Why does Catholicism impose restrictions on receiving the Eucharist? At the Last Supper, Jesus commands us to "do this in remembrance of me" (cf. I Cor. 11:24); so, why are there stipulations to receive the Eucharist? Why does the Catholic Church seem to put obstacles to fulfilling one of Jesus' commandments?
Firstly, 1 Cor. 11:24 &amp; 25 ("this do ye for the commemoration of me") is not addressed to all of us but to ordained priests with the ability to consecrate, of which the Apostles were.

Secondly, the Church prohibits those in a state of mortal sin (e.g., the divorced and "remarried," who are really adulterers, unless they correct their sinful situation and receive absolution in Confession) from receiving Communion both for the sake of the sinners' souls and for the preservation of the sanctity of this most Holy Sacrament, for, as St. Paul relays (1 Cor. 11:27),


  whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of our Lord unworthily, he shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of our Lord.


To receive Communion, one must be


a baptized Catholic united to the Catholic Church
in a state of sanctifying grace (i.e., not have committed a mortal sin, the death of the supernatural life of the soul, without first receiving absolution from a priest in the Sacrament of Confession)