Resent receiving Communion from Eucharistic Minister

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It was a story similar to this one that reconciled me to EMEs and people receiving on the hand, as I too had been taught as a child that a priest’s consecrated hands were the only ones that should touch the Eucharist.

The story I heard was about Catholic Christians held in a prison with their priest (in China, IIRC) and the priest would celebrate Mass each day and the Eucharist would be distributed by a tiny child who belonged to one of the prisoners but was allowed to freely wander as she was very young.

This reconciled me to the use of EMEs, and to people’s receiving in the hand, which I had had a much worse problem with!

And finally, I would like to add that for me, these resentments about this and that were actually temptations. It is a big temptation to tempt someone into anger in the Communion line, don’t you think? A huge distraction?

And any time I notice I am being tempted, I pray the St Michael prayer and the Our Father and the Hail Mary until the temptation goes away.

May God bless you!
 
That is an extraordinary, meaning highly unusual, circumstance, wouldn’t you agree?

Respectfully, a comfortable suburban parish is not akin to an oppressive Chinese prison.
 
I see what you mean, but thinking about those prisoners and the good fortune they had that the little girl was able to do this was much better than fuming about EMEs.

At least it was for me 😉
 
pmp147236 said:
Is it just me and do I just need to get over my resentment?
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My audacious but Scripture-based reply is that you should talk to your priest, who may advise you against receiving the Eucharist in a state of resentment.

1 Corinthians 11:27-29
So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
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The case of St. Tarcisius is not really comparable the modern-day EMHCs.
 
To the OP:

Have you ever considered attending a Traditional Latin mass or a Divine Liturgy?
 
I haven’t read all the replies, but the validity of the sacrament is completely dependent on God. That’s why our sacrament is valid even if it comes through a very unworthy priest, or a non-believing priest, or one who is in great sin, or handed out by a lay person. God has made it holy, and there’s nothing that can make it unholy. The vehicle by which the sacrament comes, is always on some level unworthy. But the beautiful thing is, God is worthy, God honors the sacrament, God makes it holy, and no unworthy person can pull that down or stop that. God himself has done all the hard work and is giving me the Eucharist. It is coming to me from him. And it just does not matter who it is coming through. It is an experience between him and I. Because he loves us so much, there is no way he’s going to let anything get in the way of us experiencing what He has to give.
 
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Seriously! Spend a nice three week stint in a hospital room and then complain about EMHCs not being good enough!
 
pmp147236 said:
…I feel ashamed at having judged the EM. In short, for me the EM is a HUGE distraction from what should be a most sacred act of sacramental grace…
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It is not the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion who is the distraction. It is your judgmental feeling and your shame over feeling that way that is the distraction.

I would suggest that you be grateful that you feel this way. Why? Because it is the way you are and because God accepts you the way you are and yet invites you to receive Holy Communion as a means to heal you. God cannot heal you if you bring a false mannequin forward to be healed, holding your real self back because you are ashamed, hiding as Adam and Eve did with their fig leaves because they didn’t want to let go of their “knowledge of good and evil.”

Yes! We receive Holy Communion as a means to be healed and to have our sins wiped away! We don’t come forward because we are “good enough.” We come forward because we need healing and yet are not aware of any break so serious that we have to repent within the Sacrament of Confession in order to be permeable to the grace that is offered in Holy Communion.

In short, this is about you and whether you are going to allow God to love you as you really are and allow God to make you into the kind of person who can love others as they really are. Don’t make it about someone else; God doesn’t help you to change other people.

If you are in the habit of spending time in Adoration, there is very good hope that you will come out on the other side of this with a better grip on the reality of the situation. Have no fear; you will be lead through this.
 
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Yes, you’re right.
Still, if someone says, “This isn’t about them, but I’m honest about myself and I don’t tolerate this well,” I don’t see a reason to force themselves to do what they’re honestly not well-equipped to do. People can only be who they are. You have to admit who you are, that you are in fact “faking” it, before the true generosity will be there to “fake it 'til you make it.” Generosity starts with the generosity to be yourself.

