Prayer before Blessed Sacrament

[CanMan86]

Can someone explain to me about praying before the Blessed Sacrement? This would mean praying before the tabernacle correct? Is this bread consecrated? If it isn’t why would I pray before merely bread? I’m obviously a noob here! Please help, thanks!

 

[jpjd]

The Blessed Sacrament refers to a consecrated host. If the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, then the priest has put it in a special “container” in which the host can be seen, called a “monstrance.”

When people come to visit the exposed Blessed Sacrament, we call that Adoration. We adore Christ in the visible Blessed Sacrament; He is present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity under the appearance of bread, as seen in the monstrance.

When the Blessed Sacrament is not exposed, which is most of the time unless your parish has a separate 24-hour adoration chapel, it is stored in the tabernacle. Anyone is welcome to come to church at any time and pray before Christ in the tabernacle. You can’t see the Blessed Sacrament since it’s inside the tabernacle, but Christ is still there, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the tabernacle. That’s what the red tabernacle candle signifies, that consecrated hosts, the Real Presence of Christ, is in the tabernacle.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to pray before the Real Presence of Christ in the tabernacle or exposed in a monstrance.

 

[lilly_rose]

Usually, unconcecrated hosts are not kept in the tabernacle. It the red candle is lit, there are concecrated hosts in there. Several hosts are usually reserved in there for use at mass and to bring to the sick and homebound.

In all the parishes I’ve been to, the only time when there are not concecrated hosts in the tabernacle is during Holy Week, I don’t remember exactly but I believe it is empty from Holy Thursday until the Easter Vigil but I might be a little off on the time frame for that. When the tabernacle is empty in my church, the doors are left open so everyone can see.

So when you are praying before the Blessed Sacrement in the tabernacle, as long as the candle there is lit, the hosts in there are concecrated.

Although, if by chance the bread inside were not concecrated, I think it would be the intention that counts.

 

[CanMan86]

Thanks for the help!

 

[jpjd]

Usually, unconcecrated hosts are not kept in the tabernacle.

Unconsecrated hosts are NEVER kept in the tabernacle.

In all the parishes I’ve been to, the only time when there are not concecrated hosts in the tabernacle is during Holy Week,

To say “during Holy Week” is being too broad. The only time where there are no consecrated hosts in the tabernacle, i.e. the tabernacle is completely empty, is from the conclusion of the Holy Thursday Mass to the Easter Vigil. This is the Triduum.

 

[de_profundis]

To say “during Holy Week” is being too broad.

Read their post again, they did do their best to narrow it down. Things have a tendency of getting way too semantic around here.

 

[Newbie2]

Usually, unconcecrated hosts are not kept in the tabernacle. .

As has been said, unconsecrated hosts are never kept in the tabernacle. If so, that would validate the claims of idolotry when we engage in eucharistic adoration, which I guess then would be “bread” adoration, no?

 

[lilly_rose]

Unconsecrated hosts are NEVER kept in the tabernacle.

To say “during Holy Week” is being too broad. The only time where there are no consecrated hosts in the tabernacle, i.e. the tabernacle is completely empty, is from the conclusion of the Holy Thursday Mass to the Easter Vigil. This is the Triduum.

I apologize that my intentional vagueness caused some confusion about what I was trying to say, I simply was trying to answer the OP’s question with some humility by making sure I didn’t come across as sounding like I had extensive knowledge of the topic. I was simply trying to state my observations while acknowledging that they perhaps are not universal and that they might not be fully accurate. In the future maybe I will try to show humility by not posting at all…

 

[Ruthie]

This would mean praying before the tabernacle correct?

Most of us just pray from the pews. I have seen one or two people prostrate themselves in front of the Tabernacle, though. Basically, you can pray from anywhere you can see the Tabernacle.

I prefer the pews because my arthritic knees prefer the cushioned kneelers to the marble in front of our Tabernacle!

Ruthie

 

[Genesis12345]

Yes, praying before the Blessed Sacrament is praying before God. The hosts that are in the tabernacle have been consecrated at other masses and what is left over, is reserved in the Blessed Sacrament. The true meaning of having a Blessed Sacrament or a tabernacle is to reserve the consecrated hosts for the sick or someone who is dying. Because as you perceive, at each mass, the hosts are consecrated and used at that mass and if they run out, they will go to the tabernacle. But the main reason for the tabernacle is to reserve the consecrated hosts for the sick or the dying.