Answering "Amen"

CatholicExchange.com ^ | 02-17-06 | Fr. William Saunders

[Salvation]

For continued discussion...............

When people answer with anything else than the "Amen" has always been one of my pet peeves when I am an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.

[Salvation]

Oops, I see that I copied the link into the title space. Hopefully it can get fixed right away.

[Salvation]

Thanks.

[Claud]

I sometimes worry about forgetting to say "Amen" when I receive at the Novus Ordo...at the Latin Mass we don't respond at all.

Frankly, I didn't know there were other answers floating around out there.

[Salvation]

Without the “Amen,” one should not receive.

[Salvation]

I would think a silent "Amen" would be appropriate then, don't you?

[Salvation]

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[Nihil Obstat]

I've heard people in front of me say "I believe" before. More often than that I've seen people say nothing. (I don't think it's beacuse they are used to the Latin Mass- most likely it's because they had their mouths full of chewing gum.) The worst though is when they grab the Host out of the priest's hand.

[Salvation]

Yes, it can be disheartening to see these abuses. And the sad thing is that the priests can re-educate their congregations and solve the problems! (Or at least some of them.)

[NYer]

When people answer with anything else than the "Amen" has always been one of my pet peeves when I am an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.

Do you correct them?

And ... just curious ... does your pastor allow EMHCs to "bless" children in the communion line?

[NYer]

at the Latin Mass we don't respond at all

Ditto in the Maronite Rite. Probably because in both rites, we only receive on the tongue.

[Claud]

I would think a silent "Amen" would be appropriate then, don't you?

Of course! But if I forget, I'll forget silently too. :)

As I'm usually kneeling, I doubt if the priest has any doubt about what I believe when I'm receiving.

[murphE]

at the Latin Mass we don't respond at all.

It is because the priest does not just say, "the Body of Christ", he prays:

"The Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ preserve thy soul unto life everlasting. Amen."

"Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen."

including the Amen.

[radiohead]

The worst though is when they grab the Host out of the priest's hand.

I know things have changed, but even this lapsed Catholic is shocked that people touch the Host. {{{shudder}}}

[donbosco74]

I saw a man take the host from the priest's fingers, and then as he was walking away with the host, he tucked it into a plastic bag and put it into his pocket. I told the usher about it and he didn't believe me. Another usher said that when he was trained for (Ordinary) Eucharistic Minister, they taught the class that when a fragment of the host falls to the floor it's not important because a crumb or piece small enough that it's hard to see whether or not it is a fragment "loses its character."

That same priest faced another man who knelt for communion but the priest told him to stand. The man just knelt there with his toungue out, waiting, with the single file line of people behind him. The priest finally placed the host on his tongue, but as the man rose, the priest said to him, "You're a big help." The communicant would have had to speak with his tongue occupied in order to answer.

One mother was in line behind her daughter, and when the girl opened her mouth to receive on the tongue with her hands in a prayerful vertical posture, her mother reached around the girl, grabbed her forearm and thrust it forward toward the priest, as if to encourage her to take the host in her hand, instead.

As an observer I've seen at least one abuse every day at such Novus Ordo places. But in years of observation, I have yet to see any abuse at a Traditional Latin Mass. Whenever I asked a N.O. priest about the abuses, he gave me some excuse and changed the subject. When I've mentioned this to a TLM priest, he usually says something like, "It sounds like you should have no problem deciding which Mass to attend."

[A CA Guy]

Why would anyone want to say anything else?
Seems that would be a form of humanism they would be practicing in doing so.

[Coleus]

many of the people to whom I distribute say absolutely nothing. some will say "hello", and I notice some take a bite out of the host and palm the rest and walk out of the church with the Eucharist in hand.

[NYer]

I know things have changed, but even this lapsed Catholic is shocked that people touch the Host.

Worse yet, is that many Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence.

Have you been away a long time?

[NYer]

Another usher said that when he was trained for (Ordinary) Eucharistic Minister, they taught the class that when a fragment of the host falls to the floor it's not important because a crumb or piece small enough that it's hard to see whether or not it is a fragment "loses its character."

((((Shudder)))) Oh brother! Thanks for proving the point that most catholics have lost all concept of the Real Presence. Once something sacred is manhandled, reverence is lost. (BTW - laypersons who distribute communion are not eucharistic ministers but extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. On the priest can properly be called minister of the Eucharist because he is the only person who can confect the Eucharist.)

But in years of observation, I have yet to see any abuse at a Traditional Latin Mass.

This is also true in the Eastern Catholic Churches which prohibit distribution of communion in the hand and the use of EMHCs. In all of these churches only the bishop, priest or deacon may distribute communion and only on the tongue.

[NYer]

I notice some take a bite out of the host and palm the rest and walk out of the church with the Eucharist in hand.

Is there no way you can prevent this? Can't you insist that they consume the host before they step away? What an abominable practice!