Pope distributes Communion at Corpus Christi Mass

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AJV said:
…to people who are kneeling. Very interesting.
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Why is that interesting?

Seems he has now covered all the bases - when in the US he distributed to folks on the tongue and in the hand.
 
Eilish_Maura said:
Why is that interesting?
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Because kneeling has not been seen for some time at Papal Masses. And quite a few other places.

It wasn’t only in the US that the Holy Father distributed Communion to people standing, and in the hand. It has happened at other Papal Masses.

And he’s not covered all the bases - kneeling and in the hand is still open. 😉
 
AJV said:
…to people who are kneeling. Very interesting.
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Kneeling on the tongue ? The Feast of Corpus Christi on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday when it is supposed to be celebrated ?

Interesting indeed. Cardinal Hoyos will be praying the Forma extaraordinaria in Westminister Cathedral next month.

Holy Smoke !

I love springtime.

:extrahappy:
 
This is all adding up.

From all indications, our Holy Father isn’t going to let the Bishops side step the MP, by simply acknowledging it, and hoping it blows over. The only way to get feedback is to expose the Faithful to the FE. They can’t express interest in something the majority of them are not even aware of, now can they ? 🙂

“It is granted to few to recognize the true Church amid the darkness of so many schisms and heresies, and to fewer still so to love the truth which they have seen as to fly to its embrace.” -St. Robert Bellarmine
 
I was trying to see if Zenit posted the homily, but, as of this morning, it hadn’t.

I stayed up late to watch the entire Mass and the procession. Pope Benedict made a specific reference to kneeling in his homily. The closest I could get was the synopsis from the Vatican Information Service:
Finally, the third element of Corpus Christi, that of "kneeling in adoration before the Lord", is “the most valuable and radical remedy against the idolatries of yesterday and today, … it is a profession of freedom: those who bow to Jesus cannot and must not prostrate themselves before any earthly power, however strong”, said the Pope.
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As Christians "we prostrate ourselves before God, Who first bowed down towards man … to save him and give him life, Who knelt before us to wash our dirty feet. Adoring the Body of Christ means believing that there, in that piece of bread, Christ is truly present and gives real meaning to life, to the vast universe as to the smallest of creatures, to the whole of human history as to the briefest of lives".
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When he said these words, I figured that something incredible would be happening, and, it did. The communicants were kneeling to receive Holy Communion. Furthermore, Chris Altieri and Charles Collins (the two commentators from Vatican Radio) were reflecting on that particular aspect of the homily while the faithful were approaching the Holy Father to receive Holy Communion.

This is actually very consistent with what he wrote in the Spirit of the Liturgy where the Holy Father notes that:
There are groups, of no small influence, who are trying to talk us out of kneeling. “It doesn’t suit our culture”, they say (which culture?) “It’s not right for a grown man to do this – he should face God on his feet”. Or again: “It’s not appropriate for redeemed man – he has been set free by Christ and doesn’t need to kneel any more”.
If we look at history, we can see that the Greeks and Romans rejected kneeling. In view of the squabbling, partisan deities described in mythology, this attitude was thoroughly justified. It was only too obvious that these gods were not God, even if you were dependent on their capricious power and had to make sure that, whenever possible, you enjoyed their favor. And so they said that kneeling was unworthy of a free man, unsuitable for the culture of Greece, something the barbarians went in for. Plutarch and Theophrastus regarded kneeling as an expression of superstition.
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Aristotle called it a barbaric form of behavior (cf. Rhetoric 1361 a 36). Saint Augustine agreed with him in a certain respect: the false gods were only the masks of demons, who subjected men to the worship of money and to self-seeking, thus making them “servile” and superstitious. He said that the humility of Christ and His love, which went as far as the Cross, have freed us from these powers. We now kneel before that humility. The kneeling of Christians is not a form of inculturation into existing customs. It is quite the opposite, an expression of Christian culture, which transforms the existing culture through a new and deeper knowledge and experience of God.
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Kneeling does not come from any culture – it comes from the Bible and its knowledge of God. The central importance of kneeling in the Bible can be seen in a very concrete way. The word proskynein alone occurs fifty-nine times in the New Testament, twenty-four of which are in the Apocalypse, the book of the heavenly Liturgy, which is presented to the Church as the standard for her own Liturgy.
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Clearly, this is a very profound message that was brought to life in a very concrete way.
 
