Posted on 08/22/2003 12:57:06 PM PDT by Salvation
Communion and Church Teaching GRACE MACKINNON
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Dear Grace, If you do not agree with some of the Church’s teachings, but you receive Communion on Sundays, are you sinning? |
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First of all, let us be clear that “not agreeing with” and “not living according to” the Church’s teaching are two different matters. It is very possible that a person might not agree with a teaching and yet decide to live in obedience to it, believing that it comes from God. The Church knows well that sometimes we will struggle with a certain teaching, often due to a lack of understanding, and this is okay as long as we do not reject it. If, however, you are asking if it is alright to receive Holy Communion and, at the same time, live a life that rejects some of the teachings of the Church, the answer depends on what teachings you are referring to. Certain “teachings” or doctrines of the Church must be believed and followed, otherwise communion with the Church and with God would be broken.
What are those teachings that must be believed and followed? Canon law states the following: “All that is contained in the written Word of God or in Tradition, that is, in the one deposit of faith entrusted to the Church and also proposed as divinely revealed either by the solemn Magisterium of the Church or by its ordinary and universal Magisterium, must be believed with divine and catholic faith… therefore, all are bound to avoid any doctrines whatever which are contrary to these truths” (canon 750). This means everything that has been revealed by God to the Church, both written and oral. By “Magisterium,” we mean the teaching office of the Church. It is made up of the pope and bishops. When they together teach in an area pertaining to faith and morals, they are the Magisterium.
We know that essentially any baptized Catholic, unless prohibited by canon law, may be admitted to Holy Communion (canon 912). In other words, one may receive Communion as long as one is not acting contrary to any law of the Church. We must keep in mind of course that when we speak here of the “laws” of the Church, we are speaking of the law of God, and most of it is based on the Ten Commandments, which are to us like sign posts on the road to life. God reveals them to us out of His great love and infinite mercy. Who knows better what we need than He who made us?
Sometimes we may tend to think that by the Ten Commandments God means to bind or limit us, when in fact just the opposite is true. In actuality, they are meant to liberate us, to set us free. The problem with embracing them comes when we do not want to accept no for an answer to what we want. When as children, however, we wanted to play with matches or a knife and our parents said no, we did not understand then what we do now as adults about the danger in having such things. It is that same way too between God and us.
So, when God tells us that those things such as abortion, sex outside of marriage, marriage outside the Church, artificial birth control, practicing homosexuality, “living together,” are wrong, then we know they are not His divine will for us. If we disobey deliberately and willingly, then we have fallen out of communion with Him. This is mortal sin and, therefore, one may not receive the Holy Eucharist while the situation persists. Reconciliation, however, can restore that communion. If only we realized the great mercy of God. He waits lovingly and eagerly for each of us to reach out to Him and be with Him. To be in the will of the Lord and live according to His ways brings a happiness and peace that every human person was made for and longs for. Let us pray for this communion with Him for each other, today and every day.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Grace MacKinnon. "Communion and Church Teaching." (August, 2003).
Reprinted with permission of Grace MacKinnon.
THE AUTHOR
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Grace MacKinnon is a syndicated columnist and public speaker on Catholic doctrine. She is the author of Dear Grace: Answers to Questions About the Faith published by Our Sunday Visitor. Order online by e-mail at osvbooks@osv.com or call 1-800-348-2440.
Readers are welcome to submit questions about the Catholic faith to: Grace MacKinnon, 1234 Russell Drive #103, Brownsville, Texas 78520. Questions also may be sent by e-mail to: grace@deargrace.com.
You may visit Grace online at www.DearGrace.com.
Copyright © 2003 Grace D. MacKinnon
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A priest friend of mine was sharing that he preached about purgatory at the last funeral he did, as he often does. Someone from the congregation approached him after the funeral and complained about the negative tone of his homily, specifically because of the "Purgatory reference". This person said she was tired of hearing about Purgatory and was close to leaving the Church and becoming Episcopal.
The funny thing is; she is not Catholic simply by the fact that she denies the dogma! How many are there who fall into this category?! We must pray for the re-Christianization of America and the return to the faith of apostate Catholics.
COMMUNION PRAYER
"O my Jesus, give me grace nevermore in any way to offend You, and grant that I, being refreshed by Your Eucharistic Presence here on earth, may be found worthy to come to the enjoyment, with Mary, of Your enternal and ever blessed Presence in heaven. Amen"
Before leaving the world, at the Last Supper, Christ left us His infinite love - Himself in the Holy Eucharist.
When one of the "liberals" denies the doctrine of Purgatory over and over again they are denying one of the basic dogmas of the faith. They are "defacto" heretical. St. Thomas (II-II:11:1) defines heresy: "a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith of Christ, corrupt its dogmas". "The right Christian faith consists in giving one's voluntary assent to Christ in all that truly belongs to His teaching. There are,therefore,two ways of deviating from Christianity: the one by refusing to believe in Christ Himself, which is the way of infidelity, common to Pagans and Jews; the other by restricting belief to certain points of Christ's doctrine selected and fashioned at pleasure, which is the way of heretics. The subject-matter of both faith and heresy is, therefore, the deposit of the faith, that is, the sum total of truths revealed in Scripture and Tradition as proposed to our belief by the Church. The believer accepts the whole deposit as proposed by the Church; the heretic accepts only such parts of it as commend themselves to his own approval.
She didn't deny the dogma. The article didn't say. She said she was tired of hearing about it. I am tired of hearing about it when we are never taught that we don't have to go there.
Maybe the priest should have taught his people how they can merit escaping purgatory by obtaining a plenary indulgence at the end of one's life, by receiving the final sacrament, being unattached to venial sin, and having the intention of gaining the indulgence. Or is that something Amchurch came up with? I read it in the new handbook of indulgence regulations published by Tan.
Why don't priests teach that? Do they not know about it?
Don't you think that in the dying process, many souls are purged of their sins by their suffering?
You do not die with sins on your soul if you are absolved of them. Venial sins do not have to be confessed one by one to be forgiven.
Do you believe that indulgences work? If not, are you not denying a dogma of the faith? Why not use all the treasures and helps available to you through the ministry of the church?
Isn't it kind of fatalistic to believe you have to suffer in purgatory, especially if you have been a faithful catholic? Isn't God more merciful than that?
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