In last month's newsletter, I mentioned that in the early church there was no sacrament of Confession as it is understood and practiced today. Holy Baptism was seen as the sacrament of repentance. By Baptism and Chrismation the one enslaved to sin and death was freed from this fallen reality and was empowered to live the Christian life.

In the previous reflection I posed the question if there is a relationship between partaking of Holy Communion to such things as preparing for it, our confession of faith (our belief in the Truths of Christianity), and the manner of life we are living. Today I want to discuss the theme of preparation; not so much on how we prepare (the rules) but more so on why we prepare and what our focus is to be. Our state of mind as we approach the cup is important as evidenced by the following words of St. Paul to the Corinthian church:

In the last note, I spoke about receiving Holy Communion in obedience to our Lord's command to "do this in remembrance" of Him. I also talked about the meaning of remembrance. In the next few notes I want to discuss the guidelines for preparing to receive communion and how when observed with the right attitude, they help us to remember God. With the ever popular Peter & Paul Fast beginning on June 4th this month, what better time to ask the question, "How does fasting help us to remember God?"