How to properly receive the Eucharist

[Montie_Claunch]

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.

 

[Caesar]

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.

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.

 

[LilyM]

Now now Caesar, you know that not all churches have communion rails, or cloths, and that although all priests SHOULD give you Communion kneeling and on the tongue if you so desire it, they in fact don’t all do so

 

[Michael_Welter]

Yes, bowing before receiving, is a sign of reverence, and is prescibed by the GIRM. The sign of the cross is not prescribed. I believe that the term used by the GIRM is “profound bow”. I usually do it while the person ahead of me in line is receiving. That way, I don’t hold up the line.

 

[JKirkLVNV]

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.

Or you can receive in procession, in the hand, after a profound bow. Then, go to where the Chalice is being offered, make another profound bow, receive from the Chalice and return to your pew. The sign of the Cross isn’t mandatory, but I do it anyway.

 

[leondell]

I am saddened again, as another one of the churches I go to for daily mass, was just “ordered” to stop offering the Eucharist at the communion rail while communicants knelt (they could stand at their option).

Yes, the pastor then provides some catechesis on how to properly recieve communion… form lines at each aisle coming up to the front of the sanctury and then make a reverent bow as a sign of respect & humilty and then place one hand palm up and open on top of the other hand, The priest (or more likely the extraordinary minister of communion) will place the communion host in/on the hand and the communicant will then place the communion wafer in their own mouth as the walk away and return to their seat in the pew. The pastor may or may not mention that people may recieve communion directly on the tongue.

I’m not a full blown traditionalist, actually consider myself simply an obedient Catholic. But this ‘norm’ being enforced by the Bishops is simply another step in the de-sacramentalization of the Sacrifice of the Mass and lessening of the reverance due Our LORD present in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

It is my expereince that after about the first week, most people simply walk up to communion and stick out their hand to receive without barely a nod of the head and absent-mindedly simply place the Eucharist in their mouth as if it were a cracker.

Yes, I admit I may be judging and I certainly do not know the heart of anyone but myself, but I am simply observing the actual actions of people as they recieve. At the same time, I marvel at the wonder and beauty of 100’s of people coming together to attend/particpate in Mass, Celebrate the Eucharist and recieve our LORD.

But at what point do I re-consider being an obedient sheep and search out for a Mass and congregation that expresses in some small human and earthly form the majesty and sacredness of what the Mass truly is?

 

[RCCDefender]

We were told to make a reverent head bow, not from the waist, but then again the parish that told us that is not very orthodox, so maybe I need to see the GIRM reference on that. We were told to make a reverent waist bow during the consecration when the priest kneels at the altar after raising the host and again after raising the chalice. The sign of the cross is not required after communion but has crept in. Still I do it after receiving; it is a prayer in itself after all.

 

[maryjk]

It is my expereince that after about the first week, most people simply walk up to communion and stick out their hand to receive without barely a nod of the head and absent-mindedly simply place the Eucharist in their mouth as if it were a cracker.

Yes, I admit I may be judging and I certainly do not know the heart of anyone but myself, but I am simply observing the actual actions of people as they recieve. At the same time, I marvel at the wonder and beauty of 100’s of people coming together to attend/particpate in Mass, Celebrate the Eucharist and recieve our LORD.

But at what point do I re-consider being an obedient sheep and search out for a Mass and congregation that expresses in some small human and earthly form the majesty and sacredness of what the Mass truly is?

I receive in the hand. I NEVER stick out my hand, then pop Jesus in my mouth like He were nothing more than a cracker. I have been receiving in the hand for years. Not everyone that receives in the hand has no reverence for our Lord.

On the second bold point, I am not sure how to even answer.

 

[Trelow]

And according to my instruction, if you are not receiving our Lord from the chalice, you should still make a profound bow when you pass. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

 

[tee_eff_em]

I believe that the term used by the GIRM is “profound bow”. I usually do it while the person ahead of me in line is receiving. That way, I don’t hold up the line.

We were told to make a reverent head bow, not from the waist, but then again the parish that told us that is not very orthodox, so maybe I need to see the GIRM reference on that.

In the United States, a bow of the head is all that is called for. I do not know that a profound bow is thereby proscribed (If a comminicant cannot be denied the sacrament by kneeling, I don’t see how he could be denied for a profound bow). USCCB Adaptations to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal:

Distribution of Holy Communion
This adaptation will take the place of number 160, paragraph 2:

The faithful are not permitted to take up the consecrated bread or the sacred chalice themselves, and still less, hand them on to one another. **The norm for reception of Holy Communion in the dioceses of the United States is standing. Communicants should not be denied Holy Communion because they kneel. Rather, such instances should be addressed pastorally, by providing the faithful with proper catechesis on the reasons for this norm.

When receiving Holy Communion, the communicant bows his or her head before the sacrament as a gesture of reverence and receives the Body of the Lord from the minister. The consecrated host may be received either on the tongue or in the hand at the discretion of each communicant. When Holy Communion is received under both kinds, the sign of reverence is also made before receiving the Precious Blood.**

tee

 

[JKirkLVNV]

But at what point do I re-consider being an obedient sheep and search out for a Mass and congregation that expresses in some small human and earthly form the majesty and sacredness of what the Mass truly is?

