Why left hand?

[Paris_Blues]

I was told at RCIA before we took our First Communion that we had to have the Eucharist be placed in our left hand and take our right hand and put in mouth.

Why is that?

 

[GoLatin]

Paris Blues:

I was told at RCIA before we took our First Communion that we had to have the Eucharist be placed in our left hand and take our right hand and put in mouth.

Why is that?

I guess so that you don’t toss It in your mouth.

You can also receive Holy Communion on the tongue. You do not need special permission for this, it is still the “preferred” method of the Church. You cannot be denied Holy Communion if you receive It on the tongue. You also cannot be denied Holy Communion if you choose to receive It kneeling, as many people, myself included, do.

Many, myself included, feel that receiving Holy Communion on the tongue is more reverent.

 

[Orogeny]

Paris Blues:

I was told at RCIA before we took our First Communion that we had to have the Eucharist be placed in our left hand and take our right hand and put in mouth.

Why is that?

It really doesn’t matter which hand you receive in. The left hand is most commonly used because most people are right handed. The host is placed in the left hand and transfered to the tongue using the right hand, which is the dominant hand. If you are left handed, the reverse may be more appropriate.

Peace

Tim

 

[dumspirospero]

Why risk the confusion…just receive it on your tongue…that is the proper way to receive it.
Paris Blues:

I was told at RCIA before we took our First Communion that we had to have the Eucharist be placed in our left hand and take our right hand and put in mouth.

Why is that?

 

[Paris_Blues]

dumspirospero:

Why risk the confusion…just receive it on your tongue…that is the proper way to receive it.

Just asking…I’m not an expert on Catholicism, okay?

 

[dumspirospero]

Oh I know Paris Good Luck on your first Communion…it is going to be the greatest feeling in the world. Don’t feel pressured by anyone to receive Holy Communion in your hands if you truly want to receive on your tongue…also, don’t feel pressured to receive it on your tongue if you truly want to receive it in your hands. Vivat Jesus
Paris Blues:

Just asking…I’m not an expert on Catholicism, okay?

 

[Paris_Blues]

dumspirospero:

Oh I know Paris Good Luck on your first Communion…it is going to be the greatest feeling in the world. Don’t feel pressured by anyone to receive Holy Communion in your hands if you truly want to receive on your tongue…also, don’t feel pressured to receive it on your tongue if you truly want to receive it in your hands. Vivat Jesus

I already have taken First Communion!
Two after that…so = 3!

Though I realized that I forgot to make reverance like bowing head or something. :crying: :crying: :crying: I should try to remember to do that this Sunday.

 

[AltarMan]

dumspirospero:

Why risk the confusion…just receive it on your tongue…that is the proper way to receive it.

It’s also quite proper (and ancient) to receive in one’s hands. Don’t ever let anyone sell you on the notion that receiving on the tongue is somehow “better.” It’s* not.* Keep in mind the words of St. Cyril of Jerusalem:

“Approaching do not come with thy palms stretched flat nor with fingers separated. But making thy left hand a seat for thy right, and hollowing thy palm, receive the Body of Christ, responding Amen. And having with care hallowed thine eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, take it, vigilant lest thou drop any of it. For shouldst thou lose any of it, it is as though thou wast deprived of a member of thy own body.” “Then after Communion of the Body of Christ, approach the Chalice of His Blood, not extending thy hands, but bending low, and with adoration and reverence saying Amen, sanctify thyself by receiving also the Blood of Christ. And while thy lips are yet wet, touch them with thy hands, and sanctify thy eyes and thy forehead and thy other senses.”

 

[betra2000]

AltarMan:

It’s also quite proper (and ancient) to receive in one’s hands. Don’t ever let anyone sell you on the notion that receiving on the tongue is somehow “better.” It’s* not.* Keep in mind the words of St. Cyril of Jerusalem: "

That is what I thought. I was kind of confused when the other person stated that receiving on the tongue was the “proper” way to do it, when I was taught on the hand or the tongue. I think that both ways are “proper” and accepted.

 

[Scotty_PGH]

AltarMan:

It’s also quite proper (and ancient) to receive in one’s hands. Don’t ever let anyone sell you on the notion that receiving on the tongue is somehow “better.” It’s* not.* Keep in mind the words of St. Cyril of Jerusalem:

“Approaching do not come with thy palms stretched flat nor with fingers separated. But making thy left hand a seat for thy right, and hollowing thy palm, receive the Body of Christ, responding Amen. And having with care hallowed thine eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, take it, vigilant lest thou drop any of it. For shouldst thou lose any of it, it is as though thou wast deprived of a member of thy own body.” “Then after Communion of the Body of Christ, approach the Chalice of His Blood, not extending thy hands, but bending low, and with adoration and reverence saying Amen, sanctify thyself by receiving also the Blood of Christ. And while thy lips are yet wet, touch them with thy hands, and sanctify thy eyes and thy forehead and thy other senses.”

