Posted on 08/02/2009 9:32:08 AM PDT by NYer
"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... For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord" - 1 Corinthians 11:27,28
Pope Benedict to Catholics:
Kneel and Receive on the Tongue Only
Pope Benedict XVI does not want the faithful receiving Communion in their hand nor does he want them standing to receive Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. According to Vatican liturgist, Monsignor Guido Marini, the pope is trying to set the stage for the whole church as to the proper norm for receiving Communion for which reason communicants at his papal Masses are now asked to kneel and receive on the tongue.
The Holy Father's reasoning is simple: "We Christians kneel before the Blessed Sacrament because, therein, we know and believe to be the presence of the One True God." (May 22, 2008)
According to the pope the entire Church should kneel in adoration before God in the Eucharist. "Kneeling in adoration before the Eucharist is the most valid and radical remedy against the idolatries of yesterday and today" (May 22, 2008)
The pope's action is in accord with the Church's 2000 year tradition and is being done in order to foster a renewed love and respect for the Eucharist which presently is being mocked and treated with contempt. The various trends and innovations of our time (guitar liturgy, altar girls, lay ministers, Communion in the hand) have worked together to destroy our regard for the Eucharist, thus advancing the spiritual death of the church. After all, the Eucharist is the very life and heartbeat of the Mystical Body around which the entire Church must revolve.
Kneeling also coincides with the Church's centuries old ordinance that only the consecrated hands of a priest touch the Body of Christ in Holy Communion. "To priests alone has been given power to consecrate and administer to the faithful, the Holy Eucharist." (Council of Trent) This teaching is beautifully expressed by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica: "Because out of reverence towards this sacrament, nothing touches it, but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest's hands, for touching this sacrament."
It is for reason that Pope Paul VI in his May 1969 pastoral letter to the world's bishops reaffirmed the Church's teaching on the reception of Communion, stating that: "This method on the tongue must be retained." (Memoriale Domini) This came in response to the bishops of Holland who started Communion in the hand in defiance of the centuries old decree from the Council of Rouen (650 A.D.) where this practice was condemned as sacrilegious. "Do not put the Eucharist in the hands of any layperson, but only in their mouths." To date this prohibition has never been overturned legally.
Today Communion in the hand is carried on illegally and has become a major tool of the enemy to destory the Faith throughout the world. For this practice serves no other purpose than to warp our conception of Jesus Christ and nourish a contempt for the sacred mysteries. It's no wonder St. Basil referred to Communion in the hand as "a grave fault."
That is to say, Communion in the hand is not tied with Catholic tradition. This practice was first introduced to the Church by the heretical Arians of the 4th century as a means of expressing their belief that Christ was not divine. Unfortunately, it has served to express the same in our time and has been at the very heart of the present heresy and desecration that is rampant throughout the universal Church. If we have 'abuse' problems today it is because we're abusing the Sacrament - it's backfiring on us!
Thanks to Communion in the hand, members of satanic cults are now given easy access to come into the Church and take the Host so that they bring it back to their covens where it is abused and brutalized in the ritualistic Black Mass to Satan. They crush the Host under their shoes as a mockery to the living God, and we assist it with our casual practice? Amongst themselves the satanists declare that Communion in the hand is the greatest thing that ever happened to them, and we do nothing to stop it?
Hence, the Holy Father is doing his part to try to purge the Church of abuse and we as members of Christ are called upon to assist him. For your encouragement we include the following quotation from Cardinal Llovera, the new prefect for the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments speaking to Life Site News on July 22, 2009: "It is the mission of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Sacraments to work to promote Pope Benedict's emphasis on the traditional practices of liturgy, such as reception of Communion on the tongue while kneeling."
Also worth considering is the recent decree from Cardinal Caffarra, the Archbishop of Bologna Italy, forbidding the practice of Communion in the hand: "Many cases of profanation of the Eucharist have occurred, profiting by the possibility to receive the consecrated Bread on one’s palm of the hand... Considering the frequency in which cases of irreverent behavior in the act of receiving the Eucharist have been reported, we dispose that starting from today in the Metropolitan Church of St. Peter, in the Basilica of St. Petronius and in the Shrine of the Holy Virgin of St. Luke in Bologna the faithful are to receive the consecrated Bread only from the hands of the Minister directly on the tongue." (from his decree on the reception of the Eucharist, issued April 27, 2009)
Technically all bishops and clergy are bound to follow the Holy Father's directive on this issue, but in the meantime the faithful are not obliged to wait for the approval of their bishop in order to kneel for God. The directives of the Holy Father are not subject to the veto or scrutiny of the bishops and therefore all pastors and laity have a right and duty to put these directives into practice for the edification of their communities.
It is not that hard not to get spit on your hand when distributing the wafer. I’ve done it, lots. Sounds like your priest protests too much.
Melian, we are also in Los Angeles. We ALL kneel during many of the prayers (I forget which) and after Communion, when we return to our pews. The Archbishop did ‘suggest’ that everyone remain standing, but I have not seen it — a scattered few, maybe. And we do NOT hold hands during the Our Father.
Are you near Alhambra? Come join us.
The kneeling does not take that long. Rails are great, but down/up is all you need, even in line.
Weird thing is when I was a Protestant before converting, we knelt to receive communion.
Those of us older folks with bad knees would like to remind you that without a rail, “down up” isn’t easily done.
Me. too, mware! My old Methodist church had a rail and kneelers.
My personal experience, of course, is of a short priest attempting to administer the sacrament on the tongue of a tall person who is unable to kneel because it would trip up the line! One needs only a small amount imagination to envision the difficulties that this presents!
