The Communion Rite is designed to prepare us to receive Holy Communion. The Rite consists of praying together the "Our Father," sharing the Sign of Peace, the Breaking of the Bread accompanied by the Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God"), then a prayer of unworthiness and confidence in the Lord’s healing, and the receiving of Holy Communion while the Assembly sings together. After a brief silence, the Communion Rite concludes with the Prayer after Communion.
In the Communion Rite we begin by praying the "Our Father" and then follows Exchange the Sign of Peace with one another. Both of these activities express our Communion with God and one another. We say "Our Father," not "My Father." As we belong together to God we also belong to one another as children of God and brothers and sisters to one another. We will have occasion to return to this point later in explaining the Communion Rite within the Mass.
The "Our Father" is seen as a worthy prayer of preparation before receiving Communion. It mentions the "daily bread" which a number of Church Fathers said referred to the Eucharist. It mentions forgiveness of trespasses (sin).
The Lord’s Prayer ends with the petition "but deliver us from evil." Then the Priest prays:
"Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil,
graciously grant peace in our days,
that, by the help of your mercy,
we may be always free from sin
and safe from all distress,
as we await the blessed hope
and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ."
Then the Assembly says this doxology:
"For the kingdom,
the power and the glory are yours
now and for ever. "
In the Exchange of Peace, the Priest next prays:
"Lord Jesus Christ,
who said to your Apostles,
Peace I leave you, my peace I give you,
look not on our sins,
but on the faith of your Church,
and graciously grant her peace and unity
in accordance with your will.
Who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen."
It is interesting to note that in most of the Mass it is God the Father who is addressed through Jesus Christ. Here Jesus himself is addressed.
The Exchange of Peace (also called "The Kiss of Peace" from an ancient practice of sharing peace) is also an expression of our Communion with one another. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal notes: "There follows the Rite of Peace, by which the Church entreats peace and unity for herself and for the whole human family, and the faithful express to each other their ecclesial[church] communion and mutual charity before communicating in the Sacrament." (#82; emphasis added)
The Priest says or sings: "The peace of the Lord be with you always",
to which the people respond: "And with your spirit."
Then, as stated in the Roman Missal, "if appropriate, the Deacon, or the Priest, adds: 'Let us offer each other the sign of peace.'" (Roman Missal, Order of Mass, 127–128) The Exchange of Peace by all present at Mass was restored after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Before, the ancient practice of everyone sharing a Sign of Peace became restricted over time to just the clergy.
The receiving of Holy Communion in the Eucharist is always seen as both communion with God and communion with the Catholic Church. This is the most ancient understanding of Communion which originates in the Scriptures. "The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread." (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)
St. Paul writes about a participation (in Greek "koinónia" which can be translated also as "communion") in the Body of Christ as [consecrated] bread which is broken (an ancient name for the Eucharist). We would say this is Communion with Christ himself. But Paul also speaks of the worshipers being of "one body" which would be the Church because they share the one bread (the Eucharist).
In a number of Protestant Churches, there is only one sense of "Communion" in the Lord’s Supper: i.e., the "vertical" relationship with God alone. One must be "right with God" and if one is, then you may receive Communion or whatever it may be called in that church.
But Catholics have an additional requirement for receiving Communion beside "being right with God" (not being in "serious sin"). You must also be in Communion with the Catholic Church, what is often referred to as the "horizontal relationship" explicit in Holy Communion. Protestants de facto are not in Communion with the Catholic Church. They do not believe all that the Catholic Church teaches as essential and they are not in communion with the Pope and Bishops of the Catholic Church. If they were they should become Catholic!
But when they hear that they cannot take Communion in the Catholic Church, it sounds to them as if we are saying "you are unworthy in God’s sight to receive." But that is not what the Catholic Church is saying. It is saying you are not in Communion with the Catholic Church, or more simply, you are not a member of the Catholic Church and you must be a member to receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church." To say this is neither a condemnation or judgement, it’s just a fact. It’s a sad fact due to splits in the Catholic Church over the course of history.
Catholics should not take communion in Protestant Churches because of our belief in the two-fold nature of Eucharisic Communion. Again, for us the act of receiving Holy Communion is a statement of our belonging to the Church in which we receive. We are not Protestants. We may believe much of the same beliefs but not all. We should be true to the Church's teaching on this matter and understand why.
Next Week: The Communion Rite: The Breaking of the Bread and the Lamb of God