frommi said:
Or it was just people kneeling to receive communion
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First of all, you would have to have witnessed the entire broadcast to know that prior to Communion, a kneeler had been brought out by the papal staff. All of the communicants who received Holy Father from Pope Benedict XVI knelt.

Furthermore, the issue of kneeling was specifically mentioned by the Pope in his homily. As soon as Zenit or the Vatican’s website posts the English translation of the homily, I’ll include the appropriate sections. The two Vatican Radio commentators made specific references to the homily as the people were shown kneeling to receive Holy Communion. Incidentally, all of the communicants received on the tongue.
 
benedictgal said:
First of all, you would have to have witnessed the entire broadcast to know that prior to Communion, a kneeler had been brought out by the papal staff. All of the communicants who received Holy Father from Pope Benedict XVI knelt.

Furthermore, the issue of kneeling was specifically mentioned by the Pope in his homily. As soon as Zenit or the Vatican’s website posts the English translation of the homily, I’ll include the appropriate sections. The two Vatican Radio commentators made specific references to the homily as the people were shown kneeling to receive Holy Communion. Incidentally, all of the communicants received on the tongue.
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So now the watch is on – was this choreographed because of the feast and wording in the homily?
 
Eilish_Maura said:
So now the watch is on – was this choreographed because of the feast and wording in the homily?
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You needn’t be sacrastic. Furthermore, whether or not this was “choreographed” doesn’t matter. The fact is that something beautiful transpired and, whether it was meant to or not, it was perfectly appropriate.
 
benedictgal said:
Furthermore, the issue of kneeling was specifically mentioned by the Pope in his homily. As soon as Zenit or the Vatican’s website posts the English translation of the homily, I’ll include the appropriate sections.
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Here’s a link to the most relevant Zenit article so far, but it only has excerpts and the kneeling aspect was not included by the author. How long does it usually take for a translation to be posted?

I did find the Italian text, but when I ran it through the Google translator, I found no reference to kneeling. I wonder if this is the wrong homily, if they edited out the kneeling references before publishing the transcript, or if my translator was just dodgy?
 
Digitonomy said:
Here’s a link to the most relevant Zenit article so far, but it only has excerpts and the kneeling aspect was not included by the author. How long does it usually take for a translation to be posted?

I did find the Italian text, but when I ran it through the Google translator, I found no reference to kneeling. I wonder if this is the wrong homily, if they edited out the kneeling references before publishing the transcript, or if my translator was just dodgy?
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The Italian text does have a reference to “kneeling.” The word for kneeling in Italian is “inginocchiarsi”, which is to the Spanish word “incar”.
We are Christians and we kneel in front of the Blessed Sacrament because we know and we believe that the only, True God, is present, the One who created the world and so greatly loved the world that he gave us his only begotten Son…He knelt in front of us to wash our feet.
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I know some Italian so this is the section comes from the homily that I printed off the Vatican website. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to have listened to the English translation as it was read by Vatican Radio.

Maybe the Zenit translation will come out in tonight’s email edition. By the way, half of the Zenit English staff works for Vatican Radio.
 
benedictgal said:
The Italian text does have a reference to “kneeling.” The word for kneeling in Italian is “inginocchiarsi”, which is to the Spanish word “incar”.
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I was unable to find that word in the Italian homily I linked to. Is this from a different mass, or did Zenit transcribe it differently from your Vatican website source?
 
Digitonomy said:
Here’s a link to the most relevant Zenit article so far, but it only has excerpts and the kneeling aspect was not included by the author. How long does it usually take for a translation to be posted?

