Worthy Communion
Friends in the Lord, today Christ says: ‘If you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, and go first and be reconciled with him.’
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Jesus would have in mind the temple sacrifices of those days; the person would come in with his goat or his sheep to be offered, but Our Lord says, before you go do that, you need to be reconciled with your neighbor.
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Applying this principle to us, we can say that when we come to Holy Mass, and we offer up Jesus to God in heaven, we offer our praise, our thanksgiving, and in atonement for our sins – well, if we have a grudge against someone, or hatred in our heart, then our offering is not sincere.
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The other thing we should consider, is that if we wish to receive Jesus Christ in Holy Communion, we for sure cannot be at enmity with God or our neighbor. Therefore, to receive Holy Communion worthily, we may not be in a state of mortal sin, we must be reconciled with God and neighbor, and that means Confession.
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If we have skipped Mass since our last confession, or have hatred for someone, or have stolen something of value, or committed sexual impurity, or maligned someone’s reputation- we must go to Confession before receiving Communion.
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Holy Communion is called the Marriage Banquet of the Lamb. Jesus himself is received, under the appearance of Bread. He is bodily united to us, and this is the greatest marriage there is, a one-flesh-union between Jesus and ourself, and that must only be entered into, under the most holy of circumstances.
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If a husband and wife have a snippy word between them during the day, that would not preclude them from entering into the one-flesh union of marital love that night. But if something serious were to happen, to wound that relationship – say the husband had been unfaithful – for him that night, to request marital rights from his wife without a reconciliation, would be unconscionable, it would be a immense wound to her, a mockery, really.
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And so, if we have done something serious to injure our friendship with Christ, it would be a sacrilege, to unite ourself to him in Communion; it would be the kiss of Judas. St. Paul says, ‘whoever eats this bread of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of his Body and Blood.
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My personal view is, that even if we are not in mortal sin, if we feel that we have not been living the best for Christ, or have not prepared well for Communion, we should say: ‘Lord, out of love, I am not coming up today, I only want to receive you when I am really in love with you.’
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We go to Holy Mass for sure, and we offer this Divine Savior in praise, in love, and especially in atonement for our sins, even if we are in sin. But if we haven’t been faithful to the Lord, we show greater love if we don’t receive, but instead, tell him how much we wish to.
