Dear Dan,

You said:

• How can I receive Communion in such a way that Christ is present?
  
• How can I personally experience this?
  
  • Can I only do this if I am a Catholic, or
  • Can I do it in my own church believing in the Catholic doctrine?

Thanks for the good question.

You can only do this as a faithful Catholic.

When Catholics receive the Blessed Sacrament each week we are receiving the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord sacramentally but we are also making a public statement that:

We are in a Common Union with the Catholic Church [the only Church Jesus founded] and Her Teachings.

When a Catholic is aware of having committed a grave sin they have to first go to Confession but in the meantime, they can still attend Sunday Mass and just remain in the pew and say a Spiritual Communion.

Your own Protestant congregation doesn't have the Real Presence so you couldn't do it as a Protestant.

If you believe in Catholic doctrine, you should join our faith. Believing in Catholic teachings while attending a Protestant denomination will only lead to hearing misperceptions and misunderstandings of what we believe as Catholics.

I hope this answers your question.

Mike

Dan,

Mike's answer is substantially correct. The fullness of the Christian Faith, resides within the Catholic Church.

The fullness of the Christian faith, resides within the Catholic Church.

The Protestant churches, while retaining many of the essential truths, did not retain everything. Among those truths they denied was the nature of the Sacrament of Holy Orders so they interrupted Apostolic Succession and no-longer have a valid a priesthood. Their priests are simply ministers of the Word . . . not of the Sacrifice. Therefore, there is no valid Eucharist at their congregations.

That is not to say that there is no spiritual benefit for Anglicans in their celebration of the Lord's Supper. If received in faith, there can be a spiritual communion in the action. But it is not the same as the Real Presence . . . that is Jesus Christ sacramentally present in what appears to bread and wine.

The only caveat I would add to Mike's answer is that there are other churches with a valid Eucharist . . . just not Protestant ones. The Eastern Orthodox Churches, and couple of Western churches that went in schism retained Apostolic Succession. They have a valid Eucharist, even though they aren't in full communion with Rome. I'm sure that was an oversight on Mike's part.

I hope this helps,

John

Dan,

The Real Presence has nothing do with the recipient. It is only objectively present if the Eucharist is consecrated by a properly ordained priest. It has nothing to do with feelings. It is an objective reality that only come about by the actions and intentions of a validly, ordained priest using the right form.

A believer will only receive the blessings and benefits from the Real Presence, if they are in a state of Grace and approach/receive this sacrament in faith. That doesn't change whether the Real Presence is there or not.

To those Christians, like the Anglicans that don't have a valid priesthood, they can receive a spiritual communion and spiritual benefits, if they partake in the Lord's Supper in faith and ask Jesus to commune with them spiritually but they don't have access to the Body and Blood of Christ. They are simply eating bread and drinking wine.

You are quite right that Lord's Supper is supposed to be more than just remembering the Lord's Death and Resurrection.

It is the Making Present of the RE — presenting of the One and forever Sacrifice of Calvary.

The Greek word for Remembrance that is used in Bible, is Anamnesis . . . To make present. To God, who lives in the Eternal Now, Calvary is always before Him. At the Mass, Catholics and Orthodox Christians are no longer in their present time . . . but mystically are present at Calvary in 33 A.D., at the Resurrection, and also at the Divine Liturgy being perpetually celebrated in Heaven. God makes us all present to this.

But sadly, Protestants have abandoned this. And while it's wonderful that you are seeking more from your participation in the Lord's Supper celebrated in your community, the best you can attain is a spiritual presence or communion. This is through no fault of your own. It's the fault of the Anglican Reformers who went further than Henry VIII ever intended. The articles of the Anglican Confessional, state there are only two sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper. By denying that Holy Orders or Ordination was a sacrament, they deny the ministerial priesthood. This interrupted Apostolic Succession . . . in other words, the connection to the original Apostles. Why? Because for a sacrament to be valid, it requires the right intention. If one doesn't believe Ordination is a sacrament, then it is impossible have the right intention.

Once this happened, the Church of England, ceased to ordain valid priests and bishops. Without valid priests and bishops, you have no valid Eucharist or Real Presence.

If you want the Real Presence, I would encourage you to keep seeking the Lord's guidance and the help of the Holy Spirit, so that He can show you that way back into full communion with the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

Warmly,

John

Hi Dan,

Just to add a tiny bit to what has been said, the level of experiential appreciation one has for the absolutely wonderful act of receiving Jesus' body, blood, soul, and divinity into one's own body, is higher in those whose hearts and minds are open by the supernatural virtue of faith.

We should all pray for an increase in this virtue. Just look at some of the saints throughout Church history and the depths of their experience on receiving the Eucharist, as well as on contemplating the exposed Sacrament on the altar.

Peace,

Paul

Dan,

What Paul said brings up another point.

While you can't receive the Eucharist in a Catholic Church, you can attend Mass and worship the Real Presence. You can also seek out adoration of the Eucharist, either exposed or in the tabernacle.

John

Sure,

Some Parishes offer Adoration times, where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed in a monstrance (a special device that holds the Eucharist so it can be displayed). As we noted before, we believe that the Consecrated Host, is no longer bread, but Jesus Himself sacramentally and substantially present. So we spend time before Him in Adoration and in quiet contemplation and prayer.

That said, I would look for a Catholic parish near you that offers times to do this. The other option, if this is not available, is simply to go into a Catholic Church and spend some time in front of the tabernacle. That is where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. He is in the Tabernacle. It may be behind the main altar, off to the side on side altar, or it may be in a separate Chapel so you can spend some time before the Lord that way in prayer, contemplation, and adoration. It is a way of being a few feet away from the Real Presence that, right now, you can't receive.

Obviously, you are always welcome to come a Catholic Mass and pray and participate, abstaining from the Eucharist. You can also go up during the Communion and just tell the priest, you can't receive, and ask him for a blessing.

If your current Anglican community is High Church, you'll find the Catholic Mass, very similar to your current form of worship. In fact those priests, mistakenly think they are validly ordained and that they are consecrating the Eucharist.

So you will find the liturgy very familiar.

In recent years, many Anglican congregations have converted wholesale back to the Church. For that reason, the Church has created, what is called the Anglican Ordinariate. They are in full communion with the Catholic Church and Rome has allowed them to keep pretty much all of the Anglican traditions in the Liturgy they offer. Their priests get ordained by a Catholic bishop and the Anglican liturgy is altered with a few changes to bring it in line with Catholic doctrine.

The first thing you'll notice is that during the Eucharist prayers, the priest will pray for the Pope. There are some other changes but essentially, the ritual is very High Church Anglican.

One more note regarding Adoration. This was key in my return to the Church.

I was a Baptist/Pentecostal Minister and the more I studied the Scriptures and the early Church, the more I became convinced of the Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence. So like you, I couldn't receive but I could spend some time before the Lord in Adoration. As I spent this time in prayer, He showed me the way and made it possible for me to leave the pulpit and return home.

I hope this helps,

John