"Make of Your Hands a Throne"

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sir_galahad

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Anyone really annoyed by the hymn “Make of Your Hands a Throne?” First, it assumes that the entire congregation is receiving Holy Communion in the hand when the normative manner is supposed to be on the tongue. Second, it’s not a prayer… it’s an instruction to those who choose to receive in the hand. I usually attend a Latin Mass, but whenever I attend a certain NO Mass near me and hear this hymn I find it very disturbing.
 
First, it assumes that the entire congregation is receiving Holy Communion in the hand when the normative manner is supposed to be on the tongue.

-Gee, touching Jesus, oh no, anything but that! :rolleyes:

Second, it’s not a prayer… it’s an instruction to those who choose to receive in the hand.

-So, Adeste Fidelis is out to because in instructs the faithful to come and adore Him?

I usually attend a Latin Mass, but whenever I attend a certain NO Mass near me and hear this hymn I find it very disturbing.

-Annoying? Most definitely. Disturbing? The genocide in Darfur is disturbing. A bad hymn is just that- a bad hymn.

There is so much more going on in the word to get worked up about.
 
I attend the NO and thankfully I have not heard this. To me it just sounds as another part of the agenda to do away with receiving Holy Communion on the tongue.
 
Never heard this Hymn…but then 99% of our Parish recieves on the tongue:)
 
Pong said:
First, it assumes that the entire congregation is receiving Holy Communion in the hand when the normative manner is supposed to be on the tongue.

-Gee, touching Jesus, oh no, anything but that! :rolleyes:

Second, it’s not a prayer… it’s an instruction to those who choose to receive in the hand.

-So, Adeste Fidelis is out to because in instructs the faithful to come and adore Him?

I usually attend a Latin Mass, but whenever I attend a certain NO Mass near me and hear this hymn I find it very disturbing.

-Annoying? Most definitely. Disturbing? The genocide in Darfur is disturbing. A bad hymn is just that- a bad hymn.

There is so much more going on in the word to get worked up about.
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I don’t know if I agree that a bad hymn is just a bad hymn. The people singing it are being asked to reconsider centuries of Catholic piety every time that they sing it. Communion in the hand will be the norm in this parish. Instead of praying after Communion, we will sing a song highlighting what WE are doing when we receive Him. In addition, it’s exclusionary, as the words are utterly meaningless to anyone receiving Holy Communion on the tongue.
 
Be nice, guys, I actually know the composer of this song well and worked with him years ago. He’s a very sincere practicing Catholic in good standing and orthodox in belief. As long as many people do receive in the hand, isn’t it good to attempt to emphasize the reverence necessary?
 
I don’t know this hymn, and I generally (although not always) receive on the tonggue. That said, the words “make of your hands a throne” reflect a teaching of the early Church:

**Writing in 350 A.D. Theodore of Mospsuestia, in Homily XV wrote of communion in the hand, “do not approach with hands extended and fingers open wide. Rather make of your left hand a throne for your right as it is about to receive your King, and receive the Body of Christ in the fold of your hand, responding ‘Amen.’… Take care that you do not even lose one piece of that which is more precious than gold or precious stones.”
 
Tantum_ergo said:
Be nice, guys, I actually know the composer of this song well and worked with him years ago. He’s a very sincere practicing Catholic in good standing and orthodox in belief. As long as many people do receive in the hand, isn’t it good to attempt to emphasize the reverence necessary?
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Isn’t the composer of this song the Director of FOlk Choir at Notre Dame-Steven Warner?
 
I’m really proud of him and how he’s developed as a composer in the last 30 years. He really loves working with the kids there and though he’ll always miss the Vermont mountains (I have got to tell him we still have no snow, he’ll never believe it) I think with 20 something years in Indiana he’s gotten used to ‘flat.’

His oldest son Nathan is an excellent musician as well-secular as opposed to sacred, but good.
 
Tantum_ergo said:
I’m really proud of him and how he’s developed as a composer in the last 30 years. He really loves working with the kids there and though he’ll always miss the Vermont mountains (I have got to tell him we still have no snow, he’ll never believe it) I think with 20 something years in Indiana he’s gotten used to ‘flat.’

