How to properly receive the Eucharist

[JKirkLVNV]

JKirk:

Me too. I have 2 herniated discs in my Lumbar Spine, one of which has ulcerated. I just finished my 2nd series of Epidural Blocks Thurs. morning.

Because of the spine, I can no longer kneel for most of the Mass. So I kneel for the Words of Consecration and the elevation of the host, along with the previously described reception of Communion. Otherwise, I sit even when the Rubrics say to stand (It’s too painful otherwise).

If you look through my posts, you’ll see that I don’t usually talk about this.

So, what’s the problem with yours?

Your Brother in Christ, Michael

Mine is congenital, back at least as far as a great-grandmother.

 

[JKirkLVNV]

Jkirk:

If you thought I was assuming a “lofty perch”. I apologize. I admit that It’s ben some 23 years since I was a regular communicant in a Roman Catholic Church, and that I may have had some real difficultes receiving the benefits of the sacrament because of the very bad place I was in at the time.

But, since the Orthodox Rabbi dragged me back, I’ve noticed that my experience kneeling together with my fellow communicants waiting to receive the Lord’s body and Blood while staring at Him on the cross has been as different from most of those previous experiences as night and day.

I’m willing to admit that it might be that I’m more able and willing to accept and receive the graces, but judging from your response to my post, I can’t be so sure of that.

And, because of my obvious shortcomings, and the self-reports of a few members of the congregation I’ve asked, I assumed everyone was having the experience I was having…

I’m willing to say that what I’m experiencing just might be part of the baby that got thrown out with the bathwater as a result of the “Spirit of Vatican II”, and that Catholics who are “following the Norms” just might be getting cheated of the full benefit of the Sacrament in the attempt to get everyone communed as fast and in a convenient a manner as possible.

Whenever I watch Masses from the Vatican, I’ve always noticed that, although they may follow they same norms as we do here, they seem to “take their time” and to distribute communion in a more reverential fashion than I’ve seen in the few Roman Catholic Masses I’ve gone to (except for the TLM Mass I attended earlier this year) during the past few years.

Are you sure that really is the best way to do things? Or, could they have made a mistake in throwing out the idea of kneeling at the alter rails?

Your Brother in Christ, Michael

If they brought back altar rails tomorrow, I’d be kneeling. But they haven’t, so I do as I’m asked and I don’t harp at the Church. I’m tired of the harping at the Church by the those who purport to love her. Yes, there are certainly abuses, I’ve seen them, I still see them. But I don’t believe we lost a baby with the bathwater. I know too many old Catholics who grew up with what went before to have a rose-colored view of it. I’m certain it wasn’t terrible, but I’m equally certain that it wasn’t perfection (where there’s smoke, there’s generally fire and too many have said,“Nah, we shouldn’t go back.”). I love the austere nobility of the Pauline Mass, celebrated in the verncaular.

But be that as it may, whether I love the Pauline Mass or not, I will defend my Church, whether she decides to dispense with altar rails or not. I might miss them myself, but I’m not going to flagelate her over them. Surely you have noticed how it goes on and on and on and on? It’s too much.

 

[Swiss_Guard]

Kneeling at the rail and on the tongue. However, since there are some churches that disobey the GIRM and refuse communicants to receive Holy Communion on their knees, making a profound bow is also proper.

Pray for those priests who blatantly disobey the GIRM, which was promulgated by Pope John Paul II and is enforced by Pope Benedict XVI.

 

[ElizabethPH]

I was watching Web of Faith on EWTN and Fr. Trigilio said that we were supposed to bow before receiving the Eucharist as a sign of reverence. I did not know that we were supposed to do this. Is there anything else that we are supposed to do in receiving the Eucharist? I see some people making the sighn of the cross before and after receiving the Eucharist, is that personal prefrence or are we supposed to do this? Thanks and God bless.

I genuflect

 

[HailMary]

Is there anything else that we are supposed to do in receiving the Eucharist? I see some people making the sighn of the cross before and after receiving the Eucharist, is that personal prefrence or are we supposed to do this? Thanks and God bless.

Being in a state of Grace.

In the Chaldean and Maronite rites, a deep bow in adoration is usually customary too.

 

[Traditional_Ang]

If they brought back altar rails tomorrow, I’d be kneeling. But they haven’t, so I do as I’m asked and I don’t harp at the Church. I’m tired of the harping at the Church by the those who purport to love her. Yes, there are certainly abuses, I’ve seen them, I still see them. But I don’t believe we lost a baby with the bathwater. I know too many old Catholics who grew up with what went before to have a rose-colored view of it. I’m certain it wasn’t terrible, but I’m equally certain that it wasn’t perfection (where there’s smoke, there’s generally fire and too many have said,“Nah, we shouldn’t go back.”). I love the austere nobility of the Pauline Mass, celebrated in the verncaular.

