I don’t understand why people worry about this. I think the state of mind, heart, and grace is all that should matter when one takes communion. Not the physical outward actions of one taking it. This all seems a bit legalistic to me.I consider receiving communion in the hand as sacrilegious and I can’t understand why the Catholic church allows this. I was taught in the catholic school that the priest’s index fingers and thumbs were consecrated and he was the only one allowed to touch the host. Also, why is it OK to stand to receive holy communion but out of respect for the holy eucharist, we genuflect before entering the pew and we kneel at the consecration. It doesn’t make sense to me.
“Who made you the judge” of what the main issues are?Again, I am always amazed at how the traditionalists on these boards are always worried about what someone else is doing. How do you know that you kneeling and receiving on the tongue is any more reverent than me with a profound bow of the head and receiving in the hand. Who made you the judge. Our Lord is going to judge us for what is in hearts and our actions on how we followed His laws. Again, we should be looking at the real issues. Why is Church attendance down? Why are babies born out of wedlock increasing? Why are there many Catholic children not being catechised today? These issues of CITH or holding hands during the Lords Prayer, or too much handshaking during the Kiss of Peace are silly issues.
Our Lord dined with sinners. We do owe Him reverence. But just because it isn’t your way, doesn’t mean it’s bad.
I agree.I don’t understand why people worry about this. I think the state of mind, heart, and grace is all that should matter when one takes communion. Not the physical outward actions of one taking it. This all seems a bit legalistic to me.
Again, Lee, you are dodging the real issues and trying to bring up other ones. Right now we are not talking about these other problems you are raising, which are all valid concerns as well. However, they have nothing to do with CITH and we never said that CITH produces them. If you cannot handle or answer the many problems that result from CITH, then please just say so rather than trying to make it seem like it’s no big deal and that we’re wasting our time talking about it.Again, I am always amazed at how the traditionalists on these boards are always worried about what someone else is doing. How do you know that you kneeling and receiving on the tongue is any more reverent than me with a profound bow of the head and receiving in the hand. Who made you the judge. Our Lord is going to judge us for what is in hearts and our actions on how we followed His laws. Again, we should be looking at the real issues. Why is Church attendance down? Why are babies born out of wedlock increasing? Why are there many Catholic children not being catechised today? These issues of CITH or holding hands during the Lords Prayer, or too much handshaking during the Kiss of Peace are silly issues.
Our Lord dined with sinners. We do owe Him reverence. But just because it isn’t your way, doesn’t mean it’s bad.
Would you say the same about a kiss, hug, thumbs up? Physical language is the extension of ones interior motive and soul.I agree.
Since when did the Church start preaching the “God and me alone” doctrine? We’re called to set an example, which means minding our outward appearance in all respects.I don’t understand why people worry about this. I think the state of mind, heart, and grace is all that should matter when one takes communion. Not the physical outward actions of one taking it. This all seems a bit legalistic to me.
Angels appear in human form throughout the Scriptures, and they are observed and described as “kneeling” and “falling on their faces” before the Almighty, as are the saints. forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=4713111&postcount=83Do angels have knees?
But we are not called to focus too much on outward appearances. A person who takes communion unworthily has still sinned, no matter what they were doing physically.Since when did the Church start preaching the “God and me alone” doctrine? We’re called to set an example, which means minding our outward appearance in all respects.
What proof do you have for these assertions other than the usual parroting of the “so-called traditionalist” postion?We both agree that poor catechesis is a problem right? So wouldn’t it help to get rid of CITH since we are seeing priests teaching the wrong things on it and are using it as part of an agenda to abolish faith in the RP. Yes, priests are actually doing this just as the Protestants began to do 500 years ago. The difference is that they are trying to change the Catholic Church from within and change her teachings and basically make her protestant. As I said they are winning, as faith in the RP has decreased significantly. We should be doing all that we can to foster an increase in faith in the RP and mandating reception on the tongue would certainly help. Further, you cannot deny that there has been an increase in abuses that have resulted from CITH and the easy nature for people to take home the Consecrated Hosts, some out of sheer ignorance others out of malice. Also the particles that stick to peoples hands and fall to the ground is another argument that has not been answered. These are all serious things that should not and cannot be overlooked or brushed off as not important. Granted there are other things that are much more important that should be addressed as well, the chief of which is improper catechesis, but this topic is not about those other problems and how to solve them. It’s about CITH and it’s inherent problems that neither you nor anyone has been able to solve or explain away and trying to divert attention or dismiss the problem will not change the facts either.
There is no problem with CITH. Thats the point I’m trying to make. There is no problem. The problem lies with traditionalist having problems when someone does something different than what was done 400 years ago.Again, Lee, you are dodging the real issues and trying to bring up other ones. Right now we are not talking about these other problems you are raising, which are all valid concerns as well. However, they have nothing to do with CITH and we never said that CITH produces them. If you cannot handle or answer the many problems that result from CITH, then please just say so rather than trying to make it seem like it’s no big deal and that we’re wasting our time talking about it.
You are correct in a certain aspect. Regarding sin, we must be more focused on our inward disposition rather than outward. Christ taught us through his rebuke of the pharisees that we are to first cleanse the inside of the bowl (our soul) rather than only cleanse the outside. However, when we cleanse the inside, the outside will also become cleansed and will overflow into our works. Faith without works (also as an evidence of faith) is dead. James 2:8 “But some man will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works. Shew me thy faith without works; and I will shew thee, by works, my faith.” Our outward works are how we show our faith and demonstrate our inward disposition. Why did the saints fall down on their knees and prostrate before the presence of our Lord? Was it to make an outward show of how holy they were? “Hey everyone look how holy I’m acting!” That sounds prideful and ingenue to say the least. They did it because of their inward disposition and they wanted to act in a way most fitting for reverent worship of our Lord. That is why we kneel when receiving our Lord and that is why we do not think it fitting to touch the Consecrated Host lest any particles remain and be desecrated.But we are not called to focus too much on outward appearances. A person who takes communion unworthily has still sinned, no matter what they were doing physically.