A number of our children will be receiving Holy Communion for the first time at both St. Mary and at Resurrection Parishes. Masses within which First Communion is to be received are scheduled as follows: this Sun., May 1st, at Resurrection Parish at 10:30 a.m. and next Sat., May 7th, at St. Mary Parish at 6:00 p.m. The first communicants have been preparing for months now for this most special occasion.
Holy Communion unites us with the Lord Jesus in a most special way. As we receive our Lord in this way, He becomes one with us and we become one with Him.
It is in the setting of Mass that we normally receive our Lord in Holy Communion. This factor highlights the communal nature of the Eucharist. Our Lord instituted the Eucharist both to unite us with Him in a most intimate way and also to express our oneness with all who receive Him in this distinctive manner. Receiving Holy Communion expresses our intention to live as our Lord’s disciples as members of the Church. We are thus called to live as Christians in full communion with our Holy Father, the Pope, and with all of the Bishops who are in full communion with him. The Pope and the Bishops who are in communion with him respectively are the successors of St. Peter and the other Apostles. In a world in which the interpretation of the Scriptures and the on-going understanding of the Christian Faith are grasped in conflicting ways at times, Roman Catholics believe that even as the Lord guided the early Christian community in a distinctive way under the leadership of Peter and the other Apostles, even so in every generation up to the present, the Lord continues to guide the Church into the fullness of the Christian Way of Life in and under the successors of Peter and the Apostles, who respectively are the Pope and the Bishops who are in communion with the Holy Father. At its heart, this conviction differentiates Roman Catholics from Christians who affiliate with other Christian traditions.
The Roman Catholic Church recognizes as Christians all who are baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in various non-Catholic Christian communities. Non-Catholic Christian Communities do not acknowledge or accept the role of the Pope and the Bishops in communion with him as described above. Non-Catholics, and sad to say, even a number of Catholics, pick and choose from the teachings of the Church as these are expressed through the Holy Father and the Bishops, those beliefs and practices which go along with their understanding of the Scriptures. For most non-Catholic Christians, with the exception of the Orthodox Churches, the Bible itself is the only reliable source and norm of Christian beliefs and practices.
The result of this is that there are significant differences in the understanding and practice of the Christian Faith. It is because Christ instituted the Eucharist both to offer Himself to His disciples in a distinctive manner as well as to express our oneness in matters of faith and morals which flow from the Gospel for the lives of His disciples that we can see why the Catholic Church at this point cannot invite non-Catholic Christians to receive Holy Communion at Catholic altars and why as Catholics, we are strongly discouraged from receiving communion in non-Catholic worship celebrations. If in practice, we don’t go along with what the Catholic Church teaches on this matter, we are being dishonest.
Let’s continue to pray and do our part to hasten the day when Christians from various traditions will be able to receive Communion from the same altar.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Nelson Beaver – Pastor