Terrified of receiving on the tongue

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tabsie3210

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Just something that I was thinking of, and thinking about it, I decided to just throw this down here.

I know that most Traditional Masses are performed with people kneeling and receiving the Host on the tongue. Now, my Mass is always an NO Mass, with people either allowed to take the Host on the tongue or in the hand.

I’ve always received the Host in the hand, reverently, imagining my hands as a throne for the Lord.

I’ve also always had horrible fantasies of dropping the Host, or choking, or sneezing or coughing and accidentally spitting out the Host.

I find the prospect of receiving on the tongue terrifying because I’m convinced I’m going to end up dropping the Host, or it’ll just slip off. I’m also a little afraid of seeing pretentious, since not everyone receives on the tongue, and I don’t want to seem too uppity. I’m not so great that I’m special - only the Lord is special during the Mass.

How likely is it that the Host would slip off one’s tongue? What happens if the Host does come off?

I know that one can be excommunicated for willfully spitting out the Host or the Precious Blood, but how does one handle an accidental dropping?

I used to be a Eucharistic Minister (I need to join back up to service) and my job 99% of the time was to serve the Precious Blood (to which I have a special devotion). I never really feared spitting out the Blood by accident. Just the Host.

I want to honor Jesus, so it’s a little scary to imagine taking the Host on the tongue and realizing it slipped off before I can swallow it!
 
Hey, relax, people’ve been doing it for 2,000 years without problems. 😃
 
Well yeah, but I mean, this is the FULL PRESENCE OF GOD!

Tell me you don’t think some saints somewhere haven’t been worried about it! 😃

I would like to start receiving on the tongue, though. …that wouldn’t be “uppity” or “snobbish” would it?
 
tabsie3210 said:
Well yeah, but I mean, this is the FULL PRESENCE OF GOD!

Tell me you don’t think some saints somewhere haven’t been worried about it! 😃

I would like to start receiving on the tongue, though. …that wouldn’t be “uppity” or “snobbish” would it?
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Just think of yourself as a little lamb receiving your food from the shepherd’s hand. 😃
 
Nobody in the pews is going to be paying any attention to how you receive. If they are, they need to get their minds back on Who they just received or will soon be receiving and stop staring at the Communion line. 😛 I wouldn’t even worry about it. I’ve never received our Lord in the hand, and nobody has ever given me the hairy eyeball despite going to multiple parishes. The only reaction I have ever gotten has been from inexperienced extraordinary ministers who hesitate when surprised, and that’s all of a second, if that.

The Host will not fall off your tongue. Make sure you stick out your tongue a decent way, don’t make the priest put his hand in your mouth! He will put it squarely on there, and trust me, when something is placed on your tongue, you have the natural instinct to draw your tongue in and close your mouth, you won’t even have to think about it. Plus the moisture of your tongue helps to prevent “slippage” of the dry Host as well.

And what if somehow the Host did fall? You’d do the same thing you would do if our Lord fell out of your hand- immediately pick Him up and receive Him and go on your way. You would feel horrified, but no harm would be done. Our Lord chose to come to us in this way knowing we are human and imperfect and accidents will happen despite our most diligent care and concern. You would never be excommunicated over an unintentional mistake. Excommunication is only incurred by deliberately willed acts, not accidents.
 
I’ve never had any problem receiving on the tongue, and I do this while kneeling, without a kneeler.

Up down, it’s just like genuflecting, but with another knee down.

All that, never a host dropped, all these years. The fewer hands involved the less likelihood of trouble. 🙂

God will take care of it, don’t worry. 🙂
 
The alter boys will hopefully be able to catch the Host with the Communion Plate, if you ever do allow it to slip.

It’s far more reverent and quite traditional to receive on the tongue. I have never received Communion in the hands and I shirk to imagine doing that. It seems that much more disrespectful. If you face slightly upwards( which you should if you’re kneeling), you more than likely won’t have any problems. The Host will fall with gravity onto your tongue. Make your tongue the throne. 🙂
 
One point I could add that hasn’t been mentioned is the possibility of particles of the Host gone unseen in the hand. Scary!!!

And one more… 🙂 Our Holy Father, at all his Masses, asks that everyone kneel and receive by tongue.

From my knowledge, receiving by hand should only be by indult but somehow the practice erroneously was spread worldwide… If you need references, I can try to find some for you. 👍
 
\I’ve always received the Host in the hand, reverently, imagining my hands as a throne for the Lord.\

This is what St. Cyril of Jerusalem says.

