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Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion. General
Principles
by Joseph Ratzinger
1. Presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion should be a conscious decision,
based on a reasoned judgement regarding one’s worthiness to do so, according to
the Church’s objective criteria, asking such questions as: “Am I in full
communion with the Catholic Church? Am I guilty of grave sin? Have I incurred a
penalty (e.g. excommunication, interdict) that forbids me to receive Holy
Communion? Have I prepared myself by fasting for at least an hour?” The practice
of indiscriminately presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion, merely as a
consequence of being present at Mass, is an abuse that must be corrected (cf.
Instruction “Redemptionis Sacramentum,” nos. 81, 83).
2. The Church teaches that abortion or euthanasia is a grave sin. The Encyclical
Letter Evangelium vitae, with reference to judicial decisions or civil laws that
authorise or promote abortion or euthanasia, states that there is a “grave and
clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. [...] In the case of
an intrinsically unjust law, such as a law permitting abortion or euthanasia, it
is therefore never licit to obey it, or to ‘take part in a propaganda campaign
in favour of such a law or vote for it’” (no. 73). Christians have a “grave
obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if
permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God’s law. Indeed, from the
moral standpoint, it is never licit to cooperate formally in evil. [...] This
cooperation can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of
others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it”
(no. 74).
3. Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia.
For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the
application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not
for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy
Communion. While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war,
and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may
still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse
to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among
Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with
regard to abortion and euthanasia.
4. Apart from an individuals’s judgement about his worthiness to present himself
to receive the Holy Eucharist, the minister of Holy Communion may find himself
in the situation where he must refuse to distribute Holy Communion to someone,
such as in cases of a declared excommunication, a declared interdict, or an
obstinate persistence in manifest grave sin (cf. can. 915).
5. Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person’s formal
cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician,
as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and
euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the
Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy
Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning
him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.
6. When “these precautionary measures have not had their effect or in which they
were not possible,” and the person in question, with obstinate persistence,
still presents himself to receive the Holy Eucharist, “the minister of Holy
Communion must refuse to distribute it” (cf. Pontifical Council for Legislative
Texts Declaration “Holy Communion and Divorced, Civilly Remarried Catholics”
[2002], nos. 3-4). This decision, properly speaking, is not a sanction or a
penalty. Nor is the minister of Holy Communion passing judgement on the person’s
subjective guilt, but rather is reacting to the person’s public unworthiness to
receive Holy Communion due to an objective situation of sin.
[N.B. A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy
to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a
candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion
and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favour
of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons,
it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the
presence of proportionate reasons.]
"We do not want a separation within My Son's House, the Roman Catholic Church under Peter and now Pope Paul VI. We do not want a separation within My Son's House. The United States of America heads fast to a schism. Fight, My children; do not give in to the forces of evil. Fight the enemy with prayer." - Our Lady of the Roses, May 29, 1976
Our Lady of the Roses Bayside messages:
These messages came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995:
THE UNITED
STATES WILL SUFFER
“For that reason among many, the United States will suffer unless there is
placed into your government a group that fears the Lord if they cannot love the
Lord. They will fear Him and find
measures to stop the slaughter of the unborn.” – Our Lady, April 14, 1984
SIN OF OMISSION
"The sin of omission shall condemn many to hell, be they layman or Hierarchy. I
repeat: not the sin of commission, but the sin of omission will commit many to
hell. Among them there will be also mitres." - Our Lady, October 6, 1980
THE UNITED STATES SHALL BE FIRST
STRUCK
"One of the reasons the Eternal Father chose your
city and your state for My appearance was because of abortion, the murder of the
holy innocents. Your nation, without repentance, shall be the first struck." -
Our Lady,
March 15, 1978
THE UNITED STATES SHALL FALL
"How can a great country like the United States fall, you say, My child? You
ask Me in your heart. I read your heart. I will tell you why. Because they
have given themselves over to satan. When a country has lost its morality and
seeks the pleasures of the flesh, giving over, themselves over, to all manner of
abominations, like homosexuality, and condoning this up the highest courts of
the land, then that country shall fall." -
Our Lady of the Roses, November 1, 1985
DOCTORS
"Doctors now are profaning their profession, those who have given themselves
over to destroying human life in abortions." -
Jesus,
June 6, 1987
FOULEST OF DEEDS
"Our hearts are torn because of the wanton murder of the young by evil man.
