Has the practice of Communion in the hand really strengthened and clarified ourfaith?

  • Thread starter Thread starter GloriaPatri4
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
40.png
beverly30:
Once again, my biggest concern is the change that has taken place. So many changes. I see all of these changes as causing Catholics who were once united to diversify. That to me is not good. This wasn’t a problem before Vatican II. When you start changing wordings, and actions (which is what happened with Vatican II) your going to cause diversity, and not unity in the Church. Prior to 1965 there weren’t all of these different groups of Catholic. When you said you were Catholic, people knew exactly which Catholic you were, the only one that existed.
Click to expand...
I can see your point but I believe you are incorrect.

There was diversity in the Church prior to 1965.

You had the Tridentine Rite of the Mass, you had the Franscian Rite of the Mass, you had the Carmelite Rite of the Mass, you had many religious orders who had their own Rite of the Mass. You also had all of the other Rites within the Church who not only have their own Eucharistic celebrations but also their own traditions.

You also had places that had dispensations where the Tridentine Mass was said in the vernacular.

It was more diverse than the average parishioner knew about. This is something that has grown with the global communications as they are today.
 
I’ll grant you that I don’t know my history quite as well as it seems you and many others do on this forum. I’m learning still, but can we agree that diversity has become worse since Vatican II? And maybe we might even agree that it would do us well not to change any more traditions in the Church?

Thank you for sharing that information with me.
 
40.png
beverly30:
I’ll grant you that I don’t know my history quite as well as it seems you and many others do on this forum. I’m learning still, but can we agree that diversity has become worse since Vatican II? And maybe we might even agree that it would do us well not to change any more traditions in the Church?

Thank you for sharing that information with me.
Click to expand...
I can agree that there should be no rush to change but all the changes that have occured came from Rome. It is not my place to say that those changes are wrong as Rome is the authority in the Church.
 
I don’t know if the practice of communion in the hand has strengthened our faith. But I do know that the way the Eucharist is treated is not dependant on how one recieves it. For example, from what I have observed (and from what John Paul II has observed as well) the Orthodox faiths (and some Eastern Catholic rites) have a profound reverence for the Eucharist. They also recieve the Eucharist in the hand.

Also…ever wonder how Jesus gave his apostles the bread at the last supper?
 
40.png
pprimeau1976:
I don’t know if the practice of communion in the hand has strengthened our faith. But I do know that the way the Eucharist is treated is not dependant on how one recieves it. For example, from what I have observed (and from what John Paul II has observed as well) the Orthodox faiths (and some Eastern Catholic rites) have a profound reverence for the Eucharist. They also recieve the Eucharist in the hand.

Also…ever wonder how Jesus gave his apostles the bread at the last supper?
Click to expand...
None of the Byzantines, Catholic or Orthodox, recieve in the hand.
 
GloriaPatri4 said:
Has the practice of Communion in the hand really strengthened and clarified our faith in the Real Presence?
Click to expand...

I am not worthy to touch His Prescious Body. Is anyone?

God Bless,
Donna
 
Donna P:
I am not worthy to touch His Prescious Body. Is anyone?

God Bless,
Donna
Click to expand...
Neither my tongue nor my hands are worthy. And from a personal standpoint, I sin more with my mouth than my hands. Fortunately for us, our worthiness is not the criteria by which we get to decide if we can receive.

Kris
 
Last night I was looking at photos of the late Bishop Fulton Sheen from his book “This is The Mass”. From the Elevation of the Host until distributing communion he took special care to keep the tips of his forefingers and thumbs together throughout the entire Mass. Maybe I haven’t really been paying attention but I don’t recall seeing other priests do this. Has anyone witnessed this? Why isn’t this practiced by priests any longer?
 
40.png
beverly30:
That is not a good way to try to discuss something- by asking someone to prove the impossible.
Click to expand...
But ridiculous assertions such as, Receiving Communion in the hand has never strengthened the faith of anyone ever, are okay? Or that receiving in the hand necessarily leads to the ordination of women? That’s a good way to discuss things?

Perhaps the fault is all mine since I was unaware the efficacy of the Eucharist was dependent on whether or not I touch the Host with my fingers.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
But ridiculous assertions such as, Receiving Communion in the hand has never strengthened the faith of anyone ever, are okay? If you talk in extremes… never, always, in all cases- you will always be proven incorrect. As someone else stated before, receiving communion (period) strengthens your faith- so you are correct in saying that if you were to receive by the hand instead of not at all it would increase your faith. What I’m questioning is the changes that are taking place, and why people see the need for them. Why did the communion rails get taken down. Why did many other things change in the church. To make it more modern? Are we too modern to do things the way the Church was instructed to do them in earlier times? What has been the outcome of changing these things in the church? Has it been a good one?

