Hi Graybeard, I am a catechist (means I teach children at Sunday school) in my Catholic parish and “state of grace” is the normal term we use to describe how one should be when taking Holy Communion. I believe it is a translation of the Latin which means not being unworthy and ready to meet the Lord, who to us is actually present in the bread and wine. It is not meant to be a challenge to anyone except those who know they have sinned and have not asked the Lord for forgiveness. While forgiveness is something we ask for in Confession through a priest we certainly can be forgiven by the Lord directly through prayer as any other Christian. We refer to Confession now as the Sacrament of Repentance to signify the true nature of our hearts when it is done.
1 Corinthians 11 is a very difficult chapter for ALL Christians as St Paul tells us here that a man should not “nourish” his hair (I assume using shampoo, combing, etc.) nor cover his head and he admonishes women that when praying they should have their heads covered, yet very few Christians obey this or many of the instructions in this chapter.
I misspoke. I should have said Sacrament of Penance, which is the official name. Sacrament of Reconcilliation also works. Keep in mind that the Catholic Church is trying to get the English speaking churches more in line with the original Latin. We just had a MAJOR missal change in November as part of this.
This all started because I said that “state of grace” was not a phrase that I would use. I completely agree with what it means but one, perhaps with a chip on his shoulder or looking for an argument, took issue with that. I reiterated what I had already said plainly, then it was dropped.
Your reply was graceful and I appreciate that.
In my church we don’t have “sacraments” either. We have “ordinances” but I’m familiar with the phraseology and don’t have a problem with it.
Your examples of New Testament things that we don’t follow was accurate, I’ll add one. The woman, I believe her name was Mary, who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume.
I’m paraphrasing because I gotta get going but I believe Jesus said that we are supposed to be making mention of her and her deed a bit more often that is done in my church at least. Look also at what Jesus said when he washed His disciples feet. Our church doesn’t do that either, does yours?
I mentioned that my church was Baptist, we do not use wine in the Lord’s Supper, we use grape juice. By the way there’s another example, we say Lord’s Supper, You say Communion, We both know what the other means.
I heard my pastor say once, that John the Baptist didn’t drink wine and if it’s good enough for John, it was good enough for him. Totally ignoring a perfect example of the fact that Jesus Himself certainly did drink wine.
Gotta run, God bless you and yours richly, as he has me and mine.
Actually, at that point there is no bread and wine. The accurate presentation of this truth is Who to us is actually present under the appearance of bread and wine.