Communion - what do Catholics believe?

According to Karl Keating (1992), who uses church documents, Vatican publications, the Catholic Catechism, and the Bible, in his book, What Catholics Really Believe, "only baptized Catholics in a state of grace can receive communion at mass.

"Being in a state of grace means that in order to be disposed properly to receive Communion, communicants should not be conscious of grave sin, have fasted for an hour, and seek to live in charity and love with their neighbors.

"Grave sin is the same thing as a serious sin or a mortal sin. We call such a sin mortal because it mortally wounds the soul by driving out sanctifying grace. A person guilty of a mortal sin is disqualified from heaven and is said to lose justification. Mortal sins include any serious infractions of the "Seven Deadlies" (pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, sloth). The most popular sins in our culture are among those which disqualify one from receiving Communion: abortion, contraception, adultery, fornication. A mortal sin is any sin which fulfills three conditions: 1) it involves a serious matter, 2) you give your full consent to it, and 3) you have time for sufficient reflection on its seriousness--even a few seconds may be enough. If any of these conditions is absent, your act is either a venial sin or no sin at all."

Confession is the way to receive absolution of one's sins.

Going to communion is the main reason I go to church. I seek to be in communion with God and with my fellow believers. That said, I am not the judge of others who come to church. I do not worry over whether or not they are in a state of grace. That is between them and God. I only pray that I can take the grace God gives me in Communion and use it for His purpose until I can again receive that nourishment. Amen.