The Faithful are told that it is an optional practice, and if they dont like it, they can receive it on the tongue. "Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. Christ? Prudence and judgement are key in this discussion. "They agreed that done properly the reception of Holy Communion on the tongue or in the hand pose a more or less equal risk. And this is certainly not an area about which to quarrel or to judge one anothers spiritual intentions. So, since it is obvious that the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest treasure the Church possesses, then It must be treated with all the reverence and homage It deserves. A true Catholic renewal would either leave these gestures of reverence intact, or enhance them. One day, he was entrusted with the task of bringing the Eucharist to condemned Christians in prison. His feast day is celebrated on 15 August; that day is widely observed as the Feast of the Assumption, therefore he is not mentioned in the General Roman Calendar, but only in the Roman Martyrology. What is the proper way of receiving Communion in the hand? - AOD "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood This liturgical law clarifies the Church's discipline regarding the reception of Holy Communion. Taking all this into consideration, Memoriale Domini declared: From the time of the Fathers of the Church Holy Communion in the hand became more and more restricted in favor of distributing Holy Communion on the tongue. Get notified of the latest news from the Fatima Center, The Trump of Latin America and the Cult of the Virus. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Quite to the contrary, anyone who was raised in the pre-Vatican II Church will distinctly remember being taught that it was sacrilegious for anyone but the priest to touch the Sacred Host. you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until It is always helpful to review instructions for receiving Communion. The Protestants' establishment of Communion in the hand was their way of showing their rejection of belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, rejection of the Sacramental Priesthood in short, to show their rejection of Catholicism altogether. It depends on who interprets it. St. Cyril of Jerusalem in 348 gave this instruction to his congregation: "When you approach Holy Communion, make the left hand into a throne for the right, which will receive the King. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) - Summa Theologica, Part III, Q. parish church, and most Catholics think nothing of it proving that men can become desensitized to desecration. is a traditional Dominican priest. Copyright 2022 Catholic Online. (Matthew 26:26-29 CSB). After the Second Vatican Council, a very wise Archbishop shrewdly observed that the masterstroke of satan was to sow disobedience to Catholic tradition through obedience. He polled the bishops of the world on this issue, and they voted overwhelmingly to. Because in all the other sacraments we receive sacramental grace, but in the Holy Eucharist, we receive Christ Himself. Although a layman, he was also an acolyte. Like for example in dining, do we use our licking fingers or use fork and knives? The terms lay minister and Eucharistic minister have been used rather loosely up until this point, because this is the terminology often found in parish bulletins. With bodily signs we show interior beliefs. As parish churches reopen and Communion becomes available, many bishops prefer, for the safety of parishioners and clergy alike, that the faithful accept Communion in the hand. Catholics believe that the real presence of our Lord is in the bread and wine and therefore it is only appropriate to behave in a such manner of reverence that is due to Him. you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these Then having partaken of the Body of Christ, approach also the cup of His blood; not extending your hands, but bending low and saying in the way of worship and reverence, Amen, be you sanctified by partaking, also of the blood of Christ. Catechetical Lecture 5. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. And these countries requested exactly that and the indults were given I am sure much to the sadness of St. Paul VI. But if the bishops seemed indifferent to this scandal, the laity were outraged. The question has been asked for a long time since the Church has often allowed both methods of reception. It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. @jaredad7 Would you consider posting a question about this. But when Humanae Vitae was issued, there was a tidal wave of scandalous opposition from Catholic priests and Ph.D.s. A quick example will be found in the writings of Monsignor Champlin. do not tell the reader that the practice was started by clergymen in defiance of established liturgical law but make it sound as if it were a request from the laity. Christians don't say that . Which ability is most related to insanity: Wisdom, Charisma, Constitution, or Intelligence? Hence, it is not lawful for anyone else to touch it except from necessity (Summa Theologica). ]; b) second, to increase among the faithful devotion to the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist., It then mandated that this method of distributing Holy Communion [on the tongue] must be retained and emphatically urged bishops, priests and laity to obey carefully the law which is still valid and which has again been confirmed by the majority of Catholic bishops.. All who are not receiving Holy Communion are encouraged to express in their hearts a prayerful desire for unity with the Lord Jesus and with one another. Deep reverence for its own past and for the wisdom of its ancestry and the pride therein were the very soul of the Old Paganism; that is why it formed so solid a foundation on which to build the Catholic Church, and that is also why it offered so long a determined resistance to the growth of the Catholic Church. do not make clear to the reader that the worlds bishops, when polled, voted overwhelmingly against Communion in the hand. However, in an October 6 statement, the bishops "recalled that people who, for. The real sacrilege here would be in receiving Our Lord while in the state of mortal sin! On September 21, 1987, a letter was sent from the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation of the Sacraments through the proper channels to a number of Episcopal Conferences, including the American Bishops, on the subject of Extraordinary Ministers. To receive Communion, one