Does your parish use those over sized hosts, those that look like serving plates, for Mass?
See the wisdom why Holy Mother Church does not use it. See this wonderful post from Father Z.
BECAUSE OF HUGE CHUNKS OF CRUMBS!!!
Another reason to Stop Communion in the Hand.
Click the link in the left side of the page to sign the petition. We only have 134 signees so far. We have a long way to go. Pass the word!
The blog of a group of Filipino Catholics and their frank commentary on anything that affects their lives as a citizen of the Philippines and as a Roman Catholics.
The Philippines was one of the last countries to adopt this papal indult. But it was adopted due to the SARS and bird flu epidemic. But now that those are over, I don't know why it has never been rescinded!
ReplyDeleteCommunion in the hand has fostered an even more irreverence for the Eucharist for many Filipinos. The Host is not just a piece of potato chips but the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ in his humanity and divinity.I have the strong feeling that the typical Pinoy's understanding of the Eucharist is more Protestant that we think.
Does the Church and the Magisterim approved it in the first place? In her wisdom if the Church says both are acceptable, so do I must obediently trust.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there are parishes where Eucharistic abuse were reported of which the assigned prelate should catechise his parishioners.
But in commununities where due reverence to the Eucharist has been practiced, even receiving communion by hand should not be seen as "irreverance".
I for myself receive the Holy Body of Christ in my hands (for this the apostles did too). After receiving, I licked my palm in case there are part (flakes) which my naked eye cannot see. And God is all knowing, merciful understanding as I pray that if flakes fell without my knowledge, may God have mercy on me.
It is our purest intention that counts, and the purity of the heart of the communicant that matters most.
Who are we to teach the Magisterium of the Church? Who are we to impose our sentiments to the Church?
Let's humble ourselves before God and abide according to what the Church validly tells us for it cannot err in matters of morals and faith.
It's the heart that receives the Body of Christ.
Catholic Defender,
ReplyDeleteWhile it is true that “It's the heart that receives the Body of Christ”, I know you would agree that what the heart believes, the mouth and the whole person should make manifest. It is certainly very ludicrous when one says that he believes in the Real Presence yet would receive the Sacred Host with dirty hands or with chewing gum in the mouth. With that said, I think “the heart receives the Body of Christ” as a sole norm for receiving communion doesn’t make sense.
Nevertheless, I know that you don’t advocate exterior disrespect and irreverence when receiving the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. And you also say that the Church of today finds communion on the hand “acceptable”. I agree. Yet, we must be clear that communion on the hand has never been the norm in the Latin Church for more than a thousand years. And IT STILL IS NOT THE NORM today. It is however, tolerated in the Church as it is just an “option”. As you are keen to respect the teaching of the Church on the matter, please take note that the Holy Father, Paul VI, the Pope who while granting the original indult with regard to communion on the hand also taught that the present discipline [that of communion directly on the tongue] should be MAINTAINED. See http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdwmemor.htm. And even the Vatican itself has made the ruling that “the celebrant priest, if there is a present danger of sacrilege, should not give the faithful communion in the hand” http://www.adoremus.org/0203CommunionHand.html
From the historical perspective, I know some would bring up Cyprian of Carthage and would make that argument that at his time and at his place people may have been receiving communion on the hand. But it has been almost 1,500 years since St. Cyprian, and the Church has dropped out communion on the hand in her practice. Why so? Don’t you think her continuous meditation and ‘love affair’ regarding the abiding presence of her Lord in the Sacred Species made her abolish communion on the hand? I certainly would think so. For it is but natural that what is loved, cherished, and believed inside the heart, would find its way to express itself outside, in the external actions. And it is not from any self-loathing, ‘poor self-esteem’ vis-à-vis the Lord that the Church as a whole refrained from touching the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament with unconsecrated hands. It was rather her continuous love and desire to honor the great condescension of her Spouse in the great Sacrament of the Altar that she has wisely abolished communion in the hand. And such a phenomenon is universal not only in the Latin West, but even in the Churches of the East (the Byzantines give communion using a spoon). Communion on the hand was unheard of in the Catholic Church since then, not until the indult of the 1970s to excuse the rebellious and unauthorized experimentation of the Dutch bishops…
