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Morning pater can you tell me do I have to go church and pray every week or is it the same to do it at home ?
Answer to Question 402
In our lives we take great care of the needs of the body but rarely look to the needs of the soul. Our attending church is bound to the need to be close to God and for us to partake of the precious Body and Blood of Christ. This is what is necessary; regular communion of the Holy Chalice, but most people, even those who attend every Sunday only partake just a few times a year. Personally I believe that if you are not going to partake of Holy Communion then there is no need to attend church, but there are those who would argue differently. As Christians who love God, we should also have a desire to attend his house and if we truly love our Lord Jesus then we would want to be partakers of his Body and Blood continuously and at every occasion. So basically your question comes down to how much you want to be with God. We cannot just be Christians in name only, we must live according to what the Church teaches. There is a canon that says if we fail to attend church for three consecutive weeks then we should be denied communion. But we don’t preach punishment; Christ said IF anyone will come after me, let him deny himself, let him take up his cross and follow me. So we basically preach “IF”. IF you believe and want to be joined to Christ in Holy Communion and IF you don’t then you can’t really say that you love Christ.
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