Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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OFFERING COMMUNION

The practice of offering the reception of Holy Communion for another person. This means asking God to transfer to someone else the satisfactory (expiatory) and impetratory (intercessory) value of one's own preparation for and thanksgiving after Communion. What cannot be transferred are the principal effects of the sacrament, namely the growth in sanctifying grace, in the love of God and neighbor, the lessening of passion, the right to a glorious resurrection, the forgiveness of venial sins, and the remission of temporal punishment due to forgiven sins.