must be baptized, and, as for all the sacraments for the living i.e., for those who have a supernatural lifeto be in a state of grace. He was caught and martyred on the spot. St. First of all, it is not an act of disloyalty or disobedience to question the wisdom of the document in the first place, particularly when this permission is a revolution against all the pre-Vatican II rubrics that existed for centuries rubrics that existed for reasons of reverence, to safeguard against desecration and that were a matter of Catholic common sense. speaker. In his letter Domincae Cenae of February 24, 1980, the Pope restated the Churchs teaching that to touch the sacred species and to administer them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained. But, for whatever reason, this 1980 document contained no threat of penalty to any layman, priest or bishop who ignored the Popes plea. I find it quite enlightening. In 2009, in the midst of the H1N1 influenza pandemic, a lay Catholic in England in a diocese where Holy Communion on the tongue was restricted due to the pandemic wrote the Vatican about the . It was not a green light for it to spread to other countries, like the United States. (1 Corinthians 11:27-32 CSB). Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited. When the number of the Faithful requesting Holy Communion is such that the celebration of the Mass or the distribution of the Eucharist outside Mass would be unduly prolonged. However some may believe otherwise. March 1995 Issue), suffice it to say that this novel ecumenical spirit which Deitrich von Hildebrand called ECUMANIA became rampant during and after Vatican II. They have blocked me on their site for questioning and voicing out my opinion. Basil, St. Gregory the Great, and St. Leo the Great, among others, suggesting that reception on the tongue was the standard for the early Church. Lay people giving out Holy Communion during Mass was rightly considered an unthinkable act of sacrilege and irreverence only 35 years ago, and for centuries preceding. When these are prevented from administering Holy Communion because of another pastoral ministry or because of ill health or advanced age. IF YOU LOVE ME, PLEASE DO NOT RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION IN THE HAND, for I will Reward All Those who have STOOD FIRM and have NOT Received Holy Communion in the Hand. Though there is no hard proof that the loose wording of Immensae Caritatis was done on purpose, there is ample proof that the ambiguity in the Vatican II documents was deliberate. Keywords: Catholic, Communion, hand, tongue. The traditional and preferred method is the reception of the Host on the tongue: Step forward and kneel at the Communion rail or station (if you stand, make a sign of reverencesuch as a bow or genuflection or Sign of the Crossbefore receiving the Host and take care not to disrupt the Communion line). This unlawful abuse is so well established as local custom that even Pope John Paul II, who made at least a paper attempt to curb the abuse, was completely unsuccessful. As a result, the Pontifical Commission officially ruled that when Ordinary Ministers (bishops, priests) are present at the Eucharist, whether celebrating or not, and are in sufficient number and are not prevented from doing so by other ministries, the Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist are not allowed to distribute Communion either to themselves or to the Faithful.. The primary driver of concern is COVID. Our fathers told us these things not just for the sake of handing down a venerable but groundless tradition, they have told us these things through word and example to show fidelity to the Catholic Faith and reverence toward the Blessed Sacrament. Others maintain that it was never a Catholic custom, but if Communion in the hand was practiced in some limited way in the early Church, it was institutionalized and made widespread by the Arians as a sign of their disbelief in the Divinity of Jesus Christ. Accordingly, as the consecration of Christs Body belongs to the priest, so likewise does the dispensing belong to him. The tragedy of it all is, if it is optional for the laity, in practice it is not optional for the clergy. The Councils of Saragossa (AD 380) and Toledo (fifth to seventh centuries) threatened excommunication to anyone who continued receiving holy Communion by hand. And it can be argued that the risk is quite minimal. But even taking this document at face value, it is difficult to envisage circumstances that would justify the use of Extraordinary Ministers outside of mission lands. How do we behave in Gods presence? Since Damasus compares him to Stephen, he may have been a deacon; however, a 6th-century account makes him an acolyte. So, countries in which the practice had not developed were, obviously, excluded from the concession and all English-speaking countries, including the United States, fell into this category. So how did it happen that some countries were eventually allowed the indult of reception in the hand as well? Lay people started reading the Epistle, and the new responsorial psalms. Truth About Communion in the Hand While Standing Profaning Our Eucharistic Lord Piece by Piece | liturgy guy At the end of Mass, the priest scrapes the corporal with the paten, and cleans it into the chalice so that if the slightest Particle was left, It would be collected and reverently consumed. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Memoriale Domini, a 1969 Church document on reception of Communion, outlined St. Paul VIs decision on this matter. (Values is a subjective term you wont find in pre-Vatican II theology manuals). Pope Francis Utters an Orthodox Sentiment, Triumph of relativism Catholic university opens prayer space for Muslim students. The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their And in instructions of this nature, lack of precision gives rise to wide interpretation, and wide interpretation gives rise to the establishment of an abuse under the appearance of fidelity to Church regulations. So, if words mean anything, as Michael Davies pointed out, an extraordinary minister should be an extraordinary sight. In actuality, there is no such terminology as Eucharistic minister, the proper term is Extraordinary minister. It also shows both side of the issue at hand. For the first three centuries the Eucharist was celebrated in the houses and homes of Christians. According to Catholicism, does Welchs Grape Juice constitute valid matter for the consecration of the Mass? That