- Should you go to church, to communion when you know you have committed a sin?
- Do you devoutly approach God?
- With awe, fear and trembling? How?
- Do you have a sense of how good, holy and just God is? How do I compare with God?
- Do I know who I am in approaching God?
- Do I go over my life regularly? Daily?
- Do I examine my conscience against the Commandments, the Beatitudes and the godly virtues?
- Have I violated any of them? Where am I failing?
- Does God prompt me to think, speak and act in big ways only? In small ways also?
- Am I the person I should be? That I want to be?
Ch. 4: Those who devoutly receive communion are granted many goods. Awaken my heart toward You and snatch me from the clutches of deep slumber. (The great mystery of the sacrament) is your work, not human power, your holy institution, not man's invention. By the sweat of my brow (Gen 3:19), I am tortured with sorrow of heart, burdened by sins, and restless amid temptation. I am caught up in and oppressed by many evil passions. There is no one to help, noone to liberate and save me, but You, Lord God, my Savior. [God is God, I am not. Consciousness Examen cf. An examination of conscience. Test myself according to the Commandments, the Beautitudes, the godly virtues.]
Ch. 5: The dignity of the sacrament and the priestly state. Present yourself beyond reproach (1 Tim 4:16). You do not lighten your burden, but have become even more tightly bound by the bond of discipline, and are held to a higher standard of complete holiness. Set for others the example of a good life (Tit 2:7). Don't live as most human beings usually do. Continually recall Christ's passion. Bear whatever adversities others throw at him with clemency for God's sake. Mourn your own sins, and weep in compassion for the sins that others have committed as well.
Ch. 6: A question about getting ready for communion. When I think of your dignity, Lord, and how ignoble I am, I become quite afraid and struggle within. If I do not approach I am fleeing from life itself, but if I come forward unworthily, I incur guilt (your displeasure).
Ch. 7: Examining one's own conscience and resolving to make amends. Carefully examine your conscience and cleanse and brighten it as best you can with true contrition and humble submission, so that you have no grave sin standing against you that would prevent you from approaching freely. Have displeasure for all your sins in general, and be sorry and lament your daily transgressions more specifically. Confess all the miseries of your passions to God in the secret of your heart. Bewail with sorror over how you are still so fleshly and worldly, so unmortified in your passions, so full of the rushes of concupiscence (lust, evil desires), so unguarded in your external senses, so often caught up in many vain imaginings (foolish fantasies), so neglectful of what is within (the interior life), so slow to weeping and compunction (feeling of guilt), so eager to hear novelties and to see pretty things, so unrestrained in touch (reluctant to observe silence), gushing over food, so deaf to God's word. Confess and bewail these are other failings of yours with sorrow and great displeasure at your own weakness.
Holy Communion is a profound encounter with the Lord that calls for a prepared heart.
- Do you practice self-examination, confession, and trusting in God’s grace, which helps you to receive Christ’s Body and Blood with reverence?
- How do I prepare myself/my heart (devoutly and reverently) to receive communion (in a saving way)?
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