I had a question on a situation I'm having with me receiving the Eucharist and my mother..

I'm 16 years old and live with my mom and I have grown very much in faith and I try to live my life as a good Catholic Christian as much as possible and I haven't been receiving the Eucharist nor going to confession in a couple months because it seems like whenever I do my mother expects me to be a saint. For example I always try my best to be respectful to her, but she can be very mean sometimes to me and I just say mean things that I don't mean and then she says things like "I can't believe you receive communion when you act like that with me". Or just things like that she always happens to be saying after I confess, and she makes me feel bad so I don't receive it even though it wasn't anything extremely bad that I done. Also, sometimes when she doesn't go to mass with me she always asks me if I received communion, I suppose so that she will know whether to use that against me or not.

She hasn't received communion or confessed in about two years and she goes to church with me, but doesn't really try to improve her life and I just really don't know what to do. Like she's not an awful person like she might sound; she doesn't deliberately harm other people and she takes very much care of my sick grandparents, but it's just that I can't ever be confessed and make a little mistake because she's always pointing fingers at me when I do sin and it seems like she's just waiting to see what I do wrong towards her;therefore, I have stopped receiving communion, so I won't have this dispute with her and I don't feel bad when she tells me these things.

I really don't know what to do. I'm just asking for advice on what you think the best thing for me to do is.

Thank you very much for your answers and God bless!

The sacraments, especially Confession and Holy Communion, help us grow in sanctity (saintliness), and without sanctity we can't enter heaven. But we don't become saints overnight. It's the goal toward which we strive, cooperating with the grace we receive in the sacraments. The more we cooperate, the more grace we receive, until we do become saints, either in this life or afterwards in purgatory.

You shouldn't stay away from the sacraments just to defuse your mother's criticisms. Your relationship with her is important, but not nearly as important as your relationship with the Lord. The closer you are to Him, the more peace you will have, and the less any sharp words will hurt you.

If you are criticized for not being perfect after going to Confession and Communion, just point out that the sacraments are medicine, and sometimes medicine works slowly.

When you are tempted to use mean words in reply to your mother, just pray the name of Jesus, asking for His help. Don't criticize your mother, but set her a good example of what it is to be a faithful Catholic. She knows she's fallen short and doesn't need to be told.

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