The Catholic Faith?

Question

Why the Catholic faith are so strick. I mean why does people who aren't Catholics can't receive the Holy Communion but others faith lets all the faith receive Holy Communion?

Answer 1

The Eucharist


Because of the Lords Passion and Sacrifice that we Catholics love to contemplate, matter can be sanctified, suffering can be sanctified, flesh can be sanctified, we can be sanctified. Who but a Catholic could have written Canticle of the Creatures, as St. Francis of Assisi did?:

Most High, all powerful, good Lord God, Thine are the praises, the glory, the honour, and every blessing, To Thee alone, most High, do they belong, and no man is worthy to mention Your name.

Praised be Thee, my Lord, with all Thy creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun, Who is the day and through whom Thou givest us light. And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour; and bears a likeness of Thee, Most High One.

Praised be Thee, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars, in heaven Thou hast formed them clear and precious and beautiful.

Praised be Thee, my Lord, through Brother Wind, and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather through which Thou givest sustenance to Thy creatures.

Praised be Thee, my Lord, through Sister Water, which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.

Praised be Thee, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom Thou lightest the night, and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.

Praised be Thee, My Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.

Praised be Thee, My Lord, through those who give pardon for the sake of Thy love, and bear infirmity and tribulation. Blessed are they who endure in peace, for by Thee, Most High, they shall be crowned.

Praised be Thee, my Lord, through our Sister Death, from whom no living man can escape. Woe only to those who die in mortal sin. Blessed are those whom death will find in Thy most holy will, for the second death shall do them no harm.

Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks And serve Him with great humility.
When St. Francis looked about and saw God's creation, he saw the Divine Will that created it and sustains it from moment to moment. In its beauty, he saw evidence, he saw "sacrament"! This is the Catholic way.

Nowhere is this acknowledgement of His Incarnation more evident than in the Catholic reverence of the Eucharist.

Answer 2

It's not a question of being strict, it's about the Church's reverence to the Holy Eucharist.

To receive Holy Communion is to receive a Holy Sacrament. One must be Catholic in order to receive a sacrament from the Catholic Church.

Catholic Dogma, as it pertains to the Eucharist, entails belief in the Real Presence of the Eucharist; that the consecrated bread and wine is the Body and Blood of Christ, not merely symbolic which is what many Protestants believe.

Also, the act of receiving Holy Communion in a Catholic Church is an act of professing belief in all Catholic Dogma, not just that which pertains to the Eucharist.

As you can see, Holy Communion is not something the Church takes lightly. Just as it would be wrong for a non-Catholic o receive Communion in a Catholic Church, it is equally wrong for a Catholic to receive Communion in a non-Catholic Church, for the same reasons expressed in the previous paragraph.

Answer 3

It's not a matter of being "strict", or looking down on anyone. Catholics believe that, at the moment of consecration (the high point of every Mass), Jesus Himself is present in the Eucharist -- body, blood, soul, and divinity. If one wants to receive Holy Communion, one must recognize and believe that this is the body and blood of Christ, just as he said very plainly and specifically in the Bible.

Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 11:27 also plainly illustrates how one is to receive it: "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord." Not all Catholics automatically receive Holy Communion every Sunday. If they aren't properly disposed to receive (for example, if they have unconfessed sin) then they must refrain.

Many Protestant/evangelical Christian churches have a communion service with bread and wine (or grape juice in some cases), also called the Lord's Supper, that is only a symbolic remembrance. Sometimes it's distributed at every worship service, and in other denominations only monthly or quarterly.

Answer 4

To Catholics to receive the Holy Communion it takes a process, which is why they look down upon non catholics taking their communion. All other faiths its not that they let you, they only want you to take the communion if you have accepted Jesus.

Answer 5

The Church will always carry a ¨crown of thorns¨ for being an uncofmortable voice of opposition in the world, that has a tendency to diverge from the truth.

- accordng to Pope Benedict.