Thanks Dolours, I am just confused over this quote from SG's post: 2. Offer to God, for His greater glory, the mystery of our Redeemer’s life which is being commemorated, or the acts of virtue which have been practiced by the saint whose feast it is. This is done in the Canon of the Mass; it is not fitting to communicate before having made this offering which appeases the most High and brings us divine grace. I want to make sure I am doing the right thing.
I can empathise with that because it's something I get nervous about too although not because I'm not getting the responses exactly right at Mass. To the best of my knowledge, what we must be most careful about is being in the state of grace and discerning the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist along with fasting for one hour from food and three hours from alcohol before receiving. I'm sure that others here are far more knowledgeable so don't take my advice as Gospel. It's best to ask a priest, preferably one who treats the matter of Communion very seriously and doesn't treat it as a meal for anyone who shows up.
Thanks Dolours, (and everyone else) I have some scruples about this. I do the fasting etc. and I treat it going to Holy Communion very seriously. I made my first confession in March 2015 after 20 years or so. It took me 10 months to write up my confession and to find a good priest, but I have only been to Holy Eucharist a handful of times since then. It is very nerve wracking for me. I really almost won't go unless I have been to confession right before or very recently.
Praetorian If you have such scruples about receiving the Lord, I believe that you are in a great place spiritually. I suggest you go to confession, if you have the need to, but to refrain from receiving Him because of some vague fear (as opposed to having some sin you should confess) is a shackle to your journey. Do not let fear shackle you. God Bless
It seems to me that you are letting your scruples deny you the privilege of receiving the sanctifying grace of the Sacrament. Clearly you discern the body and blood so as long as you haven't committed any mortal sins and are fasting there's no reason for you to abstain from Communion. The conditions defining mortal sin (grave matter, full knowledge and full consent) are so clearly defined by the Church that, in my opinion, it would be extremely difficult for a person to be unaware that they are in mortal sin. I stress that it is my opinion and that you would be better talking to a priest about your scruples.
I see there are some tutorials on utube, It would only take 5min for someone to show you how to use a missal and follow the ordinary prayers with the proper of the day. Most the missals in my house are 1962. An older missal is fine but may lack some of the updated feast days. Personally I just use a prayer book and put most of my effort in following the method of St Louis de Montfort for communion. Before Holy Communion 266. 1) Place yourself humbly in the presence of God. 2) Renounce your corrupt nature and dispositions, no matter how good self-love makes them appear to you. 3) Renew your consecration saying, "I belong entirely to you, dear Mother, and all that I have is yours." 4) Implore Mary to lend you her heart so that you may receive her Son with her dispositions. Remind her that her Son's glory requires that he should not come into a heart so sullied and fickle as your own, which could not fail to diminish his glory and might cause him to leave. Tell her that if she will take up her abode in you to receive her Son - which she can do because of the sovereignty she has over all hearts - he will be received by her in a perfect manner without danger of being affronted or being forced to depart. "God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved." Tell her with confidence that all you have given her of your possessions is little enough to honour her, but that in Holy Communion you wish to give her the same gifts as the eternal Father gave her. Thus she will feel more honoured than if you gave her all the wealth in the world. Tell her, finally, that Jesus, whose love for her is unique, still wishes to take his delight and his repose in her even in your soul, even though it is poorer and less clean than the stable which he readily entered because she was there. Beg her to lend you her heart, saying, "O Mary, I take you for my all; give me your heart." During Holy Communion 267. After the Our Father, when you are about to receive our Lord, say to him three times the prayer, "Lord, I am not worthy." Say it the first time as if you were telling the eternal Father that because of your evil thoughts and your ingratitude to such a good Father, you are unworthy to receive his only-begotten Son, but that here is Mary, his handmaid, who acts for you and whose presence gives you a special confidence and hope in him. 268. Say to God the Son, "Lord, I am not worthy", meaning that you are not worthy to receive him because of your useless and evil words and your carelessness in his service, but nevertheless you ask him to have pity on you because you are going to usher him into the house of his Mother and yours, and you will not let him go until he has made it his home. Implore him to rise and come to the place of his repose and the ark of his sanctification. Tell him that you have no faith in your own merits, strength and preparedness, like Esau, but only in Mary, your Mother, just as Jacob had trust in Rebecca his mother. Tell him that although you are a great sinner you still presume to approach him, supported by his holy Mother and adorned with her merits and virtues. 269. Say to the Holy Spirit, "Lord, I am not worthy". Tell him that you are not worthy to receive the masterpiece of his love because of your luke-warmness, wickedness and resistance to his inspirations. But, nonetheless, you put all your confidence in Mary, his faithful Spouse, and say with St. Bernard, "She is my greatest safeguard, the whole foundation of my hope." Beg him to overshadow Mary, his inseparable Spouse, once again. Her womb is as pure and her heart as ardent as ever. Tell him that if he does not enter your soul neither Jesus nor Mary will be formed there nor will it be a worthy dwelling for them. After Holy Communion 270. After Holy Communion, close your eyes and recollect yourself. Then usher Jesus into the heart of Mary: you are giving him to his Mother who will receive him with great love and give him the place of honour, adore him profoundly, show him perfect love, embrace him intimately in spirit and in truth, and perform many offices for him of which we, in our ignorance, would know nothing. 271. Or, maintain a profoundly humble heart in the presence of Jesus dwelling in Mary. Or be in attendance like a slave at the gate of the royal palace, where the King is speaking with the Queen. While they are talking to each other, with no need of you, go in spirit to heaven and to the whole world, and call upon all creatures to thank, adore and love Jesus and Mary for you. "Come, let us adore." 272. Or, ask Jesus living in Mary that his kingdom may come upon earth through his holy Mother. Ask for divine Wisdom, divine love, the forgiveness of your sins, or any other grace, but always through Mary and in Mary. Cast a look of reproach upon yourself and say, "Lord, do not look at my sins, let your eyes see nothing in me but the virtues and merits of Mary. "Remembering your sins, you may add, "I am my own worst enemy and I am guilty of all these sins." Or, "Deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man." Or again, "Dear Jesus, you must increase in my soul and I must decrease." "Mary, you must increase in me and I must always go on decreasing." "O Jesus and Mary, increase in me and increase in others around me." 273. There are innumerable other thoughts with which the Holy Spirit will inspire you, which he will make yours if you are thoroughly recollected and mortified, and constantly faithful to the great and sublime devotion which I have been teaching you. But remember, the more you let Mary act in your Communion the more Jesus will be glorified. The more you humble yourself and listen to Jesus and Mary in peace and silence - with no desire to see, taste or feel - then the more freedom you will give to Mary to act in Jesus' name and the more Jesus will act in Mary. For the just man lives everywhere by faith, but especially in Holy Communion, which is an action of faith.
