SPLIT: Should married couples receive communion together?

[Jane_Marie]

For my husband and myself its not about everyone else or what others think its about our relationship with God and as married couple being together for one of the most intimate things that we can do and that is receiving the body of christ together. Remembering again the vow we took at our wedding as well as deeping our faith in the lord. Standing side by side is not showy…you should be in prayer preparing to recieve the lord. Not looking up at us. Patience is a virture trying to hurry along the line is not my concern. Maybe that is a time you should spend praying more or opening up to the lord instead of worring about how we receive the Lord. There is nothing more important to us than the Lord in our marriage. It really irks me that people want to judge so quickly but run out of church as quickly as possiable…leaving before the choir has finished singing. We are focused on God and recieving him not how many people are behind us or infront of us. My children can see a marriage with Love ,respect and including the lord with our sign that he is our glue holds our marriage together…something married couples tend to lack these days. Not only are wearried in a time of high divorce rates but we are military too so our time together is shortened by deployments.

 

[OraLabora]

[edited] Where I receive communion, a Benedictine monastery, this would be very possible without disruption.

First of all there is no communion rail. Typical of monasteries where the communion normally would be is the enclosure fence. Communion is distributed by the priest-monks, at the cloister gate which is at the enclosure fence, at the end of the central aisle. People line up in pairs. If the faithful are numerous, two priests will stand side-by-side distributing simultaneously to each row coming up the central aisle. If two priests are distributing, then both rows will receive more or less simultaneously. If only one priest is distributing, he will alternate from one row of communicants to the other.

Either way a married couple could stand side-by-side without causing scandal as nobody would notice. However, the usual practice is for the left row to be from the left-side pews and the right row from the right-side pews, so a married couple rather than being side-by-side would be one in front of the other. But it could be done side-by-side.

It’s a moot point for me, my wife is Anglican.

 

[Brendan_64]

But I don’t think this is what the OP is talking about.

We’ve had threads before where people talked about proclaiming their unity as a couple by going to receive side-by-side and consuming at the same time. That is totally putting the focus on the wrong thing during Communion. You don’t receive Communion as a couple – if ever there was a just you and Jesus moment that would be it. Yes, it’s in the midst of a communal moment but it’s still you and Jesus, one on one.

I’d agree with that.

I’d also say that for families to receive communion as a particular ‘unit’ is also wrong in emphasis. We worship as a community, we are all of us in the church, as one family.

Lining up in family units is saying, “This is my family” and that is in itself an exclusive act. When we worship, we worship in unity, as the people of God, all part of the one family.

I’ve also seen families holding hands during the Our Father (which I don’t agree with anyway) just them alone, as if to create a specific unit. How would this make single people standing next to them feel? Some might see it as an exclusive act.

Attending Mass should not be about attending Mass as a domestic family unit, it should be about attending Mass as a community of brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

[Jean_Anthony]

aaa