As Catholics, we all strive to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion. Our great Lord and God, Jesus Christ, has given to us this Sacrament as a healing of our souls and to help us grow closer in love for Him. Although our mother the Church requires us to attend Mass on all Sundays of the year and all holy days of obligation, we are in fact not required to receive the Eucharist each time we attend Mass. Catholics are only required to receive the Eucharist once a year at some point during the Easter season.
The reason that this practice exists stems back to the medieval age when it was common for Catholics not to receive communion very often, if at all. It must be noted that this was not due to Bishops and Priests limiting the faithful’s access to the Eucharist, but rather to reservations made by the lay faithful out of both excessive humility and local custom. In most places, the faithful would usually only present themselves to Communion for weddings, funerals, or other outstanding events of the Church. In many places and many ages of the Church, people may have never received Holy Communion after the first time they did so. This posed a problem that the Church remedied by the establishment of the precept requiring Catholics to receive Our Lord at least once a year during Paschal time.
Nowadays, we almost see the reverse problem. Many Catholics simply go to Mass either out of habit or because their parents make them or want them to, which leads to Catholics not examining their consciences, having a relaxed attitude towards sin (that is quite pervasive in our culture), and simply receiving communion without considering it twice. It rarely behooves many of us to realize that when we receive communion, we receive God, our creator. A fleeting sense of the sacred has made us forget the power of the Mass and the infinite reality contained in a small wheaten host. It may do many of us good to step back from a casual and mundane reception of communion, examine our consciences, make a good confession, and receive the bread of Heaven with fear and trembling.
Eastertide gives us this wonderful opportunity to renew the promises of our baptisms and maintain our good standing in the Church as faithful Catholics. This precept is so important that an understanding has formed where not following it makes one formally a ‘lapsed Catholic.’ This understanding would make it so that the two necessary requirements for one to consider themselves a Catholic (although not necessarily in good standing) are Baptism and Easter Communion. This models the Old Covenant, in which to be considered a Jew under the law one had to be circumcised and participate in the Passover services.
Understanding the severity of this precept of the Church, now is a good time to evaluate where we are in our lives and, if we have not done so, to fulfill this demand of Holy Mother Church to humbly and faithfully receive Our Lord during the great season of his Resurrection!
Born and Raised to Jewish parents in New York City, Kai Breskin is a recent convert to the Catholic Faith. A member of the Boston College class of 2026, he is studying Political Science, Philosophy, and History. His intellectual passions include Christian theology, history, and liturgical study. His hobbies include sailing, playing the piano, and singing, with a specific focus in Gregorian Chant.
- The Solemnity of St. Joseph – Ite Ad Joseph! - April 22, 2024
- Hebrew Temple Worship and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - April 22, 2024
- Easter Communion - April 22, 2024