Here's what I'm experiencing. And I'm

like, okay, we're on it. When it comes to prayer, sometimes it's just, okay people share, here's what I'm going through, here's what I'm experiencing, and I'm like, okay, we're on it when it comes to prayer. Sometimes it's just, okay, God, whoever's out there, I truly am praying for you, so thank you so much for your prayers as well and your financial gifts. We couldn't do this without you. Today, as we said, it's day 190,

paragraphs 1384 to 1390. Yesterday, we talked about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. We also talked about the Paschal Banquet, and of course, while the heart of religion is worship and the heart of worship is sacrifice, the Eucharist is not only a sacrifice, it is both. And it is a sacrificial memorial of the sacrifice of the cross and the sacred banquet of the communion with our Lord's body and blood.

It is both. And it's great. Incredible. I mean, when I say great, I mean, like, how great thou art. Like, amazingly great, amazing grace. So today, we're continuing to talk about that, because we only kind of mentioned it yesterday, the Paschal Banquet, but we're gonna talk

a little bit more about this. So in order to receive our Lord's presence, in order to receive Him, right, because communion is this feasting upon our Lord and God who told us, take and eat, right? Take and drink. Because of this, we have to prepare ourselves for so great and for so holy a moment. And so we're going to talk about this today. How do I prepare myself? What kind of obligations do I have in order to receive Holy Communion in a worthy manner? We know that none of us are worthy truly,

but we have to make sure that we are as prepared as possible to be able to receive Holy Communion in a way that transforms our lives. And so we're gonna talk about that today. What are some of, not just the conditions for receiving Holy Communion, but what are the preparations we can make to receive Holy Communion in a worthy way?

There might be some times when we ought not to receive Holy Communion. We'll talk about that today as well. So as we enter into this day, we just give God thanks and praise as we pray. Father in heaven, we thank you. We give you praise and glory. You are the God who has given to your son and your son has given himself. You both have given your Holy Spirit to us as the one who makes actual and makes present what Jesus made possible. And so we ask you to please send once again your Holy Spirit into our lives, into our hearts. Send your Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that is active and that unites us to you, the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us,

the Holy Spirit that allows us to cry out Abba, Father, send that Holy Spirit into our hearts in a new way so that we can always give you thanks and praise, the praise that you deserve, the thanks you deserve, so that we can give you the kind of hearts that you desire for us. Make our hearts like your heart. Help us to love what you love, help us to hate what you hate,

and keep us far from all evil. Keep us far from all sin, and help us grow as your saints. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. It is day 190, we are reading paragraphs 1384 to 1390. Take this and eat it, all of you. Communion. The Lord addresses an invitation to us, urging us to receive Him in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. To respond to this invitation, we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience, saying, Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment upon himself. Anyone conscious of a grave

sin must receive the sacrament of reconciliation before coming to communion. Before so great a sacrament, the faithful can only echo humbly and with ardent faith the words of the centurion. Domine, non sum dignus ut intris sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima And in the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrys tell your enemies the secret, nor kiss you with Judas' kiss, but like the good thief I cry, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. To prepare for worthy reception of this sacrament, the faithful should observe the fast required in their church. Bodily demeanor, gestures, and clothing ought to convey the respect, solemnity, and

joy of this moment when Christ becomes our guest. It is in keeping with the very meaning of the Eucharist that the faithful, if they have the required dispositions, receive communion when they participate in the Mass. As the Second Vatican Council says, The more perfect form of participation in the Mass whereby the faithful, after the priest's communion, receive the Lord's body from the same sacrifice is warmly recommended. The Church obliges the faithful to take part in the Divine Liturgy on Sundays and feast days, and, prepared by the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to receive the Eucharist at least once a

year, if possible during the Easter season. But the Church strongly encourages the faithful to receive the Holy Eucharist on Sundays and feast days, or more often still, even daily. Since Christ is sacramentally present under each of the species, communion under the species of bread alone makes it possible to receive all the fruit of Eucharistic grace. For pastoral reasons, this manner of receiving communion has been legitimately established as the most common form in the Latin Rite. But the sign of communion is more complete when given under both kinds, since in that

form the sign of the Eucharistic meal appears more clearly. This is the usual form of receiving communion in the Eastern Rites. Right, there we are in paragraphs 1384-1390. I love this. This section is so important for us. This is one of those sections where we just have to realize the Church is saying what all that the Church has said so far, based off what Jesus Christ has revealed to us, that the Eucharist is the source and the summit.

This is the high point. This is from which all graces for the Christian life flow from the Eucharist and lead us back to the Eucharist. How important this is because of this and because Jesus wants us to receive him. Remember, what did he say? Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life. But Jesus does say, take this, all of you, and eat of it. Take this, all of you, and drink. We have to prepare ourselves. We can't just saunter up, right? Because this truly is God. We've established this for the last number of days. Jesus Christ is truly really in substantially present in the Eucharist.

