Should you pass on communion at a Lutheran church or participate fully?

You are at the wedding of a beloved family member or friend, which is taking place at a Lutheran church. You gladly accepted the invitation to celebrate this happy day with the bride and groom. But then there is a call to come to the table of the Lord’s Supper, to receive communion. This is the awkward moment you knew was coming. Can you, and should you, a practicing Catholic, accept the invitation?

“But about that day and hour no one knows,” Jesus said in talking about his return at the end of time, “neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matt. 24:36). Note: That’s the Son talking.

Or how about in the Gospel of Luke where the story of Jesus’ childhood ends with the words, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years” (Luke 2:52).

When considering the Catholic Church, perhaps nothing stands out so obviously as the Mass.

Eucharist, according to the Second Vatican Council, is both the “source and summit” of Christian life. Using bread and wine, at Mass we celebrate a communal sharing of the true presence of the risen Christ in these elements, which change from bread and wine into this sacrament of Christ. This is known as transubstantiation, a theological term used by Latin (Western) Christians, and it is a central belief of the Roman Catholic Church. So why does the creed make no mention of it?

She spoke little English -- just isolated words you had to build the intended sentence around in your mind. But it never seemed to get in the way of our conversation. Mrs. Sottopietra was the oldest human being I'd ever seen, though every old person seems a hundred from the perspective of a child.