Listen to these words very carefully…the Father draws us near to Jesus.
Actually, there is no other way to get there. On our own, we cannot connect with the Lord. It is a grace given to us by God.
God doesn’t act upon us physically, dragging us to the Scriptures, or to the Eucharist, or to prayer. God acts upon our hearts, loves us as daughters and sons. And because of that, there is a pull in us toward our brother Jesus.
It’s not our own doing. We’re drawn to Jesus. There is a pull, and internal movement toward Christ.
Think of it – a “pull” in me toward Christ, put there by God. Have I sensed it? And when I sense it, in whatever form, do I respond to it?
The only other option is to resist it.
Augustine said it well: “Our hearts were made for you, O God, and they will not rest until they rest in you.”
From the beginning of the Church, and continued for 12 centuries, receiving Communion meant receiving both the Bread and the Cup. Not to do so (except for special reasons, such as sickness) was considered an abuse.
By the 13th century, a number of things came into play that would change this traditional practice. One factor was an emphasis on seeing and adoring the Eucharist at Mass, rather than receiving it. Thus, there was more emphasis on the Bread. You could see the Bread, but you couldn’t see the wine because it was in the chalice. (The elevation of the Bread after the consecration was introduced in the 13th century.) Receiving communion became so rare that the Church eventually legislated the requirement of Communion once a year – and “Communion” meant the Bread.
By the 15th century, lay reception of the cup had all but disappeared in the Latin Church. In 1415, the Council of Constance forbade the laity to take the cup – thus making into law what for the first 12 centuries of the Church had been considered an abuse.
The rest of the Church (the Eastern Rites) continued the traditional practice of both the Bread and the Cup.
This became an issue at the time of the Reformation – with many of the separated churches restoring the tradition of the Cup. In the latter part of the 16th century, the Council of Trent took up the question, but made no decision.
The restoration of the Cup in the Latin Rite would thus await the 20th century and the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Liturgy.