Eucharistic Ministers

  • Thread starter Thread starter sptrader
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

sptrader

Guest
I have always wondered how Eucharistic Ministers are able to dispense the Body of Christ? Have their hands been sealed or blessed or concecrated? If not, how could they handle the Body of Christ?
 
The priest does bless the EMHC’s before they begin the distribution, but I think more to the point of your question is that a special “sealing” or consecration is not necessary for the EM’s, just as it is not necessary for us, the communicants who receive on the hand.
 
The only “Eucharist Minister” is the priest. The lay people who are commissioned to help the priest distribute Holy Communion are “extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.” They are “outside” of the ordained. They are an extension of the celebrant’s hands during one part of the celebration of the Eucharist.

see section VII of “Redemptionis Sacramentum” (March 2004): vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20040423_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html#Chapter%20IV

As for the non-ordained handling the Eucharist. I love reading about St. Tartitius – a young boy who was killed for protecting the Blessed Sacrament on his way to serve Holy Communion to Christian prisoners. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Tarcisius
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top