True presense in the eucharist

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Rebecca_Fleming

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If we really believe in the true presense then why don’t we do things like remove our shoes or never turn our backs or prostrate ourselves before receiving communion, etc? If Jesus truly appeared before us would we not instinctively do these types of things? Our family gets a mixture of odd looks, or compliments, for genuflecting before receiving communion. Interiorly I try to imagine myself being physically more humble in mass. I wish I could act out openly without appearing “odd” or “arrogant” in doing so.
Incidentally, thank you so much for all of the (name removed by moderator)ut I’ve been getting on my other threads. Your comments have been great and helpful. It’s such a blessing to be able to communicate with people who are so into the faith.
 
We absolutely should approach the Eucharist with awe and respect. We should make some physical sign of humble respect before we receive. But we have been asked by our bishops to show our respect in a way that does not interfere with others’ reception. Prostrating ourselves or removing our shoes would be very impractical. In most settings the recommended act is a “profound bow” and it is acceptable to bow while the person ahead of you in line is receiving.

I would be comfortable with a return to kneeling at the altar rail to receive but it is not my decision. I also would want to be sure that whatever was the “normal” process would also make provision for those who cannot follow it (for example my husband is recovering from knee-replacement surgery - he cannot kneel, is not allowed to bend the knee beyond a certain point yet - would not want him to be denied Communion.)
 
Do whatever you want to show honor and respect, be what you want others to be in your actions.
Temper that only with care to not draw attention to yourself.
We should all find a way to express to God our awe at His coming to us. Find your form of expression and stick with it. Personally I like to hold my hands up in front of my face in prayer from the time of Consecration until the Eucharist is removed from the altar. The entire time is a time of personal adoration for me, broken only by the prayers we say together during that part of the Mass.
The extreme moment for me is when I receive Him from the hands of the priest. Say what you want about receiving in the hands vs the tongue—I get to hold the living Christ in my own hands for just a moment, to adore Him-That Close-, before His body joins mine.
I rarely make it thru this without tears. I suppose I get my share of looks too…i really don’t care what others think at that point. I refuse to be ashamed of my love for Jesus, He has given me way too much for me deny Him.
 
Bob4BVM said:
Do whatever you want to show honor and respect, be what you want others to be in your actions.
Temper that only with care to not draw attention to yourself.
We should all find a way to express to God our awe at His coming to us. Find your form of expression and stick with it. Personally I like to hold my hands up in front of my face in prayer from the time of Consecration until the Eucharist is removed from the altar. The entire time is a time of personal adoration for me, broken only by the prayers we say together during that part of the Mass.
The extreme moment for me is when I receive Him from the hands of the priest. Say what you want about receiving in the hands vs the tongue—I get to hold the living Christ in my own hands for just a moment, to adore Him-That Close-, before His body joins mine.
I rarely make it thru this without tears. I suppose I get my share of looks too…i really don’t care what others think at that point. I refuse to be ashamed of my love for Jesus, He has given me way too much for me deny Him.
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I can certainly appreciate your awe at holding Christ in your hands. I don’t get the impression that most people feel that connection. Maybe I’m being too judgemental. I certainly don’t presume to know what is going on at an interior level for others. Most definately it’s crucial that we are moved by the experience on a spiritual level. I said as much to my son when he questioned whether it was wrong to receive in the hand. How I receive is reverent for me and how you receive is reverent for you. As long as the reverence is there. I just get the impression that many don’t believe in the true presence anymore.
 
Hi Rebecca,

I agree with your assessment of the level of most Catholics’ faith in the True Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. I used to watch a man who distributed the Precious Blood during Communion. Whenever there was no communicant in front of him, he stared into the cup, and I could tell by the look on his face that he truly believed that he was looking at the face of Christ in the cup. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he really was seeing the Lord!

When I compare his behavior and expression to that of other people in that parish and in other parishes (I’ve been to 14 parishes across 4 dioceses), I am forced to conclude that most people do not believe that they are standing in front of and are receiving Jesus Christ Himself, God, in Person. They talk to their friends and look bored. They take the Host and pop Him into their mouths with a flick of their thumb like a piece of candy as they are walking back to their seats.

Laymen aren’t the only ones who are guilty of rude/faithless behavior toward the Lord. I have seen plenty of priests who walk in front of the tabernacle outside Mass without acknowledging the Lord with either a bow or a genuflection. I also heard one priest mock belief in the True Presence during his homily at Mass last year.

So to get to your original question, “If we really believe in the True Presence then why don’t we [show it]?”, I think that if our behavior is not like what it would be if we could actually see the Lord in front of us, then we do not believe, and we need better catechesis.

Michelle
 
Rebecca_Fleming said:
I can certainly appreciate your awe at holding Christ in your hands. I don’t get the impression that most people feel that connection. Maybe I’m being too judgemental. I certainly don’t presume to know what is going on at an interior level for others. Most definately it’s crucial that we are moved by the experience on a spiritual level. I said as much to my son when he questioned whether it was wrong to receive in the hand. How I receive is reverent for me and how you receive is reverent for you. As long as the reverence is there. I just get the impression that many don’t believe in the true presence anymore.
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As you’ve said, we have no way of knowing what’s going on. And while it truly is a miracle, it is one that happens every week, so while the emotion is always there many people may express it much more quietly - or perhaps not at all.

