This Is Your Job, Dude!

There is a curiosity that looms large in the minds of most people meeting for the first time. Right after introductions are made, a subtle prequalifying process starts to take place. “What is your job?”, and “How much money do you make?” are softened and hidden within questions like “What do you do?” and “Where do you live?” Pay grades and salary structures can be approximated, and real estate value can also be determined with these two less-direct questions. One’s job, however, is the queen mother of inquiry, and in and of itself can tell most of the story.

A person’s job can speak volumes about their position in life. It represents how food and shelter are acquired and maintained and indicates status and where a person is on the socio-economic scale. Is it blue collar or white collar? Is it in a big company or a small concern? Every job has its own unique “description”, sometimes spelled out in explicitly in writing. The job description of a television talk show personality would undoubtedly involve many details and objectives known only to those in similar positions, and possibly their agents and lawyers. The job description of an Archbishop in the Catholic Church has its own set of details, exclusive to that position. A member of the clergy would usually not be qualified to weigh in on the affairs of a talk show personality, and the reverse can be said as well.

On a talk show, the two great spheres of politics and religion bleed into one another in a kind of Venn Diagram that no one can really figure out. Proffering an opinion in any of these areas requires little to no preparation or background. It is the opinion that counts, and the more provocative, the better! All that is needed is an audience with specific demographics, size and scope that will garner enough advertisers to “pay the bills”.

Recently, on a television show that features a group of women who offer their opinions for a living, the subject of denying the reception of Communion came up. One person exclaimed: “This is not your job, dude!” referring to an action that is very much the job of an Archbishop in accordance with Canon Law and Church teaching. The title of this piece refers to what is appropriate within the parameters of a particular position. Both the television personality and the archbishop were true to their respective “marching orders”. As a permanent deacon in the Catholic Church, I would like to devote the remainder of this piece to Church teaching as it is expressed through Sacred Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The words “Lord, I am not worthy” spoken just before receiving Communion, are taken directly from scripture, and speak to the humility that must be present before receiving Jesus, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist. The great “Amen” that is sung or said after the Doxology is the ascent of the entire congregation that a miracle has just taken place within the heart of the Eucharistic Prayer. It is important to note that worthiness comes from God, and not from those assembled at a particular Mass, or from the community at large. This passage from The Gospel According to Matthew contains the words proclaimed by every Catholic before receiving Communion:

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed (Matthew 8:5-8).

These words of the centurion have been uttered for centuries by Catholics at Sunday Mass. This gathering, referred to as the source and summit of our faith, has had the same basic structure since as early as the second century. The following account from St. Justin Martyr outlines an early version of the Mass occurring on “the day of the sun”:

On the day we call the day of the sun, all who dwell in the city or country gather in the same place.
The memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets are read, as much as time permits.
When the reader has finished, he who presides over those gathered admonishes and challenges them to imitate these beautiful things.
Then we all rise together and offer prayers* for ourselves… and for all others, wherever they may be, so that we may be found righteous by our life and actions, and faithful to the commandments, so as to obtain eternal salvation.
When the prayers are concluded we exchange the kiss.
Then someone brings bread and a cup of water and wine mixed together to him who presides over the brethren.
He takes them and offers praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and for a considerable time he gives thanks (in Greek: eucharistian) that we have been judged worthy of these gifts.
When he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all present give voice to an acclamation by saying: ‘Amen.’ “When he who presides has given thanks and the people have responded, those whom we call deacons give to those present the “eucharisted” bread, wine and “water and take them to those who are absent (CCC 1345).

Being “judged worthy” at the reception of Communion is bound up in thanksgiving, and the great “Amen” is acclaimed by “all present”. It is important to note that the judgment involved in the ability to receive the “eucharisted” bread at Communion emanates from God, and not from a particular worshipping congregation, the church community at large, or the court of public opinion. Two articles of Canon Law address who must or must not be admitted to Holy Communion:

 Any baptized person not prohibited by law can and must be admitted to holy communion (Canon Law 912).

Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion (Canon Law 915).

If a public official has been “prohibited by law” or is “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin”, then a case could be made for being denied holy communion. The problem, of course, is that there is no effective way of determining in real-time if any given person meets the criteria for not being “admitted” to receiving during Mass. Dude, that is God’s job!