Abortion, My children, is murder, the most foulest of deeds, that is punishable
by death! And what is worse than death of the soul?
"I say unto you, as your Mother, that any man or woman who performs or
takes part of this abomination of the murder of the unborn shall be given a
heavy penance upon earth, or if this penance is not given upon earth, that
person found guilty in the eyes of his God shall suffer eternal damnation in the
fires of hell." - Our Lady,
December 28, 1976
DESTROYED
"All who become part of or condone abortion, the murder of the young, shall be
destroyed!" - Jesus, June 2, 1979
HUMAN LIFE IS SACRED
"The Eternal Father command that you stop these murders at once! You will not
destroy the lives of the unborn. Human life is sacred in the eyes of your God.
No man has the right to destroy a life. The Father, He sends this life to you,
and only He will decide when it will return back to the Kingdom.
"Do not, My children, be deceived by the words of the evil ones about you
who cry to you of no space left for man. There is space, for My Father has a
plan for every life He sends." - Our Lady, August 5, 1971
WILL NEVER BE CONDONED
"You will remember, My children and My child, to guard the young. Your clergy
have fallen into darkness. Abortion will never be condoned. But We must have
others who fervently will go forward and bring out to the minds of those who
have actually seduced the country and the children--bring them the knowledge of
Heaven, hell and purgatory. Then they will not have free license to sin."
- Our Lady,
May 28, 1983
GOVERNMENT
"For that one reason among many, the United States will suffer unless there is
placed into your government a group that fears the Lord if they cannot love the
Lord. They will fear Him and find measures to stop the slaughter of the unborn."
- Our Lady,
April 14, 1984
NUNS
"That is what makes My heart ache, My child. That is one of the reasons Theresa
is crying constantly when she looks into the convents and sees what is going on.
Many now believe in abortion, the murders of the children; and many have
committed this act upon themselves." - Jesus, October 1, 1988
SIXTY
MILLION
"I say this for this reason: the Eternal Father is much disturbed at the numbers
of abortions being committed throughout your country and the world. These
numbers go upwards to fifty to sixty million in one year throughout the world."
- Our Lady,
June 18, 1986
TREATED AS GARBAGE
"O My child, My tears fall upon you all when I see all of the innocent little
babies being slaughtered . . . cast into garbage pails like nothing but dirt and
scum. They are living human beings! And all murderers shall get their just
recompense." - Our Lady,
March 18, 1983
HOLY SPIRIT
"At the time of conception, the Holy Spirit makes the child, and the breath of
the Almighty gives it life." - Our Lady,
June 18, 1991
LIMBO
"And what, My children, are We going to do with all the aborted babies? O My
child, I know you feel as I do, for I can see the great distress on your face.
What are We going to do, My child? Do you understand when they come to Us, they
must go to Limbo? They are in Heaven, a happy place, but they cannot see God." -
Our Lady, October 2, 1987
SORROWFULLY
"Sorrowfully, the penance that is to come upon the world for the murders of the
unborn shall be a chastisement far greater in severity than man has ever
witnessed in the past nor ever shall pass through again. Your world is plunging
into a deep chasm of suffering and destruction." -
Our Lady,
May 20, 1978
OATH
"Your once loyal to the oath of a doctor, your once loyal doctors are now
butchers! For money they kill the young!" -
Our Lady,
February 10, 1978
WOE TO THE WOMAN
"Know, My child, this simple lesson, that in these days of the latter times,
women will seek to cast off their role as mother and a woman. Women will cast it
off under the direction of satan, and murder her children. Woe to the woman who
does not repent of this vile abomination! She has walked the road to eternal
damnation and hell. Repent, O woman, or forever be lost!" -
Our Lady, March 18, 1975
Directives from Heaven
D23 - Abortion PDF
D142 - Sin of Omission PDF
D146 - Honor the Eucharist, Part 1 PDF
D147 - Honor the Eucharist, Part 2 PDF
D186 - Excommunication PDF
Videos online:
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Revised:
April 12, 2018