Why don’t we receive communion immediately after consecration?
The easiest (and hopefully most useful) way to answer this question is simply to speak of our preparation for Holy Communion. While the consecration of the Eucharist stands as the central moment of the Mass, the immediate moment after the consecration is not seen as the natural time for reception of Holy Communion.
Rather, it is important that we prepare our minds and hearts to partake of this most sacred gift by our humble calling upon the Father in the prayer Jesus taught, in our laying down of any and all divisions and expressing true charity in the sign of peace, and in our profession of unworthiness and need for mercy in the Lamb of God and the accompanying “Lord I am not worthy….” Know that the placement of all three of these elements have a longstanding tradition in the history of the liturgy – going back to at least the late 6th century and the reforms of Gregory the Great. All of these elements aid us in preparing our disposition to receive the Eucharist in the most reverent and receptive way – that the life of God given to us in the Eucharist may be most effective in us.
Selections from “The Great Amen & communion question” by Fr. Joel Hastings
