Receiving Communion in Mortal Sin?
Question: Our priest has told us that if a person receives Communion in a state of mortal sin, the host ceases to be the body of Christ and is just ordinary bread. But if that is the case, why would it be a sin?
Answer: If that, in fact, is what your priest told you, he was incorrect. Once consecrated by the priest, the host becomes the body of Christ and remains so, even when someone receives it unworthily. That is exactly why it is wrong to take the Eucharist when in a state of serious sin – because of the sacredness of the sacrament.
Speaking at a papal audience in March 2018, Pope Francis reminded Catholics of the need to obtain absolution for grave sins before receiving the Eucharist. “We know,” said the pope, “that one who has committed a serious sin should not approach holy Communion without having first obtained absolution in the sacrament of reconciliation.”
Related to your question, a somewhat frightening study released by the Pew Research Centre in August of 2019 reported that more than two-thirds of self-described Catholics think that the bread and wine at Communion are not actually the body and blood of Christ but only symbols of the sacred.
I call this frightening because the doctrine of transubstantiation is central to the teaching of the church. Didn’t we grow up learning that what distinguishes Catholics is that we really do believe that we receive Jesus himself when we take communion?
Remember in the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel when Jesus said to his disciples, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you”? Some of the disciples said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” and some of them walked away.
What did Jesus do? Did he say, “Wait a second. Don’t get nervous. I’m only talking symbols here?” He did not; he let them walk away, because he meant it.
Answered by By Father Kenneth Doyle
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