A new book by my favorite bishop on the Eucharist emphasizes the need to be aware of the great mystery and treasure we have right in front of us, in the tabernacle. If we only knew, then we would behave properly.
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Vatican City, Oct 8, 2013 / 04:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishop Athanasius Schneider has recently published his second book on Eucharistic devotion in the hopes that it will foster greater reverence for the sacrament amongst the faithful of his diocese.
“It is necessary to give a good catechism on what the Eucharist is because we have to be aware of it. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman 'if you knew the gift of God,'” the bishop said in a Sept. 27 interview with CNA. [I believe this to be so. I can see why people have lost the awe and reverence to the Eucharist because of our pastors dismal failure to catechize the laity after the "new Pentecost" promised by the Council. Not!]
Bishop Schneider, whose most recent book “Corpus Christi - Holy Communion and the Renewal of the Church” was published earlier this year, is the auxiliary bishop of Kazakhstan in Central Asia – a country whose religious population is roughly seventy percent Muslim, and thirty percent Christian.
During the interview, the bishop expressed the great need to be more reverent in the way that the Eucharist is treated, explaining that the aim of both of his books is to increase respect of the Sacrament, especially amongst the faithful in his diocese.
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| Bishop Schneider distributing Holy Communion...the BEST WAY! (Photo courtesy of Orbis Catholicus Secundus) |
“When I recognize all the richness and deepness and divinity of the Eucharist of the Lamb of God, before whom the angels prostrate themselves in heaven – as we read in the Apocalypse – then I also have this spontaneous, natural desire to prostrate myself when I receive Him.” [FTW!!!! But with that we instead do this...click here.]
The bishop voiced his perspective that the Eucharist ought to be received in the mouth only, explaining that the tradition of receiving the Host in one’s hand “never existed in the Church,” and was “was invented by Calvinists in the seventeenth century,” but was not present in the first centuries. [Communion in the hand is an invention as a statement of disbelief and therefore of disrespect!]
“There was communion received in the hand but in a totally different manner and I explain this in my second book (Corpus Christi).”
Referencing the lack of true devotion present in the attitudes of many in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, Bishop Schneider urged that “only when we try to cure this wound of the Eucharist, only then we will have a real and stable renewal of the Church. A springtime.”
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The "super-dogma" Sacrosanctum Concilium called the Eucharist the "summit and source of christian life".
If that is so, then why we still have liturgical nonsense happening every Sunday and every Fiesta?
Why we still have the circus every Sunday live on TV?
I think we should all watch this.
Take note.
At the 13:56 mark, the great bishop called them "infidels".
So much for ecumenical mushy kumbaya politically correct language, no?
Ha!
And so since we are aware of the Sense of the Sacred, we have this at our Sunday Mass, regularly.
Hit it Fr. Mario!
Check out the batallion of EMHCs.
And the regular Sunday Tambourine Dancers.
Classy!
WE HAVE LOST RESPECT FOR THE HOLY OF HOLIES!
Part 1
ReplyDeleteTruly, it will be hard to re-educate Catholics who've lost this sense of the Sacred in the Holy Euharist. It is practically a repeat of what happened in the Gospel and Jesus' disciples deserted him because they cannot accept the fact of eating his Body as he was teaching it.
Here are my suggestions that I hope Rome would act upon:
1. That the railing on the Altars are returned, this is a demarcation and a reminder that the priest has been set apart, and that beyond it is the Holy of Holies, where the Sacrifice of Christ is reOffered by the validly ordained priest in an unbloody manner, and the railings will remind us all of this.
2. That the Priest again faced Ad Orientem or Ad altare [at least during the Eucharistic Prayer] to further highlight that the Mass is a Sacrifice and not a meal, and that the Priest is Offering the Eternal Merits of this Supreme Sacrifice in Persona Christi pro populo. Note that facing versus populum is NOT part of the Novus Ordo instruction, is it? Even Pope Benedict XVI was celebrating the Novus Ordo facing the altar.
3. In conjunction with #2, that the faithful remain kneeling until the Per Ipsum, Et in Ipso, Et cum Ipso...Amen. So that they retain their prayerful atmosphere as the priest prays on behalf of the Church.
4. That the raising of or holding of Hands be abolished during the Pater Noster, because it is the priest only who should raise his hands on behalf of the people. Moreover, the holding of hands provokes a social awareness rather than a Sacred Awareness.
5. In conjunction with #1, that the faithful again received the Sacred Body kneeling on the railing. Or if standing, that they either kneel or do a deep vow before receiving the Sacred Host - which is actually part of the instructions for the Novus Ordo.
PART 2
ReplyDelete6. In conjunction with #2, that the Cross either be at the center of the Altar, or that it be in front of the priest in the middle of the candle as a reminder of Jesus' Sacrifice on Calvary.
7. that the use of Eucharistic be strictly limited, not as a mere facility (to finish the distribution of Holy Communion) but only if there is a real need if the attendees exceeds a certain number and not as normative.
8. that the Communion of the Hand be finally disallowed for very obvious reasons of stray sacred particles, and worse, sacrilegious smuggling of the Sacred Body outside the Church.
9. that the lay faithful be stricly reminded to kneel down when the Blessed Sacrament, as carried by the Eucharistic Ministers, passes in front of them. Likewise, they should be reverence to pay homage to the direction of the Tabernacle (if lighted) by kneeling toward it - when entering the Church or when leaving it.
These might be my DREAMS, but actually, I am praying Rome gives an ear so that Catholics will again have these reminders in the Novus Ordo of the Sacred. ALso, these wishes are only focused to the Holy Eucharist, and not yet to the whole Mass itself.
Veni Sancte Spiritus!