Sad thing at our parish is that we still can not receive the Precious Blood because of a threat that the diocese received threatening to put something into the wine.
Our priest does drink the Precious Blood but they will not permit members of the parish to do so yet.
This is an historic moment on FR! Good for Kolokotronis!
Good for Benedict XVI. It takes a German to get
things in shape.
Most High German traditional LCMC Lutherans have
kneelers in pews, kneel at alter, host on tongue and
Holy Communion Host and wine purchased at RC suppliers.
Before you do, I would strongly encourage you to read through all the material at this link. It came in very handy when I took on my previous parish.
Is Your Mass Valid?- Liturgical Abuse.
If it's any consolation, in the Maronite Catholic Church, communion is by intinction (the host is dipped into the Precious Blood), while standing. It is only administered by the priest and/or a deacon. There is no communion in the hand nor are there any EMHCs. For those parishioners who are less mobile, the pastor brings communion to them in the pews.
There is nothing wrong with that! Kneeling is a western tradition. In the Eastern Catholic Churches, the communicants have ALWAYS stood. You're fine.
“The Orthodox East know how they worshiped 1,700 years ago. The same cannot be said of the Latin West. Your oldest canonzied and documented Holy Mass came nearly 300 years later.”
The earliest notation is from ROME in the second century by St. Justin Martyr’s first Apology (lxv-lxvii):
“And on the day which is called the day of the sun there is an assembly of all who live in the towns or in the country; and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits. then the reader ceases, and the president (i.e, the bishop or his designate)speaks, admonishing us and exhorting us to imitate these excellent examples. Then we arise all together an offer prayers; and, as we said before, when we have concluded our prayer, bread is brought, and wine an water, and the president in like manner offers up prayers and thanksgivings with all his might; and the people assent with Amen; and there is the distribution and partaking by all of the Eucharistic elements; and to them that are not present they are sent by the hand of the deacons.”
Based on Justin’s text from ROME it’s clear that the Sunday Eucharist was the norm in Rome and that all present (i.e. all the baptized) received. In both East and West the frequency of celebrating the Eucharist respectively underwent its own developments. In Cappadocia, St. Basil recommended receiving the Eucharist daily. In his letter (xciii) to the Patrician Caesaria he writes;
“And also to commune every day, that is to say, to partake of the holy body and blood of Christ, is good and beneficial, since He himself clearly says; “He that eats My flesh and drinks My blood, has everlasting life.” (Jn.6:54)... We for our part, however, commune four times each week — on the Lord’s day (Sun), on the Fourth day (Wednesday), on Friday and on Saturday — and on the other days only when there is a commemoration of a saint. (Saint Basil goes on to speak about those who receive the presanctified gifts.) For all who live the monastic life in the solitudes, where there is no priest, keep the communion at home and partake of it from their own hands. At Alexandria also and in Egypt, each person, even those belonging to the laity, as a rule keeps the communion in his own home, and partakes of it with his own hands when he so wishes.”
In the canons attributed to the Apostles and compiled no later than the middle of the fourth century there are two canons which call for the excommunication of any clergy or laity who while attending the Liturgy do not receive the Eucharist with the rest of the faithful.
Canon VIII: “If any bishop, presbyter or deacon, or any one on the sacerdotal list when the offering is made, does not partake of it, let him declare the cause: and if it be a reasonable one, let him be excused: but if he does not declare it, let him be excommunicated as being a cause of offense to the people and occasioning a suspicion against the offerer as if he had not made the offering properly.”
Canon IX: “All the faithful who come in and hear the Scriptures, but do not stay for the prayers and the Holy Communion, are to be excommunicated as causing disorder in the Church.”
As shown, you certainly you certainly don’t follow ‘human traditions’ or Sacred Traditions for that matter exactly as it was 1700 yrs ago no more than you’re all in uniformity to this day.
kew-el. Maybe I'll try it. See if I get some of that New York love.
Oh, if you’re asking why no wine? I don’t know, that bothers me, too. But the Church (being Christ in time) is the authority, so I deal with it.
Excellent observation! We still see this tradition in the Eastern Catholic Churches. In fact, it is also common practice for those recently immigrated from the east, to stand during the consecration. For those who may see this as offensive, I would point out that even in the Latin Church, we stand, out of respect, for the reading of the Gospel. This is the highest form of worship! Kneeling is a western tradition.
And don't get me started on my associate priest who tells creepy jokes!
“This is the highest form of worship! Kneeling is a western tradition.”
You’re right on both counts, NYer, but to the Western mindset, kneeling carries with it more powerful associations. To my way of thinking, what the Pope has dome is to recognize this and attempt to use that mindset to re-teach fundamental theology to Western masses who were lead into a sort of theological wilderness by their bishops and priests...and then left there to find their own way. Along the way many Westerners lost The Faith along with the loss of their own Western “Orthododoxia”.
Ironically, we Eastern Christians have the luxury of “Orthodoxia”, praying the “right way”. Right now, and likely for at least decades in the future, maybe centuries, Westerners need to “re-learn” and when fundamental beliefs like the Real Presence become “genetic”, then standing for communion, in the mouth not the hands, administered by bishops and priests and deacons more committed to “Orthodoxia” than being “relevant to the modern world” should and likely will become as it should be the canonical norm in the West.
In the meantime, the Pope is right for his Western flock.
Latin Mass rocks, Benediction rocks, kneeling for Holy Communion rocks, getting to do those all on Sunday - priceless!!!
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