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Tommy_Joe
Guest
Outstanding post!
With that thought in mind I wonder if our posture at communion is a reflection of just how worthy as individuals we think we are.
“The hour has come .... abandon the practice of Communion standing and in the hand”
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With that thought in mind I wonder if our posture at communion is a reflection of just how worthy as individuals we think we are.
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I_Believe
Guest
Well said. And welcome to the forum.
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lovesMary
Guest
So, no one should disagree with your point of view? Do do so is prideful and unloving?
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mullenpm
Guest
I don’t understand why receiving the Holy Eucharist on the tongue is “unhealthy.” I have been doing so since I was a girl and received my First Holy Communion and I haven’t come down with any life-threatening disease.
It is the Body and Blood of our Lord - how could that be harmful? 
It is the Body and Blood of our Lord - how could that be harmful?
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I_Believe
Guest
Advocating reverence isn’t prideful.So, no one should disagree with your point of view? Do do so is prideful and unloving?
Now, if no one in the Vatican is speaking on this issue, then I can see you viewing his post as preachy. But there are those in Rome advocating the return of receiving on the tongue while kneeling, including HH BXVI.
If one finds AverageJohn’s post troubling, would they also not find the views of Archbishop Ranjith, BXVI and others in the Hierarchy troubling as well ?
Catholicism is a beautiful Faith. Those who embrace it speak with passion at times. The Saints did.
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seekerz
Guest
I think when our good Lord reads this thread, He shakes His head in exasperation. After all the words of the prophets, after the Gospels and all the Church teachings, it still seems that what is most important to God: the state of our hearts before Him, is being given second place to external appearances.
Sure posture can reflect the heart, but not always and it is superficial to judge reverence by what we see on the outside.
Whatever the Church decides is fine with me, with regard to receiving Communion, but what does not sit well with me is this obsession with appearances.
I may be looking in the wrong places, but I’ve yet to see a thread this long examining the state of our consciences when we receive the Lord’s body and blood. Ultimately, that is what is important to God and all else is just trappings.
Sure posture can reflect the heart, but not always and it is superficial to judge reverence by what we see on the outside.
Whatever the Church decides is fine with me, with regard to receiving Communion, but what does not sit well with me is this obsession with appearances.
I may be looking in the wrong places, but I’ve yet to see a thread this long examining the state of our consciences when we receive the Lord’s body and blood. Ultimately, that is what is important to God and all else is just trappings.
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Deacon_Ed_B
Guest
Seekerz - I am in total agreement with you
Prayers & blessings
Deacon Ed B
Prayers & blessings
Deacon Ed B
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ethelzguy
Guest
“I thank you Lord, that I am not like these other men…”
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lovesMary
Guest
I think that is well stated, much better than I could.
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lovesMary
Guest
I don’t think the poster was saying he was above other people. He was merely pointing out that Jesus discouraged people from concentrating on outward appearances, and that ones posture is not necessarily indicative of the state of ones heart.“I thank you Lord, that I am not like these other men…”
There are some very clear passages in the Gospels discouraging the Jews from outward shows of piety. God judges our hearts, not our clothing, posture, etc.
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Deacon_Ed_B
Guest
If we all really stop and reflect, we should come to the conclusion that it is what is in our hearts when we receive that reflects our reverence. God can read this better than any of us. Judging reverence by external signs only makes me think of the pharisee and the sinner each praying in the temple. We all know which one was justified.
There is a blind priest I know, who is very dear to me. He has a special indult for when he says mass. He must do so from memory, and not all of the externals are perfect. But he prays .one of the most reverent masses which I have been blessed to attend.
Prayers & blessings
Deacon Ed B
There is a blind priest I know, who is very dear to me. He has a special indult for when he says mass. He must do so from memory, and not all of the externals are perfect. But he prays .one of the most reverent masses which I have been blessed to attend.
Prayers & blessings
Deacon Ed B
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ethelzguy
Guest
I was agreeing with that post, sorry for the misunderstanding
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Auntie_M
Guest
to SeekerZ
What a beautiful and spiritually mature post.
I have been just listening for a long while now. I have read post with so much anger and the attitude of “See, the Pope wants communion on the tongue”. Whereas, I don’t see it that way. I see the Pope NOT refusing communion to anyone whether standing or knealing, just as he has stated that all should do.
I, too, am of the opinion that the OUTSIDE appearances are just that OUTSIDE. As a retired realtor, one of my most often used phrases was…Houses are like people, it’s what’s INSIDE that
counts.
We can’t…no MUST NOT judge one who takes communion on the tongue or standing as one is MORE HOLY than the other. We are all just human, human’s make mistakes, God corrects them in HIS own time. We cannot force the issue, not can we change something just because WE think it is wrong.
Who are we to decide if it’s is wrong or right. We have the church to help us do that. And SHE definitely will…Give her time to follow the Holy Spirit. IF one way is better, the Holy Spirit will let her know and she will correct it. WE CANNOT, so WHY are we still trying?
What a beautiful and spiritually mature post.