Remember, many people saw Our Lord both during His life and after His resurrection. It certainly isn’t recorded that all immediately fell on their knees in awe on every occasion. Nor that He demanded such adultation. Remember how meek and humble of heart He is?

On the contrary He positively encouraged Thomas to behave very familiarly indeed with Him, to the point of poking and prodding at His sacred body!
 
Rebecca_Fleming said:
If we really believe in the true presense then why don’t we do things like remove our shoes or never turn our backs or prostrate ourselves before receiving communion, etc? If Jesus truly appeared before us would we not instinctively do these types of things? Our family gets a mixture of odd looks, or compliments, for genuflecting before receiving communion. Interiorly I try to imagine myself being physically more humble in mass. I wish I could act out openly without appearing “odd” or “arrogant” in doing so.
Incidentally, thank you so much for all of the (name removed by moderator)ut I’ve been getting on my other threads. Your comments have been great and helpful. It’s such a blessing to be able to communicate with people who are so into the faith.
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Rebecca if I could receive our dear Lord’s body ,Blood,Soul,and Divinity while lying prostrate on the floor after coming up the aisle on my knees I would do so but according to the modern rubrics it is discouraged and not practical.
When I was an altar boy assisting at mass prior to Vatican 2 the faithful knelt at a communion rail,a white cloth covering their hands and received ONLY on the tongue.As the altar boy I moved along side the priest holding a paten under the communicants’ chins so that not one speck of Jesus would fall to the ground.
As a 7-12 year old I was enthralled at the majesty,dignity and reverence of this manner of communicating.The Faithful received with closed eyes and consumed Him at the communion rail before returning to their pews.As a CHILD I could witness the reverence these people,the priest and my fellow altar boys felt before the Holy Eucharist.
Please God bring back communion rails,kneeling and receiving ONLY on the tongue.Nowadays and I don’t mean to be blasphemous,its like lining up at a food court.It’s no wonder only 20%(the same number who attend mass)of all Catholics believe in the Real Presence.
 
Soutane,
Thank You!! That’s exactly how I feel. I just don’t get it how others can’t see the love present in the eucharist. I certainly get tired of our deacon who insists to my son that he shouldn’t kneel befoe recieving. My son puts his teenage stubborness to good use and does it anyhow. God Bless him and guide him. He plans to be a priest one day and I can’t wait to see the fire in his eyes as he consecrates the bread and wine. I can’t wait to kneel before him to receive the eucharist!!
 
Rebecca_Fleming said:
Soutane,
Thank You!! That’s exactly how I feel. I just don’t get it how others can’t see the love present in the eucharist. I certainly get tired of our deacon who insists to my son that he shouldn’t kneel befoe recieving. My son puts his teenage stubborness to good use and does it anyhow. God Bless him and guide him. He plans to be a priest one day and I can’t wait to see the fire in his eyes as he consecrates the bread and wine. I can’t wait to kneel before him to receive the eucharist!!
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I believe that the Pope has Ok’d Kneeling before receiving Him.I’d check the vatican website or better yet send Papa an email!God bless your son and God Bless you for encouraging him.I have only one child(15 year old boy)and I encourage him to listen for the call but so far he’s leaning to be an MP then a civilian police officer.
My Parish priest had a Muslim tell him that if he truly believed the Eucharist was God he would crawl up the aisle on his hands and knees to WORSHIP him.
 
Rebecca_Fleming said:
Soutane,
Thank You!! That’s exactly how I feel. I just don’t get it how others can’t see the love present in the eucharist. I certainly get tired of our deacon who insists to my son that he shouldn’t kneel befoe recieving. My son puts his teenage stubborness to good use and does it anyhow. God Bless him and guide him. He plans to be a priest one day and I can’t wait to see the fire in his eyes as he consecrates the bread and wine. I can’t wait to kneel before him to receive the eucharist!!
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I heard one guy explain it this way. He lived in Wyoming. One day he drove 60 miles to the airport to pick up a friend who was coming to visit. On the way back to the house, the friend commented on how beautiful the scenery was between the airport and the house. The driver realized that he had been through this area so many times, he forgot that it was absolutely stunning.

Too often we are like that in the Mass. It’s not that the Eucharist resembles a piece of bread (or wafer). It could glow in the dark and catch fire every Mass, and no matter what it did, we would get used to it, until its appearance no longer stirred us on its own.

But, when you look at that small piece of bread through the eyes of Faith… Wow!
 
I’ve been a Catholic for 48 years, a CCD teacher for 7. Only recently has God shown me His true Presence in a way that is beyond words. Now I try to go to Mass everyday and continue to feel His presence. If you have felt it to, thank God everyday for this Grace. It truly is a blessing that everyone does not feel. I’ve read about Eucharistic miracles where the Priest was actually doubting the Real Presence and the Host turned to flesh. Awsome stuff. Faith, Hope and Love, and the greatest of these is Love.
 
