The three wrong ways many Catholics are receiving the Holy Eucharist

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GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal) is an official guide to the celebration of the (Roman) mass. It was published quite a long time already in early 2000. Your diocese should implement it by now but perhaps it might not get much publicity for the ordinary parishioners. But if you are in the liturgy committee in your parish, you should at least have heard of it.

With GIRM, the rubrics of the mass is more or less standardised. Changes from the GIRM if needed by a particular region, needs to have prior approval by the Vatican.

You can read the document online if you want to.

God bless.
 
I realize the pre-Vatican II school of thought was just letting the host dissolve in your mouth, and nuns would teach kids that if they chewed it , Jesus would bleed in their mouth, etc. Unfortunately, it often sticks to the roof of your mouth or otherwise presents a choking hazard. There have been many stories about people to whom this happened, and school kids who were afraid to chew.

We need to be practical and not let over-reverence get in the way of what we are doing, which is eating Jesus’ body. Eating involves chewing. I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t insist that the Apostles swallow chunks of consecrated bread without any chewing. I chew. I want to get Jesus safely out of my mouth and into my digestive tract as quickly and efficiently as possible, not risk needing a Heimlich maneuver after Communion.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Eating involves chewing. I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t insist that the Apostles swallow chunks of consecrated bread without any chewing. I chew. I want to get Je
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To say nothing of the fact that our Eastern brethren have no choice but to gnaw the flesh of Christ, for the Eucharistic bread (prosphora) is unleavened.

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I constantly see this on this forum - people think that practices which have become widespread in the Roman Church (such as standing for Communion and chewing the host) are novelties, when in fact these are orthopraxis of the Eastern Catholic Churches and have been for millenia.

I will never condemn a practice which has happened in Churches for millenia, and no Catholic should.

Tridentine Latin elitism is not the True Faith.
 
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I am just curious. Your description says you are drawn to Eastern Orthodox prayer. Is there a Byzantine Catholic church you could attend near you?
 
I was taught (2004 RCIA) that letting the host dissolve and swallowing whole was preferred, but not required.
 
The official “Catholic Answers” response on “chewing the host”, by Fr. Charles Grondin in Feb. 2017:
Full Question
May the Holy Eucharist be chewed or is it to be allowed to dissolve in the mouth?

Answer
The host may be chewed or simply permitted to dissolve in one’s mouth. Before the advent of modern hosts, the host would have been more bread-like, and for centuries Christians would have had to chew the Eucharist. In the past few centuries the modern host has evolved, and Christians who are uneasy with the idea of chewing the Real Presence can opt to simply let the host dissolve in their mouths.

There is no directive from the Church on this matter. Either way is an acceptable manner of receiving the Eucharist.
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www.catholic.com

Chew the Eucharist or Let It Dissolve?

The host may be chewed or simply permitted to dissolve in one’s mouth. Before the advent of modern hosts, the host would have been more bread-like, and fo...
www.catholic.com www.catholic.com

Nothing “wrong” with chewing and no “preference” for one way or the other, given the lack of any directive from the church.

If an RCIA director is teaching that allowing it to dissolve is “preferred”, it sounds like their own preference is being reflected in their teaching.
 
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I suspect that you are right about the kneeling. The only time I would say it is definitely kneeling for receiving is if you happen to be at an EF Mass. For those who don’t know EF is Extraordinary Form and is the old Latin Mass using the 1962 missal.
 

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Titivillus said:
I stand, though I tend to stoop to make it easier for short ministers to administer to my tall mouth.
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Spyridon said:
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Titivillus:
don’t think it is the most dignified posture, but it seems to be what the bishops’ conference desires,
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It’s dignified by millenia of use in the East as well as current Eastern practice.
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Stooping…???
 
I hope they taught you to bow to the Eucharist, and not to the buttocks of the individual ahead of you…
 
We were taught as an absolute that one did not chew the Host; but then, that was in 1953, and the hosts used were paper thin. On occasion, they stuck to the roof of the mouth. It probably was a practical matter, but the good sisters did not teach that it was a practical matter to 2nd grade children; absolutes worked better. Sadly, that translated forward to a lot of people who still seem unable to get around the matter.

Matt 26:26 “Take and eat; this is my body” seems pretty straight forward; not “take and dissolve”. One would have a bit of a problem with the latter if one were to attend Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey and received part of the host the monks receive; it is unleavened bread, dark (whole wheat) and about 1/2" thick cube.
 
We too had some of that more breadlike host back in high school, when the priests (who were probably from the Franciscans or similar monastery) would bring it to the chapel for daily prayer services. It would definitely not have dissolved quickly.
 
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Actually, what Rome clarified is that a priest could not refuse to give Communion to someone who knelt. That is what started the whole dustup.

and as to rigidity of posture, posture was rigidly enforced prior to Vatican 2. There were no alternatives.
 
Yes, one parish I attended had thick, brownish hosts - the color and taste of whole wheat bread, and far too thick dissolve in one’s mouth.

I actually rather preferred them; it reminded me that we were using ordinary bread.
 
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