Communion on the Tongue

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Robert_Burns

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My question isnt meant to start another ITS OK verses its NOT OK Thread.

My question is this - If you recieve Holy Communion in the Hand and you see in your Church a few people who kneel and Recieve only on the Tongue - what emotion does it evoke in you?

And please in advance , I am not asking this question so as to start the same tire argument - I merely want to know , why it offends some people.
 
I personally do not care how someone receives communion.
I am EMHC, and have been taught to reverently distribute either way, although I cannot say the same for the recipients, but that is for another thread! 😉

What offends me is the attitude SOME people who choose to receive kneeling and on the tongue have towards those who receive standing and in the hand, but I can also say that this attitude does go both ways.

Ultimately, I go with the *“whatever works best for you” *theory, so long as the proper respect due the sacrament is given. I am not at Church to make judgements about the others around the table, but to share with them the awesome, merciful love of God!🙂
 
Robert_Burns said:
My question isnt meant to start another ITS OK verses its NOT OK Thread.

My question is this - If you receive Holy Communion in the Hand and you see in your Church a few people who kneel and Recieve only on the Tongue - what emotion does it evoke in you?

And please in advance , I am not asking this question so as to start the same tire argument - I merely want to know , why it offends some people.
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I can report only on the other side. In our Church almost everybody receives kneeling on tongue at the bars of the altar; a few disabled people receive standing at the foot of the stairs; and as everywhere there are a few who receive standing and into their hand.

The priests patiently came down on the stairs to serve their desire.

My reaction : how fortunate is that both of our priests are young and healthy.

If I have no choice but attend Mass at my territorial Church I always receive standing but to tongue, and always go to the line where the priest is, to avoid confrontation with some unknown extraordinary minister (we know each other with the priest, who is otherwise a very good man)

As the Hungarian’s say ‘the moral is that God’s zoo is big, even I fit into that’.

Off topic note. Yesterday morning was some 2 inches snow and falling, and my wife is afraid to ride in snow. I am Catholic since 72 years so I offered her, to go to our territorial church (2 miles) instead of our regular Church, which is 12 miles away. She vehemently refused: our Church is the beautiful Church we shall go there, in the territorial Church we would turn our back to the Tabernacle. She is Catholic since last October. The tolerance level of the neophytes is lower.
 
Well - I receive on the tongue and frankly I don’t spend much time looking at how others receive. When I do see someone else receive on the tongue, I am fortified because it requires some strength of will and reverence to go against the flow. Likewise if I see someone receiving in the hand with a clear, pronounced bow and an obvious Love I am likewise fortified.
So - like another said, it is less about hand or tongue than about the interior conviction and understanding of the great gift one is receiving.

Peace
James
 
Robert_Burns said:
My question isnt meant to start another ITS OK verses its NOT OK Thread.

My question is this - If you recieve Holy Communion in the Hand and you see in your Church a few people who kneel and Recieve only on the Tongue - what emotion does it evoke in you?

And please in advance , I am not asking this question so as to start the same tire argument - I merely want to know , why it offends some people.
Click to expand...
When I received CITH, it never offended me. Frankly, I don’t look at other people when I’m receiving. They are not my concern. I silently pray and meditate on the way to and from Communion. Its the ministers (ordinary and extraordinary) who should be concerned that the Eucharist is treated reverently.
 
I personally prefer to receive while kneeling, either on the tongue or in the hand (the way it’s done in my former Episcopal church). However, at my age kneeling on the floor might prove embarrasing.

At my church, we use homemade bread on Sundays and it’s cut into little cubes, which I abhor. Since my poorly-fitting lower denture won’t allow me to chew enough to swallow without choking, I ask for the wafer; fortunately, when they see me coming they have one ready.

I’m looking forward to the day when the Anglican Use Parish launches in our city.
 
Robert_Burns said:
My question isnt meant to start another ITS OK verses its NOT OK Thread.

My question is this - If you recieve Holy Communion in the Hand and you see in your Church a few people who kneel and Recieve only on the Tongue - what emotion does it evoke in you?

And please in advance , I am not asking this question so as to start the same tire argument - I merely want to know , why it offends some people.
Click to expand...
In my church, everyone stands; some receive on the tongue and others receive in the hand.

