Dear Friends,
After the priest completes praying the preparatory prayers for Holy Communion, he genuflects. After the Agnus Dei has been finished, everyone kneels. The priest holds the consecrated Host over the chalice and elevates them, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God. Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.” Behold, the Lamb of God: these words harken us back to John the Baptist in St. John’s Gospel (1:29); reference back to last week’s bulletin column for a brief thought about the words of St. John the Baptist.
The congregation responds by saying, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.” These words imitate the words of the centurion who, in the Gospel of St. Matthew, asked Jesus to heal his sick servant. When Jesus responds that He will come to the house and see the servant, the centurion responds by saying, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant shall be healed (8:8).” In response, Jesus says, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith (8:10).”
By imitating the words of the centurion, we are admitting our own unworthiness to receive the tremendous gift God gives us in the Blessed Sacrament. This can be humbling and even difficult to say—to say that we are not worthy—yet it serves to remind us that we don’t need to earn God’s love, His friendship, His grace. Yes, we are not worthy, we who are sinful and full of faults, yet God gives us gifts and blessings beyond measure. God gives us His love, His grace; He continues to call us back to Him. God gives us His Son, Jesus Christ, who gives Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament. We are not worthy to receive Him under our roof, and God simply says the word and makes us worthy to receive Him.
Nevertheless, reception of the Blessed Sacrament is not an absolute right. This brings us to thinking about preparing ourselves for receiving Holy Communion. Our preparation doesn’t make us worthy; our preparation disposes us to receive more fully the great gift God gives us. Even though we pray the words of the centurion, there are some circumstances which can temporarily keep us from fully approaching the altar. Firstly, we are asked to fast from food and drink (aside from water) for one hour before receiving the Eucharist. Typically, this means to refrain from food and drink beginning about 10-15 minutes before Mass; this is not difficult when we consider that the fast once began at midnight. Part of this fast is to create a greater hunger for the Body and Blood of Christ. If we are eating a burger, candy bar, or snack as Mass begins, we should refrain from receiving Holy Communion.
Secondly, we are asked to refrain from receiving the Blessed Sacrament when in a state of mortal sin. The Penitential Act at the beginning of Mass gives the grace to absolve our venial sins, but not our mortal sins. What is a mortal sin? The First Letter of John 5:17 says, “All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.” In other words, there is sin that is deadly, that kills the soul, and we call that sin “mortal.” It is not that God rejects us in mortal sins, but rather, we reject God, bringing spiritual death upon ourselves; God still calls us back to Him. There are three conditions needed for a sin to be mortal: (1) the act is of a grave or serious nature, (2) a person knows the act is grievous, (3) a person freely consents to this action he knows to be gravely wrong. The Ten Commandments are a first step in moral discernment of mortal sins.
Our mortal sins are forgiven only in the sacrament of Reconciliation when we confess them and are truly contrite. God can forgive our sins outside of Confession because God is not bound by the sacraments. However, the sacraments are the ordinary means or channels of God’s grace that our Lord Jesus Christ has instituted, and therefore, we are bound to the sacraments, especially Reconciliation for the forgiveness of our sins. Perhaps when I’m done discussing Mass, I will discuss Confession and Reconciliation. At this point though, I will simply say it is good to go to Confession regularly (once every 4-8 weeks or as soon as possible after mortal sin) as a preparation for receiving the great gift of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
We are saints under construction, preparing ourselves to be called to the Supper of the Lamb. Have a great week!
In Christ,
Fr. Matt