I am not advocating rebellion against the Holy Father. In my humble opinion, I say as for now, we ought to ‘tolerate’ communion on the hand. But such “indult” does not stop some to make known their view that communion on the hand ought to STOP. It does not benefit the Church in any way. It only weakens the reception of what the Church believes and teaches regarding the ineffable, and abiding presence of the Lord in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
ReplyDeleteAs for you saying that “if flakes fell without my knowledge, may God have mercy on me”, please do consider that you don’t need to appeal to God’s mercy for such a heartfelt and unintentional loss of the Divine Particles. YOU CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT YOURSELF. You do not have to wait for the particles to fall. If you really love and adore that humble condescension of the Lord in the Sacred Host, do consider receiving him directly on the tongue. And take note that as in an ordinary love affair, a love that is true, strong, and persistent from the heart, will try to find its way to express itself in the outside. Do express it. Don’t stop with just a reverent communion on the hand. Give out all that you can give as the faith itself allows. Receive the Lord without touching him with your hands and sign Pinoy Catholic’s petition to withdraw the unfortunate indult of communion on the hand.
Pinoy Catholic,Did You Know that Fr Tapiador is The Spiritual Advisor of the Defensores Fidei Foundation? (Just Speaking of Liturgical Abuses)
ReplyDeleteJosemaria, I know some spiritual directors of some organizations who do not even believe in what the organizations they are directing are doing. Take the case of our parish priest. He belongs to a Congregation devoted to Eucharistic Adoration, is the Spiritual Director of the Apostleship of Prayer who are devoted to the Sacred Heart and Eucharistic Adoration BUT our dear parish priest will NEVER EVER preside at a Eucharistic Exposition, Adoration and Benediction.
ReplyDeleteNot everyone who calls himself Catholic IS faithful to the Church.
I know one Filipino bishop, seen regularly on TV, who is secretly Lutheran in his Eucharistic theology when he gives his lessons at a theology school, but when in Rome, is sooooo traditional.
Non sequitur!
Catholic bishop with an consubstantial understanding of the Eucharist!?!?! How Cranmerian! We Anglican Catholics should get to him now and pray for his soul! If this is the Eucharistic theology taught now, No wonder some Pinoy Catholic seminarians have asked the Anglican theological school in Quezon City to take them in!
ReplyDeleteBTW, we Anglican Catholics are one of the biggest fans of Eucharistic Adoration. This Catholic practice fits in perfectly well with Anglican spirituality. In the future masses of the Anglican Ordinariates, everyone will receive the Host and Cup (communion under both kinds as in the Anglican tradition) kneeling and by the mouth.
As to some of the posed problems here are quite universal, let me offer my point of view and how I've tried to avoid it. The Indult is in place, yes, BUT it is only lawfully acquiesced to specific Conferences of Bishops. If the indult was not given to your specific country, then you should ask your Bishop about the matter and request him to bring it up. If, and this mostly happen, your Bishop ignores the inquiry, bring it up to the Conference itself and if they too turn a blind eye to your inquiry, send a letter to the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments to clarify things for you. Remember to send and CC your Ordinary and the Conference of Bishops you are attached to. If you would like, I would gladly send you the contact mail of the CDWDS.
ReplyDeleteNow, personally, when I celebrate the Holy Eucharist whether with my students or at a parish, I follow the indult when need be, due to the fact that it was allowed in the US on 1977 and I have never dismissed anyone from receiving on the tongue and even kneeling. In fact, I would always make it a point to add in to my homily the explanation of the true meaning of the Eucharist and the proper way of receiving the Body of Christ. Also having been brought up with the EF and eventually ordained using the same, I got used to giving communion using the Latin form even when the OF was enacted.
Thanks for the advise AEMG.
ReplyDelete