Q: Can a Catholic receive holy Communion twice in one day? Also, is it possible to ask to receive Communion outside of Mass under normal circumstances, or is this something that is only possible for the sick? (Scarsdale, N.Y.)
A: To start with the second part of your question, the short answer is yes, it is possible for a Catholic to receive holy Communion licitly outside of Mass, even if they are not ill or homebound.
As we read in Canon 918 of the Code of Canon Law: “It is most strongly recommended that the faithful receive holy communion in the course of a eucharistic celebration. If, however, for good reason they ask for it apart from the Mass, it is to be administered to them.”
Canon 918 does take care to underscore the importance of the relationship between the celebration of the eucharistic sacrifice — which takes place “in real time” at Mass — and our own personal participation in this same sacrifice via holy Communion. Especially since the Second Vatican Council, the church has always taken care to foster a lively awareness of this connection in the minds and hearts of the faithful.
Yet even if receiving holy Communion during Mass is the ideal, reception of holy Communion outside of Mass is still straightforwardly permitted by law. Holy Communion can be administered more privately to members of the faithful as long as they have a “good reason” for making this request.
Canon law does not give us a definition of what constitutes a “good reason,” but here the church trusts us to use common sense. One concrete example that comes readily to my mind of a “good reason” for requesting holy Communion outside of Mass is a situation where a daily communicant cannot make it to the regular parish daily Mass because of a travel schedule. But of course, there can be many other similarly reasonable scenarios.
Turning back to the first part of your question, a faithful Catholic may indeed receive holy Communion twice in one day — but the second reception must be within the context of a Mass.
As we read in Canon 917 of the Code of Canon Law: “One who has received the blessed Eucharist may receive it again on the same day only within a eucharistic celebration in which that person participates.”
To give a practical example of how this might play out in real life, a Catholic who received holy Communion in something like a “word and communion” service could receive holy Communion a second time during the course of the liturgy of they had a chance to go to an actual Mass later that day. But the reverse would not be true. That is, a Catholic who received holy Communion at Mass in the morning could not receive a second time that day at a non-Mass Communion service.
Or, to suggest another scenario, a Catholic could go to a regular daily Mass, then attend an additional Mass for a wedding or funeral, and receive Communion at both Masses. This is allowed because the second reception of Communion took place as part of a eucharistic liturgy.
However, it’s important to note that there is one exception which allows a Catholic to licitly receive holy Communion up to three times in one day: danger of death. Canon 921 says: “Christ’s faithful who are in danger of death, from whatever cause, are to be strengthened by holy communion as Viaticum […] Even if they have already received holy communion that same day, it is nevertheless strongly suggested that in danger of death they should communicate again.”
So, even if a Catholic already had attended two Masses and received holy Communion at both, if they were in a serious accident or fell deathly ill later that day, they could still receive Communion once again. And reception of holy Communion as viaticum would typically take place outside of Mass, due to the nature of the circumstances.
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