Or that receiving in the hand necessarily leads to the ordination of women? That’s a good way to discuss things? I think I gave my opinion on this in post #117

– Mark L. Chance.
 
40.png
GloriaPatri4:
When was it taken out of the rubrics and why?
Click to expand...
It was taken out by those with the proper authority to do so. That’s why enough for me.
 
40.png
ByzCath:
Now I have another question. I know that most who want reception limited to on the Tongue are in favor of recepton of the Precious Blood. But in essence you are recieving the Precious Blood in the hand as you take the Chalice in Hand and recieve. Would you be for limited reception of the Precious Blood and have the only hands on it be the person giving it to you?
Click to expand...
Let me respond as someone who is neutral, i.e. not in favor of limiting reception to the tongue. Your logic misses an important point that the pro-tongue reception people are trying to make. Receiving on the tongue is seen as being more reverent than receiving through the hand. When one is dealing with receiving from the chalice, the nature of the cup or chalice makes the act of reception reverent. OTOH, if the Precious Blood were being offered in paper cups, the same issue of reverence would arise as with receiving in the hand.
 
Like many current liturgical abuses, communion in the hand began as an illicit abuse begun by a liberal Cardinal.

Cardinal Suenens of Belgium began giving communion in the hand, against Catholic canon law in the early 1970’s.

Pope Paul VI, rather than discipline the Cardinal and cause embarrassment, “permitted” it, but only under very limited circumstances.

We all know the end of the story. The permitted abuse, soon becomes widespread and the exception soon becomes the rule.

This is why, we can never have genuine liturgical reform by sanctioning abuses.

Communion in the hand is an abuse, regardless of whether it is allowed or not.

Since receiving under the normative practise of the Church (on the tongue, since 1997) my own faith and reverance for the Eucharist has grown with each passing year.
 
Petrus Romanus:
Communion in the hand is an abuse, regardless of whether it is allowed or not.
.
Click to expand...
Just a small clarification. While you and others might view it as abusive, it is not by definition a liturgical abuse, as it is allowed.
 
Many Saints, including Mother Theresa were opposed to it.

Yes, technically, it is not an abuse in terms of being illicit.

But it began as an an illicit abuse, and contributes to a host of other problems, so it is problematic at best, and in my view, these problems constitute an allowed abuse.

Fr. Groeschel and many other orthodox priests I have met disagree with allowing communion in the hand.

From the evidence on these boards, it is sad, that most are not aware that communion on the tongue REMAINS the universal Norm in the Catholic Church. Hence, further evidence of a protestantizing agenda at work. No faithful Catholic would have an issue with communion on the tongue, but many dioceses and priests go into seizures over someone receiving on the tongue.

Communion in the hand, is simply the option, it is allowed, but the Normative way of receiving communion is on the tongue in the Catholic Church, no matter the diocese.

No one can refuse you on the tongue.
 
Well, I voted no, but perhaps I should have voted “other.” I think reception in the hand has markedly decreased understanding/appreciation of the Eucharist. I have seen people hold out one hand, then pop the host in their mouth like pop-corn, then walk back to their pew appearing not to give it a second thought.

There are lots of foods that you pop in your mouth. It’s a regular occurrence. But there are no foods that someone regularly places on your tongue. That’s what separates the Blessed Sacrament from any other food, and what emphasizes its sacredness (in my mind anyway).

Let me put it this way, I have never seen anyone who received on the tongue do so in a casual, uncaring way. I regularly see people who receive in the hand appear (granted, I can’t read their mind) to take it for granted. In my old parish, we would sometimes find hosts on the floor, under pews after mass.
 
40.png
amantoan:
I have seen people hold out one hand, then pop the host in their mouth like pop-corn, then walk back to their pew appearing not to give it a second thought.
Click to expand...
I’ve seen this many times too. Very sad.
 
I am young devout Catholic and I have always recieved communion in the hand. My understanding and feeling is that, I am taking Christ and my faith in him as my responsibility and not something that someone is just “placing on me.” I reach out to recieve Him! And it reminds me that my hands are tools for giving and recieving love! For me it has always helped me take personal responsibility, therefore increase my faith! Food for though!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top