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.

 

[Traditional_Ang]

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.

Caesar:

For communicants to do that, the churches they are in need to have Alter Rails and/or parish priests and the bishops over them need to allow them to receive our Lord’s body on their knees as Cardinal Arinze has directed they be allowed to do.

The tragedy is that many of the alter rails have been torn out from many of our churches for no good purpose, and bishops such as Bishop Brown of Orange, CA are determined not to allow commnicants to receive the Eucharist on their knees.

Everyone at St. Mary’s, where I go to church, receives our Lord’s Body and Blood kneeling with his or her brothers and sisters in Christ at an alter rail unless they are too ill to go there. This makes those who receive our Lord’s Body and Blood at St. Mary’s more aware of the presence of the Lord, the power of the Sacrament and the unity of the Body of Christ than most communicants in most Catholic Churches.

I can’t help but think the same thing would happen if most Catholics received our Lord on their knees together at an alter rail. And, then we would understand that the Euchartist is just not something that we do by ourselves - It’s something that we do as a family or a body.

Your Brother in Christ, Michael

 

[Traditional_Ang]

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.

JKirk:

Leondell was willing to admit that he might have been Judgmental in his interpretation of what he had seen. I’ve seen the same thing, and it’s been hard not to say the same thing.

But at least he was willing to admit that he night have been judging his brothers and sisters.

You just did it without a comment.

This has to be a safe place for us to talk about issues that touch us and that sometimes drive us up the wall wothout fear of being blasted for saying it.

Your post served to take that away for Leondel, and for anyone else who might have felt as he felt.

The Roman Pagans didn’t marvel at early Christians saying, “Look at how well those Christians put each other in their places.” Did they?

No. They said, “Look at how those Christians LOVE One another!”

Do you think a nonbeliever reading your rely to Leondell would say that? Or, Do you think he might just have something else to say.

I’m not just saying that to you, because it seems the Anonymity of the Internet and all of these different Screennames seems to allow us to act as if no one were watching, and that doesn’t always bring out the best in us…

Your Brother in Christ, Michael

 

[JKirkLVNV]

Caesar:

Everyone at St. Mary’s, where I go to church, receives our Lord’s Body and Blood kneeling with his or her brothers and sisters in Christ at an alter rail unless they are too ill to go there. This makes those who receive our Lord’s Body and Blood at St. Mary’s* more*** aware of the presence of the Lord, the power of the Sacrament and the unity of the Body of Christ than most communicants in most Catholic Churches. **
Can I respectfully ask how you know the above to be true? I mean, outside the Diocese of Orange, which I’m sure is just as much a hotbed of liturgical abuse as the Archdiocese of LA.

I received Communion as an Anglican for years, almost always (outside of the diocesan convention) kneeling at a rail. Yet I did not feel the force of the same action as I know feel receiving Him truly, despite the fact that I receive standing. Please don’t mistake me, I would kneel given the chance to do so at a rail. I simply would not be prepared to assert that any other recipient in the church, much less in the diocese or in any other Catholic parish anywhere else in the world, feels it any less for receiving the Same while standing.
**
I can’t help but think the same thing would happen if most Catholics received our Lord on their knees together at an alter rail. And, then we would understand that the Euchartist is just not something that we do by ourselves - It’s something that we do as a family or a body.

**I rather imagine that if given a test on the subject where the choices were A) “Is Holy Communion something that we do by ourselves?” or "B) “Is Holy Communion something we do as a body or a family?”, most Catholics that I know would select B. **

 

[JKirkLVNV]

JKirk:

Leondell was willing to admit that he might have been Judgmental in his interpretation of what he had seen. I’ve seen the same thing, and it’s been hard not to say the same thing.

But at least he was willing to admit that he night have been judging his brothers and sisters.

You just did it without a comment.

This has to be a safe place for us to talk about issues that touch us and that sometimes drive us up the wall wothout fear of being blasted for saying it.

Your post served to take that away for Leondel, and for anyone else who might have felt as he felt.

The Roman Pagans didn’t marvel at early Christians saying, “Look at how well those Christians put each other in their places.” Did they?

No. They said, “Look at how those Christians LOVE One another!”

Do you think a nonbeliever reading your rely to Leondell would say that? Or, Do you think he might just have something else to say.

I’m not just saying that to you, because it seems the Anonymity of the Internet and all of these different Screennames seems to allow us to act as if no one were watching, and that doesn’t always bring out the best in us…

Your Brother in Christ, Michael

I think a non-believer observing MOST of the postings in this type of thread would go away with the assumption that there are Catholics who think that they are better Catholics than their
religious confreres because they kneel for Holy Communion or because they receive exclusively on the tongue or because they receive exclusively from a priest or because they make 2 genuflections and 3 Signs of the Cross instead of 1 genuflection and 2 Signs of the Cross.

