Question: Hello, Father Andrew. I’ve been to a confession recently. I was certain that I’d receive a penance because I had committed a lot of mortal sins and I hadn’t confessed for 7 or 8 years and hadn’t been to church. However, the priest allowed me to take communion. Is it right?
Answer: I’d do the same because you hadn’t taken communion for seven years so you practically got yourself excommunicated.
You became too weak to resist mortal sins, that was why you committed them. Now you have to regain what you’ve lost. When you become stronger, you’ll get a penance. Obey the priest who told you that you are to take communion. For some reason, we think we are smarter than we really are. We are sceptical and wonder whether the priest was right or not. The Lord has shown you his mercy and let you receive his Body and Blood but you don’t seem to appreciate it. We humans are hard to please, aren’t we?
In fact, when one comes back to the Church after a long absence, we ought to help that person and support him or her because it’s quite challenging to cross the threshold of the church, to confess and take communion again. Praise God that you’ve managed to do it. Please make sure that you don’t stay away from the Church for so long. Go to church regularly. Confess and take Communion, participate in worship – that’s necessary. You’ve noticed how much your soul lost during that period, haven’t you? May the Lord help you.