I did find the Italian text, but when I ran it through the Google translator, I found no reference to kneeling. I wonder if this is the wrong homily, if they edited out the kneeling references before publishing the transcript, or if my translator was just dodgy?
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The following is from the Vatican site. The first paragraph is the original in Italian. What follows is the Babel Fish translation.

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20080522_corpus-domini_it.html

E a questo punto non si può non pensare all’inizio del “decalogo”, i dieci comandamenti, dove sta scritto: “Io sono il Signore, tuo Dio, che ti ho fatto uscire dal paese d’Egitto, dalla condizione di schiavitù: non avrai altri dèi di fronte a me” (Es 20,2-3). Troviamo qui il senso del terzo elemento costitutivo del Corpus Domini: inginocchiarsi in adorazione di fronte al Signore. Adorare il Dio di Gesù Cristo, fattosi pane spezzato per amore, è il rimedio più valido e radicale contro le idolatrie di ieri e di oggi. Inginocchiarsi davanti all’Eucaristia è professione di libertà: chi si inchina a Gesù non può e non deve prostrarsi davanti a nessun potere terreno, per quanto forte. Noi cristiani ci inginocchiamo solo davanti al Santissimo Sacramento, perché in esso sappiamo e crediamo essere presente l’unico vero Dio, che ha creato il mondo e lo ha tanto amato da dare il suo Figlio unigenito (cfr Gv 3,16). Ci prostriamo dinanzi a un Dio che per primo si è chinato verso l’uomo, come Buon Samaritano, per soccorrerlo e ridargli vita, e si è inginocchiato davanti a noi per lavare i nostri piedi sporchi. Adorare il Corpo di Cristo vuol dire credere che lì, in quel pezzo di pane, c’è realmente Cristo, che dà vero senso alla vita, all’immenso universo come alla più piccola creatura, all’intera storia umana come alla più breve esistenza. L’adorazione è preghiera che prolunga la celebrazione e la comunione eucaristica e in cui l’anima continua a nutrirsi: si nutre di amore, di verità, di pace; si nutre di speranza, perché Colui al quale ci prostriamo non ci giudica, non ci schiaccia, ma ci libera e ci trasforma.

Babel Fish translation

And to this point it cannot not be thought at the beginning about the “Decalogue”, the ten comandamenti, where it is written: “I am the Gentleman, your God, than I have let out you from the country of Egypt, from the slavery condition: you will not have others of of forehead to me” (Es 20,2-3). We find here the sense of the third constituent element of the Corpus Dominions: to kneel down itself in adoration of forehead to the Gentleman. To adore the God di Jesus Christ, fattosi bread broken for love, is the more valid and radical remedy against the idolatrie yesterday and today. To kneel down itself in front of the Eucaristia is freedom profession: who inchina to Jesus cannot and land does not have to prostrarsi in front of no power, for how much fort. Christian we kneel down ourselves alone in front of the Saintest Sacramento, because in it we know and we believe to be present the only true God, that the world has created has and a lot loved to give it its unigenito Son (cfr Gv 3,16). Us prostriamo in front of a God that for first has chinato itself towards the man, like Good Samaritano, in order to help it and ridargli life, and it is itself knelt down in front of we in order to wash our dirty feet. To adore the Body of Christ wants to say to believe that there, in that bread piece, there is really Christ, that it gives true sense to the life, to the immense universe like to the smallest creature, to the entire human history like to the short existence. The adoration is prayer that extends the celebration and the eucaristica communion and in which the continuous spirit to nourish itself: nutre of love, truth, peace; nutre of hope, because The one who to which us prostriamo it does not judge to us, does not crush to us, but us free and it transforms to us.
 
I discovered the source of the discrepancy - Zenit originally linked the Omelia headline to the text of the 2007 homily. The headline is now linked to the 2008 homily, which matches that of the Vatican.
 
benedictgal said:
You needn’t be sacrastic. Furthermore, whether or not this was “choreographed” doesn’t matter. The fact is that something beautiful transpired and, whether it was meant to or not, it was perfectly appropriate.
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Nothing sarcastic intended - sorry you took it that way,
 
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