if I am receiving communion unworthily or not, this has crossed my mind
many times. Not that it has stopped me from going to Holy Communion, but every time I am about to go to communion, I wonder and think, my Christ, how unworthy can I be to receive your precious blood and your holy body within me? Since one of you good people sent me a post from the historiography off the wall, let's say from the historiography of Archimandrite Christodoulos, entitled "What does it mean to receive communion unworthily?" ly? Holy Communion is not a symbol. It is Christ himself. It is heaven
descending into the heart of man. When we approach the Holy
Chalice, we do not receive something sacred. We approach God himself, the living,
the risen, the Lord of glory. And yet this supreme honor can
also become a burning fire if we approach it with indifference, frivolity, or without
It is his own love that cannot be reconciled with
our false heart. Terrible. Well, it is not sin that
makes us unworthy, but the lack of repentance. I take Christ and continue to live as if I did not know him. When Christ becomes my body and I
remain hard, critical, unrepentant, then grace cannot bear fruit.
It is not that divine communion loses its power. It is that I close the
doors of my soul. Communion is not a prize, it is
medicine. We do not commune because we are good,
but because we are in pain and want to be healthy.
God-bearer used to say. If we waited to become worthy to
receive communion, we would never approach.
That is why the church calls. After the fear of God, faith and love, we approach
because with fear. Because God is present. Because with faith. Because only faith
sees the invisible. Because with love Because only love
accepts him. How the soul is truly prepared,
true preparation is not only fasting and penance. It is
inner humility. Let us look within ourselves and say,
Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but say one word and my soul will be saved
. It is the word of the centurion that became a prayer of the ages. It is the attitude of the man who knows that nothing belongs to him and yet everything is given to him.
When you receive communion, you tear the cup,
with emotion, with the awareness of how small you are and how great
the one who receives you is, then you do not receive communion unworthily. Then divine
communion becomes a consolation. Light, a new beginning, and the soul, even
if it carries wounds, feels embraced by God.
Christ does not ask us to be worthy. He asks us to
praise him. Value is not moral.
It is a relationship. When I receive communion unworthily, it is because I do not
praise him. Because I receive communion out of habit, not Christ.
But when I receive communion with longing, with love, with the awareness that without him I cannot
live, then even if I fall every day,
his grace lifts me up.
An unworthy communicant forgets that he is receiving communion with love, and a worthy communicant approaches with wounded but sincere. With a heart that does not
justify itself, does not hide, only asks.
God does not count mistakes;
He counts repentance. And so every time we approach with
awe, humility, and gratitude, Christ whispers within us. Do not
be afraid. I have come for you
and I am waiting for you again.
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