St. Sixtus I (circa 115)
`` The Sacred Vessels are not to be handled by others than those
consecrated to the Lord . "

St. Basil the Great (330-379)
The right to receive Holy Communion in the hand is permitted only in times of persecution.

The Synod of Rouen (650)
“Do not put the Eucharist in the hands of any layman
but only in their mouths.”

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
“The Body of Christ must not be touched by anyone other than a
consecrated priest. No other person has the right to touch it,
except in case of extreme necessity.”

The Council of Trent (1545-1565)
“The fact that only the priest gives Holy Communion with his
consecrated hands is an Apostolic Tradition.”

Pope Paul VI (1963-1978)
“This method [on the tongue] must be retained.”
(“Memoriale Domini”)

Pope John-Paul II
“To touch the sacred species and to distribute them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained” (Dominicae Cenae, 11).

 

[dumspirospero]

I never stated it was “better” or made you a “better” Catholic as someone alluded to in a previous post…granted, to receive in the hand is both licit and accepted by the Church…however, the norm and the preferred way to receive according to the Church is on the tongue…Post Vatican II, laity are now allowed the option to receive in the hand…however, that is merely an option…not the norm.

betra2000:

That is what I thought. I was kind of confused when the other person stated that receiving on the tongue was the “proper” way to do it, when I was taught on the hand or the tongue. I think that both ways are “proper” and accepted.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

Paris Blues:

Just asking…I’m not an expert on Catholicism, okay?

Sweetie,they just say “left hand” because they assume everybody is right-handed. I am not.

The documents for this say, “dominant hand” as in the hand you use to write or eat.

So- for your clarification- if you are left-handed:

1.) Put your left hand out in a cup shape (I’ve heard the term “Make a throne for Jesus” used with kids).
2.) Put your right hand inside that.
3.) When the priest holds up the Blessed Sacrament, and says, “The Body of Christ” you say “Amen” while holding your hands in this position high enough so the priest does not drop the Blessed Sacrament into your hand as if he was playing tiddly-winks. As for the reverence of hte head bow- some parishes, the person makes it in line before he or she gets in front of the priest. Others, the person bows his or her head when he or she is in front of the priest.
4.) He will put the Blessed Sacrament in your right hand.
5.) You will move to the side, pick up the Eucharist with your LEFT hand (the hand that’s best a holding stuff, and won’t drop Our Lord).
6.) Place the Host in your mouth and promptly close said mouth.

And congratulations!!!

 

[AltarMan]

betra2000:

That is what I thought. I was kind of confused when the other person stated that receiving on the tongue was the “proper” way to do it, when I was taught on the hand or the tongue. I think that both ways are “proper” and accepted.

The choice is strictly up to you. Neither method is better or worse than the other. Simply put, the Catholic Church would simply not allow an inferior way of receiving Holy Communion – no matter the quotes of others…

Do what feels right to you, and do it in the most reverent manner you can!

 

[AltarMan]

dumspirospero:

I never stated it was “better” or made you a “better” Catholic as someone alluded to in a previous post…granted, to receive in the hand is both licit and accepted by the Church…however, the norm and the (1)preferred way to receive according to the Church is on the tongue…Post Vatican II, laity are now allowed the option to receive in the hand…however, that is (2)merely an option…not the norm.

1.) You are wrong. Read the GIRM. The term “preferred” is never used. Please don’t try to sell your personal preferences as somehow superior – or “preferred.”

2.) Both methods are options and they wouldn’t be if one of them was interior to the other.

 

[JKirkLVNV]

See, these are the traditionalist churchmen I’m thrilled to call my fellow Catholics (Dum and Altarman). They’re right, it’s your choice. If you feel you want to receive on the tongue, by all means, do so, even if you’ve got a pantheistic, feminist nun in pedal pushers and earrings breathing down your neck. Likewise, if you prefer to rec. in your hand, don’t let anyone tell you it’s not kosher. We are permitted by the Holy See to do so, so it isn’t an abuse (and it certainly isn’t a heresy, as it’s a discipline, not a dogma).

I wonder how many people will die in the coming holy war between those who stick out their tongue and those who stick out their hand?

 

[WanderAimlessly]

Orogeny:

It really doesn’t matter which hand you receive in. The left hand is most commonly used because most people are right handed. The host is placed in the left hand and transfered to the tongue using the right hand, which is the dominant hand. If you are left handed, the reverse may be more appropriate.

Peace

Tim

I could drive them up a wall. I do not have a dominant hand (other than writing). Most things I can do either handed (though I tend to favor my left hand).

PF

 

[Deacon_Ed]

St. Sixtus I (circa 115)
`` The Sacred Vessels are not to be handled by others than those
consecrated to the Lord . "

St. Basil the Great (330-379)
The right to receive Holy Communion in the hand is permitted only in times of persecution.

