Is Grace Accumulated through the Sacraments?

Bolded is me, regular font is a great, wise friend.

Do you think I should go to mass at lunch today?

If you want to! If you don't want to, then don't.

Haha, I don't know. I kind of want to and kind of don't.

I kind of just want to go get a sandwich and read a book

You know, God speaks to us in that way too!

But it would be good for my soul to go to mass

  :)

It's only good for your soul if you are going for completely right motives.

That is why I am not a big fan of the obligation-works-mentality. God moves our hearts in all ways. Not just at church.

This is very, very true.

But nothing is more powerful than the Real Presence in the Eucharist!

...and sometimes I am closer to God crying on my bed, and talking to God, who is inside of me! I am not "lacking" him by not going to communion every day.

That is just an added bonus, but God doesn't "wear off" if we don't go to communion every day

Haha true.

I don’t think the Eucharist is just an added bonus though, it's the essence of our faith!

Christ within us is the essence of our faith, and he is with us and will never leave us.

agreed...in part. Christ is with us, and he is most truly present in the Eucharist where he is present in body, blood soul and divinity. He is only present in the spiritual sense outside the sacraments. And while Christ is always knocking at our door, asking to be invited in, we can close the door on him, forcing him out. Thus he can leave our inner chamber through the force of our own will, but he will remain near, waiting patiently for us to invite him back in.

Yes, but the Eucharist does not "Wear off" in 24 hours. That is all I am saying. I don't have "less" of God right now then I did yesterday even though I haven't gone to Mass today.

Yes.. that's a very very interesting point

What  kind of grace is accumulated through regular reception of the sacraments, and what happens when we avoid the sacraments?

I want to get back to this! But I have to go to lunch now. Will write more after lunch!

I really enjoy these conversations with you. I hope you feel the same :)

Yes, I love them. I want to send you the lyrics to the Matt Maher communion song, because I think that is how I feel about daily communion.

me: http://www.songlyrics.com/matt-maher/remembrance-lyrics/

Basically, and I will write more later, for me taking the body and blood, soul and divinity is daily remembering and worshiping him. It is not like a transaction where I "get" something and then it wears off and I "get" it again.

I agree with that

 I see it as an accumulation of grace as well as a moment where we are invited into eternity.

After reflection, here is my final answer to the question “What kind of grace is accumulated through regular reception of the sacraments, and what happens when we avoid the sacraments?”

I think that regular reception of the sacraments is helpful insofar as you use it to clear away any barriers between you and Jesus (Confession) and worship him and participate in his death and resurrection in your heart through the body, blood, soul, and divinity (Eucharist). So these are helpful tools given by God to help us maintain the most close/intimate relationship possible with Jesus, meditating on him and worshiping Him in our hearts each moment, even supernaturally. As a result, we become more like him, and more sanctified.

I don’t think that going to Communion just once a week like the Catholic Church asks its flock to do is avoiding Communion at all. The Biblical mandate, according to my understanding is that we go to the Communion table regularly, like the early church did. “Regularly” can be determined on an individual basis, within reason (ie, at least once a week for a Catholic). But there is a reason even the most pious person would not go to Mass three times a day and take Communion three times a day. To do so would show a misunderstanding, and that Jesus’s presence in their life is contingent upon the constant consumption of His body.

Ultimately, I think that one should go to Confession and Communion as often as they feel personally desirous of it. Isn’t it technically, as a sacrament, an external sign of an invisible reality? Well, my internal reality is that I am in communion with Jesus, and as often as He makes me crave his physical body in the Eucharist is as often as I should go. My desire for Communion flows out of my worship and unity with Christ. That is how I approach it, rather than “I want closeness with Jesus so I am going to Communion.”

It’s probably different for everyone, but this is how I see it. People who perform acts of worship out of duty and obligation remind me of how a certain other friend told me that women who wear the veil in church are “holy.” My ultimate response is this: If a woman covers her head with the intention of bringing greater glory and honor to God in that small act of mortification, then it is a holy thing to do. But wearing a veil in and of itself has zero value unless it is motivated by a heartfelt conviction. Just like people who fast because they feel obligated to don’t receive the spiritual benefit of someone who purposely fasts to seeks the face of Christ and His will in a matter.