Only Approach Holy Communion When Properly Disposed...

It is hard to understand why there is such confusion about this consistent teaching of the Church, but there is, and, for those of us who have studied the faith, it is a huge cause of pain to go to Mass on Sunday knowing that the queue for Holy Communion will far, far outnumber that for the Sacrament of Confession, and that all those who are receiving the blessed Sacrament unworthily will not benefit from the grace conferred by the Sacrament: it is not enough to perform an action, especially if there is no change of heart behind that action. What God wants is for us to change our hearts, our very way of being.

And the Lord said:

“Because this people draw near with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

while their hearts are far from me,

and their fear of me is a commandment of men learned by rote;

Isaiah 29:13 

The blessed Sacrament may well be food for sinners, but dead people cannot eat. This is the whole sacramental theology of the Eucharist throughout Church history. Today it is being couched as one group being 'holier than though' by stopping some other people they deem as somehow 'less worthy' to approach Jesus. But this is a completely wrong-headed understanding. And the bishops are the ones responsible for the confusion. Why are the even arguing about this clear and obvious teaching?

They are though, despite the clear teaching of the Church for generations as explicitly stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, §1457 ... "Anyone who is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion, even if he experiences deep contrition, without having first received sacramental absolution" — what could be clearer?

And yet I myself have been told many times by priests not to refrain from reception of the blessed Sacrament myself even if I am in a state of mortal sin: "as long as you have a firm intention to go to Confession as soon as possible". I would say this is evidence of what has caused the general rot: a rot which means we have a tendency to approach Holy Communion in a way which does not speak to Who and what we approach. If the Eucharist is what we say it is, growth, fruit, etc must begin with a proper teaching of how we should approach that most Holy & precious gift.

To approach the blessed Sacrament in any other way only damages us. To approach the blessed Sacrament with true humility & seriousness of purpose, with knowledge of what it is you are doing is to grow and to deepen our faith & understanding.

Interesting that this is now being played out it a very public way currently due to the US President's flagrant use of his Catholic heritage to garner votes while pushing for policies which are very deeply and fundamentally at odds with Catholic teaching.

In this excellent video, Trent Horn analyses the arguments for what Episcopalians and the Church of England call an "open table" approach to the Eucharist. He does so in a way which shows how weak these arguments actually are, but also exposes the inconsistencies and logical fallacy of a kind of Catholicism which is at odds with what the Church teaches. That might sound a bit crazy, but we know from research that as many as 95% of those who attend Mass regularly disagree with the Church on numerous fundamental issues. Trent shows how the correct approach deepens our faith and helps us on our journey to Christ, he is particularly good (towards the end of this video) on the argument from "my conscience":