But be that as it may, whether I love the Pauline Mass or not, I will defend my Church, whether she decides to dispense with altar rails or not. I might miss them myself, but I’m not going to flagelate her over them. Surely you have noticed how it goes on and on and on and on? It’s too much.

JKirk:

What drives me nuts are people who claim the Ordo Missae 1970 (The Mass of Pope Paul VI") is INVALID because of the change in the Words of Consecration to “For all”. If that were true, then Jesus’ promise that the “Gates of hell wouldn’t prevail against Her (the Church)” is invalid as well. I think that, if it weren’t for people such as these, we could have more rational discussions, because we wouldn’t have to worry about given an “Empty Seater” ammunition to prove that God’s promises have become void and the Pope isn’t the Pope.

Just because they don’t understand the nature of God’s promises doesn’t make the Ordo Missae 1970 Invalid, and it most certainly isn’t invalid because people such as myself find the language discordant.

That said, part of my problem is that I’ve lived either in San Francisco (attending mainly Campus Ministry Masses - I was lazy and that was a BIG mistake) or in Los Angeles where I belonged to the Youth choir in one of the parishes I attended. And, that some the Masses I’ve attended since I’ve come back have been in two parishes featured in the Traditionalists’ “Novus Ordo Hall of Shame”, (I managed to use the internet to fix the worst of the abuses of one of the parishes)

The Papal Masses have what you’ve described, but they’re in Latin, and the celebrant is the Pastor in Chief of the Church, who, among other things, happens to be a scholar on the liturgy.

That means Pope Benedict XVI is going to get it right and is going to do a Divine Liturgy that reflects the Heavenly Liturgy while being true to the Latin Ordo Missae. I read that, in his private Masses, Pope Benedict XVI offers them Ad Orientum in Latin as if waiting for our Lord’s coming in glory.

I believe if you ask the old folks for details, they’ll tell you that things started to get real dry in the 40’s and 50’s and that people forgot why they were doing what they were doing. They’ll probably also mention the rush to finish Masses because parishes were scheduling them one on top of the other, with no time for contemplation or for Catholics to get to know each other during the “coffee hour” in between masses. At the same time, they’ll probably mention the unevenness of the homilies, with some people getting homilies from people such as Archbishop Fulton Sheen, and others getting homilies that had nothing to do with the scriptures or that didn’t tell the congregation how to apply them to their daily lives.

I wouldn’t want to go back there either.

I’ve also been present at the TLM with the “Silent Canon” and other parts of the Mass that are silent, and much as I love the MYSTERY of the Liturgy, that’s a bit too much for me. I can guess that, if I grew up with it, it would be a different matter and that it would be easier to participate in.

Your Brother in Christ, Michael

 

[leondell]

wow I never have posted to a forum before and I am happy that I did. It was a blessing to hear from others, especially JKirk & TradAng. I prefer TradAng tone more so, but understand Jkirk perspective, albeit a bit …harsh or dare I say uncharitable.

For me personally I struggle with ‘abuses’ ( i am not saying recieving communion in the hand or standing is an abuse) or what is perceived (by me) as a lack of reverance. But I always come to the conclusion that I am only responsible for me and my family (and those who may be influenced by my witness) in my action towards God. The Church (and her Bishops) is much wiser than I, and I am sometimes brought to tears on the love I see (or envision) from the my brothers & sisters as they go to recieve our LORD, regardless of the posture and manner they recieve.

I will remain an obedient and humble catholic. Its easy to obey when its something that you agree with or prefer to do. Perhaps, it may be beneficial and formational to form my will to obey when its not so easy.

 

[wcknight]

Bowing, genuflecting, and or sign of the cross before or after are all apporpriate. The only thing that bothers me are folks who take the Eucharist and dip it in the wine. The Holy Eucharist is NOT an oriole cookie !!!

Please don’t do this and from what I’ve seen on another thread this goes against canon law.

 

[jmcrae]

Bowing, genuflecting, and or sign of the cross before or after are all apporpriate. The only thing that bothers me are folks who take the Eucharist and dip it in the wine. The Holy Eucharist is NOT an oriole cookie !!!

“Oreo” - and yes, this is absolutely forbidden.

The minister of the chalice (or EMHC) is responsible for catechizing those who attempt to do this, simply by placing their hand over the chalice and directing the communicant to consume the host first, before receiving from the chalice.

