Nervous about receiving on the tongue

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Is there a parish in your area which offers the Tridentine Mass?

If so, start attending. You may not understand the language, but you’ll encounter a lot less in the way of liturgical abuses and liberalized American indults like Communion in the hand and altar girls. Not to mention the music is immeasurably better.

“The TLM: Wave of the Future.” ™
 
When I first started receiving on the tongue, I was nervous, too. Someone told me to open my mouth as if I were saying “aaaah” for the doctor to look at my throat, and to rest the bottom of my tongue about even with the edge of my lower lip. The priest will place the host on your tongue and it will stick there. Just remember to say “Amen” before he puts it there! :o So just do it, and God bless. 👍
 
Daprato said:
Of course. Now what does that have to do with receiving in hand?
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You receive bread on the hand. It’s a very ordinary action, as if you’re eating a potato chip. Reception on the tongue is an action which gives us the proper disposition to understand that we’re truly receiving God. It sets the action apart from the style of eating we’re used to.
Unproven speculation.
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No. If people still received our Lord kneeling and on the tongue, I seriously doubt that so many people would be unaware of the real presence.
 
Just open your mouth and don’t close it until the priest has moved his hand away from your mouth. (don’t bite the priest)

It is pretty easy to do and once you start receiving it you will see how much better it is to receive on the tongue. I am not saying that those who receive in the hand are disobedient or doing bad.

So don’t be nervous and just do it.

I will never receive in the hand, as it is a bad example to my kids. As a father I must show utmost reverence to give a good example for my children. For those who want to foster a belief in the real presence of Christ to our children we must practice what we preach. (I have seen a few people in my parish receive reverently in the hand but I try to not pay attention to other people and focus on my own personal failures.)
(it seems most Catholics these days do not truly believe in the real presence of Jesus, or that Jesus is truly God) This is evidenced by the lack of horror at liturgical abuse and casual attitude people receive Jesus. The proof is easily obtained just by asking a few questions of fellow Catholics.
I do not blame the people, as the lax catechesis is to blame.
Live in California or visit Los Angeles Religious Congress and that should be proof enough.

I have to ask God for forgiveness each time I serve at Mass as I am forced to fraction His Blood and disobey the Church in service of my Bishop. I do this as service to God as others take an even more lax attitude and I do not want further offense to God to be perpetuated each time at Mass.

God Bless
Scylla
 
Daprato said:
Is that in the Bible or the CCC? I just follow the Catholic Church’s direction on the matter…
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The Catholic church no longer offers us a “direction”; we’re free to receive on the tongue or in the hand. I believe firmly, though, that the former is superior.
 
Wolseley said:
Is there a parish in your area which offers the Tridentine Mass?

If so, start attending. You may not understand the language, but you’ll encounter a lot less in the way of liturgical abuses and liberalized American indults like Communion in the hand and altar girls. Not to mention the music is immeasurably better.

“The TLM: Wave of the Future.” ™
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Yes, there’s a monthly TLM at the Cathedral, which is just a five-minute walk from where I live. I’ll be going there on Sunday 😃 . I’m considering attending a Ukrainian-Catholic Divine Liturgy the rest of the time, but the community is kind of small and Ukrainian-only; I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable…
 
Daprato said:
To be honest, we really don’t know if there was a universal practice or not. To even infer the liturgies celebrated by the Apostles and other early saints were anything less than “right” just leaves me befuddled with amazement. I’m not sure how to respond.
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The liturgies celebrated by the Apostles certainly involved reception on the tongue, since this is the received tradition of the Church (If you don’t believe me, ask the Orthodox). The only real evidence we have of reception in the hand is when eremetics had no priest or deacon to administer the Eucharist, or when average Christians had no clergy available due to persecution. It was always an exception to the norm.

My point about universal practice was that there was no central authority to regulate these things,
Are you suggesting that the Pope DOES NOT have the power to effect such a change? C’mon…
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The Pope is much less powerful than you might imagine. Even if he recinded the indults, the practice would continue under the tacit approval of the Bishops. He might even encounter outright rebellion.
 
Dauphin said:
Kneeling down helps your soul to make an act of adoration, by placing you firmly in your proper place before God; not as an equal, but as an adorer.
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In your opinion. To me, making a throne for the body of Christ is reverent and makes me an adorer. I stand out of respect for the real body of Christ.
 
Pius_X said:
In your opinion. To me, making a throne for the body of Christ is reverent and makes me an adorer. I stand out of respect for the real body of Christ.
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Great! For most people, though, it fosters irreverence.
 
Daprato said:
To be honest, we really don’t know if there was a universal practice or not. To even infer the liturgies celebrated by the Apostles and other early saints were anything less than “right” just leaves me befuddled with amazement.
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So why did they discontinue the practice if it had been so “right”?
 
