"This Is My Body" - Excerpt From an Excellent Article From Inside the Vatican

Inside the Vatican | October 2005 | Martin Mosebach

[Pyro7480]

If you know where to get a hold of the October 2005 issue of Inside the Vatican, I would highly recommend you purchase a copy. The entire article is wonderful, and the other articles are outstanding as well. Though it's not currently available for purchase on their website, you will be able to eventually.

[Pyro7480]

Catholic ping!

[Pyro7480]

Ping!

[Pyro7480]

It was through the signs of reverence I saw from early childgood that the Host became, for me, what the Church's tradition claims it to be

That should be "childhood," not "childgood." Any other typos are my fault.

[Pyro7480]

It is generally known, that, since Vatican II, much has changed in the Catholic Church with regard to this veneration of the Host (whic means "sacrificial gift" in Latin).

Another typo: that should be "which."

[RobbyS]

The denigation of all things medieval is to show identity with Protestants. How many priests are Cranmers in disguise?

[Pyro7480]

What I see is the degradation of Captin Dreyfus, so vividly described by a number of writers.

That should be "Captain." Will three typos be all? ;-)

[FourtySeven]

Incidentally, communion in the hand is inappropriate, not because the hands are less worthy to receive the Host than the tongue, for instance, or because they might be dirty, but because it would be impossible to rinse every participant's hands after communion (i.e., to make sure no particles of the Host are lost).

I never thought of it that way before.

[Convert from ECUSA]

Amen, right on, and excellent!

[Pyro7480]

To me, it is exactly the same when I see people still on their feet in from of the elevated Host

That should be "in front." That's four! :-Þ

[siunevada]

Will three typos be all? ;-)

Nope.

Just claim responsibility for all typos in your first comment box like teofilo does.

I guess I have to point it out or you'll go crazy, right?

huma history

There's never a prffreader around when you need one.

[Pyro7480]

So that's five! I guess I should impose a penance on myself. ;-)

[Jim Noble]

Since I was raised in a Reformed church, the way Catholics posture at the Eucharist has never struck me as strange.

I find the hot pants, tube tops, and Metallica T-shirts to be very strange, however.

[Jim Noble]

The denigation of all things medieval is to show identity with Protestants

If they really want to identify with us, how about long pants and shirts, with an occasional tie, on the men, and dresses on the women?

[ex-snook]

As someone who grew up fasting after midnight, dressed up, kneeling at the altar, receiving on the tongue [touching not allowed], no noise during the Consecration [not even a cough] and frequent confession. Well we have come a long way baby but maybe not in the direction toward reverence.

[Theophane]

At some masses of the ecclesial movement Miles Jesu (not "Mr. Miles Jesu" as a certain left-leaning diocesan chancery let on recently), sometimes they have a priest with an ablution bowl standing next to the priest who is administering the Host, so that those who must take communion in the hand can at least rinse the Particles off into the bowl. I think it is a refined sign of the honor to be shown to Our Lord in the Host.

Recognizing that in those areas where communion in the hand is permitted, it is licit, I nonetheless think it is a really bad idea for other reasons, having mostly to do with the bad symbolism of the communicant giving himself communion, rather than the priest, who is alter Christus, giving communion to the communicant. Communion in the hand becomes, like receiving communion standing rather than kneeling, and singing Catholic karaoke music at Mass, just another expression of the democratic exaltation of self over any higher Person or power.

[Kolokotronis]

A couple of observations; the fans the author refers to represent the Seraphim together with whom we are joining in the Liturgy. The center of the fans, usually metal, are embosed with the face of an angel and the many vanes around the edge of the fans represent the many wings of those angles. It s the wings of the Seraphim which are fanning the Holy Gifts for the Holy People of God.

Standing at the reception of communion is the ancient way of the Orthodox Church. This is not a sign of disrespect among Orthodox people, but rather a sign of joy because as a general rule (except at the consecration for most of the year) we do not kneel during the Divine Liturgy on Sundays because Sunday is the "Eighth Day", the Eternal Resurrection Day. In the West, the tradition of kneeling for reception of communion is likewise very ancient and I certainly can see how a people who were not accustomed by tradition to stand for the reception of communion might, by no longer kneeling, come to the conclusion that standing somehow, on the one hand, was disrespectful to Christ and on the other that that was OK because Christ isn't "really there".

[Pyro7480]

If they really want to identify with us, how about long pants and shirts, with an occasional tie, on the men, and dresses on the women?

LOL! It really is scandalous how some Catholics dress for Mass these days. I attend a traditional parish, and most people dress in their "Sunday best" there.

[kosta50]

Good post. I can fully understand where he is coming from. The Eucharistic reverence is so much more prominent in the Orthodox )and I imagine other Oriental) Churches compared to Latin NO rituals.

[GAB-1955]

In the Religion forum, on a thread titled "This Is My Body" - Excerpt From an Excellent Article From Inside the Vatican, RobbyS wrote:

"The denigation of all things medieval is to show identity with Protestants. How many priests are Cranmers in disguise?"

As a liturgical Protestant, I would have to say that statement is very broad. On another board, I end up arguing that the liturgy is Biblical, the elements deserve respect, and that not all things Roman should have been discarded with the Reformation.

I'd also like to point out Cranmer wrote much of the Book of Common Prayer, which is a treasury for all Christians. Why point him out, save that he introduced English into English worship?