Communion Brings Us Into Intimate Union With Christ

An excellent article, On Taking Communion While Not Catholic – A Little Primer, by Elizabeth Scalia, has been making the rounds on social media with some very lively reactions, especially from non-Catholics. Many well meaning non-Catholics seem to have the same view about Communion that I once did.

Many years ago before I became Catholic, I was receiving communion from other churches, including the Episcopal Church, that allow communion for anyone who is a baptized Christian. For awhile, I wanted to receive communion at lunchtime, so I went to a Catholic church close to my work on my lunch hour. I felt that communion was for anyone who wanted to sincerely receive Christ and so it didn't really matter what Catholic doctrine said about it. 

But then one day, I felt the presence of Jesus come about me showing me that He was displeased and that I should not be receiving Catholic Communion since I wasn't Catholic. It bothered my conscience so much that I sought out a Catholic priest to ask him about it. Needless to say, he told me very nicely that yes, I could not receive Communion in the Catholic Church if I wasn't a confirmed Catholic.

I took in what he said, but it was more than that. I could tell in my conscience after that that Jesus was showing me that I needed to respect what the Church rules were about Communion. I respected that, and I never took Catholic Communion again as a non-Catholic. But I did continue to receive it from other churches where confirmation in that church was not a requirement.

Years later, I went through RCIA and I am now a confirmed Catholic. It was quite a powerful experience when I received Communion as a confirmed Catholic for the first time. It was as if a veil had been removed between me and Christ and heaven as well. I realized the power of this sacrament in the Catholic Church.

I am not saying that it is less powerful in other churches or that Christ does not honor Communion in those churches as well. (I have had some very powerful experiences through Communion other churches to say the least.) But I am saying that He impressed upon me the need for respecting the requirements of the Church and that He rewarded me for doing so with an intimacy with Him that I had not had before. I felt in communion with Him because I had obeyed not only the Church rules, but His command to me.

But perhaps it is more than that. When we receive Communion in the Catholic Church, we receive as one, not only in personal union with Christ, but in union with all the Masses said throughout the world, the mystical Body of Christ. It really IS a mystical union with Christ and with His Catholic Church, and I can say that that is my experience as well. In fact, now that I am Catholic, I am not allowed to receive communion from any church or minister other than Catholic. In this sense, it is different than communion in other churches.         

Another difference is that of needing to be in a state of grace through the confession of sins, especially mortal sins, via the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It only makes sense that one would need to remove any impediments to this union in order to be able to fully receive it. Of course there are lesser forms of confession and repentance of sins, but in order to truly partake of this high, mystical union, one must be free of obstacles on a spiritual level as well, which can only be achieved through the spiritual power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation whereby Christ forgives our sins through one of His ordained priests. Our Nicene Creed states that we believe in “all things visible and invisible.” But because this spiritual forgiveness is invisible, it is harder to believe as much in its power or the need for it (but then again, gravity is invisible too, but we’d be fools not to respect its power!)

The Catholic Church has some rules for Communion and they deserve respect. But it’s so much more than that. Christ Himself has asked us to obey them. It costs Him to forgive our sins, and respecting these few simple rules does nothing less than bring us into intimate union with Him and with His mystical Body in the Catholic Church, and with all the Masses said throughout the world.