Receiving holy communion at mass. It’s special. Everybody does it. Almost everybody.

Special attention for those who don't.

At mass on Sunday, my second mass of the day — I will explain in a minute — I did not follow the crowd and go up for communion at the appointed time, and I mean crowd. It was a standard modern mass. Everyone went but me.

It was like the sign of the cross at the end of the mass when the priest gives his blessing just before dismissing us with a “Go, the mass is ended” or something like it, depending on the creativity, mood, whatever, of the priest. Who of us would be so crass as to fail that sign, carrying with it a promise of grace? You’d be a fool to pass it up. Same with communion. Everybody does it.

The two are not to be compared, of course. As much as a priest’s farewell blessing is to be cherished, it’s not in the same ball park with communion. The one is what any priest can give you anywhere. The other is the culmination of the sacrifice. People know that. It’s the fruit of the mass’s most solemn moment. “This is my body, . . . This is my blood” leads up to it.

If participation is the hallmark of mass attendance, receiving communion takes the cake. If you don’t, an usher might come to the pew you didn’t leave and ask if you want communion brought to you. As well-meaning as a human being can be, he or she, spotting you as a non-receiver, assumes you are incapacitated. He or she will get the communion-distributer to come down the aisle and bring it to you.

Service with a smile, or at least a sympathetic tone of voice. Thing is, he or she accurately reflects the standard. You must have something wrong with you that prevents you from joining the rest of the worshipers. There could be no other reason.

Alas, there was once another reason. You might have judged yourself in the state of mortal sin, which disqualified you. You might not have gone to confession. Or might have eaten or drunk something after midnight. You partied till 2? Not likely you abstained from 12.  It  was much about something: the high regard for the sacrament, reinforced by the rules, which worked as reminders of all that.

It’s different now. Whatever is going on in the minds and hearts of worshipers in this Year of Our Lord 2024, there is near-universal receiving of communion, and very, very few who deny themselves the experience and come to the attention of helpful ushers, as above.

As to why I did not join the rest on Sunday, there was that earlier mass, in another church, where a half dozen confessionals are open for business beforehand, by the way.