Crossing Arms, Comunion

[Erin_Anne]

I atended the Vigil Mass at 4 pm today. I had to work right after, I worked at 5 30 and it takes about a half hour to get to work. I could not stay for the whole Mass and i was sure that i was goign to be late if i stayed. I decided to leave after/during comunion. However, I did not want to be disrespctful to the Euchrist or to the priest or anybody or to God or to the people of the parish or to sin…my friend that was with recived, but i chose not to becuase i did not feel it was right for me to recive comunion and then just leave in the middle of mass…so i walked up to the priest and crossed my arms for the blesing…Did I do the right thing???.

I must echo a number of responses - it was inappropriate.
I am by no means casting judgment. You didn’t know, and that’s why you asked.
Some Priests do things that are not approved by the Vatican (Why? Who knows!), and that misleads their congregations. They should not be inviting individuals up for blessings during Communion, nor should anyone be looking to receive one at that time. Personal blessings are done outside of the Mass. If you’re unable to receive for whatever reason, simply stay in your pew and pray a Spiritual Communion.

Erin-Anne :byzsoc:

 

[WhiteDove359]

now i just feel horrible and feel like that pastor looks down on me looks like i have another thing to confess…“bless me father for I have sined, im sorry i went up to the communion line, crossed my arms and just left” sigh that will go well sarcasum

 

[puzzleannie]

Just wanted to make the point OP could have received if she was otherwise properly disposed, since she did have time, there was no need not to receive, and no disrespect would have been shown since that was not her intent in leaving early. She still had the option to also attend Mass on Sunday and receive again.

 

[Erin_Anne]

now i just feel horrible and feel like that pastor looks down on me looks like i have another thing to confess…“bless me father for I have sined, im sorry i went up to the communion line, crossed my arms and just left” sigh that will go well sarcasum

Don’t feel bad. You haven’t sinned because you were following the poor example of your Pastor. He is responsible for what goes on in his Parish. HE has some confessing to do…

Erin-Anne :shamrock2:

 

[benedictgal]

now i just feel horrible and feel like that pastor looks down on me looks like i have another thing to confess…“bless me father for I have sined, im sorry i went up to the communion line, crossed my arms and just left” sigh that will go well sarcasum

You did not know. The problem is that no one, not even the celebrant, has the right to insert something on his own authority into the Mass. These blessings in lieu of Holy Communion are not in any of the authoritative liturgical documents of the Church.

Now that you know better, it is hoped that you won’t repeat that same mistake. But, do share this information with the priest.

 

[puzzleannie]

The fact that you call it a “custom” implies that it is not rare. I personally would not do this, but to tell the OP that he is doing something wrong marginalizes his participation in the OF mass.

we don’t know what OP’s pastor or the pastor of the church she attended does, allows, or encourages. It is always the greater part of humility to follow the direction of the priest in all that is not directly contrary to the law or rubrics. There is no need to attack her for doing what she thought was right.

 

[mullenpm]

Benedictal, I am wondering if this practice is so ingrained in some parishes that the Pastor is unable to stop it. At some parishes the laity have complete control.

I know of a parish where there was a practice of having the small children sit on the steps around the altar during the Mass (a parish that was quick to remove the altar rail, or this could not have happened in the first place). The new pastor was very against this long-standing practice and tried to stop it but to no avail. He finally had to leave the parish and was replaced by a priest that “went along” with the laity running the parish.

I don’t believe this to have happened at WhiteDove’s parish because it appears to be a very active and conservative parish; but, how are local parishes made aware of directives such as you cite in an earlier post?

It is possible that some priests are not aware of the wishes of the Church in this matter?

 

[benedictgal]

Benedictal, I am wondering if this practice is so ingrained in some parishes that the Pastor is unable to stop it. At some parishes the laity have complete control.

I know of a parish where there was a practice of having the small children sit on the steps around the altar during the Mass (a parish that was quick to remove the altar rail, or this could not have happened in the first place). The new pastor was very against this long-standing practice and tried to stop it but to no avail. He finally had to leave the parish and was replaced by a priest that “went along” with the laity running the parish.

I don’t believe this to have happened at WhiteDove’s parish because it appears to be a very active and conservative parish; but, how are local parishes made aware of directives such as you cite in an earlier post?

It is possible that some priests are not aware of the wishes of the Church in this matter?

Just because something is long-standing, that does not make it right. LifeTeen tried the approach of having the kids gather around the altar. The CDWDS said that this was not allowed.

What we should be doing is following what the documents state. If there is no “practice” in the rubrics, we cannot invent something on our own initiative and insert it into the Mass. The Constitution on Sacred Liturgy prohibits this kind of action. Redemptionis Sacramentum makes that clear. In other words, if it is not in the GIRM, don’t insert it.

 

[WhiteDove359]

I brought it up with my pastor today and he said that there is nothing wrong with going up and reciveing a blessing as long as you make sure you walk up to a priest or a deacon. he said use that time to remind your self how much you desire the Eucharist and theres nothing wrong with it. if you wish to contact him directly your self, you certainly have the ability to above. anways ill stop talking now because i dont want to make the moderators mad.

