Strange title?
Yeah, I know.
So, a Catholic I know was having a conversation with a Protestant. This particular Protestant has come a long way and says that she actually believes that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. However…
She feels the Catholic Church would be more effective if the Church presented the Eucharist everywhere–parks, university campuses, prisons, and, yes, street corners. This way, she feels, the Church could offer a way for people to accept and remember and partake in what Jesus did for them. People could more directly participate and have Christ with them. She wonders if this wouldn’t be a more effective way to evangelize and engage the world than keeping it a part of one exclusive club that has a lot of prerequisites to get in.
While I can appreciate the desire to evangelize and bring Christ to as many people as possible, I’m not sure this person is really thinking through the ramifications.
So, there is a lot to unpack here. Tons. Let’s start with the easiest.
First, the Catholic Church does present the Eucharist in prisons, at churches and chapels on university campuses, and, sometimes, Mass is even said in parks. In fact, somewhere in the world at all times, Mass is being said and the Eucharist is being offered to the faithful. But, I don’t think that’s what she meant. I think what she’s meaning is that she would like to see some person stand with a bowl of consecrated Eucharists and just pass out hosts to people as they move about a park, a college campus, or even on a city street.
I shudder at the thought. We’ll get to why in a moment.
Secondly, the Catholic Church welcomes everyone to join–literally everyone. In fact, there’s a reason that the Catholic Church is the largest “club” in the world–“Catholic” literally means universal and there are over one billion members in this so-called exclusive club. Now, you can’t just saunter into a Catholic Church and just decide–yep!–that you’re Catholic. Why? Well, because there are some foundational doctrines that need to be accepted before one can just slap on the label of a practicing Catholic. Is this unreasonable? No. Why would it be? The Catholic Church has to have standards, beliefs, and practices that define it. It can’t just be a loosey-goosey entity that doesn’t really specify its purpose. To clear up any confusion, the purpose of the Catholic Church is to lead souls to Heaven and the primary way it does this is through the worthy reception of the Eucharist.
To get into high school, there are prerequisites; certain classes you have to complete. There’s a reason we don’t allow kindergarteners into high school; they haven’t done the prerequisites that prepare them.
To get into college, there are prerequisites that are required before entry. You need a diploma, an SAT or ACT test score, and such. This seems reasonable.
To enter into the military, there are prerequisites. You need to be an adult, you need to be a citizen of the country you want to serve, you need to pass a physical test, etc. This is reasonable.
To drive, you have to do certain things. Practice, learn, take tests, and understand the ins and outs of driving. Reasonable, yes?
But, for some reason, there are those that don’t want any type of prerequisites for becoming Catholic in order to receive Christ in the Eucharist. For one, many people think our faith should be simple and unfettered by any rules, doctrines, or laws. But, if you don’t have standards and boundaries that contain the whole of your belief system, you essentially have nothing at all. The Catholic Church does ask that people take time to learn about the Church’s doctrines and, also, participate in their first confession before receiving the Eucharist. It wants you to fully understand what you are committing to and that seems like a reasonable request.
The Eucharist is Christ; it is His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Communion is not symbolic for Catholics. When we receive Christ, we are communing with Him in the most intimate way possible here on Earth.
Christ said, “For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” John 6:55-57
Jesus wasn’t playing around with His words. How do we know this? Because “many of his disciples who were listening said, ‘This saying is hard; who can accept it?’”
Christ asks them, “Does this shock you?” Soon after Christ’s teaching, many left Him because it was too much to accept. And Christ doesn’t say, “Wait! Wait! Come back! I meant figuratively. I meant I’m symbolically like food and drink.” Nope. He lets them go.
The Eucharist is Christ fully present. Once consecrated, the bread and wine retain their appearances but the substance of them has changed into Christ. Powerful, powerful stuff. We cannot take this lightly. We are consuming God.
Can you see why the Church needs to walk you through classes to make sure you get this central doctrine of Christ fully present in the Eucharist? We aren’t playing with symbology here; the Eucharist is really God.
