Closed Communion
A Statement on Closed Communion
What Happens Each Sunday at Holy Mass
We receive Christ’s gifts in Divine Service (Holy Communion - the Lord’s Supper), and this is how we continue to celebrate the Mass as Christians have done from ages past. This is the time and place where Christ comes to feed His people with His life-giving Body and Blood. This miracle happens every Sunday morning (and whenever the Mass is celebrated) in our church, where the Faithful gather to hear God’s Word and receive Christ’s precious Sacrament.
Much Confusion Today
There are many open Communion churches available for people who want to go from church to church without any care about what is believed, taught, or confessed in the particular church at hand. Sometimes guests in our church arrive thinking that open Communion is the normal practice in church, and they are shocked when they discover a church like ours that is closed Communion, where visitors are not automatically allowed to receive Holy Communion. They are shocked and disappointed about this, because they imagine (wrongly) that we are rejecting them.
The Need for Catechesis
Besides, it just feels to them that we are being unfair, allowing others to have something that they are not allowed to have, even if they do not yet understand or perhaps even if they outright reject the simple biblical teaching and belief of our congregation that Christ gives us His true Body and His true Blood in the gifts at the altar. But many people who hear Jesus’ words do not outright reject them, and we know that. Sadly, these dear Christians have been given a great disservice by the unorthodox teachings of many open Communion churches and pastors who do in fact reject our belief in Jesus’ simple words:
“Take. Eat. This is My Body.” (Matthew 26:26b; Mark 14:22b)
“This is My Body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19b)
Open Communion is a relatively new trend in church history, and it is a very dangerous one at that. The consequence for partaking of Christ’s Body and Blood by those who do not discern its true nature could be as extreme as death. See the clear warning given by the Apostle Paul in his concern over those first-century Christians in Corinth who were at risk of not rightly discerning the Lord’s Body (1 Corinthians 11:27-30).
Therefore, out of love and concern for guests visiting with us, we remain a closed Communion congregation, and so we ask that our guests speak with our pastor before receiving Christ’s Body and Blood. Only those who have been adequately catechized and confirmed in the Unity of the Faith received and taught by our churches should commune with us.
Encouragement for the Hungry
If you hear Promise in Jesus’ words quoted above, then you’re probably feeling that gnawing hunger for the true Bread which came down from heaven. That is the hunger God gives to every Christian. Nothing on earth can satisfy this hunger except for Jesus alone, and He will not let you go hungry for the Bread that gives Life to all who eat it.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? (Isa. 55:2a)
Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! (Ps. 34:8)
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:32-33)
“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” (John 6:48-51)
We want every weary sinner to find help in Jesus through the means that He has provided. We want to hinder no one. Nothing would make us rejoice more than to see you as a regular at Holy Communion, although there is nothing regular and ordinary about what you’ll be receiving. This is where Jesus comes to meet you through giving you His Body and Blood. This is where the reward Jesus has won on the Cross is delivered to poor sinners who come empty and leave filled.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousenss, for they shall be filled. (Matthew 5:6)