The Synod of Rouen (650)
“Do not put the Eucharist in the hands of any layman
but only in their mouths.”

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
“The Body of Christ must not be touched by anyone other than a
consecrated priest. No other person has the right to touch it,
except in case of extreme necessity.”

The Council of Trent (1545-1565)
“The fact that only the priest gives Holy Communion with his
consecrated hands is an Apostolic Tradition.”

Pope Paul VI (1963-1978)
“This method [on the tongue] must be retained.”
(“Memoriale Domini”)

Pope John-Paul II
“To touch the sacred species and to distribute them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained” (Dominicae Cenae, 11).

Scotty,

Some of these quotes are quite fradulent, invented by people who are opposed to communion in the hand. The first, from Sixtus I, is totally unknown to the Church. It is supposed to be from the Liber Pontificalis but a check of that work does not reveal any such quote. What is reported there is “He decreed that objects consecrated for the ministry should be touched by ministers only.” However, all of the material for the pre-Constantine years should be suspect as it appears to be pious invention of the author who, clearly, did not have much knowledge of what happened then.

The quote from St. Basil is from his Letter to the Patrician Coesaria, concerning Communion. Here’s the entirity of the letter:

IT is good and beneficial to communicate every day, and to partake of the holy body and blood of Christ. For He distinctly says, “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life.”(4) And who doubts that to share frequently in life, is the same thing as to have manifold life. I, indeed, communicate four times a week, on the Lord’s day, on Wednesday, on Friday, and on the Sabbath, and on the other days if there is a commemoration of any Saint. It is needless to point out that for anyone in times of persecution to be compelled to take the communion in his own hand without the presence of a priest or minister is not a serious offence, as long custom sanctions this practice from the facts themselves. All the solitaries in the desert, where there is no priest, take the communion themselves, keeping communion at home. And at Alexandria and in Egypt, each one of the laity, for the most part, keeps the communion, at his own house, and participates in it when he lilies. For when once the priest has completed the offering, and given it, the recipient, participating in it each time as entire, is bound to believe that he properly takes and receives it from the giver. And even in the church, when the priest gives the portion, the recipient takes it with complete power over it, and so lifts it to his lips with his own hand. It has the same validity whether one portion or several portions are received from the priest at the same time.

Note that what is claimed is not found here at all.

The Synod of Rouen is a local synod, not binding on the entire Church, but the citation appears accurate and applies only to that area.

St. Thomas Aquinas simply defends the existing practice at the time he was writing. He does not derive this from any theological or patristic source.

The Council of Trent simply states the obvious, but has nothing to do with the laity receiving in the hand.

The citation from Paul VI is correct, and accurate. For that reason communion on the tongue is normative throughout the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. Communion in the hand is an indult, that is, an exception to the law granted to those national regions that asked for it.

Pope John Paul II did, indeed, write what was cited. The citation, however, is incomplete (perhaps a deliberate attempt to mislead?). In the very next sentence we read:

It is obvious that the Church can grant this faculty [distribution of communion] to those who are neither priests or deacons, as is the case with acolytes in the exercise of their ministery, especially if they are destined for future ordination, or with other lay people who are chosen for this to meet a just need, but always after an adequate preparation.

Earlier in the same document the pope speaks of the fact that communion in the hand has been permitted by Rome.

Deacon Ed

 

[DavidJoseph]

1.) You are wrong. Read the GIRM. The term “preferred” is never used. Please don’t try to sell your personal preferences as somehow superior – or “preferred.”

2.) Both methods are options and they wouldn’t be if one of them was interior to the other.

Just because “preferred” isn’t used in the GIRM doesn’t mean that receiving on the tongue isn’t indeed the preferred method. Receiving in the hand isn’t the norm but rather an indult that is only granted to certain areas.

 

[stargazer257]

Uhhh-umm. The title of the thread is “Why left hand?”

I think it has been answered. I’d suggest that a new thread be started to hash this out.

 

[dumspirospero]

Thank you very much David for picking up my slack while I was absent…I guess we also have Literal Funamentalist when it comes to the GIRM now…LOL…if “preferred” isn’t explicitly said in the GIRM…then we become , anti-Novus Ordo Catholics who are spreading lies…You are indeed correct to point out that receiving on the tongue is the norm…therefore, in other words, it is the preferred method of receiving in The Catholic Church…however people get that mixed up with peoples personal preferences. It may be the preferred way of receiving the host in The Church, however there are those that prefer receiving it in the hand. Sometimes people have a hard time deciphering between their own personal preferences and those of The Church.

DavidJoseph:

Just because “preferred” isn’t used in the GIRM doesn’t mean that receiving on the tongue isn’t indeed the preferred method. Receiving in the hand isn’t the norm but rather an indult that is only granted to certain areas.