The Receiving of the Divine Communion - Spiritual Need, Habit or Personal Choice

Abstract

"One can notice that in the early life of the Church, the believer received the Body and Blood of Christ not only based on his having a moral life but also on his being perma-nently living a life of awareness of God in Jesus Christ’s Church. Thus, the receiving of the Divine Communion represents a spiritual need and a personal choice to the extent to which man has become a servant of Christ, state through which he can live true freedom and can express his free will. Reducing the Divine Communion to a simple ritual practice leads to habit, and self-examination is replaced by habit. Here intervenes the difference between the state with worthiness (ἀξίως) and with unworthiness (ἀναξίως), as it is known that the Divine Communion works according to man’s spiritual condition: in other words, it cleans those who clean themselves and brings light to the souls of those looking for the Light and the living in Jesus Christ, but it also burns the unworthy ones."