\I’ve also always had horrible fantasies of dropping the Host, or choking, or sneezing or coughing and accidentally spitting out the Host.

I find the prospect of receiving on the tongue terrifying because I’m convinced I’m going to end up dropping the Host, or it’ll just slip off.\

**Anything is possible, but I’ve never seen it happen.

If you are distracted in ANY way by the thought of receiving Communion on the tongue, then don’t do it.

I normally receive on the tongue, but the reverence is primarily in the communicant’s heart.**
 
I grew up receiving on the tongue and I have always received on the tongue. In fifty years, I have never seen the host dropped. Way back when, there were two other levels of protection - the altar boy carried a paten which was placed under your neck. Beneath you, on the Communion rail, was a cloth to further catch any dropped host or even particles of the host.

Relax. Way back in 2nd grade in 1958, we were prepared to receive Holy Communion through the use of Necco wafers

necco.com/

When I was an altar boy team captain, I taught my younger servers using Necco wafers.
They are still available and make an excellent substitute for learning how to receive Communion on the tongue as well as how to serve.
 
If you are distracted in ANY way by the thought of receiving Communion on the tongue, then don’t do it.
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This I agree with. I always receive in the hand, because I am terrified that either I won’t open my mouth enough or I’ll open it way too far and look like a fish. I’m pretty sure God cares more about your heart and mind than about how you receive Him. 🙂
 
Thank you all!

I don’t want to seem uppity or have the focus be on me - as I said, when receiving the Host, it’s the Lord who should be special and important, not on me - but also because of the lenght of our lines, we receive standing up, and I’m a six-foot-tall woman, which puts me a head height taller than a lot of the EMs, even the men.

I think when I receive, I’ll receive on the tongue whenever possible, and reserve receiving in the hand for when I’m certain that it wouldn’t work out - we have one lovely lady EM who is about 4"11’ and even kneeling I’m over her head (she and I used to work together so I know this from personal experience), so I think that, in order to keep the focus on Christ, I will simply do whatever I have to in order to be reverent.

Mostly I just want to do things right. I don’t have a problem with OF or NO form of the Mass, whichever is the more appropriate title (OF - Ordinary Form, NO = Novo Ordo, is this correct?). I just think that things should be more formal, particularly since we have such a focus on the Host in my church - the Tabernacle is set up right behind the altar so everyone knows where to bow, we have Adoration every Monday all day and all day on the first Friday of every month, Father is constnatly reminding us of the Real Presence at all times, etc.

I think that since Father is taking this so seriously, we should take it seriously, too, out of respect for Christ, and try to do things more traditionally.
 
brotherhrolf said:
Relax. Way back in 2nd grade in 1958, we were prepared to receive Holy Communion through the use of Necco wafers
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I also remember Reverend Mother explaining how to extend the tongue: open the mouth about as wide as if taking a spoonful of cough syrup (not gaping wide as if in the dentist’s chair!) and extend the tongue downward just over the lips. Works every time!
 
tabsie3210 said:
I know that one can be excommunicated for willfully spitting out the Host or the Precious Blood, but how does one handle an accidental dropping?
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Which is a good argument for EVERY parish to have someone hold a paten either under the communicant’s chin or his hands while receiving. Right now most OF Masses do not have a paten holder; it’s really a wonder why not.
 
tabsie3210 said:
I’ve also always had horrible fantasies of dropping the Host, or choking, or sneezing or coughing and accidentally spitting out the Host.
I find the prospect of receiving on the tongue terrifying because I’m convinced I’m going to end up dropping the Host, or it’ll just slip off. I’m also a little afraid of seeing pretentious, since not everyone receives on the tongue, and I don’t want to seem too uppity. I’m not so great that I’m special - only the Lord is special during the Mass.

The faithful have received the Host on the tongue for 1,965 years without any problem. You are way too obsessive on this.

How likely is it that the Host would slip off one’s tongue? What happens if the Host does come off?

If the priest does it correctly, it won’t. If a paten is used, there won’t be an issue about this.

I know that one can be excommunicated for willfully spitting out the Host or the Precious Blood, but how does one handle an accidental dropping?

The priest, deacon or extraordinary minister are the only ones who can pick up a fallen Host.

