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1416 Communion with the Body and Blood of
Christ increases the communicant’s union with the
Lord,forgives his venial sins and preserves him from grave
sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds
of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also
reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of
Christ. 1417 The Church warmly recommends that the
faithful receive Holy Communion when they participate in the
celebration of the Eucharist; she obliges them to do so at
least once a year. 1418 Because Christ himself ispresent in the
sacrament of the altar, he is to be honoured with the
worship of adoration. ‘To visit the Blessed Sacrament
is. . . a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, and
a duty of adoration toward Christ our Lord’ (Paul VI,
MF 66). 1419 Having passed from
this world to the Father, Christ gives us in the Eucharist
the pledge of glory with him. Participation in the Holy
Sacr~flce ident(fies us with his Heart, sustains our
strength along the pilgrimage of this life, makes us
long for eternal life and unites us even now to the
Church in heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the
saints. 1420 Through the sacraments of Christian
initiation, man receives the new life of Christ. Now we
carry this life ‘in earthen vessels’, and it
remains ‘hidden with Christ in God’.’ We are
still in our ‘earthly tent’, subject to suffering,
illness and death.2 This new life as a child of God can be
weakened and even lost by sin. 1421
The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies,
who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to
bodily health,3 has willed that his Church continue, in the
power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation,
even among her own members. This is the purpose of the two
sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the
sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. 1422 ‘Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain |
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