This is his body, blood, soul and divinity. Therefore we cannot be cavalier about our approaching our Lord. And so paragraph 13 and eight five starts out by saying, okay, how do we prepare ourselves for so holy and for so great a moment? Well, St. Paul even says when he's writing to the Corinthians, he says, whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Now that's a, it's kind of an idiom there that he's using. What he's saying is essentially you'll have the blood of Christ on your hands.

You'll be guilty of his murder. I've heard people explain it like that. So, you know, if you walk up to a statue and knock it down, you're guilty of vandalism. But the image that St Paul is using here is he's using the image of actually, you'll be guilty of the murder of our Lord, that there's some kind of grievous thing that happens. And so I've heard people say that that's, that's the heart of what he's saying in that interpretation

And so what's happening here is st. Paul from the very beginning is warning people Okay, when it comes to the Eucharistic assembly when it comes to Holy Communion We have to make sure that we're not conscious of grave sin that if there's a serious sin on our souls Then we must abstain from the Eucharist like like avoid the Eucharist, until we've gone to confession first. And this is one of those things that happens that when people come back for confession after so long of a time, it's an incredible gift, a huge gift.

But one of the questions I almost always ask is, okay, in the meantime, since some of the bigger deal sins, I always say it like that, since some of the grave sins, I say the bigger deal sins, because it's kind of like a more colloquial way of saying it. Since some of the bigger deal sins, have you ever received communion without going to confession first and so many people don't know That that itself is a serious sin. So if I miss Mass Intentionally, right I could have gone but I didn't go if I upset myself for Mass on Sunday

I have to go to confession before I can receive communion again If I'm guilty of any of the grave sins, any grave, any mortal sin, I'm conscious of any grave sin, I have to go to reconciliation, confession, before I can receive Holy Communion. So it's so important. I mean, this is one of the reasons why, gosh, it's a matter of our souls,

a matter of life and death, it's a matter of eternity. Whenever you have priests or bishops or whoever trying to teach on, okay, if I'm not living a life that's in conformity with the gospel, if I'm living a life where it's clearly I've stepped out, you know, not just my private life, but it means sometimes there's public people who will have living in a public way contrary to the faith. And sometimes bishops or priests will have to say,

if you're going to keep living this way, you can't approach Holy Communion. And people say you're judging that person. Well, here's the thing. We can never judge a person's heart. We are prohibited from that. But if there's someone who is in public sin, right? Someone who's publicly sinning, and is persistent, public and persistent, grave sin,

then it is actually the job of the bishop. It's actually the role of the pastor to point this out. No, it's not their job or role to go online and say this, but it is their job, it is their role to maybe approach that person and say, okay, I see what's happening. You know, your life right now, you're in an irregular marriage. You realize that thing of like, okay, you're Catholic,

but you're married outside the church. Well, until you get that marriage, you know, blessed inside the church, you shouldn't receive Holy Communion. If someone's been divorced and remarried, again, I don't want to focus on marriage, but that's another situation where someone maybe they got divorced and remarried without a declaration of nullity. And okay. In that case, I'm living in a state that I'm outside of full communion with the church.

I need to get that regularized. I need to get that situation fixed if I can before I can receive Holy Communion. And again, I'm just using these marriages as one example, just because it's kind of one of those real common examples. I don't mean to be picking on anybody at all right now, but it's one of those more common examples that we just kind of can see and people don't even know

how many times people don't even know that it's a grave sin to commit grave sin and receive Holy Communion. In fact, I think it was Voltaire. Voltaire, who was no friend of Christians, I think he hated the Catholic Church. If I got this right, there was a young man who said, you know, went to Voltaire and he said, I want to be free of this guilt. I want to be free of these shackles of the Catholic Church. I want to be free of that this this guilt I want to be free of these these shackles of the Catholic Church I want to be free of of you know Cuz if I if I do evil I still feel badly because of my upbringing I if I do the wrong thing I still feel badly because I've been taught what's right and what's wrong full tear said this he's full tear said Commit a bunch of mortal sins and then keep receiving Holy Communion

And that will cure you of this conscience that will cure you of this conscience, that will cure you of this pinprick of conscience that tells you that you've done something wrong. And tragically, I think the story is that the young man does that, that he commits grave sins, mortal sins, and then continues to receive Holy Communion until his conscience has been deadened, his conscience has been so numb to that it was destroyed. And that's one of the things that happens to us. And so I only

say this again, not just about marriage, but any grave sin, and we're conscious of any mortal sin, we must not present ourselves to receive full communion. At the same time, I may not, and we may not judge someone else's state of their soul. Right? So keep all of that in mind. It's all about, in this case, it's all about where am I at? What am I called to do? Where am I called to repent of my sins and go to confession? Now, going on, for paragraph 1386, it says, before so great a sacrament, the faithful can only echo humbly and with ardent faith the words of the centurion. He said them in Latin, but we say them every day when we go to Mass, Lord, I'm not worthy that you should enter under my roof

But only say the word and my soul shall be healed which is so true We just recognize that I am not worthy to hint I am not worthy at all But we have to do whatever we can to prepare ourselves to be worthy, right? So one thing is there's a fast required by our church and the Latin Church says a fast of at least one hour So we don't eat or drink anything except for water or medicine if you need medication One hour before receiving Holy Communion. That's the fast required by our church Also, there's not a requirement but our bodily demeanor like how we act in the church how our clothing what we dress should convey The respect solemnity and joy of this moment.

