Communion

A word used generally in Protestant and Catholic Christianity to memorialize the sacrament of the Last Supper. It is so called because in partaking of the sacramental emblems (the bread and water, or wine), one seeks fellowship with the Master, for it is done in remembrance of Him. Paul uses the concept in speaking of the meaning of the bread and the cup of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 10:16–21). He also speaks of the communion of the Holy Ghost (2 Cor. 13:14). A form of this word is also used with an opposite meaning, when a person is severed from the Church for wrong-doing. Such action is called “excommunication”; that is, the former member loses the fellowship and communion he once had with the Lord, with the Holy Spirit, and with the members of the Church. See also 1 Cor. 11:20–34; Moro. 4–5; D&C 20:75–79.