I don’t pay much attention how others receive communion, but I will confess to you that while visiting another church I saw one person kneel and what it evoked in my was a sliglht feeling of, “Show-off.” I caught myself and have tried to analyze why I felt that way; I know I shouldn’t judge another and to her, it may have been a very humble moment.

But when it is obviously “set up” in that church for people to file forward in a line and receive standing, it stands out when someone kneels. It is awkward, I guess - the priest seemed a little awkward, people behind did as well, and it kind of comes off feeling like what Jesus described when pharisees made a big show of their reverence.

I hope you understand what I’m trying to say - I’m not trying to argue one way or another either but I just felt like you were looking for insight on why others might be taken aback. I hope I explained it ok - as I said, I know I shouldn’t judge others and I try to catch myself when I do; forgive me for the times I fail!
 
If an emotion is stirred up, the likely ones are mild curiosity or mild irritation. These are the result of being distracted by the person in the line in front of me moving their body in unexpected ways, when the expectation is standing, so out of prudence I will turn my attention to their potential path of movement. If they are not in front of me, I’m unlikely to notice, unless I’m an EMHC. In that case there will be no emotion, since it is not distracting. It is just my task.

I don’t receive in the hand, though, but I used to.
 
I used to receive in the hand because that was what I was taught in RCIA and all my friends from church received that way. It was seen as a ‘normal’ way to do it. However, seeing people receive on the tongue made me think about it. I felt that receiving on the tongue was somehow better but i didn’t have the courage to do it. Seeing younger people receive that way really made an impact and it made me research the practice.
I’ve been receiving on the tongue for a year and a half now and can’t imagine going back.
 
When I see someone receiving Holy Communion in the hand, I hope and pray that that person really examines their hands to insure that not one fragment remains on their hand. No matter how small the fragment is, it is still the Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity of our Lord Jesus. It should not be wiped on someone’s pants or dropped on the floor. Since I don’t want that level of responsibility, I prefer (and always have received) on the tongue.
 
jj_nycguy said:
When I see someone receiving Holy Communion in the hand, I hope and pray that that person really examines their hands to insure that not one fragment remains on their hand. No matter how small the fragment is, it is still the Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity of our Lord Jesus. It should not be wiped on someone’s pants or dropped on the floor. Since I don’t want that level of responsibility, I prefer (and always have received) on the tongue.
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I do not intend to pick on anyone here - communion in the hand is the norm in most parishes…the idea above of examining ones hand is a good one - and not just for fragments. Do most people think about how clean their hands are when they go up for communion?
The Priest washes his fingers before consecration. The Jews of Christ’s time also ritually washed before eating. The congregation at mass don’t. Not even the Deacons or EMHC’s…
hmmmm I just has this thought as I was typing…hhhmmmmmm

Peace
James
 
JRKH said:
I do not intend to pick on anyone here - communion in the hand is the norm in most parishes…the idea above of examining ones hand is a good one - and not just for fragments. Do most people think about how clean their hands are when they go up for communion?
The Priest washes his fingers before consecration. The Jews of Christ’s time also ritually washed before eating. The congregation at mass don’t. Not even the Deacons or EMHC’s…
hmmmm I just has this thought as I was typing…hhhmmmmmm

Peace
James
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👍
 
Since the Church permits both modes of reception, I don’t think about it.
 
JRKH said:
I do not intend to pick on anyone here - communion in the hand is the norm in most parishes…the idea above of examining ones hand is a good one - and not just for fragments. Do most people think about how clean their hands are when they go up for communion?
The Priest washes his fingers before consecration. The Jews of Christ’s time also ritually washed before eating. The congregation at mass don’t. Not even the Deacons or EMHC’s…hmmmm I just has this thought as I was typing…hhhmmmmmm

Peace
James
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Umm . . . It is the rule in my diocese that EMHC’s and deacons must either wash their hands or use hand sanitizers before distributing Communion. Certainly every single parish in this diocese at which I have attended Mass in the past several years has abided by this rule. Actually, this has been the case in all parishes outside my diocese as well.
Also, most parishes have hand sanitizers strategically placed either just outside the main doors as one enters the church or just inside the nave and it may surprise you just how many people make use of them before Mass. We have to replenish the ones at my parish every week.
 
