September 9, 2011

Pius X on Frequent Communion

One of the little games I play on Twitter is to tweet Church teaching appearing in the year that corresponds to the number of followers I have. Yesterday I was up to 1905 followers, and so of course I arrived at the decree Sacra tridentina of Pius X on frequent and daily communion.

It's worth a look as a document, not only because it represents a big shift in Catholic life, but also in the way it addresses the common questions and scruples that often come up in confession and spiritual direction around sin and the receiving of Holy Communion:

Though it is extremely desirable that those who practice frequent and daily communion be free from venial sins, or least from fully deliberate ones, and from all attachment to them, yet it is enough that they be free from mortal sins and resolved never to sin again; with this sincere proposal, it is impossible that they should not gradually correct themselves from venial sin and from attachment to it.

Holy Communion is not a reward for ready-made saints, but medicine for sinners still on the way. It is not a prize for the sinless, but itself the ordinary means for growing in freedom from sin.
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3 comments:

  1. Sara11:05 AM

    I needed to read this today, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Barb Szyszkiewicz3:58 PM

    I like this! It's like a snowball effect--but in a good way!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5:06 PM

    At some point you may have to predict future Church teachings in order to keep your game going :)

    ReplyDelete

Faithful, or even just thoughtful criticisms are always welcome. Uninformed rudeness to other posters or to the Lord and His Church is not.

I also reserve the right to reject comments promoting things like private revelations and fringe points of view, if it seems to me like they are being presented in a misleading way.

If you raise a disagreement with something I say but I do not respond, please do not feel slighted or insulted, or imagine that this automatically means I disagree or agree with you. It's just that I don't find the comment box to be a constructive medium for certain forms of debate.