CarrieH said:
When I first started receiving on the tongue, I was nervous, too. Someone told me to open my mouth as if I were saying “aaaah” for the doctor to look at my throat, and to rest the bottom of my tongue about even with the edge of my lower lip. The priest will place the host on your tongue and it will stick there. Just remember to say “Amen” before he puts it there! :o So just do it, and God bless. 👍
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Ok, but you need not say “Amen” when you receive in the Extraordinary Form. You also allow the server to place the paten under your chin. In some of the Latin Masses, you even place your hands under the communion rail cloth. (I once heard that the bishop in Rockford required all recipients to do this as this was (or at least he claimed it was) a practice in the early Church.)
 
Dauphin,

One thing that no one has mentioned is to close your eyes when you open your mouth. Our priest tells us that most people have an involuntary flinch as they see the hand approaching their mouth. Close your eyes and you will not flinch and possibly have an accident.
 
Dauphin said:
I’ve recently been convinced that reception of Communion on the hand is an unacceptable method. I recognize that it’s really an abuse which has contributed in a dramatic way to the decline in belief in the real presence, and I can no longer do it in good conscience.
QUOTE]

According to the Catholic Church, the Pope of Rome holds the Keys to the Kingdom: to loose and to bind. The Pope (wasn’t in Pope John Paul II) loosed the rule/practice and allowed for reception of the Holy Eucharist in the hand. This is something that is optional now for all Catholics. I would be careful, very careful, if I were you, about how you view this. By your comment, “I’ve recently been convinced that reception of Communion on the hand is an unacceptable method” **you are going against your very Church as the Church, through the Pope has declared this practice licit. **

I am an Orthodox Christian - all Orthodox Churches give Holy Communion via a gold spoon directly into the mouth of those who receive. But we are not under the Pope as you are. Remaining under the Pope you must, you must**, obey the Pope. Receive on the tongue because you feel like every now and again, but do not call or even think that receiving in the hand is “unacceptable”!
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I started receiving on the tongue about 3 years ago. I remember being very nervous. I walked in the church and headed straight for the bathroom to make sure my mouth “looked” okay inside–I’ll never forget it. At Communion, my hands were sweating so bad I couldn’t have changed my mind and received in the hand. I get all the way to the front and for some stupid reason, it occurred to me to take an extra step forward because now that my hands weren’t extended I figured I’d need to get a bit closer. Only problem is that extra step put me just about beak to beak with the priest. He looked at me kind of strange and then I opened my mouth and for an instance, he looked either puzzled or fearful. (I remember thinking he probably thinks I’m going to lick his face.) He had to draw his arm back slightly and kind of toss the Host into my mouth because I was so close. My face turned beat red and as I walked back to my pew, I asked God “Why would you do that to me?” I felt awful. I’m not sure why my priest looked so darned awful surprised because we’d talked the night before and I told him I was switching to receiving on the tongue. I guess he’s so darned busy, he probably didn’t remember the next morning.

Why am I telling you this? Because you can’t do any worse than I did and I got over the nerves in a few weeks. Now it’s okay and anxiety free. Go for it.

GladCatholic
 
Marina14 said:
According to the Catholic Church, the Pope of Rome holds the Keys to the Kingdom: to loose and to bind. The Pope (wasn’t in Pope John Paul II) loosed the rule/practice and allowed for reception of the Holy Eucharist in the hand. This is something that is optional now for all Catholics. I would be careful, very careful, if I were you, about how you view this. By your comment, “I’ve recently been convinced that reception of Communion on the hand is an unacceptable method” **you are going against your very Church as the Church, through the Pope has declared this practice licit. **

I am an Orthodox Christian - all Orthodox Churches give Holy Communion via a gold spoon directly into the mouth of those who receive. But we are not under the Pope as you are. Remaining under the Pope you must, you must**, obey the Pope. Receive on the tongue because you feel like every now and again, but do not call or even think that receiving in the hand is “unacceptable”!
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C’mon, now, you know that’s silliness. This is a discipline of the Church which I believe should be changed. It’s not a matter of faith and morals under which I’m bound to profess some particular teaching. Reception on the hand isn’t doctrine - it’s practice.

It’s true that permission has been authoritatively granted for reception in this manner; I simply believe that this permission should be revoked. I would never presume to tell other Catholics that they must receive on the tongue, or that the practice of receiving on the hand is illicit. The practice is obviously “acceptable” given the indults for its use. To be more precise, I should have said “undesirable method”, not “unacceptable method”. Hopefully, the Church will make it “unacceptable”.
 
Dauphin said:
There was no universal practice in the early church. The church was gradually lead in the right direction, and universalized reception on the tongue

Do you really doubt that Pope Benedict would see the practice abolished in an instant if he had the power?
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Honey, if he doesn’t have the power, then no one does… 🙂
 
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