 

[mullenpm]

WhiteDove, why would we make the moderators angry because we happen to disagree with your Pastor; we are free to voice our opinion in such an important issue as obedience to the wishes of our Church.

I have read some of Fr. Riccardo’s homilies on your church’s website and I can honestly say I am shocked that he would say this practice is acceptable when it is clearly against the wishes of the Church.

I am sorry for you and the fact that many, many people in your parish are now believing they are practicing an activity approved by the Catholic Church, when they are not.

I am not saying it is a Mortal sin; but surely, it is a sin against Obedience to the Church, by your pastor because he knows better and now for you, because you now know better.

 

[benedictgal]

I brought it up with my pastor today and he said that there is nothing wrong with going up and reciveing a blessing as long as you make sure you walk up to a priest or a deacon. he said use that time to remind your self how much you desire the Eucharist and theres nothing wrong with it. if you wish to contact him directly your self, you certainly have the ability to above. anways ill stop talking now because i dont want to make the moderators mad.

However, did you mention to him that the Holy See, that is to say, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, stated that this should not be done? The reasons that he gives are no justification for doing something that is not prescribed in the norms. With all due respect, he is sadly mistaken and guided by a well-intentioned, but, misguided premise. Regardless of his personal opinion on the matter, it is still a bad practice.

 

[mullenpm]

Meant to add this thought in my previous post and forgot - action of Satan, I am sure.

If you are approaching the priest and/or deacon in the Communion line and reminding yourself, per instruction from your Pastor, how much you desire the Holy Eucharist, why are you not receiving the Holy Eucharist?

The only reason is because a soul is not in a state of grace due to a mortal sin. That means - get to Confession immediately.

I suppose this post has been answered so perhaps the moderator will close it. So be it!

 

[Erin_Anne]

I brought it up with my pastor today and he said that there is nothing wrong with going up and reciveing a blessing as long as you make sure you walk up to a priest or a deacon. he said use that time to remind your self how much you desire the Eucharist and theres nothing wrong with it. if you wish to contact him directly your self, you certainly have the ability to above. anways ill stop talking now because i dont want to make the moderators mad.

He apparently somehow got it in his head that this is an accepted practice - but the Holy See disagrees, and that is the be-all and end-all of the Catholic Church (on Earth anyway). When they say no, it’s a no regardless of the “creative license” some Priests choose to take during Mass, and you shouldn’t be afraid to question his logic on the matter.

 

[benedictgal]

He apparently somehow got it in his head that this is an accepted practice - but the Holy See disagrees, and that is the be-all and end-all of the Catholic Church (on Earth anyway). When they say no, it’s a no regardless of the “creative license” some Priests choose to take during Mass, and you shouldn’t be afraid to question his logic on the matter.

Exactly. Furthermore, the Holy See is stating nothing new. In fact, it is quoting what is already in place in liturgical and canon law.

 

[Erin_Anne]

There is no need to attack her for doing what she thought was right.

Oh, I don’t believe anyone is attacking her personally. As I had previously stated - she didn’t know, and that’s why she asked. I do believe people (such as myself) get fired up when we see someone being led in the wrong direction by the People that they trust are acting in accordance with Canon Law. A minority of lay people really know it in depth. We look to our Clergy as the example.

Erin-Anne :shamrock2:

 

[SenorSalsa]

The way I look at it is I, and hopefully everybody else, longs to receive the Eucharist.

If I am in a state where I cannot receive (either because of sin, or because I was particularly hungry 15 minutes before mass ), and remain in the pew, I am reminded of my fault, and for this longing, will seek to correct whatever problem is stopping me from receiving.

If I go up for a blessing, that feeling of unworthiness and longing is lessened.

 

[mullenpm]

SenorSalsa, so you get hungry 15 minutes before Mass and instead of denying youself food you eat — meaning you cannot receive the Holy Eucharist wherein you could have nourished your soul. Your stomach was more important.

It is so nice that you feel better by inserting yourself in the Communion line to get a blessing.

 

[SenorSalsa]

SenorSalsa, so you get hungry 15 minutes before Mass and instead of denying youself food you eat — meaning you cannot receive the Holy Eucharist wherein you could have nourished your soul. Your stomach was more important.

It is so nice that you feel better by inserting yourself in the Communion line to get a blessing.

The hunger thing was meant to be, at least partially, a joke, but yes, there are times where, for the sake of my health, I felt it important to eat. For example if I knew that I would not have a chance to eat after Mass either (such as on days where I had to go straight from Mass into a shift at work or a day of school). So no, its not my stomach that was more important, it was me not wanting to pass out on the front end of the store I work at that is more important. And I’m not quite sure what that second comment means, other than it seems to be rather condescending, and I thought it was clear from my post that I do not go up for a blessing for that reason. I chose not to go up because it reinforces that I need to do something.

