The arrival of the annual Solemnity of Corpus Christi — the most holy Body and Blood of Christ — impresses upon us the unmistakable, unsurpassable gift that Jesus left behind.
It has been nearly 2,000 years since the church first exulted in the most holy Eucharist, which St. Thomas Aquinas hailed as “the Sacrament of Sacraments.”
Over the centuries, the church’s pastors have insisted on the importance of being properly “disposed” to receive holy Communion, meaning that one fasts from food and drink for a certain time (the exact amount of which has varied from one era to another) and that one be free from mortal sin, which is a grave offense against God committed with sufficient reflection and full consent of the will.
A young man in high school who regularly serves at the altar told me that one of our parishioners had mentioned to him that when I recently spoke during Mass of the requirements for receiving holy Communion, this parishioner disagreed about what I said regarding the necessity of being in the state of grace to receive the Eucharist. He argued that those Catholics who are separated from Jesus because of mortal sin are most needy of his Body and Blood and, therefore, should be able to receive this sacrament despite the condition of their souls.
It may be that these people in question are most needy. Yet, that doesn’t dispense them or any of us from being properly prepared. In his letter of Feb. 24, 1980 entitled “Dominicae Cenae” (“On the Mystery and Worship of the Eucharist”), Pope John Paul II demonstrated keen awareness of this contemporary attitude:
“Sometimes, indeed quite frequently, everybody participating in the eucharistic assembly goes to Communion; and on some such occasions, as experienced pastors confirm, there has not been due care to approach the Sacrament of Penance so as to purify one’s conscience. This can of course mean that those approaching the Lord’s table find nothing on their conscience, according to the objective law of God, to keep them from this sublime and joyful act of being sacramentally united with Christ.
“But there can also be, at least at times, another idea behind this: the life of our communities can lose the good quality of sensitiveness of Christian conscience, guided solely by respect for Christ, Who, when He is received in the Eucharist, should find in the heart of each of us a worthy abode. This question is closely linked not only with the practice of the Sacrament of Penance but also with a correct sense of responsibility for the whole deposit of moral teaching and for the precise distinction between good and evil, a distinction which then becomes for each person sharing in the Eucharist the basis for a correct judgment of self to be made in the depths of the personal conscience.
“St. Paul’s words, ‘Let a man examine himself,’ are well known; this judgment is an indispensable condition for a personal decision whether to approach Eucharistic Communion or to abstain.” (11)
Hence, requisite consideration must be given to how one stands vis-à-vis the Lord before partaking in the Bread of Life. Our Lady, according to an ancient tradition, received the holy Eucharist from the hand of St. John the Evangelist to whom Jesus Christ commended his Sorrowful Mother on Calvary. She is more worthy than anyone to receive holy Communion. We can only imagine the attentiveness that Mary, who conceived her son by the Holy Spirit and brought him forth from her virginal womb, displayed before approaching the Most Holy Eucharist.
May the Ever-Virgin Mother of God pray that we may always worthily receive her eucharistic Son.
Msgr. Mangan, former faculty member at Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., is parochial vicar of several parishes in the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S.D.
