Card. Onaiyekan on the proper disposition to receive Holy Communion
I have had my eye on John Card. Onaiyekan, archbishop of Abuja in Nigeria, for some time.
There was recently a Eucharistic Congress in the Philippines. Since Archbp. Piero Marini (former MC to JP2) is in charge of these conferences you might expect that there was some silliness. His talk about inculturation was a blast from the past. However, Card. Onaiyekan was pretty good, it seems. Here is an account from CBCPNEWS:
CEBU City (Jan. 29, 2016) – Where others prefer to tiptoe and use couched language, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, archbishop of Abuja in Nigeria, minced no words in talking about the proper disposition for the reception of the Holy Eucharist, which many Catholics seem to take for granted nowadays.
Delivering this morning’s catechesis, Onaiyekan said no one was really worthy to receive Holy Communion, but all people are under God’s “loving compassion.”
“That is why we have a penitential rite at the beginning of Mass. And when before communion we solemnly announce: ‘Oh Lord I am not worthy…,’ it is not a figure of speech, but a sincere admission of our spiritual inadequacy,” the 71-year-old cardinal said.
Nonetheless the Church has guidelines that set limits to the level of “unworthiness” compatible with a fruitful reception of Holy Communion, the metropolitan pointed out.
No to ‘Eucharistic hospitality’ [The Eucharist is not canapé at a liberal Left catholic brie and chardonnay reception.]
Allowing just anyone to receive communion during Mass will inflict “serious damage on the sanctity of the Holy Eucharist,” and harm both the individual and the wider Church. [Sacrilege hurts everyone.]
“The traditional requirement of being ‘in a state of grace’ cannot be jettisoned without spiritual negative consequence at both personal and ecclesial levels. [Bad Communions harm the Church. So, good Communions help the Church. Save The Liturgy, Save The World.]
Therefore, those who freely offer or accept what is inappropriately called ‘Eucharistic hospitality’ to whoever cares to come to the communion rails seem to me to be inflicting serious damage on the sanctity of the Holy Eucharist,” said Cardinal Onaiyekan.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that those who have mortal sins cannot receive communion without first going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It defines mortal sin as “sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”
In Nigeria, he said, it is pastoral practice during public Masses to announce clearly before communion that “only Catholics that are properly prepared should come forward to receive communion.”
Sacrilege [There it is. The “S” word. So few prelates and priests are willing to use the word these days. They’ve gone all wobbly.]
“We do not believe that this is a place for any kind of false ‘political correctness.’ It seems that in many places today, there is a need to recover the sense of outrage about whatever may be tantamount to ‘sacrilege.’” [Did he just say “outrage”? Yes, I believe he did.]
Onaiyekan’s catechesis was on “The Eucharist: Dialogue with the Poor and the Suffering.”
“Here we might consider how much we do to make the Eucharist available to the poor living in slums or in remote villages. What about those who live in prisons and detention camps? Wherever possible, those who are suffering should be able to contemplate the face of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist,” he said. (CBCP News)
Fr. Z kudos to Card. Onaiyekan.