Eucharistic Miracle
Lanciano, Italy 8th Century A.D.

Ancient Anxanum, the city of the Frentanese, has contained for over twelve centuries the first and greatest Eucharistic Miracle of the Catholic Church. This wondrous Event took place in the 8th century A.D. in the little Church of St. Legontian, as a divine response to a Basilian monk’s doubt about Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist.

During Holy Mass, after the two-fold consecration, the host was changed into live Flesh and the wine was changed into live Blood, which coagulated into five globules, irregular and differing in shape and size.

The Host-Flesh, as can be very distinctly observed today, has the same dimensions as the large host used today in the Latin church; it is light brown and appears rose-colored when lighted from the back.

The Blood is coagulated and has an earthy color resembling the yellow of ochre.

Various ecclesiastical investigation (“Recognitions”) were conducted since 1574.

In 1970-'71 and taken up again partly in 1981 there took place a scientific investigation by the most illustrious scientist Prof. Odoardo Linoli, eminent Professor in Anatomy and Pathological Histology and in Chemistry and Clinical Microscopy. He was assisted by Prof. Ruggero Bertelli of the University of Siena.

The analyses were conducted with absolute and unquestionable scientific precision and they were documented with a series of microscopic photographs.
These analyses sustained the following conclusions:

The Flesh is real Flesh. The Blood is real Blood.

The Flesh and the Blood belong to the human species.

The Flesh consists of the muscular tissue of the heart.

In the Flesh we see present in section: the myocardium, the endocardium, the vagus nerve and also the left ventricle of the heart for the large thickness of the myocardium.

The Flesh is a “HEART” complete in its essential structure.

The Flesh and the Blood have the same blood-type: AB (Blood-type identical to that which Prof. Baima Bollone uncovered in the Holy Shroud of Turin).

In the Blood there were found proteins in the same normal proportions (percentage-wise) as are found in the sero-proteic make-up of the fresh normal blood.

In the Blood there were also found these minerals: chlorides, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium.

The preservation of the Flesh and of the Blood, which were left in their natural state for twelve centuries and exposed to the action of atmospheric and biological agents, remains an extraordinary phenomenon.
 
=Rebecca Fleming;6408395]If we really believe in the true presense then why don’t we do things like remove our shoes or never turn our backs or prostrate ourselves before receiving communion, etc? If Jesus truly appeared before us would we not instinctively do these types of things? Our family gets a mixture of odd looks, or compliments, for genuflecting before receiving communion. Interiorly I try to imagine myself being physically more humble in mass. I wish I could act out openly without appearing “odd” or “arrogant” in doing so.
Incidentally, thank you so much for all of the (name removed by moderator)ut I’ve been getting on my other threads. Your comments have been great and helpful. It’s such a blessing to be able to communicate with people who are so into the faith.
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The PEW Report 2008

The number of Catholics who regularly attened Mass every Sunday and Holy day was nearly 75% in 1970; In 2008 it had droped to 23%!:eek:

Ordinary ministers of the Eucharist, Communion in ones hands… talking in Church

Heck; right now, God would settle for silence, and Genuflctions WHERE there is still a reservation Tabernacle where i’s supposed to be.😦

May God have Mercy on us!
 
Sorry to correct you but that would be EXTRAORDINARY ministers of the Eucharist.The ordained Priest is the ORDINARY minister of the Eucharist.🙂
 
Soutane said:
Sorry to correct you but that would be EXTRAORDINARY ministers of the Eucharist.The ordained Priest is the ORDINARY minister of the Eucharist.🙂
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Soutane! 😃

From Redemptionis Sacramentum:
[156.] This function is to be understood strictly according to the name by which it is known, that is to say, that of extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, and not “special minister of Holy Communion” nor “extraordinary minister of the Eucharist” nor “special minister of the Eucharist”, by which names the meaning of this function is unnecessarily and improperly broadened.
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👍

I made the mistake myself before, not distinguishing between the Eucharist and Holy Communion.

VC
 
Does minister of the Eucharist refer to the "confection"or miracle of the Eucharist which is the priest purview alone of course?and does extraordinary minister of Holy Communiob refer to giving thr Body,Blood,Soul,and Divinity to the communicant?If so I wish our Diocese would get it straight and issue a clarification.Can you confirm what I have written?If so I’ll speak to my parish Priest and email the Bishop.
 
Sure.

The idea is that those non-ordained folks that distribute at the Mass are “Extra-ordinary ministers of Holy Communion” and not “of the Eucharist”. This is because only those who are ordained to confect the Eucharist are ministers of the Eucharist.

Does that help?
VC
 
Verbum_Caro said:
Sure.

The idea is that those non-ordained folks that distribute at the Mass are “Extra-ordinary ministers of Holy Communion” and not “of the Eucharist”. This is because only those who are ordained to confect the Eucharist are ministers of the Eucharist.

Does that help?
VC
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Yepper.Thank you:thumbsup:
 
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