However, I would not frown upon those that do go up, especially since they do so in good faith, their priests have generally told them it is an acceptable, even good, practice, and most people don’t hear much other than that, so they take them at their word.

Certainly, no harm is done to those people by receiving a blessing.

 

[benedictgal]

The hunger thing was meant to be, at least partially, a joke, but yes, there are times where, for the sake of my health, I felt it important to eat. For example if I knew that I would not have a chance to eat after Mass either (such as on days where I had to go straight from Mass into a shift at work or a day of school). So no, its not my stomach that was more important, it was me not wanting to pass out on the front end of the store I work at that is more important. And I’m not quite sure what that second comment means, other than it seems to be rather condescending, and I thought it was clear from my post that I do not go up for a blessing for that reason. I chose not to go up because it reinforces that I need to do something.

However, I would not frown upon those that do go up, especially since they do so in good faith, their priests have generally told them it is an acceptable, even good, practice, and most people don’t hear much other than that, so they take them at their word.

Certainly, no harm is done to those people by receiving a blessing.

Senor Salsa, did you not read what the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments stated? It bears repeating:

1. The liturgical blessing of the Holy Mass is properly given to each and to all at the conclusion of the Mass, just a few moments subsequent to the distribution of Holy Communion.

1. Lay people, within the context of Holy Mass, are unable to confer blessings. These blessings, rather, are the competence of the priest (cf. Ecclesia de Mysterio, Notitiae 34 (15 Aug. 1997), art. 6, § 2; Canon 1169, § 2; and Roman Ritual De Benedictionibus (1985), n. 18).

1. Furthermore, the laying on of a hand or hands — which has its own sacramental significance, inappropriate here — by those distributing Holy Communion, in substitution for its reception, is to be explicitly discouraged.

1. The Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio n. 84, “forbids any pastor, for whatever reason to pretext even of a pastoral nature, to perform ceremonies of any kind for divorced people who remarry”. To be feared is that any form of blessing in substitution for communion would give the impression that the divorced and remarried have been returned, in some sense, to the status of Catholics in good standing.

1. In a similar way, for others who are not to be admitted to Holy Communion in accord with the norm of law, the Church’s discipline has already made clear that they should not approach Holy Communion nor receive a blessing. This would include non-Catholics and those envisaged in can. 915 (i.e., those under the penalty of excommunication or interdict, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin).

While you may choose to disregard and ignore what the Holy See has stated, comments such as your last one serve to confuse the faithful. There is harm in adding something to the Mass that we are not authorized to add because, as Redemptionis Sacramentum states:

[10.] The Church herself has no power over those things which were established by Christ Himself and which constitute an unchangeable part of the Liturgy.23 Indeed, if the bond were to be broken which the Sacraments have with Christ Himself who instituted them, and with the events of the Church’s founding,24 it would not be beneficial to the faithful but rather would do them grave harm. For the Sacred Liturgy is quite intimately connected with principles of doctrine,25 so that the use of unapproved texts and rites necessarily leads either to the attenuation or to the disappearance of that necessary link between the lex orandi and the lex credendi.26

[11.] The Mystery of the Eucharist “is too great for anyone to permit himself to treat it according to his own whim, so that its sacredness and its universal ordering would be obscured”.27 On the contrary, anyone who acts thus by giving free rein to his own inclinations, even if he is a Priest, injures the substantial unity of the Roman Rite, which ought to be vigorously preserved,28 and becomes responsible for actions that are in no way consistent with the hunger and thirst for the living God that is experienced by the people today. Nor do such actions serve authentic pastoral care or proper liturgical renewal; instead, they deprive Christ’s faithful of their patrimony and their heritage. For arbitrary actions are not conducive to true renewal,29 but are detrimental to the right of Christ’s faithful to a liturgical celebration that is an expression of the Church’s life in accordance with her tradition and discipline. In the end, they introduce elements of distortion and disharmony into the very celebration of the Eucharist, which is oriented in its own lofty way and by its very nature to signifying and wondrously bringing about the communion of divine life and the unity of the People of God.30 The result is uncertainty in matters of doctrine, perplexity and scandal on the part of the People of God, and, almost as a necessary consequence, vigorous opposition, all of which greatly confuse and sadden many of Christ’s faithful in this age of ours when Christian life is often particularly difficult on account of the inroads of “secularization” as well.31

Rather than continue to further confuse people who read these threads, we should do what we can to read the authoritative documents and not go by whatever “feels good” at the moment.

 

[SenorSalsa]

Senor Salsa…
While you may choose to disregard and ignore what the Holy See has stated, comments such as your last one serve to confuse the faithful…
Rather than continue to further confuse people who read these threads, we should do what we can to read the authoritative documents and not go by whatever “feels good” at the moment.

I’m not saying the should be going up for blessings. I think this topic has made it clear that they should not be. What I am saying is I am not going to judge people or confront them after Mass for going up for a blessing, especially when the priest has been telling them that is acceptable or even recommended. That is not my place.

It is simply my place to worship correctly, to the best of my ability and knowledge.