"I can't receive Communion. I am not in the state of grace" the Catholic lady in the hospital bed responded to me. This is not unusual when we visit the hospital. As always, I was touched by her humility and reverence. Any Catholic of my generation would understand; younger people, who came of age after the changes of Vatican II may not. Since 1965, we rarely use this language. But it is fundamental.
"State of Grace" is living in the condition of sanctifying grace which we enter in baptism. It is union with God, friendship with God; and so it is eternal life, that will prevail through natural death. It is not moral perfection or freedom from all sin; normally it coexists with a range of sins and failings. It is given to us as pure gift in baptism; it can be lost by mortal (grave, deliberate, and free) sin; it can be regained by confession to a priest. Normally it is conscious, deliberate communion with God that expresses as obedience to the moral law, participation in the sacramental life, fidelity to the duties of one's state in life, dynamic growth in holiness and virtue. Negatively it includes freedom from mortal sin; but that understanding is reductionist and inadequate. It includes faith, hope, love, joy, serenity, interior liberty, vigor and agency in God's grace and in union with the Church.
The noun "state" is misleading as it suggests a static condition. More accurately it is a relationship, of intimacy and mutual "indwelling" with God and his Church; it is Event; Encounter, Drama, Romance. It is boundless energy, vitality, agency, synergy, fascination, surrender, ecstasy, adoration.
"State of Sin" is the opposite: separation from God and the life he offers us. We enter this when we do a grave sin, deliberately and freely. ..which is to say we sin mortally, killing the life of God within us. A Catholic regains the state of grace by an honest confession of the sin.
Can we know we are in the state of grace? Yes. With reasonable, but not absolute certainty. St. Paul himself said that he had no certitude of his standing before God, but that his conscience did not convict him. And he teaches the Churches with boundless confidence, clarity and passion. Now in retrospect, we know that as a canonized saint he was in the state of grace. Such confidence in one's good standing before God is accompanied by an overwhelming sense of his Mercy and one's own poverty and spiritual vulnerability and fragility.
We cannot ever judge the soul and heart of another. That is up to God. And yet we must make practical decisions, without presuming that we know the interiority of another. For example, the priest may decline absolution if he sees lack of contrition by the penitent. Padre Pio did that frequently.
Likewise, for objective, not subjective reasons, there are conditions which impede one from receiving the sacraments. This is NOT a judgement that the person is interiorly in a state of mortal sin. It is an objective judgement that the observed behavior is scandalous for the Church. It is a rejection of a pattern of action; not of the soul of a person. So, for example, membership in the Nazi party, employment at an abortion clinic, cohabitation with someone outside of marriage, participation in human trafficking ...all these warrant exclusion from the sacramental life until there is confession and repentance.
At my father's funeral, I said that it was my sense that he lived his entire life in the state of sanctifying grace. He never left it. There was about him a simplicity, a purity, an innocence. (I pray TO him and my mother daily.) That is not to say he was perfect. And, of course, I do not know for sure. He did once tell me that he confessed missing mass on Sunday. The priest asked "Why did you miss?" "I went fishing" he responded. The priest's retort, before granting absolution: "Too bad you didn't drown out there!" In those days (1940s) priests were not playing around. He laughed as he shared it; his sense of humor and lightness was among his greatest assets.
Certainly, the two most pervasive occasions "the state of sin" and the consequent abstention from Holy Communion are: sexual activity outside of marriage and abstention from Sunday Eucharist without a good reason such as sickness. Traditionally, we speak of people "living in sin" which means they are living as married spouses without marriage. We do not judge their intentions; but the objective situation. It is a counter-witness, especially to the young and impressionable. It is a behavior that invites others into sin.
Participation in Sunday mass is one of the very few laws of the Church. It is very sacred. I was told by one of my children: "I don't think I believe in the Eucharist." I responded: "You are not required to believe. You are required to show up." The singular gesture that indicates observation of the Catholic faith is attendance at Sunday mass.
This "state of grace/sin" category is defining for the observant Catholic. It cannot, however, be applied to those outside of the Church who do not inhabit our moral/spiritual/sacramental world.
More troubling, however: the 4 out of 5 Catholics in our society who do not practice the faith. Can we apply these categories to them? (See prior blog on Catholic Twilight Zone.) I think not. It is not for us to judge who is in what state. That is up to God. The density, depth and complexity of the human heart/soul/psyche is beyond our comprehension.
At the same time, it is crucial that we protect the Eucharist from sacrilege. Just as non-Catholics do not receive the Eucharist, so Catholics non-compliant with our "Way" (miss mass, cohabitate, etc.), would participate sacrilegiously were they to receive Holy Communion. And so, our Church, meaning our priests, have the challenge of protecting the sacredness of our sacraments without being perceived somehow as judgmental and exclusionary. What a terrible task!
It is salutary for us to dread, despise, renounce the "state of sin"...for ourselves and others. Not to judge anyone. But always to "hate the sin; love the sinner."
Much more so, let us exult in the "state of grace"! Let us remain, relax, abide in deep serentiy, gratitude, safety, and joy! Let us inflame the fires of zeal, agency, charity, justice, and hope! Let us delight in the love we share with each other, in the Trinity!
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