Can't receive Holy Communion

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='DeeDee' date='Aug 24 2005, 11:59 AM']One of the people in my prayer group told me yesterday that a priest told her because she married a divorced man she can't receive Holy Communion. She was devastated, crying so hard she could hardly talk. I felt so sorry for her and so angry that a priest told her this. I can't imagine Jesus ever telling anyone he/she would be separated from Him this way. It seems so cruel. My friend is very devout and this is crushing her. What happened to love and and compassion? I feel so sad for my friend.    
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Jesus would tell the woman the truth. Love and compassion doesn't change the rules, and feelings do not change the law.

She is with a man who is still married to someone else, until the Church decides otherwise. This can be devastating to someone who didn't know this, and even heartbreaking to someone who does know it , but does it anyways.
Holy Communion is reserved for someone who is not in the state of mortal sin.
Prayers for all involved.

[cappie]

[quote name='DeeDee' date='Aug 25 2005, 02:09 AM']His first marriage was not sacramental. I encouraged her to speak to her pastor and appeal to the Bishop of the diocese. Hopefully something will come of that.
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Marriage between 2 baptised persons is considered a sacrament. Anything else is called a natural bond and can be dissolved in "favor of the faith" otherwise known as The Pauline Privelige. This is done at the level of the diocese.

[Era Might]

[quote]I can't imagine Jesus ever telling anyone he/she would be separated from Him this way. It seems so cruel. My friend is very devout and this is crushing her. What happened to love and and compassion? I feel so sad for my friend. [/quote]

While this situation certainly calls for pastoral sensitivity, let's not kid ourselves about the demanding call of Christ.

[quote]Another of His disciples said to him, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."

But Jesus answered him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead."

--Matthew 8[/quote]

[quote]Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

--Matthew 19[/quote]

[quote]Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.

--Mark 10[/quote]

[quote]If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

--Luke 14[/quote]

Your friend must be faithful to the truth about marriage, as the Holy Spirit says to St. Paul: "A wife should not separate from her husband--and if she does separate she must either remain single or become reconciled to her husband." (1Cor 7).

If, indeed, this man was previously married, she must be faithful to the Lord. She will "receive a hundred times more now in this present age...and eternal life in the age to come."

Edited August 25, 2005 by Era Might

[Extra ecclesiam nulla salus]

what did she expect really?

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='DeeDee' date='Aug 24 2005, 10:59 AM']What happened to love and and compassion? I feel so sad for my friend.    
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It would not be loving or compassionate to allow her to receive the Eucharist unworthily.

[Cam42]

[quote name='DeeDee' date='Aug 24 2005, 11:59 AM']One of the people in my prayer group told me yesterday that a priest told her because she married a divorced man she can't receive Holy Communion. She was devastated, crying so hard she could hardly talk. I felt so sorry for her and so angry that a priest told her this. I can't imagine Jesus ever telling anyone he/she would be separated from Him this way. It seems so cruel. My friend is very devout and this is crushing her. What happened to love and and compassion? I feel so sad for my friend.    
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DeeDee....It is through love and compassion that the Church holds this person at bay. Why would the Church allow for this person (assuming all the conditions are proper for the ban) to participate in the sacraments? To simply allow something to happen because someone wants it to happen is not compassion, it is an enabling mentality.

The Church is not about enabling. The Church is not an enabler. The Church teaches, loves and teaches. The rules that the Church live by are for the good of the person and the good of all persons.

If you are a supporter of enabling then I would find this to be up your alley, but I would say this.....to be an enabler is not a positive position. It is contrary to right reason and it is pandering to the wants, not the needs of a person. The Church is not about want, but rather about need.

[cappie]

[quote name='Extra ecclesiam nulla salus' date='Aug 25 2005, 10:01 AM']what did she expect really?
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It's called pastoral sensitivity. It is possible to be sensitive and still faithful to the teaching of the Church. It's not either or.