Which brings me to my third point: If the Eucharist is God, can you see why we can’t just pass Him out like candy on the streets?
“Come and get your Eucharist!”
There needs to be a reverence maintained when receiving Christ that can’t be preserved on a busy street corner. We can’t just casually hand out Christ in people’s hands and hope they get the magnanimity of what they are holding. Too many things could go wrong, which is why I shudder.
- It could fall into the hands of someone who could just dismiss the Eucharist and throw Christ on the ground or in the trash. This would never be okay. I hope it would make sense why this would never be okay. And if I have to really explain why this would never be okay, you certainly don’t need to be receiving the Eucharist.
- It could fall into the hands of someone who could abuse the Holy Eucharist on purpose.
- It could fall into the hands of someone who doesn’t get what they are consuming. Why would you pass out something so precious to those that don’t get it? The doctrine of the Eucharist is not something that can quickly be explained while standing on a street corner or strolling through a park.
- It could fall into the hands of someone with mortal sin on their souls and then they would be taking “the Body and Blood of the Lord in an unworthy manner” and “would be guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:27-30.
The Catholic Church even tells practicing Catholics to stay away from the Eucharist if they have mortal sins on their souls. Unless you walk up and tell the priest, he can’t possibly know the cleanliness of your soul when you approach him in the communion line. Unless he knows for sure, he will hand you a Eucharist or place a Eucharist on your tongue. But, if a priest does know that your soul is in mortal sin, he can/should/will deny you. That’s why Joe Biden was denied Communion. He professes all the time his support for killing unborn babies. This is a mortal sin. You can’t advocate for killing innocent children–souls that were created by God–in the womb and then approach an altar to commune with God.
It is up to you to be honest with yourself and with God. If a practicing Catholic receives the Eucharist with mortal sin on their soul they commit another mortal sin–the sin of sacrilege. God cannot dwell in a soul dead to sin. It’s up to practicing Catholics to confess their sins regularly so as to receive Christ worthily.
The Church does not want to cause people to commit a mortal sin by receiving the Eucharist when unworthy to and so it tries to safeguard the precious Body and Blood of our Lord. The Catholic Church takes Christ at His word when He says that consecrated bread and wine are His Body and Blood. In order to receive, the Catholic Church asks that you believe this and commit to being a member, as well.
If the Eucharist were merely a symbolic piece of bread and drink of wine, there wouldn’t be that big of a problem with passing it out on the street corners. But, even Protestant churches don’t do that because even Protestant churches see that even something as important as symbolic communion needs to be done in a worshipful and reverent way. But, to add to this, why pass out symbolic communion anyway? What would be the point?
It is exceedingly important to remember that the Apostles did not evangelize by passing out the Eucharist to all the people in the towns they passed through. They evangelized by preaching the truth of the Gospel, sharing the warmth and light of Christ, and living model Christian lives. Through this method, they changed the world. We are called to do the same.
And lastly, if you really believed that Christ was in the Eucharist, wouldn’t you do whatever it took to receive Him? That’s the conclusion I came to. I, also, realized that if the Catholic Church was right about the Eucharist, then they must, also, be right about the other doctrines they ask the faithful to believe in and follow. Any perceived burdensome prerequisites (RCIA) could be tolerated on my behalf for Christ.
The Catholic Church opens its doors to all every single day. Anybody who wishes to join the Church is allowed to join RCIA classes and learn about what the Church teaches and believes in. The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of the Christian life; the partaking of the Body and Blood of our Savior in an unbloody manner for the salvation of our souls. We could never take the Lord of all Creation and just pass Him out on a street corner hoping that people take Him seriously.
Let’s make sure, Catholic Pilgrims, that we always treat Christ present in the Eucharist with all honor and praise for the great gift of Himself. Let us, also, pray that all–Catholic and Non-Catholic–come to see and understand that it is truly Christ present in the Eucharist.
