This Is My Body?

Whether it's true or not, did Keith Richards' story about snorting his father's ashes strike anyone else as oddly (and perversely, and in no way endorsed by this blog) Eucharistic? Just in time for Catholic and Orthodox commemoration tomorrow of the Last Supper!

Think about it: what else do you consume because you love and want to be close to the person whose body it is/was/represents? (Trying to be ecumenical with that last one.)

No? No? C'MON.

Who would Jesus feed?

Originally posted at BustedHalo. This picks up somewhere in the middle of a thread about bishops who deny the Eucharist to pro-choice politicians, and in general, whether any Catholic should be denied the Eucharist as what my worthy correspondent called a "loving invitation to self-correction."

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I wonder how many divorced Catholics--or their children--experience someone's exclusion from the Eucharist as a "loving invitation to self-correction."


Convert To Christ's first comment inspired me to spend some time reading about the Church's activism against the death penalty. Part of the reason the late Pope opposed it so strongly had to do with the fact that the death penalty can be applied arbitrarily and unjustly: accidents such as race or what state you live in factor into the choice of human beings killing another person.



A similar randomness, as ogica so wisely pointed out, is often used to judge a person's unity with Church teaching. A Catholic in public life who honestly believes that outlawing abortion is not the best way to lessen the number of abortions might be singled out while an unrepentant but incognito murderer could be welcomed to the table.


It can be gracious and dignified when someone excludes him or herself from the Eucharist willingly. I've seen people do this who might be living with a significant other but not married, or who might be angry at the church and know they are not loving enough to take Communion, or for other reasons. But at the same time, it makes me sad that someone would feel her or himself unworthy of encountering Christ, or unworthy of being part of the body of Christ, the people of God.


Look at it this way. I've never heard anyone claim that the Eucharist is not the Eucharist based on one's beliefs, in other words, that Jesus is only present in the bread and wine if you believe the right things. This is why Protestants or people of other faiths are expected to refrain from receiving Communion--since Jesus is really present and their theology does not recognize this, it would be disrespectful to Jesus, is the Catholic thinking. So if Jesus is really there, and the Catholic (however sinful) believes that He is really there, why would Jesus not want to be present to that Catholic, to teach them if they are wrong and to strengthen them if not?