All great worries and good questions. Some of which I was struggling with a year ago. Let’s take them one by one shall we…
THe previous posts about having mass in your native language is 100% correct. Vatican II did allow priests to say mass in the native tounge of their parish which, naturally, SHOULD increase understanding of what’s going on right? We’ll it is up to us to listen too so you can draw youre own conclusions on that one.
The reason being is that yes, although the bishops did convene on this specific matter, it was the Pope who made the “Infalable dcision” that saying mass in the native tounge was ok. In essense, the bishop’s jobs were to convince the Pope of this need (hence, Vatican II).
As for the acceptence of communion, it depends on what your parish’s “common stance” is. Some parishes have the “common stance” of kneeling before the Eucharistic minister to receive but very few. In fact, the majority of Parishes in the Western Civilizations have the common stance of acceptence on the hands. “Common stance” was created basically so that each Parish could be unified in their practicies and, let’s not forget, the proper movements and procedures. For example, if one were to accept on their knees while another were to bow reverently, who knows what would happen if the kneeler got up too quickly and the bow was too reverent!
You’re best bet is to give a slight bow before accpepting either with your hands or directly on the tounge.
I will give you an argument for both. In the Gospel’s Jesus tells us that the Eucharist is “True food and true drink.” Jesus also tells us that our bodies are “Temples of the Holy Spirit.” So in order to be in communion with him we are to accept His Eucharist as food for our souls. So where would you put “Food for the soul” before you eat it? Would you eat cereal without a bowl, spaghetti without a plate? Nor should you take communion without a proper place for it to rest, IE: the alter that you make in the palm of your hands before sharing in the sacrifice that Jesus has made for you.
As for acceptance on the tounge the “true food and drink” will get there eventually. Whether it is your tounge or your hands, it is all still part of your temple that contains the Holy Spirit.
Trutuhfully, none of us are worthy to accept communion because we all sin. But it is because we are sinners that we need communion most. For that reason, as Im sure you know, we have great need of confession so that we can grow to hate sin, and grow to love the one who conquered sin.
As far as St. Thomas Aquinas’ quote I am pretty sure that during his lifetime and up until recently, no one was allowed to dispurse communion besides the priest himself. In fact, Aquinas was probably more than right during that time. However, Even the most brilliant Saints have had their quotes refuted because of the cahnge in society and culture. For example, St. Augustine was one of the first to insititute doctrine on the idea of the Holy Trinity (1 God in three persons). Howeever, he also began the doctrine that encompassed Limbo, a dogma that has since been sacked by Pope Benedict 16. You see, Jesus told Peter that “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you condemn on earth will be condemned in heaven.” As this authority was passed down from Peter to Clement and all of the other Popes after him until our present Pope, this same power was given to each so that Christ’s Church would be able to survive the changes in society and yet still have good morals and perfect doctrine. Without this “Infallabality” on religious matters, we would have no eucharistic ministers, masses in native languages, my goodness, we probably would barely have a Catholic Church. But Jesus knew it would need to change and yet, it still remains perfect. Just goes to show how creative our God really is.
Other forum members, please correct me if you see anything out of place. I know we have some very learned folks on these forums.
God Bless
But I’ll quote St. John Damascus, who wrote: