Posted on 07/03/2016 4:06:53 PM PDT by NYer
A recent post at the site Roman Catholic Man has focused a great deal of attention on the manner in which the faithful receive Communion. As any discussion regarding the Eucharist is a discussion about Our Lord Himself, the importance of this topic cannot be overstated. Bishop Athanasius Schneider recently noted that we are experiencing the fourth great crisis in the history of the Church, and our casual and “banal” treatment of the Eucharist is the greatest sign of this crisis.
Now is indeed the time to revisit the topic. Putting aside opinions and personal preferences, let us objectively discuss this matter of paramount importance. Unfortunately, all too often it is viewed as the third rail of liturgical discussions. But it need not be this way.
The argument in favor of the traditional practice of receiving Communion on the tongue is indeed an affirmative one:
For over a thousand years the faithful of the Roman Rite only received communion on the tongue while kneeling.
It is true that some communities in the early Church received the Eucharist in the hand; however, the universal practice of only receiving communion on the tongue is evident by the eighth century and remained until the 1970’s.
Indults permitting communion in the hand were an innovation of the Seventies to accommodate those countries who had already initiated the practice illicitly.
The majority of eastern rite churches have never permitted the faithful to receive in the hand. For that matter, the Extraordinary Form of the Mass in the Roman rite also does not permit reception in the hand.
Rome has continuously instructed the faithful on the merit and universality of the traditional practice for as long as the indults have been in place. As recently as 2008, the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff stated:
“From the time of the Fathers of the Church, a tendency was born and consolidated whereby distribution of Holy Communion in the hand became more and more restricted in favor of distributing Holy Communion on the tongue. The motivation for this practice is two-fold: a) first, to avoid, as much as possible, the dropping of Eucharistic particles; b) second, to increase among the faithful devotion to the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.”
Belief in the Real Presence has steadily decreased for forty years as the posture of kneeling has been lost. In his seminal work “The Spirit of the Liturgy”, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger prophetically noted that “the man who learns to believe learns also to kneel, and a faith or a liturgy no longer familiar with kneeling would be sick at the core. Where it has been lost, kneeling must be rediscovered…” (p. 194)
Thankfully, the faithful need not wait for the indults to be lifted in order to recapture this venerable practice. Holy Mother Church has given her children ample instruction on the matter. Pope Benedict provided us extensive catechesis on this subject, most particularly by his personal example at papal masses.
Clergy need not wait either. There are parishes today reinstalling communion rails in order to recapture this sacred tradition. Others are simply bringing in kneelers for the faithful to use during Mass in order to recover this posture of reverence and adoration.
Cardinal Antonio Canazares Llovera, when he was prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, said it best when he noted that receiving communion on the tongue while kneeling “is the sign of adoration that needs to be recovered (by the Church)…we cannot lose a moment as important as that of Communion, of recognizing the real presence of Christ there.”
Catholic ping!
Somebody told me they changed to putting communion in your hand, due to sanitary concerns. The priest touching tongue after tongue, and potentially spreading germs. That’s what I heard anyway, don’t know if that’s true.
But The Blood of Christ is taken from a common cup Anyone after the first person receiving is getting a load of germs from others.
I was one of those little girls. I never was comfortable when they changed the way they gave communion.
I was taught back in the 50s that the ONLY one to touch a consecreated host was a priest and at that, only with his thumb and forefinger.
I was also taught that knowing this, the Iriquois removed those fingers from the hands of St. Isaac Jogues so he could no longer perform the ceremony. I also remember being told that St. Jogues was given some sort of special dispensation from Rome that allowed him to use other fingers.
Just looked it up in Wiki and it seems it may have been Mohawk and that the reason those fingers were removed may have had nothing to do with ceremony.
...I prefer Sr. Theodora’s version.
We went to a wedding yesterday at a very liberal Catholic Church. It was ‘join hands’ this and ‘happy clappy’ that, very feel good. He blessed those who were ‘not of the same tradition,’ — “Serenity and Peace.” ???? At our church, many of us take the host on our tongues, so I did that. That poor priest was so confused - he hadn’t seen that for decades, I suspect. He was not happy.
I’m in So. California, although all 50 states have Mexican illegal aliens with Tuberculosis.
How do you feel about receiving from the communion rail when a potential tuberculosis carrying heavy panting illegal alien has either just coughed or panted on the padres now moisture/saliva laden hand..Now its your turn.
Now imagine, a deadly strain of killer flu instead, and the person beside you is shedding virus.
either way works for me. Jesus wants us the gnaw on him. Eat him. I’m studying German and remembering that the original text in the Bible and I don’t remember the verse was that Jesus said unless you gnaw on my body and drink my blood. So in German the word for people eating is essen and for animals to eat is I think fressen. Different words. So I just want to eat and drink and not worry about it.
I have always taken Communion on the tongue. My knees will not bend sufficient to kneel on the floor and there are no kneelers up front and no rail. I bow as deeply as I can before receiving.
This is a Catholic Caucus thread.
I make a wild guess here: the priest (or extraordinary minister) spreads more germs touching hand-after-hand than tongue-after-tongue, considering those hands have just shaken 5 or 10 or 50 other hands at the sign of peace which were holding handkerchiefs, sharing books, and holding children’s hands through mass, and which dipped into a holy water font touched by hundreds of others upon entering the church.
The first touch upon a hand picks up microbes from literally hundreds (possibly thousands) of other people fresh within the hour. Amazingly, plagues and epidemics are not spread by the Catholic faith, even in 3rd world countries. The “sanitary” argument does not hold water (no pun intended).
Interesting. It used to be taught it’s best to chew (at least once) the host upon receiving it, whether by hand or tongue; it’s not right to “let it dissolve in the mouth” for the sake of looking pious.
Christ’s body was “broken” and the priest breaks the consecrated bread on the altar. Always break the host in your mouth, Catholics. If you have not known to do so, you may find it helps you appreciate the sacrament even more.
Personally I like to only receive from someone in funny clothes, preferably wearing funny clothes myself.
It is most proper to receive the Eucharist on your tongue. Don’t worry about the priest touching the tongue — most priests know that the host will stick to your tongue and they avoid that touching.
As for the Holy Blood of Christ in the chalice if you receive under both species; any proper Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion knows to slide the purificator down through their fingers thus using a different surface to cleanse the edge of the cup. Then they should turn it a quarter of a turn before offering it to a new person.
If you get to the end of the purificator, pause and refold it and start using an untouched surface of the purificator and again remembering to turn the cup 1/4 turn.
All people need to do to start receiving Holy Communion on their tongue is to read Maria Simma’s book about the Souls in Purgatory that she has prayed for. [Title: Get Us Out of Here!]
The thing that makes God the most unhappy according to the book is receiving the Bless Lord’s Body in your hand.
there are more germs on the tongue than in the hand.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.