So what you're telling me is that I am not welcome to partake of your Eucharist, but a lying, cheating, murdering, raping, unrepentant Roman Catholic is perfectly welcome to and it is proper for him to receive it? That sounds pretty wild. :) I was under the extremely strong impression that a person had to be worthy to receive the sacraments (other than confession), and that a priest should deny them to someone he knows to be unworthy.
Yeah, pretty much. What can I say? It's your haircut, man ... Get a new do and we'll talk it over.
NO as a matter of fact you aren't welcome to ambulate in of a Sunday and present yourself, mouth open, like unto a little bird in the nest, you anabapdiss (or whatever you are), you.
But, wait! There's an escape clause. If you're in extremis and we have no reason NOT to believe that you've been baptized with water in the name of the Trinity, open wide, soldier, 'cause here He comes. There might be a, "Yo, Lissen up: Are you sorry for every bad thing you ever did?" first if you looked like you were going to stay alive long enough to engage in that dialogue. (A nod or grunt or sign which could be interpreted as an "uh-huh," would be all you'd have to say. Think you can remember that? Repeat after me: "unnngh." Good!)So as long as that's true, we're going to take you seriously on that, in the normal course of business.
But when the ship has broached and she's dis-masted and rail under water, AND there's a ghost of a whisper of a hope that you'd really like the most Holy Sacrament of our Lord's Body and Blood we're going to commend you and the sacramental interaction to God.
But should you miraculously recover and not even talk to a priest about the possibility of joining up, you will have incurred seriously bad mojo.
For all the facetious lingo, I THINK that's pretty much doctrine and practice.
We're going to do what we can -- which, we'd all agree isn't much -- to get you into heaven. Most of the time that reasonably involves saying to people who choose not to be Catholic, "Hey! It's better over here, why spend your money, etc., take two Isaiah 55s and call me in the morning." But when the compost hits the air-conditioner, we're not going to catechize you to make sure you're orthodox, we're going to give you the best we've got.
Also, No a lying, cheating, murdering, raping, unrepentant Roman Catholic is NOT EITHER perfectly welcome to receive it. If he does so unrepentantly he just exacerbates his already mortal state of sin. VERY bad mojo.
But again, if he's croaking, as far as sacramental ministrations are concerned, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt. God knows if he's repentant.
Still. I'd think about a haircut ....
Just sayin'
Yeah, pretty much. What can I say? It's your haircut, man ... Get a new do and we'll talk it over.
NO as a matter of fact you aren't welcome to ambulate in of a Sunday and present yourself, mouth open, like unto a little bird in the nest, you anabapdiss (or whatever you are), you.
But, wait! There's an escape clause. If you're in extremis and we have no reason NOT to believe that you've been baptized with water in the name of the Trinity, open wide, soldier, 'cause here He comes. There might be a, "Yo, Lissen up: Are you sorry for every bad thing you ever did?" first if you looked like you were going to stay alive long enough to engage in that dialogue. (A nod or grunt or sign which could be interpreted as an "uh-huh," would be all you'd have to say. Think you can remember that? Repeat after me: "unnngh." Good!)
But when the ship has broached and she's dis-masted and rail under water, AND there's a ghost of a whisper of a hope that you'd really like the most Holy Sacrament of our Lord's Body and Blood we're going to commend you and the sacramental interaction to God.
But should you miraculously recover and not even talk to a priest about the possibility of joining up, you will have incurred seriously bad mojo.
For all the facetious lingo, I THINK that's pretty much doctrine and practice.
We're going to do what we can -- which, we'd all agree isn't much -- to get you into heaven. Most of the time that reasonably involves saying to people who choose not to be Catholic, "Hey! It's better over here, why spend your money, etc., take two Isaiah 55s and call me in the morning." But when the compost hits the air-conditioner, we're not going to catechize you to make sure you're orthodox, we're going to give you the best we've got.
Also, No a lying, cheating, murdering, raping, unrepentant Roman Catholic is NOT EITHER perfectly welcome to receive it. If he does so unrepentantly he just exacerbates his already mortal state of sin. VERY bad mojo.
But again, if he's croaking, as far as sacramental ministrations are concerned, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt. God knows if he's repentant.
Still. I'd think about a haircut ....
Just sayin'
It's not just, "Give laundry list; get absolved." It's "Give laundry list; be contrite; get absolved." If you are not as contrite as you can be, even if that's only a little, then you are messing with a sacrament.
It's hard, sometimes to wrap this up with the concept of "ex opere operato" because it sounds sort of like it's up to the penitent.
For someone very immature, contrition is just,"Don't be mad at me!" Maybe some people never get past that. But as we grow we hope that we get a better sense of what it means to be a sinner AND what our particular sins mean in terms of slap in the face to God, harm to others and to ourselves. Maybe as we grow in grace we see how we are like swine before whom pearls have been cast. And we just go on grunting and digging with our noses and treading anything underfoot -- and we seem to keep on doing that even when we know we're doing it. And then we may see that the pearls (metaphor shift, fasten your seat belt) are really the wounds and blood and agony of Christ, and that our grumping at our family or sulking even after we realize we're sulking lends force to the hammer that drives the nails into his hand and makes gravity's pull on his hanging body even stronger.
But all these are contrition, and one of them, or something like it, is an essential part of the sacrament.
So back to our excommunicate bad guy. If he is NOT repentant but confesses because he just likes going to church or something, he's just abused the sacrament and, in essence, indicated to himself that he isn't really interested in being absolved. He needs a miracle. Fortunately Christ has provided one, but it's still an open question whether our bogus penitent will avail himself of it.
If a Catholic penitent were to come to me and say,"How can I know if I'm contrite enough?" I'd say, "What are you, Lutheran or something? Of COURSE you're not contrite enough! don't waste your time with that question. It's the devil's question, trying to get you to focus on you and what you can do to be saved (hint: nothing!) - that way IS pride and lies madness! Focus on God, and if you fear you are not contrite, ask Him to give you mo' better contrition. He loves you and wants to help. Trust Him."
Gotta go do my vain repetitions and idolatrous worship. I hope I was clear and useful.
The Eucharist is an expression of communion in the same faith. It is not a means towards a union, but an expression of such a union. Those who are one in faith commune in faith as one in Christ.
The Eucharist would be denied in the Catholic Church to me and to you, not because we are "less worthy" then our Latin brothers, but because neither you nor I profess the same faith as they do.
For the same reason, you and they would be denied Eucharist in an Orthodox church.
Some Orthodox churches will allow Ethiopian or Coptic Orthodox to receive communion of there are no Ethiopian or Coptic churches around, but technically they are not in communion with the rest of the Orthodox world.
In most Orthodox churches, the priest will remind the congregation before offering the Eucharist that only Orthodox Christians, who have properly prepared, through confession, prayer and fasting, can receive the Mysterium.
Your comment above "but a lying, cheating, murdering, raping, unrepentant Roman Catholic is perfectly welcome to and it is proper for him to receive it?" is false only for one reason, unrepenting. For grieveous offenses, such as rape and murder, an Orthodox priest may impose a period of non-communion, not as punishment, but as a time to reflect on their sin and unceasing prayers. It's not enough to simply say "I am sorry."
Confession is not a get-out-of-jail card one can just whip out and go about his business. I hope you realize that, in dealing with the public, it is impossible to set inflexible rules and that each person is a unique specimen and must be seen in context of his or her realities, both spiritual and physical.
I think you are taking this issue of being denied communion way too personally.