[SoothingDave]

It used be that many held back, out of a feeling of unworthiness, and that those who went were manifestly more "ready" to receive.

200 years ago this was the major problem in the Church -- people having too much respect for the Sacrament.

SD

[RobbyS]

#7256 If you are talking about infrequent communion, this was a problem before the Reformation, and One of Luther's salutary reforms was to encourage it. The Jansenists, of course, discouraged it, and frequent communion only came after St. Pius X. The problem with the present approach is that it minimizes the need to approach it reverently and with a proper disposition. Some Catholics don't even know why we can't have open communion. It seems that people go to extremes: from scupulosity to carelessness.