Regarding judging…No one has any idea whatsoever the disposition of anyone at Mass who is merely following the “normative” discipline, whatever constitutes that word in the law of the Church. I don’t and you don’t.

And sure, it’s perfectly SAFE for you “to talk about issues that touch us and that sometimes drive us up the wall wothout fear of being blasted for saying it.” You perfectly free to make observations and judgements such as “Everyone at St. Mary’s, where I go to church, receives our Lord’s Body and Blood kneeling with his or her brothers and sisters in Christ at an alter rail unless they are too ill to go there. This makes those who receive our Lord’s Body and Blood at St. Mary’s* more** aware of the presence of the Lord, the power of the Sacrament and the unity of the Body of Christ than most communicants in most Catholic Churches.” *Isn’t anyone who thinks that’s absurd and elitist equally safe to call you on it? And let me just ask, don’t you regard commenting negatively on someone rec. Holy Communion while standing as a bit of a “blasting”? They’re just following the “norm,” as requested by their bishops/priests, etc. How are any of us able to judge their awareness of any aspect of the reception of Holy Communion based on what is, after all, simple obedience to authority?

And is it a demonstration of Christian love, from a lofty and enlightened elevation apparently unoccupied by not only our bishops, but the Holy See as well, to smugly assume that one knows what is better for everyone else? I’m not saying Leondell or you are either one guilty of that, but that’s precisely the thing of which I’m sick to death.

I apologize if my response to Leondell sounded personal. I stand by my statement, however.

 

[AMDG1]

Gee…I genuflect when I enter the aisle from the pew. I seem to remember people doing this a lot when I was a kid (basically, everyone did)…but now I seem to be the only one.

 

[JKirkLVNV]

Gee…I genuflect when I enter the aisle from the pew. I seem to remember people doing this a lot when I was a kid (basically, everyone did)…but now I seem to be the only one.

We are supposed to do that. I can’t because of a bad back, so I bow while hanging onto the pew.

 

[Traditional_Ang]

I think a non-believer observing MOST of the postings in this type of thread would go away with the assumption that there are Catholics who think that they are better Catholics than their
religious confreres because they kneel for Holy Communion or because they receive exclusively on the tongue or because they receive exclusively from a priest or because they make 2 genuflections and 3 Signs of the Cross instead of 1 genuflection and 2 Signs of the Cross.

Regarding judging…No one has any idea whatsoever the disposition of anyone at Mass who is merely following the “normative” discipline, whatever constitutes that word in the law of the Church. I don’t and you don’t.

And sure, it’s perfectly SAFE for you “to talk about issues that touch us and that sometimes drive us up the wall wothout fear of being blasted for saying it.” You perfectly free to make observations and judgements such as “Everyone at St. Mary’s, where I go to church, receives our Lord’s Body and Blood kneeling with his or her brothers and sisters in Christ at an alter rail unless they are too ill to go there. This makes those who receive our Lord’s Body and Blood at St. Mary’s* more*** aware of the presence of the Lord, the power of the Sacrament and the unity of the Body of Christ than most communicants in most Catholic Churches.” Isn’t anyone who thinks that’s absurd and elitist equally safe to call you on it? And let me just ask, don’t you regard commenting negatively on someone rec. Holy Communion while standing as a bit of a “blasting”? They’re just following the “norm,” as requested by their bishops/priests, etc. How are any of us able to judge their awareness of any aspect of the reception of Holy Communion based on what is, after all, simple obedience to authority?

And is it a demonstration of Christian love, from a lofty and enlightened elevation apparently unoccupied by not only our bishops, but the Holy See as well, to smugly assume that one knows what is better for everyone else? I’m not saying Leondell or you are either one guilty of that, but that’s precisely the thing of which I’m sick to death.

I apologize if my response to Leondell sounded personal. I stand by my statement, however.

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

 

[Traditional_Ang]

We are supposed to do that. I can’t because of a bad back, so I bow while hanging onto the pew.

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

 

[Caesar]

Caesar:

For communicants to do that, the churches they are in need to have Alter Rails and/or parish priests and the bishops over them need to allow them to receive our Lord’s body on their knees as Cardinal Arinze has directed they be allowed to do.

The tragedy is that many of the alter rails have been torn out from many of our churches for no good purpose, and bishops such as Bishop Brown of Orange, CA are determined not to allow commnicants to receive the Eucharist on their knees.

Everyone at St. Mary’s, where I go to church, receives our Lord’s Body and Blood kneeling with his or her brothers and sisters in Christ at an alter rail unless they are too ill to go there. This makes those who receive our Lord’s Body and Blood at St. Mary’s more aware of the presence of the Lord, the power of the Sacrament and the unity of the Body of Christ than most communicants in most Catholic Churches.

I can’t help but think the same thing would happen if most Catholics received our Lord on their knees together at an alter rail. And, then we would understand that the Euchartist is just not something that we do by ourselves - It’s something that we do as a family or a body.

Your Brother in Christ, Michael

Exactly!

Well said