His oldest son Nathan is an excellent musician as well-secular as opposed to sacred, but good.
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well he is in the right place if he enjoys working with kids!
as far as his music goes…most of it is not my style…but once again each their own;)
 
Well it is good to know that the composer of this song is orthodox—but when one (especially the young) is exposed to this type of hymn in Mass —it would seem they would be more easily manipulated to believe that Communion on the tongue is out of favor in the Church.
 
Walking_Home said:
Well it is good to know that the composer of this song is orthodox—but when one (especially the young) is exposed to this type of hymn in Mass —it would seem they would be more easily manipulated to believe that Communion on the tongue is out of favor in the Church.
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Exactly!
 
mercygate said:
I don’t know this hymn, and I generally (although not always) receive on the tonggue. That said, the words “make of your hands a throne” reflect a teaching of the early Church:

**Writing in 350 A.D. Theodore of Mospsuestia, in *Homily XV ***wrote of communion in the hand, “do not approach with hands extended and fingers open wide. Rather make of your left hand a throne for your right as it is about to receive your King, and receive the Body of Christ in the fold of your hand, responding ‘Amen.’… Take care that you do not even lose one piece of that which is more precious than gold or precious stones.”
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That seems to be a misquote of some kind. A very similiar quote is oft attributed to St. Cyril of Jerusalem.
Approaching do not come with thy palms stretched flat nor with fingers separated. But making thy left hand a seat for thy right, and hollowing thy palm, receive the Body of Christ, responding Amen. And having with care hallowed thine eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, take it, vigilant lest thou drop any of it. For shouldst thou lose any of it, it is as though thou wast deprived of a member of thy own body."
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newadvent.org/cathen/04595b.htm
 
You all may object to this hymn BUT St Cyril of Jerusalem did give instructions as to HOW to Receive Communion in the hand
A wonderful proof of the above is held to be found in a text of St. Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386) in which he counsels the faithful to “make a throne of your hands in which to receive the King [in Holy Communion].” This Father of the Church further counsels great care for any fragments which might remain in one’s hands, since just as one wouldn’t let gold dust fall to the ground so one should take even greater care when it is a question of the Body of the Lord.
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ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM.
(Cateches. Mystagog. v.(1))
When thou goest to receive communion go not with thy wrists extended, nor with thy fingers separated, but placing thy left hand as a throne for thy right, which is to receive so great a King, and in the hollow of the palm receive the body of Christ, saying, Amen.
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Seatuck said:
That seems to be a misquote of some kind. A very similiar quote is oft attributed to St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

newadvent.org/cathen/04595b.htm
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Ah ha! I thought there was something odd about my source; I did a quick google and came up with mine. Yours is the one I had heard also. I THOUGHT the 4th century date was way too late. Thanks for catching that! 👍
 
wannabee said:
You all may object to this hymn BUT St Cyril of Jerusalem did give instructions as to HOW to Receive Communion in the hand
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That fine----but to what some of us object to----is the over emphasis of Communion in the hand to the exclusion of Communion on the tongue. When one keeps hearing this in Mass—they would be more apt to believe —that Communion on the tongue was done away with.
 
wannabee said:
You all may object to this hymn BUT St Cyril of Jerusalem did give instructions as to HOW to Receive Communion in the hand
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Well it wasn’t actually instructions as much as it was an explanation as to how the practice was carried out at his particular Church, in this case the Jerusalem Church. . Now are you ready to hear something that most supporters and advocates of the practice won’t tell you or probably don’t even know???

READY???

They received in the hand because the bulk of the Eucharist was taken home for consumption during the week:) It was not consumed in its entirity at the Church or private home or temple or synagogue or wherever else they held their Mass on that particular day. Typically the one receiving, the husband or father normally, would take the Eucharist back to his family and share a small amount with them there, usually by placing a small amount in their mouths. Wow.

They actually had a valid reason for receiving in the hand. A good well thought out reason. They even had instructions on how to wrap the Eucharist in white cloth so mice wouldn’t eat it:thumbsup:

Now do you take yours home for consumption during the week? As I said, that is the reason they received in the hand. So why do you?
 
palmas makes some excellent points. One should also read St Cyril’s full description of how people received in hand, it was quite a ceremony. The way people receive in hand now is a far cry from the 4th century. And if folks want to be really true to 4th century traditions then women must veil their hands.
 
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