| Dear Rev. Know-It-All,
According to canon law a person should
not receive holy communion more than twice a day except under grave circumstances,
but only if the second is in the context of Mass. The law also says that
twice is acceptable and it seems as though that is only if I were to attend
mass for two different purposes (i.e. regular weekday mass and a wedding
mass.)
Is it acceptable to receive twice in a
one day for the same type of mass if for instance I am supposed to be an
altar server at one and lead music at another or if I want to attend a
Sunday Tridentine mass but also have help out at a Novus Ordo Mass for
the same Sunday....
What is the correct way to go about receiving?
Yours truly,
Willy Mayckit
Dear Willy,
First let me recommend that you go to your
night stand and grab your well thumbed copy of the code of Canon Law. The
pertinent section is Canon
912 to 923 “Participation at the Most Holy Eucharist.”
Canon 917 is perhaps the canon to which
you refer about a maximum of twice a day.
For the uninitiated, Canon Law
does not mean law that is shot from guns. Rather, “canon” is a word
that comes to us from ancient Semitic languages and is then dragged through
Greek and Latin into modern languages. Its original meaning was reed or
cane, as in sugar cane. It came to mean measuring rod.
We have the canon of Scripture and the canon
of the Mass, the unchanging, normative texts that we hear every SUNDAY,
unless we are unfortunate enough to go to a parish where father thinks
he can improve on the Bible and the Liturgy with his stunning insights,
private interpretations and charming personality. We also have Canon
Law, the normative law of behavior among the faithful.
Canon 917 says that “a person who has
received the Most Holy Eucharist may receive it again on the same day only
during the celebration of the Eucharist in which the person participates
with due regard for the prescription of canon 921.2." Canon 921.2
says that if a person is in danger of death, he should receive communion
again even it is not in the context of Mass.
So there you have it.
I imagine that some looking at the word
”again” would say that it implies only one more time, not again and
again. “Iterum”, the Latin word used, does imply “one
more time,” but that is only an implication and, I believe, not absolutely
stated in the law, though to be sure, talk to a canon lawyer (Those are
not gun lobby lawyers, but lawyers trained in Church law.)
My opinion is that it may actually cause
scandal if a person is publicly ministering as a reader or acolyte, etc.
and obviously does not take communion. People love to talk, God forgive
us! The law is in place to prevent the abuse of the sacrament and
to make sure that it is not taken for granted or used in superstitious
way.
The worry is that some people will just
go to communion after communion, thinking that they are racking up points.
It doesn't work that way. If for good reason we receive communion twice
in one day, we need to remember that we are in communion with the body
of Christ present in the Eucharist and in the worshiping church, It isn't
meant to be me and Jesus. It’s me and my brethren and the Father and
the Holy Spirit and the blessed mother and the communion of saints and
the suffering souls in purgatory and Jesus. Quite a crowd!
Once a day is the norm unless one is ministering,
or has a duty to attend two celebrations, such as a wedding or funeral.
As for the Tridentine Mass, I would recommend
that you receive. Sometimes in the hurly-burly and meshugas
of helping at Mass, we aren't very well recollected and come to communion
with some distraction. The Tridentine Mass is a great way to take a deep
breath and to say from the bottom of one’s heart, “My Lord and my God...”
Yours truly,
Rev. Know-It-All
PS:
Mehsugas is Yiddish for craziness. I was not typing in tongues.
The
Question Was
-
- -
Can I receive
communion more than once a day? |
|
