Posted on 02/17/2006 9:13:03 AM PST by Salvation
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Answering "Amen" |
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02/17/06 |
I am an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. In distributing Communion, I am surprised by the different answers to The Body of Christ I receive. Most people say, Amen, but some say, I believe. Does it matter? |
Actually, I'm glad nobody has replied saying that it's not the diocese's or the bishops' fault that individual Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence, or that their concept has changed over the past 40 years. Please go ahead and check with anyone who has been to one of the training programs for so-called Extraordinary E.M., and ask them what is taught there. The problem is that the people running the training sessions have lost their faith, and the bishops continue to let them teach. Does this mean the bishops have lost their faith?
I'll let you answer that question for yourself.
I know they are called "Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers," but if that were an honest title, they would be usually absent at mass. They're not. They are the norm. In fact, at some local parishes now, the person standing behind the altar saying the liturgy is one of these, not a priest. They call the service a "communion service" not a mass. Under the excuse that there "are not enough priests to go around," laymen are now standing in for the priests, and they are not necessarily deacons, either. One venue had this person in white vestments like the priests wear, without any colored sash or mantle or anything on top of the white, raising arms and saying all the words of the liturgy for the mass that day, except for the Eucharistic Prayer. Most of the scattered congregation was not in the least interested, nor did they seem to approve. The celebrant was a woman.
Another parish had the usual eucharistic ministers mulling about behind the priest during the consecration, acting a bit like circling vultures, come to think of it. When communion began, the women ministers were eager to first share the corruptible stemware with each other. They were diligent not to just take one and drink from it, but to only take one and hand it to someone ELSE for her to take a sip. Immediately after each one took her sample, she smiled at the woman that handed her the glass cup, nodding her approval, apparently like a wine tasting party, as if to compliment the choice of vintage or whatever.
At each of these events, the moment I describe is the last one I can honestly relate, because at those points in time I walked out in disgust, never to return.
Do you think this is a new rule, or has it always been this way? I mean, what did the Church say during the 1900 years before Vatican II?
And what if someone is unable to speak? What if they are "dumb" but cognizant, ready and willing to receive?
Your guess is as good as mine; perhaps better. I don't know, specifically, because I didn't ask him. But I do know someone in the area who claims that she knows of a witch's coven that sends people out, some of them men, to collect hosts at Catholic masses for their devil worship services. They don't use hosts that are not from Catholic churches.
She said that she was at one ceremony where they put about 50 or more hosts, some large, some medium or small, all on a table and spread out. Only one of them is from a Catholic mass, the rest are from other sources, but they all appear indistinguishable on a natural level. Then the lights are dimmed and chanting begins, and the procession of witches comes out from behind a curtain. They encircle the table and attempt to discover which one of the hosts is the "real" one.
The witch who is most physically upset at this time is always able to identify the true Host, because, she told me, she cannot stand to be in the presence of the "One Who Is."
I'm only trying to help. This is not meant for entertainment.
It was a line that I picked up on. People can reverently bow their head in an AMEN.
It was interesting today since I was an EMHC to wait for the "Amen" before I handed them the claice.
That second incident would have broken my heart -- the blessed Presence of the Son of God and lay people are acting like that?
We need to pray for them.
You responded: It was a line that I picked up on. People can reverently bow their head in an AMEN.
That's not an answer to my question.
Once again,
During the 1900 years before Vatican II, what was the rule for receiving Holy Communion: What was the communicant supposed to say before receiving the Host?
Scary stuff...
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