Do you make the sign of the cross after you receive communion?

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This question is directed at the Roman Rite crowd: Do you make the sign of the cross after you receive communion?

This something I sometimes notice other people do. I’m not quite sure where it comes from, whether it’s a hold-over from the old Mass or if it’s one of those things that people just make up on there own like holding hands during the “Our Father…”

I’m curious to see how the bar graph will look.

For the record, it’s something that I do not do.
 
I do make the sign of the cross after receiving. I must admit, I was taught to do this by an Episcopal priest in a “high” Anglican church and took the practice with me when I reverted back to Catholicism as a sign of reverence for the Blessed Sacrament.
 
I know that this is a bit of a controversy, but I do it. Only after the most Holy Body , not the Most Holy Blood. It is something I was raised with. ❤️ :gopray2:
 
Yes, I was taught this when I converted, and back in Holland EVERYBODY does it … here in Britain I think MOST do it, especially older people.

Anna x
 
Yes I make the sign of the Cross after recieving the Body and after recieving the Blood.
 
I do so before receiving the Host at NO Masses, as I read somewhere that we should make an act of reverence before receiving the Eucharist. I will see if I can find the reference if no other poster comes up with it first.

I make it after receiving at the TLM I usually attend.
 
I found it.

On May 25, 1967, Eucharisticum Mysterium was issued by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, which was intended to implement the Conciliar decree on the Liturgy and Worship of the Eucharist.
"In this document is found a recommendation which has since been repeated on April 3, 1980, in Inaestimabile Donum, a document by the Sacred Congregation for Sacraments and Divine Worship, the publication of which was ordered by John Paul II himself. The recommendation is:
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"When the faithful communicate kneeling, no other sign of reverence towards the Blessed Sacrament is required, since kneeling is itself a sign of adoration.
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“When they receive Communion standing, it is strongly recommended that, coming up in procession, they should make a sign of reverence before receiving the Blessed Sacrament. This should be done at the right time and place, so that the order of people going to and from Communion should not be disrupted.”
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I found it here…ewtn.com/faith/teachings/euchd1.htm
 
Eileen T:
I read somewhere that we should make an act of reverence before receiving the Eucharist.
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In the U.S., the National Conference has defined this act to be a bow to the sacrament before recieving. Of course, you don’t live in the U.S., so you’re not bound by its decision (unless you come here to visit!).
 
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Pious:
Yes I make the sign of the Cross after receiving the Body and after receiving the Blood.
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I do too. What a beautiful testimony.
 
I grew up in a time period when we were taught only to recieve in the hand. I think recieving on the tongue got “honorable mention” but we didn’t understand it so we were just taught the hand. My Mom, I think, taught me to make the sign of the cross after recieving, and to this day, I do so.

I now bow before recieving, and sign of cross after, even when recieving the blood (I hadn’t thought about it before, but I do this. I recieve the most Precious Blood rarely because I get cold sores and I’m paranoid about them even withiout symptoms). Anyway, this last weekend I went to St. Agnes, which has a Latin High Mass, and they use a communio rail 100% of the time. Even though I got to recieve kneeling, I still made the sign of the cross before standing up because it feels appropriate to do so.
 
in the last 3 dioceses I have lived in, pastors were told to instruct parishioners to receive communion standing, to bow before receiving, and to make the sign of the cross after receiving. This was demonstrated with great thoroughness at least half a dozen times. If the discipline has changed I didn’t get the memo.
 
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puzzleannie:
This was demonstrated with great thoroughness at least half a dozen times. If the discipline has changed I didn’t get the memo.
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If you can find any documentation for the practice, I’m all eyes! I’ve researched it and came up empty, which is why I’m pretty sure it’s not an official teaching,
 
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Timidity:
If you can find any documentation for the practice, I’m all eyes! I’ve researched it and came up empty, which is why I’m pretty sure it’s not an official teaching,
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why should a faithful Catholic in the pews require documentation for something that is announced and taught from the pulpit in most of the parishes in the diocese?
 
I have never been instructed to make the sign of the cross after receiving Eucharist so I don’t.
 
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puzzleannie:
why should a faithful Catholic in the pews require documentation for something that is announced and taught from the pulpit in most of the parishes in the diocese?
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Having never heard it taught nor announced from the pulpit, a good a faithful Catholic would natuarally seek to discover the Church’s position on the matter, hence the documentation.
 
I always have, and everyone I’ve seen crosses themselves, too, from the ultra-heterodox parish to the Tridentine Mass. I’ve never even heard of not doing so.

If there is no documentation requiring one to cross oneself, I would assume it’s simply a pious practice. Don’t be too worried whether you do it or not. 👍
 
I think sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. Honestly, I never really thought about that much. My prayer is more internal at that point, since I just received the Eucharist.
 
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Timidity:
This question is directed at the Roman Rite crowd: Do you make the sign of the cross after you receive communion?

This something I sometimes notice other people do. I’m not quite sure where it comes from, whether it’s a hold-over from the old Mass or if it’s one of those things that people just make up on there own like holding hands during the “Our Father…”

I’m curious to see how the bar graph will look.

For the record, it’s something that I do not do.
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Is this something only done in the Roman Rite. I am Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic and make the sign of the cross after communion the Eastern way. However, I might have just learned to make the sign of the cross after communion in Catholic school so I am not sure if it is only a Roman rite custom or not.
 
I also read that document that recommends making a sign of reverence before receiving the Blessed Sacrament, and I always bow before receiving Communion, but I never made the sign of the cross afterwards. Maybe I thought it would have seemed unnecessary to bless myself in that way, having just received the greatest blessing of all, the Most Holy Body of our Lord Jesus Christ! :bowdown2:

But since you all seem to do it, I’ll give it a thought.:hmmm:

Alma
 
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