they believed there was no such thing as transubstantiation and that the bread used at Communion time was just ordinary bread. THEREFORE, IF YOU LOVE ME, PLEASE DO NOT RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION IN THE HAND AS IT IS A GRAVE SIN, AN OFFENSE AND AN OUTRAGE AGAINST MY SACRED BODY! It is not permitted that the faithful should themselves pick up the consecrated bread and the sacred chalice, still less that they should hand them from one to another. Priests were trained in the Old Latin Mass to celebrate Mass with precise rubrics that safeguarded the reverence the Blessed Sacrament deserves. No longer do we try to convert non-Catholics. Hence, it is not lawful for anyone else to touch It, except from necessity, for instance, if It were to fall upon the ground or else in some other case of urgency. (ST, III, Q.82, Art. The mindless behavior of this superficially trained laity brings to the sanctuary a pomposity that is both embarrassing and saddening to watch.. for what our fathers taught us and obvious contempt for the Blessed Sacrament Itself. With your hand hollowed, receive the Body of Christ and answer 'Amen'. Priests could have done this, but it was deemed safe if the young lad went in their stead! worshiped him. And the fad and fashion that was the pride and joy of many post-Vatican II Churchmen, in the name of making the Church more relevant, was the idea of lay-involvement in the liturgy. This ruling too, has been completely ignored, as will be all rulings providing a concession for this abuse is somewhere on the books. The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of The office of Eucharistic minister is therefore the illegitimate offspring from the union of the New Liturgys lay involvement and Communion in the hand living together in the modern Church. Because the sense of the sacred is not lost, we know exactly where it is, and it could be recovered in every single parish church on earth tomorrow. Did the drapes in old theatres actually say "ASBESTOS" on them? And in order not to continually play into the manipulating hands of the New Paganism of Modernism, then a complete, formal, unambiguous condemnation of Communion in the hand and Extraordinary Ministers is our leaders only true Catholic option. Has there been any discussion in the Catholic Church about whether hand sanitizer profanes the Host? 9. St. Cyril of Jerusalem in 348 gave this instruction to his congregation:When you approach Holy Communion, make the left hand into a throne for the right, which will receive the King. But now, lay people administering the Blessed Sacrament is an ordinary sight in the average. While communion on the hand is forbidden in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and is given while kneeling only, unless prohibited due to physical illness. "So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an Throughout the centuries, our fathers have told us about our Faith and about the Blessed Sacrament. Given the living tradition of the Church, which highlights the most ancient practice of receiving Holy Communion in the hand, the Archbishop has the authority to instruct the faithful to receive Holy Communion in the hand during this time of Pandemic, with no exceptions. Some see these prophetic warnings against profanation as a form of scrupulosity, a rigidity that is over-the-top in its concern for the Eucharist. Even the most ordinary parents are smart enough not to give their children the option to accept or reject parental commands. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. Can or should a consecrated Host be adored by way of a live Eucharistic televised broadcast? unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church (330-379): "The right to receive Holy Communion in the hand is permitted only in times of persecution.". After Vatican II, some ecumenically-minded priests in Holland started giving Communion in the hand, in a monkey-see, monkey-do imitation of Protestant practice. The teaching that only the priests may touch the Sacred Host, that the priests hands are consecrated for this purpose, and that no precaution was too great to safeguard reverence and prevent desecration had been incorporated into the Liturgy of the Church; that is, the Old Latin Mass. 91). But the sense of the sacred has not been lost, it has been deliberately thrown away, run out of town on a rail, by the arrogant agents of the New Paganism of Modernism masquerading as Catholic reformers, who have introduced novel practices into the Church that demean the Eucharist, show contempt for tradition and for what our fathers taught us, and have led to a worldwide crisis of Faith of unprecedented proportions. Father, Father Nicholas Gruner, born in Montreal (May 4, 1942), was ordained to, James Hanisch serves as a staff writer and author for The Fatima Center., James W. Bannister (B.A., LL.B) is a native of Toronto and has degrees, Joanna Swords is a long-time supporter of The Fatima Center, and one of, John Vennari was a writer, researcher, catechist, and editor (for more, Kennedy Hall is a Catholic High School teacher, rugby coach, and part, Matt Gaspers is the Managing Editor of Catholic Family News. While the church is partly built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone, Ephesians 2:19), the apostles and prophets serve as foundational stones, not due to an inherent holiness or sanctity unattainable for "ordinary" Christians but due to the authority given to them by Christ to receive the Holy Spirit who guided them into all truth (John 16:13), a truth which they faithfully proclaimed and recorded in the Scriptures, but which has been twisted and distorted by more than 19 centuries of the inventions and fables of men. In The Theology of Kneeling, an excerpt from his book The Spirit of the Liturgy (2000), Cardinal Ratzinger highlights this truth: the bodily gesture itself is the bearer of the spiritual meaning when someone tries to take worship back into the purely spiritual realm and refuses to give it embodied form, the act of worship evaporates. Later, as Pope Benedict XVI, in continuity with St. John Paul II, he gave Communion to the faithful on the tongue while they knelt. But as Christ consecrated His Body at the (Last) Supper, so also He gave It to others to be partaken of by them. This is clearly a calculated abuse of classic Catholic terminology used to introduce a novelty into the New Mass that has no foundation in Church History or Catholic practice.
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