October 10, 2005
Here’s another tough question from Mary from Buffalo that Catholics often get asked: “Why can’t non-Catholics receive Communion? Isn’t that exclusive? Does the Church think God loves Catholics more than everybody else?” Here is a beginning of a response:
The Body and Blood of the Lord is a gift that no one is worthy of or has a right to (as we say at Mass “Lord I am not worthy to receive you...”) From the earliest years of the Church, however, great care was taken to prepare catechumens (those to be baptized) before receiving this awesome gift so that they would understand it in relation to the rest of the teaching of Christ that was passed on. Saint Paul cautioned against receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord in an unworthy manner (1 Cor 11:26-30) or having those who are in non-Christian religions (in “communion with idols”) sharing in the cup of the Lord (1 Cor 10:14-22).
More relevant to the situation of Christians of other denominations is when Saint Paul says “we form a single body because we all have a share in this one loaf (1 Cor 10:18). This is why when the Catholic Church uses the word “Communion” it means communion not only with the Holy Trinity but also with the Body of Christ on earth - that it is expressing a unity existing in His Church. As Saint Paul says in Eph. 5:29-32, the Church is His Body and His Bride. The Catholic Church looks at this teaching in a very Incarnational way - that His Body is not only an invisible spiritual reality, but that a “body” is distinguished from a “spirit” in that it is visible, tangible, structural, and historical. Like Christ Himself, this “institutional” Church is both human and divine. The real cohesiveness of His Body is manifest not only to the bond of love that unites us together, but also in a common body of beliefs/doctrines that has been passed on and a common form of worship (Mass/Liturgy). It is a mystery for certain!
The Eucharist is a wedding banquet and restricting the consummation to those in the Catholic Church can be looked upon similarly to a husband restricting sex within marriage to one wife. If anyone accused the husband or wife in that relationship of being “exclusive” then they wouldn’t understand the commitment that sex signifies for them in their relationship.
When a body feels pain it is a sign that something is wrong, and we definitely feel the pain of this lack of communion, often within our own families. A broken arm doesn’t heal by pretending that it doesn’t hurt, or even by taking a temporary pain killer to feel good. That is how the Catholic Church looks upon communion between different denominations; it seems to deny the problem rather than seeking to fix it. Meanwhile the Church fervently prays with Jesus “that all may be one” in Him and seeks to reach out in charity and clarity of belief to all of our brothers and sisters. Each of us is called to do our part in working toward real communion.
Fr. Richard Roemer, CFR
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