Can it ever be a bad thing for a Catholic to receive the Eucharist?
Communion on the tongue is the universal norm in the Catholic Church. A really important post from South West Ordinariate here . Father Ian teaches us: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.” 1 Cor 11:27 I remember talking to a group about how to prepare to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist, when someone said that surely it was never a bad thing to receive Our Lord in the Eucharist? Well St Paul disagrees! The offending Corinthians were guilty of overeating, drunkenness and discrimination against the poor. This was sufficient for them to be in a state of mortal sin and therefore the act of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ became an act of sacrilege and self-condemnation. So indeed there are circumstances when receiving the Lord in the Eucharist is a gravely immoral act. St John Chrysostom says, in his commentary on Corinthians, that receiving the Lo...