I used to be a Eucharistic Minister (I need to join back up to service) and my job 99% of the time was to serve the Precious Blood (to which I have a special devotion). I never really feared spitting out the Blood by accident. Just the Host.

You mean Extraordinary Minister. The only Eucharistic Minister is the priest.

**It is the law of the universal Church in the Latin Rite (to which most of us belong) that we receive Communion in the traditional manner. To receive on the hand is only an “indult,” or concession that is in effect here and there. It does not exist in the greater part of the world. For example, for a while it was allowed in the Philippines, but then the bishops there changed their minds, and rescinded the permission. **

Some other things to consider:

The Sacred Council of Trent declared that the custom of only the priest who is celebrating the Mass giving Communion to himself (with his own hands), and the laity receiving it from him, is an Apostolic Tradition. As early as the 400s AD, Pope St. Leo the Great in his discourse on the Gospel of John, talks of taking Holy Communion in the mouth. Pope St. Gregory the Great (in the 500s AD), writes about his placing the Host in the receiver’s mouth.

And St. Basil (in the 300s AD) says emphatically that to receive Communion by one’s own hand is only permitted in times of persecution or, as was the case with monks in the desert, when no deacon or priest was available to give it.

The Council of Rouen, which met in 650 AD, says, “Do not put the Eucharist in the hands of any layman or laywomen but only in their mouths.”

Also, Pope Benedict XVI is encouraging the faithful by example to receive Communion on the tongue rather than the hand.

I/QUOTE]
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peary said:
tabsie3210;6014524:
, B]It is the law of the universal Church in the Latin Rite (to which most of us belong) that we receive Communion in the traditional manner. To receive on the hand is only an “indult,” or concession that is in effect here and there. It does not exist in the greater part of the world. For example, for a while it was allowed in the Philippines, but then the bishops there changed their minds, and rescinded the permission.
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QUOTE

Actually, this is not true, It was established on another thread that CITH is available in the majority of the world, and is taken up by most laity.

The Philippines are only a small part of the world. Can you name any other countries where CITH is not available, which together make up ‘the greater part of the world’?
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paperwight said:
peary;6017685:
tabsie3210;6014524:
, B]It is the law of the universal Church in the Latin Rite (to which most of us belong) that we receive Communion in the traditional manner. To receive on the hand is only an “indult,” or concession that is in effect here and there. It does not exist in the greater part of the world. For example, for a while it was allowed in the Philippines, but then the bishops there changed their minds, and rescinded the permission.
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QUOTE

Actually, this is not true, It was established on another thread that CITH is available in the majority of the world, and is taken up by most laity.

The Philippines are only a small part of the world. Can you name any other countries where CITH is not available, which together make up ‘the greater part of the world’?

Again, and I will reiterate this to you - it is the law - THE LAW - of the Catholic Church in the Latin Rite that we receive Communion in the traditional manner. To receive on the hand is an “indult” - a concession that is in effect here and there. CITH does not exist in the greater part of the world. Also, Orthodox Christians receive Communion by tincture, with a small spoon held by the priest, who distributes it in the mouth of the recipient. CITH may be available in the world, but it doesn’t mean the majority of bishops have allowed it in their diocese. The United States, Canada, and Europe are not the sandbox of the world, regardless of how they view themselves.
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peary said:
paperwight;6018154:
peary;6017685:
**. Also, Orthodox Christians receive Communion by tincture, with a small spoon held by the priest, who distributes it in the mouth of the recipient. QUOTE

Reply : Irrelevant. We are talking about the Latin Rite, as you said.

QUOTE CITH may be available in the world, but it doesn’t mean the majority of bishops have allowed it in their diocese. QUOTE

Reply : You haven’t answered the question - where are all those countries where CITH is not permitted, and which together make up ‘the greater part of the world’ which you keep repeating? Assuming you are not referring to the area of land-mass - including Antarctica in your calculations, for instance.

QUOTE The United States, Canada, and Europe are not the sandbox of the world, regardless of how they view themselves.**
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Reply: No, but I’d guess the Catholic population in them form a sizeable proportoin of the world’s Catholic membership.

You are also discounting the fact that CITH has been approved by all of the world’s English-speaking Bishops Conferences, so don’t forget to add in Australia and other countries too numerous to mention.

So where are those countries where CITH is not permitted? And what proportion do they form of the world? ‘The greater part of the world’? Really?
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