RECEPTION OF HOLY
COMMUNION AT MASS
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Most
of us understand the Church's
teaching
regarding preparation for
sharing
in Holy Communion. We
remember
that we are to fast from solid food for one hour prior to receiving Holy
Eucharist to
ready
ourselves to be fed. We also understand that we must be in union with
Christ and his Church to
receive
Holy Eucharist. This means that we must
be baptized into the Catholic Church and not be in
a state of serious sin. Those conscious of
serious
sin
should seek the sacrament of Reconciliation to prepare worthily for Holy
Communion.
Cardinal
Joseph Bernardin, in his pastoral letter Guide to the Assembly, puts
it well: "Before
coming forward we say,
'Lord, I am not worthy’. We
are never worthy of this table, for it is God's grace
and gift. Yet we do come forward. This is food
for the journey that we began at baptism. We may
eat of it when we are tired, when we are discouraged, even when we have
failed. But not when we have forgotten the church, forgotten the way we
began at the font; not when we have abandoned our struggle against evil
and remain unrepentant for having done so. Let us examine our lives
honestly each time before approaching the Eucharist. Worthy, none of us
ever is, but properly prepared each one must be. Christ, present in the
Eucharist and in us, calls us to be a holy
communion, to grow in love and holiness for one
another's sake."
When
we come forward to share the Holy
Eucharist,
we come in procession, as the Body of
Christ. We come as a pilgrim Church, the body of those who believe in
Christ, on their way to the heavenly Jerusalem. In fact, each time we
move
forward together to receive the Body and
Blood of
the Lord,
we join the countless number of all the
baptized who have gone before us, our loved ones,
saints throughout the ages, pilgrims and
believers
all.
The
singing of the Communion song supports us in our unity in Christ. For
some, however, the singing
of
this song is perceived as an intrusion on their own prayer. In fact,
however, this song is prayer, the corporate thanksgiving prayer of the
members
of the Body of Christ united with one another in
the Lord. Over and over again the prayers of the liturgy
and the norms of the GIRM emphasize this
fundamental theology of the unity of the baptized,
stressing that when we come together to
participate
in
the Eucharistic celebration we come, not as
individuals, but as united members of Christ's
body.
It
may be difficult for some of us to embrace this emphasis on Mass as the
action of a community rather than an individual act of my own faith and
piety, but it is important that we make every effort to do so. This may
be part of the self-sacrifice to
which
some of us are called. At liturgy we sacrifice
our individual preferences for the good of the whole
community which is the Church.
GIRM
Bulletin 18E Office
for Worship, Archdiocese of
Los Angeles
Ó
2003, Archdiocese of
Santa Fe, NM. Used with
permission.
Implementing Reforms to Sacred Liturgy in Our Parish
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Articles on the Sacred Liturgy