The worthy reception of holy Communion is the fullest way to fulfill the divine call to consciously and actively participate in the Mass. It’s certainly not the only way. We are still obligated to attend holy Mass even when we cannot receive holy Communion due to grave sin. But all other ways point to and are fulfilled in the worthy reception of holy Communion, when that Communion is received and celebrated in the context of the public celebration of the Mass.
One of the many fruits of the Second Vatican Council was a much stronger emphasis on the inspired word of God within the celebration of the sacraments of the Church.
Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago is advocating for Catholic faithful to receive holy Communion standing -- the normative posture established by the U.S. Catholic bishops -- as part of a renewed awareness of the theology of the Communion procession. He said the Communion procession symbolizes the unity of the body of Christ as it partakes of the central mystery of the Catholic faith.
In preparation for my son's first holy Communion this spring, we naturally spent a lot of time talking about grace. The mysterious workings of grace in our lives — or even what grace is — were fodder for interesting conversations between this father and his then-almost-7-year-old.
Thanking members of the Catholic charismatic renewal for helping people learn to pray, Pope Francis asked them to focus on adoration as well as their usual prayers of praise.
As members of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops return home, share the results of their work and prepare for the final synod assembly in 2024, they must be on guard against people who will want to make them take sides as if the synod were a political debate, said Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe.
The Catholic Church is called to be an instrument of communion with God and unity among all people, but it requires grace and "learning to 'bear with' reality, gently, generously, lovingly and courageously for the peace and salvation of the whole world," a theologian told the assembly of the Synod of Bishops.
Q) I recently attended a wedding in a non-Catholic church. The minister invited everyone there forward to be united at this wedding to receive Communion. I didn’t know what to do, so I went up to receive. Did I do something wrong?
The Archdiocese of Hartford is investigating a possible Eucharistic miracle at one of its parishes, where Communion hosts seemingly multiplied during a March 5 Sunday Mass.
As many restrictions put in place at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic have been lifted, some Catholic dioceses around the country are returning, or already have returned, to offering consecrated wine in the chalice for Communion while others are waiting to do so.
Christ is present in multiple ways in the Church, said Father Tom Margevicius, director of worship for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Pope Pius XII and others have proclaimed that Christ is present whenever the Word is proclaimed. And Jesus said whenever two or three are gathered in his name, he is their midst, Father Margevicius said.
Moving beyond familiarity