We are supposed to consume the host before we leave the place where we receive it, anyway - your feet should not be moving yet, if it is not in your mouth, yet.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

I guess at the point at which you decide that you know better than the Holy See, who permits processional reception, reception in the hand, etc (indeed, the Holy See doesn’t merely permit it, judging by the papal events on TV, even within the Basilica, they practice both themselves).

Look, why don’t we crawl down the aisles of the Church on our knees? Seriously. That which is on the altar is God Himself, in all of His Majesty and Glory and Mercy, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity (I firmly believe that, though I’m misguided enough to receive in the hand and also, horror of horrors, dare to receive from the Chalice). So why don’t we take it all the way and do Him all the reverence that He is due? People cross the square in front of and enter the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico on their knees, surely we can manage a trip down the aisle to the foot of the sanctuary? And then, shouldn’t we prostrate ourselves completely on the floor? I mean, that would surely show more devotion than merely kneeling, wouldn’t it? If you stop to think about it REALLY hard, even in a state of grace, are we worthy to receive Holy Communion at all? Maybe the truly reverent, the truly devoted, should express that reverence and devotion by avoiding the Sacrament of the Altar completely. Maybe we should try and maintain that mindset altogether, stay at the back of the church, as far from the Tabernacle as possible. We could just gather outside and keep vigil there, couldn’t we? From the parking lot? If we knelt in pools of leaked motor oil, we would surely be seen as devout, fully understanding “the majesty and sacredness of what the Mass truly is?” I assume that it’s a given that we shouldn’t LOOK upon the Blessed Sacrament, maybe we shouldn’t look upon the priest, either, holding the Sacrament or not. I mean, after all, he acts in persona Christi. Surely we should never touch him!

I get really tired of this devotional “one-upsmanship.” At some extreme point, it could become somewhat absurd. And I don’t think that it is a rational assumption to make that because some of us receive in the hand or while standing that we are less devoted to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament than someone who kneels…or crawls down the aisle. There IS a virtue in obedience and the Church cannot propose to the faithul nor permit to them any discipline of her sacraments that can lead the same faithful into impiety. So to assert that an action permitted by the Church somehow leads to the de-sacralization of the Mass is headed down a bad road, IMO.

Amen !

 

[ElizabethPH]

Bowing, genuflecting, and or sign of the cross before or after are all apporpriate. The only thing that bothers me are folks who take the Eucharist and dip it in the wine. The Holy Eucharist is NOT an oriole cookie !!!

Please don’t do this and from what I’ve seen on another thread this goes against canon law.

I’ve never seen anyone ever do this or even try to do this. In fact I’ve never heard of it till I started reading these forums.

 

[MrS]

I think a part of properly receiving is your attire.

Mass is not a day at the beach, nor a display for one’s “exibitionist” clothing.

As my pastor recently said… it is no wonder the majority of Catholics don’t believe/understand the real presence…

watching the level of reverence virtually disappear in many Churches, why would one think that Jesus Christ Himself is actually waiting for us?

Our young are too often being conditioned to accept Sunday Mass as little more than an intrusion in their lives… so no teaching on the Eucharist is then followed by just sleeping in.

One can never be too reverent to God.

.

 

[fiat1122]

Kneel at the communion rail, place your hands under the cloth, open your mouth and slightly stick out your tongue. The priest will come by and place the Host on your tongue. Stand up, make the sign of the cross towards the altar and return to the pew.

AMEN!!!

 

[maryjk]

I’ve never seen anyone ever do this or even try to do this. In fact I’ve never heard of it till I started reading these forums.

I saw it happen at my church in the past year.
I spoke to our Priest and he said that he would talk to the EMHC to see that it didn’t happen again.

 

[tmpumpkinbug]

I don’t know if anyone will read this far down at this point but I just wanted to say that I was just confirmed and had first communion at Easter Vigil a few weeks ago and when they had us practice and talked about the proper way to take communion, we were told that when we advance we bow slightly, the priest would say, “the body/blood of Christ” to which we reply, “Amen” so the priest knows we heard and understand (although they admit some people don’t, they just go up there like “sheep”, grab the wafer and go!) and they appreciate some eye contact- again so it’s not just become something perfunctory but that we know and understand the action we’re performing.

We were also told that making the sign of the cross afterwards which some people perform is optional but is actually not supposed to be done. I forget what the reason was. ( I think “optional” in this sense means they won’t stop you or frown upon it but it’s not proper “etiquette” as it were.)
I think they advised that if you want to do it, wait until you get back to your pew.