I have been just listening for a long while now. I have read post with so much anger and the attitude of “See, the Pope wants communion on the tongue”. Whereas, I don’t see it that way. I see the Pope NOT refusing communion to anyone whether standing or knealing, just as he has stated that all should do.
I, too, am of the opinion that the OUTSIDE appearances are just that OUTSIDE. As a retired realtor, one of my most often used phrases was…Houses are like people, it’s what’s INSIDE that
counts.
We can’t…no MUST NOT judge one who takes communion on the tongue or standing as one is MORE HOLY than the other. We are all just human, human’s make mistakes, God corrects them in HIS own time. We cannot force the issue, not can we change something just because WE think it is wrong.
Who are we to decide if it’s is wrong or right. We have the church to help us do that. And SHE definitely will…Give her time to follow the Holy Spirit. IF one way is better, the Holy Spirit will let her know and she will correct it. WE CANNOT, so WHY are we still trying?
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Walking_Home
Guest
“I thank you Lord, that I am not like these other men…”
You are right – you are not like these other men–for example our Pope.
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20080522_corpus-domini_en.html
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Square in front of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran
Thursday, 22 May 2008
At this point we cannot forget the beginning of the “Decalogue”, the Ten Commandments, where it is written: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me" (Ex 20: 2-3). Here we find the meaning of the third constitutive element of Corpus Christi: kneeling in adoration before the Lord. Adoring the God of Jesus Christ, who out of love made himself bread broken, is the most effective and radical remedy against the idolatry of the past and of the present. Kneeling before the Eucharist is a profession of freedom: those who bow to Jesus cannot and must not prostrate themselves before any earthly authority, however powerful. We Christians kneel only before God or before the Most Blessed Sacrament because we know and believe that the one true God is present in it, the God who created the world and so loved it that he gave his Only Begotten Son (cf. Jn 3: 16). We prostrate ourselves before a God who first bent over man like the Good Samaritan to assist him and restore his life, and who knelt before us to wash our dirty feet. Adoring the Body of Christ, means believing that there, in that piece of Bread, Christ is really there, and gives true sense to life, to the immense universe as to the smallest creature, to the whole of human history as to the most brief existence. Adoration is prayer that prolongs the celebration and Eucharistic communion and in which the soul continues to be nourished: it is nourished with love, truth, peace; it is nourished with hope, because the One before whom we prostrate ourselves does not judge us, does not crush us but liberates and transforms us.
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lovesMary
Guest
Oh, sorry, I did misunderstand.
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Cara_Serrano
Guest
All true, if pride is the reason for the behavior, that is certainly sinful, but there may be other reasons besides pride that keep people from receiving on the tongue. The Apostles received in the hand at the Last Supper. Certainly pride was not the motivator.
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saint_rafael
Guest
It is not clear if they even did recieve in the hand or not. I have read that it was possible that they recieved on the toungue with a spoon, keeping with the Eastern traditions.
No none knows. If they did recieve on the hand, it was fine because as bishops, they had consecrated hands.
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saint_rafael
Guest
You don’t take into account the objective reality and truth that occurs with Communion in the hand. Sacrilege occurs when particles are left behind on the hand. You can have all the love you want and the state of the heart perfect, but that is not going to suspend the laws of science and physics.
Studies have shown that Communion in the hand always causes particles of the Sacred Host to be left behind. Pieces of Christ are then later discarted. It is pure sacrilege no matter the dispostion of the recipient. I can verify this since I was an EMHC for many months and this led me to recieve only on the tounge and in part led me to quit.
God is a hundred times more harsh and takes these things more seriously than any priest in the world could.
Ignorance is what covers many Catholics, but woe to those who know the truth about Communion in the hand, bcause they are aware of sacrilege and this danger.
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pnewton
Guest
Well I know this is false. I have never had one stray crumb after years. So any study (or poster) that says “always” is more concerned with rhetoric than accuracy.
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giuseppeTO
Guest
Seekerz,
I think you do this subject an injustice by reducing it to merely an “external” or “trapping”. If you really believe that what is physically touching your tongue or hand is the body, blood, soul, and divinty of Christ, how could you do anything but show extreme reverence receiving on your knees? Those who led the Reformation knew well that to quash the belief in the Real Presence, they had to change the behavior of the faithful receiving communion, and they introduced communion standing and in the hand. It has had the same effect on the Catholic Church. Witness those who traipse up to receive with their arms folded looking all over creation that they were in a cafeteria line and greeting folks in pews on the way back. Do they believe in the Real Presence and if not, has this not been influenced by 30 years of indifference of the posture by which we approach Our Lord in this Holy Sacrament. It has very little to do with appearances and trappings but with mindset. If one appraoches Communion like he’s in line to buy popcorn at the theater, it will eventually become almost as meaningless, and that example gets passed on to younger folks.
If the “long examination of conscience” you refer to means that you must be in the state of Sanctifying Grace and not attached to either Venial or Mortal Sin to receive Communion, I absolutely agree with you there. That goes without saying.
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