Pope prefers Communion on the tongue

  • Thread starter Thread starter Walking_Home
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
japhy said:
I’m not sure that’s an abuse. This particular indult is applied to a Conference of Bishops (in this case the USCCB) and I think each Bishop has the right to accept it or refuse it. I don’t think the priest can refuse it if the bishop accepts it.

The archbishop of Lima, Peru, has discontinued use of the indult very recently: source, source.
Click to expand...
Allow me to correct myself… the indult concerns receiving in the hand. That is something a Bishop can allow or disallow.

Posture, however, is not an indult (as far as I can tell). The posture of kneeling or standing to receive is up to the conference of bishops to decide on, but not as a matter of indult. The universal practice is to kneel (as is evidenced by being allowed to receive kneeling even where the conference decided to standing).

“In accordance with the custom of the Church” – although I ask, how long had it been since standing to receive was the “custom of the Church” – “the faithful may receive communion either kneeling or standing. One or the other practice is to be chosen according to the norms laid down by the conference of bishops and in view of the various circumstances, above all the arrangement of the churches and the number of the communicants. The faithful should willingly follow the manner of reception indicated by the pastors so that communion may truly be a sign of familial union among those who share in the same table of the Lord.” (Eucharisticum Mysterium, n. 34a - from 1967)
 
Kneeling, standing, tongue or hands for communion are side show issues. I used to think they were important but don’t anymore.

John
 
japhy said:
The faithful should willingly follow the manner of reception indicated by the pastors so that communion may truly be a sign of familial union among those who share in the same table of the Lord." (Eucharisticum Mysterium, n. 34a - from 1967)
Click to expand...
Not very many years ago (after the confusion wrought by the changes of the New GIRM) Cardinal Arinze issued a Dubium saying that the Vatican had no intention of strictly restricting the kneeling posture at Mass. So, yes, it is up to the communicant and no one should be denied the Eucharist because of it or be made to feel as if he/she is being disobedient…
 
AMDGtoo said:
Not very many years ago (after the confusion wrought by the changes of the New GIRM) Cardinal Arinze issued a Dubium saying that the Vatican had no intention of strictly restricting the kneeling posture at Mass. So, yes, it is up to the communicant and no one should be denied the Eucharist because of it or be made to feel as if he/she is being disobedient…
Click to expand...
Right, I mentioned that earlier (I think in this thread).
 
Cordelil said:
Kneeling, standing, tongue or hands for communion are side show issues. I used to think they were important but don’t anymore.

John
Click to expand...
I used to feel that as long as you were receiving the body and blood of Christ it didn’t matter how you received Him. I am older and wiser now and I feel it’s very, very important how we receive him mostly because I adore Him so much that I must kneel in His presence but also because it is a public display of humility and reverence that our children absolutely need to learn by seeing everyone doing.
 
I already recieve on the tongue, I always have. The only reason I don’t alway kneel is because I may have someone “tailgating” me and I might make 'em trip and fall.

That is the part that I have control over. The kneeling part I don’t always have control over so, most of the time I will recieve standing.

But if one day we return to kneel for communion…I have no problem.

If it doesn’t violate some deep catholic dogma, I have no problem.

Aeiparthenos, kacharitomene , Theotokos!
 
I used to think that the change from receiving on the tongue to taking it in the hand was blasphemy. but after doing a little reading about what Vatican 2 was trying to accomplish, I agree completely. the purpose was to take us back to the methods of the first Christians

In Christs name, I wish you peace…
 
andyp1948 said:
I used to think that the change from receiving on the tongue to taking it in the hand was blasphemy. but after doing a little reading about what Vatican 2 was trying to accomplish, I agree completely. the purpose was to take us back to the methods of the first Christians

In Christs name, I wish you peace…
Click to expand...
Sounds like you read the innovators interpretation of Vat II. You may try reading the actual document.
 
andyp1948 said:
I used to think that the change from receiving on the tongue to taking it in the hand was blasphemy. but after doing a little reading about what Vatican 2 was trying to accomplish, I agree completely. the purpose was to take us back to the methods of the first Christians

In Christs name, I wish you peace…
Click to expand...
Really? Please explain how the current method of receiving in the hand approximates that of the early Christians?
 
palmas85 said:
Really? Please explain how the current method of receiving in the hand approximates that of the early Christians?
Click to expand...
Actually, this sounds more like the Neocatechumenal Movement’s theology on receiving Holy Communion. Formerly, they sat, banquet style, around a table (altar) and received Holy Communion while seated.