 

[una_fides]

As stated, we are to receive the Eucharist in the state of grace only. This means as the Church has clearly stated that no one who is conscious of grave sin is to receive the Body of our Lord without prior sacramental confession. This means that an act of contrition or the rites in the beginning of Mass do not suffice!

I must admit that I have not yet heard one single priest preach this obligation once in the years since I have converted to the Catholic faith. What is the result? Have you seen the confession lines lately? What is crazy is that you may have maybe a dozen people going to confession and hundreds or thousands receiving Communion on Sunday. Anyone see a problem here? Either no one is committing grave sin anymore (which includes fornication, lying, missing mass on Sunday, or breaking any of the other 10 commandments) or people are not being taught the truth. The answer is obvious.

I run Bible studies and carry on discussions with groups of Catholics, and I find it amazing that practically every time this topic is brought up that someone in the group had never heard this teaching before and these are people who had been practicing Catholics their entire lives! Some even the children of deacons!

The cause is two-fold. First, liberal priests and bishops need to be corrected for their lack of faith and confronted when their teachings contradict the Church’s authoritative teachings. I’ve heard priests who try to speculate that everyone is somehow going to heaven because practically no one can commit a mortal sin. What great knowledge and insights these priests must have. So why on earth did Christ establish the sacrament of penance? The truth is that to hold such a position one must first throw out the Church’s 2000 years of Tradition and then begin interpreting a-new. One is not free to interpret mortal sin however he or she pleases. We must go by the Church and be faithful to God’s revelation.

The second problem is many of the priests who do know and believe this teaching are too afraid to offend anyone. So they continue preaching the warm and fuzzies while ignoring the spiritual shipwreck that they are producing through their omissions.

Pope St. Pius X. Acerbo Nimis. 1905: “Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: “We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.” This statement was made in reference to those who do not know the need to make amends with God through his priests before a person dies.

The Church is in a state of catechetical crisis and many souls are suffering and perishing as a result.

It is the responsibility of the faithful to do everything we can to assure that these teachings do not continue to be omitted but that they are faithfully proclaimed, along with the rest of Christ’s message. Let us continue to pray for the Church, her priests, bishops, and especially the pope, and let us do our part to encourage our priests to stand firm and hold fast the the Tradition of the Catholic Church.

 

[muffinmojo]

In case it got lost in the morass of this thread (no offense, people = ] ), the proper ways to receive Communion are:

-bow your head, approach ‘amen’ and receive on the tongue
-bow your head, approach, ‘amen’ and receive on the hand, take one step to the side, consume the Host, walk away
-genuflect, ‘amen’, approach and receive on tongue/hand
-‘amen’, kneel and receive on the tongue

If you do not receive the Precious Blood but pass by the chalice, make a profound bow or genuflect towards it, then turn and return to your pew(the Blood is just as much Christ as the Host in the Tabernacle, we just aren’t as used to respecting it).

 

[japhy]

We were also told that making the sign of the cross afterwards which some people perform is optional but is actually not supposed to be done. I forget what the reason was. ( I think “optional” in this sense means they won’t stop you or frown upon it but it’s not proper “etiquette” as it were.)

I used to make the sign of the cross after receiving as well, but I don’t know. The resident nun at my parish mentioned the “redundancy” of the practice a couple years ago, and I agreed. Since you are receiving the very Body and Blood of the Lord at that moment, crossing yourself is a bit redundant.

 

[Michael_Welter]

I used to make the sign of the cross after receiving as well, but I don’t know. The resident nun at my parish mentioned the “redundancy” of the practice a couple years ago, and I agreed. Since you are receiving the very Body and Blood of the Lord at that moment, crossing yourself is a bit redundant.

The GIRM seems to be silent on the Sign of the Cross. It doesn’t mention any gestures at all. Personally, I see nothing wrong with redundancy. After, receiving the Eucharist under both species is redundant as well, is it not?

 

[anamchara]

The GIRM seems to be silent on the Sign of the Cross. It doesn’t mention any gestures at all. Personally, I see nothing wrong with redundancy. After, receiving the Eucharist under both species is redundant as well, is it not?

I am now in the habit of crossing myself after receiving. I know we are suppose to bow right as the person infront of us is leaving or while they are recieving. I see a great deal of people crossing themselves after receiving. I don’t see how it as redundant, I see it as a way of expressing our profound love and acknowledgment of the presense of our Lord. If we were to see a vision of Christ above the altar, what would be our reaction? I don’t know about anyone else but I would get on my knees and cross myself.