I am 50, when I received First Holy Communion as a child it was at a communion rail kneeling down and I was taught that only a priest was able to touch the host, we were even told of a story of a young girl in occupied nazi germany who would go to a cathoic church pillaged by nazi troops and gently take the Eucharist off the floor with her tongue and consume it, this was out of reverance for the Sacrament. Then the change came about where you “could opt” to receive in the hand, I never felt right about it, and gradually it turned to you really had no choice, I can remember approaching priests and trying to recieve on the tongue to have the priest try to thrust it into my hands, or bypass my action by holding it out for me to grab. Eventually I git accustomed to receiving in the hand and lately I have been going back to receiving on the tongue as I feel more comfortable about it, it seems proper too me. It still freaks out most EMHC’s when you stick out your tongue, and even a few priests I have run into to. I now try to receive from the priest, and when I am stuck with the EMHC I take it in my hand and ask God to forgive me as I feel bad about it. Its a shame in my opinion they ever started this, I have seen dozens of times the Eucharist dropped onto the floor, either fumbled by the priest or the recipient, such an outrage must cry out to God. On a side note has anyone seen the prevelance of hand sanitizer on altars or in the immediate area of the altar, if the EMHC’s have such filthy hands why are they allowed to distribute the sacrament?

ed
 
I seldom even look at others before, during or after communion. My personal feeling is that I want to receive kneeling and on the tongue. And no EMHC.

What others do is their business, not mine.
 
Robert_Burns said:
My question isnt meant to start another ITS OK verses its NOT OK Thread.

My question is this - If you recieve Holy Communion in the Hand and you see in your Church a few people who kneel and Recieve only on the Tongue - what emotion does it evoke in you?

And please in advance , I am not asking this question so as to start the same tire argument - I merely want to know , why it offends some people.
Click to expand...
In my regular parish…there is not much room…we are crammed in together…so if some receives COTT…no big deal…if they want to receive kneeling…I try to make sure that they are going to end up kicking me in the process.

At the parish I go to for daily Mass…there is enough room…and people receive in all different ways…I just try to prepare so I’m not in the way…

How someone receives…doesn’t offend me…if it’s done reverently. What does offend me is when people try to say that because I receive CITH…that I don’t believe in the real presence.

But I really only notice those people before me…when I’m back in my pew…kneeling…I am too busy in thanksgiving to Christ that He would come to me in such a way that I don’t notice what anyone else is doing.
 
Generally, I’m not paying much attention to what everyone else is doing… But, there are a fair number of people in my parish who receive on the tongue, not by any means most, but it isn’t at all unusual. It doesn’t evoke any emotion in me at all. If that is what works for them, fine, receiving on the hand works fine for me.

I’ve only noticed one guy who kneels and he is African, so I figure it is partly a cultural thing. 🤷
 
I am filled with deep emotion and a sense of communion when I see people receive period! It doesn’t matter to me how they receive, as long as they are reverent and sincere in their faith. I have seen people who are hospitalized receive while lying on their backs. It still fills me with awe and strengthens my faith.
 
I don’t like to see communion in the hand, because I have SEEN that the priest and the extraordinary ministers of holy communion (who happen to be quite ordinary and really unnecessary) not even check to see that the person consumes the host in their presence, something that HAS to happen: Last Christmas, they found SIX Consecrated hosts stuffed between the leaves of the music issue! People went up to receive in the hand just to save face!

I know people who have seen women try and put the host in their purse, and that just throws me off on a satanist tangent I won’t even go into…

It’s not intrinsically wrong, but it TENDS toward abuse. Satan isn’t dealing in outright heresies these days, he is dealing in TENDENCIES, things that aren’t really BAD, but definitely lend themselves to greater abuse. If Anything could even be conceived of as less than what our Lord deserves, why do it? And if the Church in its past history developed AWAY from this process, what are we doing trying to bring back the ancient church in an INORGANIC method? Pope Pius XII Condemned this kind of patchwork quilt theology and ecclesiology in Mediator Dei. Explicitly:
  1. “The same reasoning holds in the case of some persons who are bent on the restoration of all the ancient rites and ceremonies indiscriminately. The liturgy of the early ages is most certainly worthy of all veneration. But ancient usage must not be esteemed more suitable and proper, either in its own right or in its significance for later times and new situations, on the simple ground that it carries the savor and aroma of antiquity.”
That’s how it makes me feel 🙂
 
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