Benedict XVI gives Communion only on the tongue to people kneeling (Catholic Caucus)

WDTPRS ^ | 5/22/2008 | Fr. Z

[Pyro7480]

During the Holy Father’s Corpus Christi Mass, the Holy Father gave Communion only to people kneeling at a kneeler set up before him.

This is a very interesting development.

The Holy Father has been trying to provoke conversation and a rethinking of many practices, not very good innovations, that have become more or less standard....

In so many places it is simply accepted that Mass must be celebrated "facing the people", versus populum, instead of "facing God", ad orientem.

So the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass in the Sistine Chapel, when he was also going to do something very much in his role as Bishop of Rome, when he baptized.

He got the conversation going.

Now, in another moment when he is very much Bishop of his diocese, for this great City celebration of the Eucharist, he adminsters Holy Communion on the tongue at a kneeler.

Surely this will start another conversation.

Remember that just the other day the newspaper of the Diocese of Toronto attacked Benedict’s reforms as "backward steps" and the mere suggestion that Communion in the hand wasn’t wonderful....

[Pyro7480]

See the pictures at the link, as well as the other post about the Corpus Christi Mass!

[Pyro7480]

Ping! The above is an excerpt. Read the whole article at the link above!

[massgopguy]

Facing God is for the Latin Mass. that’s why you can’t have it at all Catholic Churches. The Altar is facing the pews.

[stfassisi]

Thanks for posting this.

I believe that restoring communion on the tongue only will lead to a better understanding of His true presence within the Church.

This is greatly needed!

[elcid1970]

Ah jest LOVES dis’ Pope!!

:^)

[Mad Dawg]

So interesting. I started receiving on the tongue when I learned that J2P2 preferred it. That was enough for me. As to kneeling, well for most of my life in the Pepsicola Church that's how we did it.

Big deal? No. Not IMHO

[OpusatFR]

It’s starting with the young. The youngsters in my church kneel for communion and a lot of the girls wear mantillas. They bounce down and up off that concrete floor like rubber balls.

It’s the children who instinctively know what the adults have lost.

[big'ol_freeper]

Gotta love the Holy Father!! I remember gaining so much strength in my arms holding the plate under chins of those receiving Communion kneeling at the rail when I was an alter boy. Believe me when I say that was an excellent isometric exercise for a young man who was a pitcher.

Besides being concerned with correct form for receiving the Sacrament, he is concerned with the physical development of our young men.

Ok...I was being tongue in cheek...but I do remember how hard it was to hold my right arm up underj people’s chins after awhile!

[big'ol_freeper]

oops...should have read “altar boy” not alter boy.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

the newspaper of the Diocese of Toronto attacked Benedict’s reforms as "backward steps"

Well the Archbishop is only 61, and has been in office for only a year, but I don't see him getting a Red Hat during this Pontificate.

[NYer]

This was a good day to be home sick from work :-0

It was most remarkable to watch a very long line of people come up to receive communion and then to watch them kneel and receive on the tongue (one woman caught herself as she began to extend her hands). The CTV narrator tied this in to the Holy Father's homily in which he explained that on this feast, we kneel three times before our Lord, communion being the first time, adoration the 2nd and benediction the 3rd time.

The entire celebration was one of tremendous reverence and devotion from Mass at St. John Lateran, to the procession to St. Mary Major.

The Holy Father kneels in adoration before the procession

Pope Benedict looked refreshed and, dare I say, youthful.

The procession began with two lines of women religious, hundreds of seminarians, bishops, cardinals, priests and representatives from the local diocesan parishes in special garb. Behind the car carrying the Blessed Sacrament, were thousands of pilgrims. This certainly got the attention of local diners who stopped eating to watch the procession.

Adoration at St. Mary Major

If you missed the live broadcast, take a nap, set the alarm clock and watch the rebroadcast later tonight.

[the invisib1e hand]

I wish we could kneel at our Mass...

[353FMG]

So do I. I can almost predict that the next step will be communion of the faithful under one Species alone as it was before Vatican II. Pastors better start thinking where they will position the communion rail.

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

Me too.

[SoCalPol]

LCMS Lutherans kneel at altar railing and receive host on tongue

Episcopal also.

[elcid1970]

It would indeed be nice to think that those who hijacked the spirit of the Second Vatican Council are now being forced to retreat.

Communion uder one Species - yes!

An end to the `sign of peace’(replete with hugs and waves), this insincere disruption of the Liturgy of the Eucharist - yes!

An end to impromptu announcements by the celebrant, received with laughter and applause, prior to the conclusion of the Mass, another impious interruption - yes!

And I don’t mind foreign priests, they only reproach us for our own lack of vocations to the priesthood, but PLEASE let them speak understandable English - but wait a second - if the Mass were said in Latin, the universal language of Holy Mother Church, that wouldn’t be as much of a problem.

God bless His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI! (And now listen to the squawking of his critics)

[elcid1970]

That’s “under” one Species!

(I did proofread it, I really did!)

[steve86]

Facing God is for the Latin Mass. that’s why you can’t have it at all Catholic Churches.The Altar is facing the pews.

Pray for a remodeling and a return to Catholicism.

[steve86]

That’s “under” one Species! (I did proofread it, I really did!)

OpenOffice already corrected it when I moved the thread over to print for my mom.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Episcopal also."

Nope. Not at any Episcopal church I ever attended (when I was still Episcopalian). They kneel, but receive "in the hand".

[N. Theknow]

Nope. Not at any Episcopal church I ever attended (when I was still Episcopalian). They kneel, but receive "in the hand".

