Communion For Dummies
Since I’ve moved back home to live in my parents’ basement, I go with my folks to church pretty much every morning. They go to a Catholic church, which they’ve belonged to for some 30 years, and since they’ve both retired, they attend morning mass every day. My dad plays golf on Tuesdays, so I took my mom today and afterwards, as I was waiting for my mom, some little lady asked me why I didn’t take communion during the service. Good question.
I am not Catholic. Haven’t been since I joined a Pentecostal Church in 1982 during my second tour in the Air Force while stationed in England. I knew what communion means to Catholics and since I no longer believed THAT same way, I felt it was important to respect their beliefs and not to be flippant with a sacred part of their religion. I remember before Jody and I were married in 1990, she came home with me to visit the folks and we went to church with them. She was also Pentecostal, raised in a pastor’s home and had been in that church all of her life. She took communion that morning. I don’t think she understood the difference in the two beliefs that dominate our two churches in regards to communion. I explained the difference in our beliefs about this and she, to her credit, respected my parents' religious traditions and never did that again.
Before we got married, we attended a weekend called Engaged Encounter, which is an offshoot of Marriage Encounter. On the discussion panel, they had a priest, a recently married couple and a couple that had been married many years as presenters. When it came to a discussion about church, and a church service that they were going to have the following Sunday morning, the priest spoke about the meaning of communion. The basic gist of what he said was that to be in communion was to be in agreement. And how can you take part in a sacrament of the church if you don’t agree about its meaning?
Protestants and Catholics believe two completely different things about communion. This is not a minor “shades of gray” difference, but a major fracture that separates us to quite a distance. Now we no longer call each other heretics and want to burn each other at the stake, but the same differences that caused those disputes are still alive and well in the world today. Part of our humanity wants everyone else to see things the way we do. This is normal, and we don’t really need to apologize for it. But our civility allows others to see things differently and respects those differences. It’s part of being an adult.
The major difference in the beliefs of the two camps is while Catholics believe that the bread and wine becomes the actual body and blood of Christ, Protestants believe it is simply a remembrance of Christ’s coming death and resurrection; His body broken and His blood spilled out for our salvation. In fact, the Catholic mass cannot actually be complete without partaking in communion. Minor difference? I don’t think so. Wars have been fought over this “minor difference”.
As a Non-Catholic, I can enjoy the mass without partaking in communion. There is enough of what I need to fill the spiritual void that I can enjoy it without disrespecting my family and my family’s heritage. Also, I am there as support for my parents and my experience is not diminished by not partaking of communion. The celebration of Christ’s memory and splendor is not diminished by the lack of taking communion. It brings a sense of God’s presence in my life by participating in all the mass even without communion. I am also reminded of where I began this Christian journey almost 50 years ago. And right now, this is enough.
About the Author
A simple man with a lot of experience in several areas in life, love, faith andrelationships
Catholicism for Dummies
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