Holy Eucharist: pressure of the crowd to receive

This is just a quick observation. When I attended my childhood Church back in the 1950's and 1960's, on any given Sunday plenty of people remained in the pews and did not receive Holy Communion (the Holy Eucharist). Sometimes a good half of the worshippers did not receive. This was because people adhered to the faith and did not receive if they did not feel ready on a given Sunday because they had not attended Confession. That is exactly the way it should be. The salt of the earth of the Church, the goodly people who attended Mass every Sunday, scheduled their Confession times according to their need. If they went once every few months, and therefore had something on their mind right before their next Confession, they did not receive. They stayed in the pews and waited until they next had a chance to receive after confessing and penance.



Fast forward to these times. I've noticed that virtually the entire church attendees all receive. The pews clean out. At places like Shrines, such as in Birmingham, I expect that because Confession is so available and people arrive there for exactly that purpose.



But I'd be dumb not to realize, as I have for a long time, that there is a weird social pressure where people would rather unworthily receive the Holy Eucharist than sit in their pew and wait for the next time after they had performed the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.



Aren't we under enough pressure to be fashionable, slim, smart, good looking (hot?), successful at work? Can people not be as their fathers and mothers were, who were comfortable in their faith enough to stay in their pews and gain the full benefit of the Mass but forego the Holy Eucharist on a particular given day until they knew they were ready?



Just trying to keep it real for every one's benefit. The sacraments are meant to facilitate the flow of grace, not twist it. Ironically the people who sat out Holy Eucharist on a given day are the lesser sinners than the people who receive unworthily because they are worried they will look like sinners.