Author’s Note: I know many readers are not religious, but this story has its roots in religion since the story itself involves the practice of it. The statements made are statements of my own faith and are not meant as anything beyond that. If anyone is offended by the profession of faith I humbly apologize.

John Pavlovitz was introduced to me over a year ago by a friend and I’m glad he did. His columns are very similar to these to the point where it could seem that one inspires the other. He said what I was about to say yesterday. He put it in such a way that I couldn’t and yet a part of me was upset that I was being upstaged.

Yet, it is another concept I took from him that I borrow today. God’s nature is infinite and mysterious, so having a father, son, and spirit makes perfect sense. At different points in our lives we relate to one more than the others and that reliance can change depending on what we need in that moment.

Numerous folks are responding to the story of Nancy Pelosi being denied communion. Ultimately, that’s what we are talking about here and what John was talking about above. The communion is a sacred mystery and at the very center of our faith. We believe deeply that Jesus is present in the Eucharist. So, in denying communion, the archbishop isn’t merely denying her rights to attend a ceremony. He is denying her access to Jesus himself.

As John eloquently points out in his post, Jesus would have never done that to anyone no matter who they were or what they had done. He never would have denied himself to a sinner. That not only flies in the face of the central event of our faith (death and resurrection) but also every story we encounter in the gospels. “Whatever you do to these least of these you do unto me.”

Of course, the church’s stance on these things has always troubled me. I’ve watched my mother sit in the pews for over 40 years of my life and over 50 years of hers while the rest of us partook of Jesus. She was not welcome. She had not fully converted to Catholicism. She had attended mass more regularly than most Catholics and yet she was not welcome. Of course, most people would say why not just convert, but is that really the point? Can we imagine this Jesus (or any other Jesus) saying you can’t have me unless you have this special document that says you can?

It is a terrible contrast of having a gift that was given freely and completely that is as infinite as it was selfless. Yet, you have someone that can arbitrarily and publicly deny that gift to one or multiple individuals based not on what they have done, but what they have said and believe. It is impossible to reconcile these two. Moreover, it is mind-boggling to take something that is symbol of sacrifice, selflessness, and purity and debase it like that. It makes Jesus small. It makes our faith small. It makes us all somehow smaller.

God did not become human, humble himself, and sacrifice himself to become weaponized like this. God did this so he can be given freely to all that would accept him and seek him. God did this as an example of what we were supposed to be in this world. God did this knowing full well that all of us need love and yet none of us truly deserve it. For one to deny that to someone else is a sin. It might be the greatest of sins. None of us has a right to do that because it was a gift given freely to all of us. We can deny it to ourselves. We can’t keep it from anyone else.