It was evident it was allowed in the US by the Pope’s distribution of the host when he celebrated Mass in New York. This to me, means there are two acceptable forms of receiving.
I think Cardinal Ratzinger provided some insight on this in his quote below.
“But you will ask: is tolerance the proper answer here? Or is it not misplaced with respect to this most holy thing? Well, here again we know that until the nineth century Communion was received in the hand standing… the Church could not have possibly been celebrating the Eucharist unworthily for nine hundred years.”
The Pope, as everyone, has a right to change his mind. If he decrees one form over the other, I and I’m sure all Catholics will conform.
Until such a time, I believe Cardinal Ratzinger’s statement as quoted below correctly states our obligation not to argue one way over the other.
Anyone who reflects on this will recognize that on this point it is quite wrong to argue about this or that form of behavior. We should be concerned only to argue in favor of what the Church’s efforts were directed toward, both before and after the ninth century, that is a reverence in the heart, an inner submission before the mystery of God that puts himself into our hands. Thus we should not forget that not only our hands are impure but also our tongue and also our heart and that we often sin more with the tongue than with the hands. God takes an enormous risk–and at the same time this is an expression of his merciful goodness–in allowing not only our hand and our tongue but even our heart to come into contact with him.
Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to me that with what I’ve bolded and underlined above, Cardinal Ratzinger saw these arguments as divisive and we all know from the Holy Father’s message of unity and schisms of the past, that we should be working to bring us closer together in our faith.
It really saddens me to see multiple posts on this subject with some posts deriding one form or the other. Those type posts remind me of the story of the publican and the Pharisee.
Luk 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee standing, prayed thus with himself: O God, I give thee thanks that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as also is this publican.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice in a week: I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven; but struck his breast, saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14 I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other: because every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Reverence towards our Lord is not measured by outward actions but with what is in one’s heart. We, as men, are not to judge one another nor should we presuppose we can think like God. What I’m saying is, we as men cannot see in to another’s heart.
Whether people believe it or not, we belong to a hierarchal Church. In my opinion, we the laity, should submit to the Magisterium and quit trying to impose our private interpretations of faith upon them. To trust in them is trusting in the Church, which is trusting in Christ.
I just returned from the Shrine that Mother Angelica built in Hanceville, Alabama. We attended Mass in the Chapel below the Shrine and received communion at the rail. We also attended a Mass at the Sacred Heart Church in Cullman, Alabama where we received communion standing and on the tongue. The day we left, we attended Mass at a very small Catholic Church in Hanceville, Alabama. Again, we received communion standing and on the tongue. I’d normally receive in the hand but would like to explain that which made me receive on the tongue. In those three Masses, the priest and deacons held up a paten below the host. In my Church at home, the priest or Eucharistic ministers do not offer up a paten to catch any possible “crumbs”.
Personally, out of all the experiences I have shared above, I do not see one way as more reverent over the other as my heart is focused on the Lord coming to abide in me as He states in scriptures. It is very rarely that I notice what someone else is doing in their reception of host and then I feel somewhat guilty over allowing myself to be distracted.
I feel it’s safe to say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, with the caveat that you are giving yourself fully and trusting in the Lord and your actions are allowed by our Holy Spirit protected Church.
I am about to receive Eucharist Minister training for the purposes of taking the host to shut-ins. I would defer this to the ordained but our area does not have the luxury of multiple ordained. Our Church has one priest and no deacons.
God Bless
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