When Christ becomes our guest, we have some students on campus who, you know, at one point someone had said to them, they pointed out the dignity of the mass, the dignity of the fact that Jesus comes to us like this. And so some of our young men, they'll go to daily mass, but they will wear a tie for daily mass. And it's just one of those like, wow,

that's not how you dress normally. Nope, I know it's going to daily mass, so I threw on a tie. And not everyone does this. There's everyone else with ripped jeans and shorts or whatever the thing is. But sometimes it's just something, you look at this guy or look at some of the gals who are dressed up nicely for even daily mass

and you think, okay, this is reminding all the rest of us how solemn, how respectful, how joyful this moment is. It's just really, really incredible. Now continuing on, paragraph 1388 highlights this. It highlights the fact that one of the recommendations of the church is that people receive communion when they participate in the Mass. Why should that be a note in paragraph 1388? Why is one of the encouragements from the church

be that, oh, you go to church when you go to mass, you should receive Holy Communion? Well, one is because there was a time in the church when people were so in awe of our Lord's presence in the Eucharist, they were aware, very much aware of their own unworthiness. And so what would happen is they wouldn't receive Holy Communion, not even once a week,

not once a month, not once a year. They wouldn't receive Holy Communion, not even once a week, not once a month, not once a year. They wouldn't receive Holy Communion hardly ever because they knew their own sinfulness. They knew like, oh my gosh, I can't be the kind of person who approaches Jesus, that's Jesus in the Eucharist. How could I possibly ever receive him? So what had to happen was the church had to say, okay, listen, here's the deal.

Not only are you encouraged to receive Holy Communion, warmly recommended as it says here in paragraph 1388, but you're actually obliged to receive Holy Communion at least once a year. Prepared by the Sacrament of Reconciliation, right? Go to confession. But you're obliged to receive Holy Communion at least once a year, if possible during the Easter season. But receive Holy Communion more regularly. Receive Holy Communion more regularly receive Holy Communion on Sundays and feast days and maybe even daily just like the Eucharist is a

sacrifice versus the Eucharist is a a sacrificial meal like a banquet those aren't opposed to each other it's the same mystery that has two of these dynamic elements to it yet what did I hear all growing up I heard about the banquet. I heard about the meal, this is a fellowship meal, this is the, and so when I discovered it's also a sacrifice, you know, I was captivated by that. And so you can have people going back and forth, because maybe someone who heard it was,

the Eucharistic is a sacrificial meal, and then they finally discover it. It's no, it's also a banquet? Wow, that captivates their hearts. And so it goes back and forth just like here we are we find ourselves You know There's one time in the church When people are so conscious of their sins and so aware of the holiness of the Eucharist that they kept away from the Eucharist

There's other times in the church where people seem to be at least so dead or unconscious of their own sin and so Unconscious of the Lord's holiness that they just approach the Eucharist willy-nilly, right? Just kind of any which way, any way they come. I think that we continue to go back and forth and we realize, okay, what's that middle road? The middle road, I think, is we recognize our own sinfulness. We recognize the Lord's truth and beauty and goodness in the Eucharist.

And we recognize that He still invites us to come to Him, that we need to be prepared by holy reconciliation, by confession, but also that He wants us to draw near, that He doesn't want us to stay far away, that He wants to first forgive us and reconcile us to Him and to His Church and then we can confidently, humbly, but also boldly approach Jesus in Holy Communion. That's my invitation for all of us. That if you realize, my goodness, I've been receiving Holy Communion and I haven't confessed these grave sins that I have. I've been receiving Holy Communion and I haven't gone to confession in quite a while.

I need to go to confession before I receive Holy Communion the next time. But also know that you're invited to do that. Know that the Lord wants to reconcile you. Know that the Lord wants to forgive you of your sins because he desires that you actually have communion. When we have grave sin and we receive Holy communion, it's not communion. It's anti-communion, right? It's actually we're eating and drinking condemnation upon ourselves and the Lord wants to set you free. So the invitation, go, go to that sacrament of healing

in confession, be restored, be reconciled, and then approach our Lord's banquet, approach our Lord's table, approach our Lord's altar with all the confidence in his love, in his goodness, in his beauty, in the fact that he wants you to come close. I'm just so, so grateful. So grateful. Man, I'm praying for you because this is challenging and hopefully it wasn't too awkward.

Again, I'm not picking on anybody today. Just this is the reality that here we live in in the 21st century and there's a lot of brokenness in all of our lives, a lot of brokenness in all of our hearts. And so we need God's grace. We need his healing and we need his true presence in the Eucharist to come to us in communion. I'm praying for you, please pray for me. My name's Father Mike, I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.