If you’re willing to allow yourself to be what you are and to be where you are, I think it is easier to let go of making a judgment about someone else, because the judgment can be a way of defending what is your interior uneasiness. Why not just be willing to be uneasy with no defense for it? You feel what you feel. It lets you let go of looking outside yourself for a reason that is a defense to feel what you feel. It lets you let go of trying to change the rest of the world so you can feel at ease. When you’re ready to go through something that makes you feel uneasy because you have come to the conclusion that charity demands it, it is an act of generosity or an act of sacrifice coming from you both as you really are and accepting the world (as the Serenity Prayer puts it) “as it is, not as I would have it.”

God changes each individual first, and only then does that grace flow through that grace-infused person to others. Don’t try to hold your own breath while you help someone else with their oxygen mask; it just does not work.
 
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I get preferences, tafan2. Also the choices that may come out of kindness or common sense like knowing a priest has a bad back ache and avoiding having him bend down to the floor to give you Communion on the tongue and kneeling for example…
What I mean is that we are “ touching” the Eucharist with our hands or with our tongues, directly or through the EMHC and all are permitted by the Church.
Both of us as Communicants and as EMHC are “on the lowland”, flat and even if the image helps…
Brothers and sisters alike, just that the EMHC are offering some help they can give and have been given permission.
Nothing special, nothing that makes a difference between us persons Communicants , brothers, sisters, parishioners.
As you may offer yourself to be a Lector because you have that skill to read well , well some offer their help and hands to distribute Jesus among us.
There maybe some fantasy , who knows, when we are really much more of “ extra” and “ ordinary” than “ extraordinary”! If you know what I mean 🙂 . We are all on the lowlands, on the very plains…
Thanks anyway for your post, I see what you mean. Thanks for widening my scope!
 
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I’m all for leniency in extreme circumstances.

It is a beautiful story of the child.
 
Just get in the priests line…don’t ‘resent’ those trying to do God’s work!

Praying you come to grips with this issue…

I should mention I am an Extraordinary minister…thankfully there are too many who want to receive…unfortunately there are too few ordained.
 
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As far as I can tell, no one is arguing that the validity of the Eucharist is contingent on who distributes it at communion time.
VeryBlessed said:
and there’s nothing that can make it unholy.
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This is probably one of the reasons why the OP takes issue with EMHCs. What he or she is probably getting at is that the Eucharist should not be distributed by just anyone, precisely because it is holy.
 
But she explicitly asked for our help to make it easier for her to be comfortable with receiving from an EMHC.
pmp147236 said:
I would like to be more comfortable with receiving communion from EMHC. but find it difficult. zcan you share your perspective that makes it not a struggle for you?
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If it continues to cause you internal strife, I would suggest that you attend a “Traditional Latin Mass” or a Byzantine Catholic Divine Liturgy, if those options are available to you.

I used to seethe with anger about perceived liturgical innovations; that is not a healthy state of mind or soul over an extended period of time. Best to withdraw and find a Mass/Liturgy which meets your spiritual needs.
 
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there’s just one problem
no one has erned the right to touch the eucharist. priest don’t “earn” it in seminary.

not a single human has the right to touch or consume the eucharist, no one is worthy of that, but Christs allows to do so anyways.

the church has the authority by god to decide things, so we should just trust that
 
Something else to keep in mind is you can put those negative feelings to good use by offering up the struggle. (I highly recommend “Divine Mercy in My Soul – the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska” to anyone who has a hard time understanding the concept of offering it up, as I did.)

Confession is also a great help for struggles like this. You don’t have to go into great detail about your struggle if you’re concerned with upsetting the priest or being judged. You can keep the description generic.

Volunteering to help with the Mass may also help. It will give you a first-hand view of how much help is actually needed. I’m under the impression that all churches can always use more greeters, lectors, sacristans, alter servers, EMHCs, ushers, etc. I highly encourage everyone to help with the Mass in some way. It is very rewarding.

As a huge fan of the Stations of the Cross, I can see your struggle in the fourth station, when Jesus meets Mary. Her heart is breaking. She doesn’t want to see her Son be tortured to death but still she travels with Him and stands beside Him. She accepts His choice even though it causes her great distress. Mary can also be a great friend and aid to you in your struggle. (Reflections like that always help me.)

The desire and quest to be more charitable towards EMHCs is a beautiful one. I’m of the opinion God never says no to prayers for virtue and charity. We just have to maintain the patience to let them develop. Stuff like this takes time. People forget that sometimes.
 
Thank the Lord you have a Mass available with so many people it requires EMHC’s; and that the church appears not on the verge of closing.
 
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