Cardinal Sarah: return to Communion directly on the tongue while kneeling

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When I returned to the Church after a lapsed period, like most, I I took Communion in the hand, but never felt comfortable about the change, and made a decision to go back to Communion on the tongue, and my soul is content.
There seems to be a general kind of casual irreverence with some. I’ve also knelt at a Latin Mass, and felt more respectful to Our Lord in doing so. Just what my soul feels.
 
Father David, as a priest do you find it slightly more awkward giving Communion on the tongue of the person is standing rather than kneeling?

As someone receiving Communion, it generally feels more ‘natural’ and less awkward receiving Communion on the tongue if kneeling rather than standing.
 
Most priests are fine with one kneeling simply for Communion and then standing…
 
Brendan_64 said:
Father David, as a priest do you find it slightly more awkward giving Communion on the tongue of the person is standing rather than kneeling?

As someone receiving Communion, it generally feels more ‘natural’ and less awkward receiving Communion on the tongue if kneeling rather than standing.
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I find it easier to give Holy Communion while the recipient is standing.

When everyone is kneeling (like when I distribute in the EF) it’s mildly stressful on my own back because I’m going up-and-down.
 
You can kneel if you so desire. If this is not common where you attend Mass, I (layman that I am) think it would be appropriate and considerate for you to discuss the matter with your priest to see what his thoughts are on the prospect of you kneeling to receive.

Dan
 
Before the current method of receiving in a communion line, at my parish we received at the altar rail. Most knelt, but those who could not, received standing.
 
Thank you Father, I asked the question partly because whenever a priest has inadvertently touched my tongue it has always been when I have received standing.
 
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ohh I see. That’s where a prie-dieu or altar rail comes in handy, I guess.
 
A Sarah papacy would make me fearful of a return to other past ways, such as Protestants as “heretics,” Jews as “perfidious,” and “mixed marriages” performed in rectory parlors.
 
I’m a fan of a more hard line church myself. We’ll get the Pope we need for the time.

ETA: Not sure why you’d be worried about Cardinal Sarah being unkind to Jews or mixed marriages.

Protestants are technically in heresy though and that’s something the church doesn’t dispute. It’s not emphasized but it’s still true.
 
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Father David, I am curious about your thoughts on Communion on the tongue when extraordinary ministers are distributing the Host. I understand wanting to receive the Host directly from the hands by which it was consecrated. Once my unblessed, layperson hands have touched it, I don’t see what the point is of receiving it on one’s tongue, rather than having me place it into the person’s similarly unblessed, layperson hands.

(Ideally, I would like to see extraordinary ministers used only under extraordinary circumstances, but at the moment, most dioceses consider them necessary.)
 
What makes you believe that? Who says we can’t take the good from before the Council and leave the bad behind?
 
A deacon is an ordinary minister and his hands ate not consecrated.
 
Cimachol said:
Father David, I am curious about your thoughts on Communion on the tongue when extraordinary ministers are distributing the Host. I understand wanting to receive the Host directly from the hands by which it was consecrated. Once my unblessed, layperson hands have touched it, I don’t see what the point is of receiving it on one’s tongue, rather than having me place it into the person’s similarly unblessed, layperson hands.

(Ideally, I would like to see extraordinary ministers used only under extraordinary circumstances, but at the moment, most dioceses consider them necessary.)
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I think they’re really two different issues (though obviously related ones).

I prefer Communion on the tongue because that reminds us that we are not receiving ordinary food, but something special (very special indeed).

I also see how people receive on the hand. People can make the point all day long that there’s nothing objectively more reverent about the tongue than the hand. Yet, that’s not what I see. Most people barely come to a full stop. And yes, most people simply turn after receiving the Host in the hand and put the Host into their mouths as they’re walking away. People will say “that doesn’t happen often.” I know better. I know what I see. And I don’t just mean my parish or my diocese. I travel quite a bit and I have a lot of experience giving Communion to people from all over.

As for the one distributing. This is not so much about whose hands have been blessed—even though it’s undeniable that the priests hands were indeed blessed for the very purpose of distributing the Eucharist. A deacon’s hands aren’t blessed (in the same way as a priest), yet a deacon even in the traditional form was/is an ordinary minister of the Blood* and (now) an ordinary minister of the Body—indeed, a deacon was always an extraordinary minister of the Body.

I’m not a fan of the whole practice of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. I do accept it, but there’s nothing requiring me (or anyone else) to like it. Still, to me it’s not about the question of “whose hands have been blessed?” If that was truly essential, then we would need to have some ritual of blessing a person’s tongue before First Communion, and surely no one is advocating that. If we did have to go that route, I would say that baptism itself blesses the body of the recipient and makes the whole person ‘eligible’ to come into contact with the Body of Christ.
  • although that did not happen often in practical terms, the deacon has always been seen as an ordinary minister of the Precious Blood.
 
All that video proves to me is that altar-breads should not be dropped on to a hard surface, and certainly not edge-on.
 
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