They receive in the hand because it is easier and more genteel to intinct from the hand than taking it out of the mouth and doing it.

In our Anglican/Episcopal church, the Eucharistic Minister is the only one allowed to intinct and then place the host with wine on the tongue of the communicant.

[PandaRosaMishima]

Communion under one Species...

I know I don't have it right, I keep thinking of people bringing dogs, birds, horses, apes, into the church.

[choirboy]

Facing God is for the Latin Mass. that’s why you can’t have it at all Catholic Churches. The Altar is facing the pews.

Not so! At any Mass, the priest can be "facing God", not for just the Latin Mass. The priest can move the free-standing altar and use the main altar if there is one. Or he can just stand on the other side of the free-standing altar.

[353FMG]

“An end to the `sign of peace’(replete with hugs and waves)..”

I take it you don’t like to hold your neighbor’s hand either, you coldhearted Papist.

[informavoracious]

I love my German Shepherd!

[ELS]

Vivat Benedictus XVI! Ad multos annos!

[ELS]

The NLM blog has an excerpt of the Holy Father's homily:

We find in this the third constitutive element of Corpus Domini: to kneel in adoration in front of the Lord.

To adore the God of Jesus Christ, who, out of love, became bread to be broken, is the most valid and radical remedy against the idolatries of yesterday as well as today. To kneel in front of the Eucharist is a profession of freedom: whoever bows before Jesus cannot and should not prostrate himself before any earthly power, no matter how strong.

We Christians only kneel before God, before the Most Blessed Sacrament, because we believe and know that the one true God is present, who created the world and loved man so much that for his sake, he gave his only begotten Son (cfr Jn 3,16).

We prostrate ourselves before a God who was the first to bend down to man, like the Good Samaritan, to help him and give him back life, who knelt before us to wash our dirty feet.

To adore the Body of Christ means to believe that he is truly present in that piece of bread, Christ who gives sense to life - to the immense universe as to its littlest creature, to the entire human history as to the briefest of existence.

Adoration is a prayer that prolongs Eucharistic celebration and communion, during which the soul continues to nourish itself: it feeds on love, on truth, on peace. It feeds on hope, because he before whom we bow, does not judge us, does not crush us, but frees and transforms us.

There is a link to the Papa Ratzinger forum for the full translation of the homily by Teresa Benedetta.

[baa39]

Friend, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments clarified after much controversy that you cannot be denied that right.

I have visited parishes where I am the only person kneeling during the Eucharistic prayer or after the Agnus Dei. The priest might give me a dirty look, but none have dared to insist I stand; they know they would be wrong to do so. Cardinal Arinze has spoken about it again a year or so ago, and more recently another cardinal, sorry can’t remember whom.

Below is a link for you, and here’s a pertinent quote:

“The Congregation ... considers any refusal of Holy Communion to a member of the faithful on the basis of his or her kneeling posture to be a grave violation of one of the most basic rights of the Christian faithful...”

http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/liturgy/kneeling.htm

More general info on “Is Your Mass Valid” and the GIRM clarification on kneeling for Consecration:

http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/articles/badliturgy.htm

[sneakers]

I love this pope!!

[elcid1970]

“One Species”

Don’t laugh. At one church they baptize animals. Not bless them, BAPTIZE them!

(Yuk....!)

[elcid1970]

Whew! For a moment there I thought you called me a Baptist!

Hmmm.... just what is coldhearted about being a Papist, anyway?

Isn’t most everyone on this thread a Papist, a Romanist, a Romish slave of Popery, an ultramontanist, etc?

(My college roommate was a Baptist, that’s how I know all those terms.)

;^)

[sneakers]

Beautiful pictures! - especially the one of the little girl receiving First Holy Communion. :-)

[wtc911]

One might consider this a venal sin but, hey I was thirteen....

In the sixties the real bonus of being an altar boy was giving assistance to the Priest as he gave Communion at weddings.....kneeling bride's maids in a row....a church provided occasion of sin.

[NYer]

Communion uder one Species - yes!

At the Easter Vigil Mass, the Holy Father distributed communion by intinction, as is done in all the Eastern Catholic Churches. Dipping the host in the Precious Blood precludes receiving communion in the hand and ensures the communicant receives both species.

[Biggirl]

Congrats to the little girl who made First Holy Communion by receving Jesus for the first time by Pope. It is a GREAT HONOR! :) =^..^=

[Biggirl]

Congrats to the little girl who made First Holy Communion by receving Jesus for the first time by Pope. It is a GREAT HONOR! :) =^..^=

[sneakers]

"Congrats to the little girl who made First Holy Communion by receving Jesus for the first time by Pope. It is a GREAT HONOR! :) =^..^="

Definitely worth repeating!! LOLOL!!

[353FMG]

I am one of the few FReepers who absolutely refuses to indicate whether I made a comment in jest, sarcasm or earnestness.

You sir, are a coldhearted Papist like I am who does not see the necessity of holding hands, embracing and making other gestures during Holy Mass. I hold the opinion that Mass is NOT intended to be a touchy, feel-good social gathering. I like Mass to be a hiding place from all the PC that I daily have to suffer through.

[Religion Moderator]

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[353FMG]

I am a Catholic and I have not had any intention to be disrespectful to either Catholic or non-Catholic. I have no idea at all who I have offended, but if I have, then I apologize.

[trisham]

I love this pope!!

*****************

Me, too. :)

[Religion Moderator]

Since you are both Catholic and this is a Catholic Caucus, I will restore your posts.