I don't really know how to put my thoughts across properly, but I believe that even for the home-bound there is a simple rite to sort of allow them to 'participate' in the mystery of the actual Holy Sacrifice at Calvary, before receiving the Holy Eucharist. Administration of communion and viaticum to the sick by an extraordinary minister / Sacred Congregat
That's a very interesting document. Yes, there is a special rite when Mass is not being celebrated. The short rite for administering Communion to people in hospital (page 17) looks like it would be the one that's followed for the homebound because most of the prayers are said in the hospital chapel and only a very short prayer is said at each bedside. I'm basing that conclusion on my experience of the EMHC (a very holy religious sister) saying no more than a couple of short prayers before giving Communion to my elderly relative. I had prepared a little table with a white linen cloth, crucifix, two candles, holy water and a little finger bowl of ordinary water. She came to the house after morning Mass, and I don't know whether there were special prayers recited before she left the Church with the sacred hosts (our house was in the middle of her rounds) or whether the special prayers are only required when the person bringing Communion isn't coming direct from attending Mass. Perhaps there is an EMHC forum member with experience of bringing Communion to the housebound who could explain the procedures to us.
Thank you Mac. I am copying this info I will print it out for reference. I don't know why but I never thought of Youtube for a tutorial. I will check that out as well.
Thank you Dolours, With scruples it is difficult to feel that even small sins are not mortal. I am actually not sure what a small sin is for myself. The rules for mortal sin may seem clear to others but no so much for me. It is alright though. It is a cross I am carrying now. I have done the consecration to Jesus through Mary and I think one of the things that St. Louis DeMontfort said would happen was that Mary would destroy scruples. So I have faith in that. Mary has done so much for me that if it is not yet time then I must be patient. I have received great graces and am very blessed.
Thank you Light. I am working towards having a healthy respect for the Blessed Sacrament rather than a fear. It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't have scruples. I have been to confession. It is just something I am working on, but thank you for the input
I am not aware of this requirement to abstain from alcohol for 3 hours before receiving Holy Communion. (Not that I take alcohol regularly; in fact far from it. ) But only the 1 hour fast was mentioned when I was going through the RCIA.
But the Holy Eucharist gives us life, and venial sins are forgiven at mass. John 6:53-56 53 So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.
Also, through the penitential rite at mass, the prayers and Holy Communion itself, venial sins are forgiven. "The non-absolutory nature of the penitential rite does not mean that venial sins are not forgiven during this rite; they are also forgiven by receiving Communion and by the other intercessory prayers of Mass. This forgiveness is due to the general reparatory nature of all positive acts of prayer, sacrifice, devotion and worship which in some way create a positive counterbalance to those common sins, defects and imperfections which plague our daily lives. Since participation in Mass is infinitely the greatest form of reparatory and intercessory prayer that a human being can undertake, it is clear that his or her venial sins are likewise forgiven during Mass. This is not true of mortal sins because the state of grace is necessary in order to receive Communion and fully benefit from the other blessings of the Mass. These sins ordinarily require sacramental confession and absolution to be forgiven." https://www.ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/zlitur88.htm
I looked it up and you're right. Alcoholic drinks are included in the one-hour fast. I'm surprised because I had a vague memory of the priest announcing that alcohol wasn't included when the fast was reduced from three hours to one hour. Either my memory is failing or I must have been dreaming at that Mass way back in the 1960's.
I do not like the Sign of Peace. I think it's a distraction when Our Lord is already present on the altar. Our PP makes a big thing of it, flinging his arms in the air. He doesn't leave the altar, thanks be to God! But I don't like having to shake hands with people and I'm glad I receive the Host on the tongue. I'm sure I read somewhere that in some rites [would it be Eastern rites?] that people wash their hands before Mass?
I am a grump , I also do not like saying good morning or whatever at the start of mass And not making remarks during the mass. I am there to encounter Christ not the priest. I notice though that I have become a horrible old grump.
If you stay after Mass for tea or coffee, you can prove to others that you aren't a grump! That's the time for talking.