Regarding the biblical basis for kneeling, Pope Benedict XVI noted, in the Spirit of the Liturgy, that it is indeed a most appropriate posture to take. Here is what he notes:
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.
Click to expand...
…Hebrews regarded the knees as a symbol of strength, to bend the knee is, therefore, to bend our strength before the living God, an acknowledgment of the fact that all that we are we receive from Him. In important passages of the Old Testament, this gesture appears as an expression of worship.
Click to expand...
At the dedication of the Temple, Solomon kneels “in the presence of all the assembly of Israel” (II Chron 6:13). After the Exile, in the afflictions of the returned Israel, which is still without a Temple, Ezra repeats this gesture at the time of the evening sacrifice: “I … fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God” (Ezra 9:5). The great psalm of the Passion, Psalm 22 (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”), ends with the promise: “Yes, to Him shall all the proud of the earth fall down; before Him all who go down to the dust shall throw themselves down” (v. 29, RSV adapted).
Click to expand...
The related passage Isaiah 45:23 we shall have to consider in the context of the New Testament. The Acts of the Apostles tells us how Saint Peter (9:40), Saint Paul (20:36), and the whole Christian community (21:5) pray on their knees.
Click to expand...
Inasmuch as the Holy Father doesn’t make a direct reference to kneeling to receive Holy Communion, I believe that these references that he has made in his book are certainly consistent with what he, through Msgr. Marini, has said.

Furthermore, people are kneeling at a kneeler, which, when you have an outdoor Mass, is probably the closest thing that you’ll have to an altar rail.
 
benedictgal said:
Actually, this sounds more like the Neocatechumenal Movement’s theology on receiving Holy Communion. Formerly, they sat, banquet style, around a table (altar) and received Holy Communion while seated.

Regarding the biblical basis for kneeling, Pope Benedict XVI noted, in the Spirit of the Liturgy, that it is indeed a most appropriate posture to take. Here is what he notes:

Inasmuch as the Holy Father doesn’t make a direct reference to kneeling to receive Holy Communion, I believe that these references that he has made in his book are certainly consistent with what he, through Msgr. Marini, has said.

Furthermore, people are kneeling at a kneeler, which, when you have an outdoor Mass, is probably the closest thing that you’ll have to an altar rail.
Click to expand...
Bingo.
 
Denae said:
I have never recieved on the tongue before. 😊 Because I don’t want to drop the Eucharist, or move back at the wrong time and have the priest drop the Eucharist. 😊 😊 😊
Click to expand...
I suggest you try it even once. When I grew up I was taught in the hand, and received that way all the twenty some years of my life. That was until last year when I was sightseeing all day and didnt have a chance to wash my hands before mass or have anything to clean them with. So I put all fears and thoughts of embarrassment aside and opened my mouth, the priest placed Jesus on my tongue no problems, and it was like a light bulb went off in my head, an aha moment when I realized many things.
 
LilyM said:
As the GIRM states in most all countries, choice of posture is up to the preference of the communicant,
:
Click to expand...
I wish it were up to the communicant to choose WHO to receive from. When I was protestant, at least I didn’t have to receive crackers and juice from old ladies in lavender polyester stretchy pants.
🤷
Sorry to offend–that’s my own gripe.
 
andyp1948 said:
I used to think that the change from receiving on the tongue to taking it in the hand was blasphemy. but after doing a little reading about what Vatican 2 was trying to accomplish, I agree completely. the purpose was to take us back to the methods of the first Christians

In Christs name, I wish you peace…
Click to expand...
Hi Andyp:
I have heard the same thing related to why some parishes stand after the Agnus Dei as well, that they never used to have kneelers.
That said,
Can you please help me over my difficulty in having to receive from ladies in stretchy pants?

I am the one who has the problem. It bothers me and distracts me from the Sacrament. When I realize that I’m being ushered away from the priest into the EM’s line, I feel disturbed. How can this relate to the early church? I would like to not be bothered by it.
 
I know that there are many who receive Jesus in the hand without the proper reverence or even belief. Who knows if receiving on the tongue would alter that or if perhaps they might forego going to Communion if they did not have the option. As for myself, I would be devastated if I could not hold Jesus in my hand and gaze on Him for those few seconds while I whisper my belief and my love.
 
Brownginger said:
I know that there are many who receive Jesus in the hand without the proper reverence or even belief. Who knows if receiving on the tongue would alter that or if perhaps they might forego going to Communion if they did not have the option. As for myself, I would be devastated if I could not hold Jesus in my hand and gaze on Him for those few seconds while I whisper my belief and my love.
Click to expand...
You could always go to adoration. There you have more time to gaze on Him and whisper to Him.
 
Walking Home – I did not conceive that what I wrote could be made to sound as it did when put in your manner:(

When we receive Jesus, we receive a Lover. To be able to hold the world’s most adorable Lover and, yes, gaze and whisper to Him while actually touching Him, is, to me, so much more grace-filled than to see Him encased and out of reach during adoration. I say the same things to Him; but the knowledge that God has made it possible for me to hold Him in the palm of my hand (as He holds me in His) is overwhelming!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top