No Communion for the congregation?

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SndChsr

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Hello,
I’ve been attending the Latin Mass for a while, but there is still lots to be learned. I’m a little confused and I hope someone can help me. Today on the way home from work, I decided to stop at our local Traditional Parish to pray the rosary. To my delight, after I was finished, a Mass was held. I was the ONLY person in that Church. After the consecration of the Host, I went to line up to receive Holy Communion but the Priest only gave it to the server and then turned around as if I wasn’t even there. I know he saw me.
To my knowledge, communion is ALWAYS offered to the congregation as long as anyone is there to receive it. Am I wrong? Is there something in the Tridentine Mass that I’m missing?
Thank you in advance for the answers.
 
First thought that came to me was that there wasn’t any other consecrated host for you to receive Holy Communion - either the priest only consecrated his host and one for the server for that Mass, and perhaps because there were no other consecrated hosts in the Tabernacle from Easter Sunday.

Can’t think of any other reason, if as you say the priest was aware of your presence.
 
Another thought occurred to me after re-reading your post, was this an unscheduled Mass? That is one not at the usual time? Not mentioned in the newsletter?
Sometimes if a priest has a Mass stipend to fulfill or (for some other reason I’m not aware of), and the scheduled Masses already have a stipend allotted for those Masses he may say a “private” Mass. And by this I mean, one where the Catholic community is not aware is to take place and thus would not be coming to attend e.g. a scheduled Mass. Therefore the priest may not have been expecting anyone else to be present and come up for communion, thus no other host consecrated. (And yes I know that all Masses are public).

These are just my thoughts. To know why for certain, you’d need to go back and ask the priest about it.
 
Did you kneel at the altar railing? If so I don’t know what to tell you. My first thought was maybe you were standing and not kneeling along altar rail
 
I was about 10ft away from the Altar. The Priest was still tending to the server and I wasn’t sure if it was right for me to come up yet. I was the only person there, so it was kinda awkward. I would think that he would make eye contact with me to give some sort of cue for me to come up to the rail.
 
Sounds like a private mass. I know in parishes where they have a lot of priests who need to say their daily mass you might see a mass being said, but it’s not the “official” mass of the day. Therefore the priest likely didn’t have any more consecrated hosts. It’s definitely not personal!
 
I didn’t think it was personal. Just kinda felt like…am I that bad that they can see right through me? LOL, I know it’s not the case, but this being Easter Monday, I was happy that I made it to Church and thought I would receive communion. (Yes, I did go to confession). I also had a brief thought that maybe there weren’t enough hosts. The whole situation was just very awkward. AFAIK, if people come up to receive the Holy Sacrament, it cannot be denied.
Thanks for all the answers!
 
Thanks CRV. You may very well be right. Just felt disappointed for not receiving the Holy Eucharist on Easter Monday. God bless!
 
Sounds like a private mass.

If the Parish is run by a traditional order (like the FSSP) they do not concelebrate so they will often pray a private mass, esp if they have stipends.

If he was a Diocesan priest, it’s also possible that he was “practicing.”

Either way, he most likely only had enough hosts for himself and the servers.
 
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A sincere thanks to all those who replied. This may have indeed been a private Mass…something I wasn’t even aware of. As mentioned before, I was under the impression that a priest cannot deny Holy Communion to anyone, especially at Mass.
 
I must say SndChsr you have a very positive reaction to this… I think I might have worried I’d done to something to cause offence, I’d expect the priest or server to approach and explain it to me afterwards. But I do realise that I attend etc. my local church so much that I am practically part of the furniture and it may affect my perception as to what I might expect other places. It’s good that you post it so that others are aware in case it happens to them.
 
powerandglory said:
Sounds like a private mass. I know in parishes where they have a lot of priests who need to say their daily mass you might see a mass being said, but it’s not the “official” mass of the day. Therefore the priest likely didn’t have any more consecrated hosts. It’s definitely not personal!
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I guess Priest thought you would come if you wanted to receive. That was simple misunderstanding. Once at Byzantine Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts, only one person besides me and Priest was to receive Eucharist. I thought that people are going by rows or something, so I waited. When Priest started leaving I looked in confusion at someone beside me and they signaled me to hurry, so I just kinda ran to receive Our Lord. Because there were very few people, Priest laughed it off and actually apologized (maybe he thought he didn’t notice me, but that was far from being his guilt). It was not Liturgy attended by many people so it was kinda fine, and I’m not Byzantine either so I was visibly confused. Maybe try to approach Priest next time or speak up (though yes, I understand EF is taken a bit more seriously even if Mass is private).
 
But didn’t the priest see the OP in the pews during Mass? He could have easily add a new Host just by seeing someone in the church right?
 
Mary888 said:
But didn’t the priest see the OP in the pews during Mass? He could have easily add a new Host just by seeing someone in the church right?
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I thought the same thing. Or he could have broken one in half.
 
He could have, and perhaps did, but if OP did not approach Priest might have gotten confused too. Being very prone to stress, if I imagine myself in Priest’s shoes I can completely understand that misunderstanding would happen (and would not be necessarily OP’s fault or Priest’s fault).

That’s all speculation though.
 
It is very likely that there are plenty of consecrated host left from the Easter celebrations on Thursday evening, Saturday vigil or Easter Sunday in the tabernacle.
 
OH trust me, the “positive” reaction is phase 2 lol! I was heart broken. I could not stop thinking about it, thus searching the net, not finding answers and finally signing up here so I could ask. Now that it was suggested that it may have been a private Mass, I feel at ease. But after it happened, I was distraught. Thanks for the reply!
God bless.
 
I totally agree. If anyone was at fault here, it was me. The Priest was still praying over the host, so I didn’t want to rush him, thus waiting in the isle. Nothing against the Priest. He is an awesome and very Holy Priest and I’m thankful our Parish is blessed to have him.
 
Those things happen. Don’t blame yourself too much either- in your shoes I’d prolly act the same too 😃 God bless you and your Holy Priest, Church needs people like you both.
 
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