Oct 5 Thu
Scott Hahn: Here’s a question about Communion that I was asked today, and then my response:
“Dr. Hahn, I'm in a relationship with a woman who often joins me at Mass for the vigil on Saturday, and then we go to her Methodist church on Sunday morning. She keeps asking me why she can’t receive communion at my church, but I can at hers? How do I answer? Thanks.”
– Evan, I’d like to address your question by sharing how my own understanding of Eucharistic communion developed over several years of study and prayer, as an evangelical protestant, that led me to become a Catholic.
Basically, there were three distinct stages: First: when I converted to Christ as an evangelical Christian. Second, when I became a protestant pastor. Third, when my study of Scripture and the early Church Fathers led me to the truth about Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist — and I became a Catholic.
1. As a bible-believing evangelical (at a non-denominational fellowship), I saw the Lord's Supper and communion as a profound symbol of God's love, like a divine embrace or a warm hug.
2. In becoming a minister, I came to see it as something even more sacred, like a tender loving kiss from our Lord, which is how mainline protestants generally see it.
3. Having discovered the Catholic faith, I came to see how the gift of the Eucharist is more closely analogous to the intimacy of the spouses, by which Christ, the divine Bridegroom, unites Himself — body and blood — to His beloved bride, the Church, for the purpose of consummating and renewing His 'one-flesh' covenant as a life-giving mystery with us (Eph. 5:31-32).
So, for me, in the first two stages, inviting 'non-members' to share communion was not a big deal nor an insurmountable problem. However, in the Catholic tradition, where it is seen as comparable to spousal intimacy, it is fitting and necessary to make a public act and a personal commitment to identify myself with the Catholic Church, which I profess to be the true bride of Christ. Incidentally, this perspective is reflected in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1617:
"The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church. Already Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a nuptial mystery; it is, so to speak, the nuptial bath, which precedes the wedding feast, the Eucharist. Christian marriage in its turn becomes an efficacious sign, the sacrament of the covenant of Christ and the Church. Since it signifies and communicates grace, marriage between baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant."
In retrospect, I can see why non-Catholics view our practice as a form of spiritual exclusivity; whereas for the Church Fathers, it's simply a matter of covenant integrity and marital fidelity.
Image: Last Supper by Francisco Ribalta (1565–1628). The painting includes the chalice, in the Cathedral of Valencia, thought to be the one Lord used, the Holy Grail, allegedly. Later on, was enriched.
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