“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the
Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of
the Lord.” 1 Cor 11:27
I remember talking to a group about how to prepare to
receive the sacrament of the Eucharist, when someone said that surely it was
never a bad thing to receive Our Lord in the Eucharist? Well St Paul disagrees!
The offending Corinthians were guilty of overeating, drunkenness and
discrimination against the poor. This was sufficient for them to be in a state
of mortal sin and therefore the act of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ
became an act of sacrilege and self-condemnation. So indeed there are
circumstances when receiving the Lord in the Eucharist is a gravely immoral
act.
St John Chrysostom says, in his commentary on Corinthians, that
receiving the Lord unworthily is an act equivalent to the soldiers who
crucified our Lord! They spilled His precious blood but did not drink it. His
blood was made to pour forth but it was not for the Eucharist.
So how do we make sure we are not like the crucifiers of
Jesus by receiving the Eucharist unworthily? The simple answer is that we need
to take seriously our preparation for the Eucharist. And the bottom line is
that if we are aware that we have committed grave sin then we should not
receive the Eucharist until we have gone to confession. This is the teaching of
the church.
St Paul reckoned that sinning in this sacrilegious way
resulted in the Corinthians received divine judgement through their weakness,
sickness and in some instances even death (1 Cor 11:30).
On this day when the Church celebrates the Mass of the Lord’s
Supper, let us renew our practice of preparing ourselves to receive the
Sacrament of the Eucharist. Let us examine ourselves and if our conscience
convicts us of grave sin then let us refrain from receiving the Eucharist as an
act of love towards our Lord, and let us hasten to the confessional to be
reconciled and enter into the joy of the Lord.
Thanks be to God for His inestimable Gift.
Fr Ian
