COME HOME TO COMMUNION

Bishop Johnston has lifted the general dispensation which signals a return to the obligation to attend Mass on Sunday and holy days for most people. A particular dispensation still exists for those who are symptomatic, or who have been advised by medical doctors to avoid public gatherings, or who are otherwise ill or homebound, as well as their caregivers. 

If you are already attending Mass faithfully, you can help to influence those who may still be tentative or have fallen out of the habit of attending Mass due to the pandemic. Share the reasons you have come back to Mass with friends, family members or neighbors and invite them to join you. Consider sharing a meal together after Mass as a way to open up a conversation about how they might be feeling about their faith, answer questions they have and share fellowship.  

Communion is the weekly family reunion when we gather at the table to share in the Lord’s Supper around an altar of sacrifice. All are welcome to be fully present in the Catholic Mass. Holy Communion is the reception of the Eucharistic Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and is a sacred experience. Receiving Holy Communion requires preparing your heart by confessing any grave sins and being in a communion of belief in all that Jesus said and taught. The Mass, in the words of the Second Vatican Council, is the “source and summit” of the Christian life. We are obligated to participate in it because God is due our worship in justice. We owe God thanks and praise for our very existence. We were created by God as an expression of divine love. God is also due our praise and thanks because of our redemption. Christ came to suffer and die and rise, so that death and hell would not have the last word over the destiny of the human race.