Why receive in the hand?

[mullenpm]

May I relate a situation that happened to me recently on a Sunday at Mass.

I had received Communion and returned to my pew. Usually I put my face in my hands and pray my Thanksgiving to the Blessed Lord; but this time I didn’t do that.

I was on the end of the pew and I saw a woman pass right next to me and she was about to put the Host into her pocket.

Like a flash I grabbed her arm and held it tightly (frankly, I did not think of any possible consequence to this action); she took the Host into her other hand and started to chew on it like she was eating a cracker.

She did not appear to be Catholic (she didn’t know how to put the Host in her mouth) but I didn’t let go of her arm (and I remember holding onto her arm very tightly) until she had consummed the Host completely.

All this time she was blubbering while I was giving her a lecture on the sinfulness of what she had intended to do. I am sure I frightened her.

I must have been talking to her very softly and I was completely unaware of anyone taking any notice at all. They must have been though because the church is large and the pews were full.

When she had consumed the Host I let go of her arm and she walked away. I returned to my pew but I was shaken.

Our Pastor was away for the day and the Deacon was attending to three visiting Priests who con-celebrated the Mass. After Mass I told him what happened and he said I did the right thing and a situation like this comes from giving Holy Communion in the hand.

But I wonder if a Priest should have noticed that she really didn’t know how to respond to him when he offered the Host.

Now, this whole occurrence appears surreal as though we were alone in the church and no one else noticed, but I think Our Lord wanted me to see her because possibly some other person may have been afraid to react (reacting without thinking is a fault I have).

Has anyone ever had this experience? It still comes into my mind very often and I don’t understand why.

 

[debraran]

].“Anyone who reflects on this will recognize that on this point it is quite wrong to argue about this or that form of behavior. We should be concerned only to argue in favor of what the Church’s efforts were directed toward, both before and after the ninth century, that is a reverence in the heart, an inner submission before the mystery of God that puts himself into our hands. Thus we should not forget that not only our hands are impure but also our tongue and also our heart and that we often sin more with the tongue than with the hands. God takes an enormous risk–and at the same time this is an expression of his merciful goodness–in allowing not only our hand and our tongue but even our heart to come into contact with him.”

I agree with our now Pope on this completely.

As far as why some people act strangely at communion, sometimes they have mental illness’s or other issues…she could have taken it out of her mouth also. We can’t police everyone, but God knows their heart and limitations.

 

[Sam_Maloney]

Now that the norm for America is to recieve while standing, it is quite difficult for the priest to place the host on the tongue without getting saliva on his fingers at some point.

As a result, virtually every priest and decon I’ve spoken to about this prefers to place the host in people’s hands.

One of my favorite priests is very short, legally blind, with rather poor motor skills. A wonderful, holy man, but receiving on the tongue from him would be like french kissing every single person at Mass…

So I will continue to receive in the hand until we are finally allowed to kneel again: that would be MY pick for a reverent gesture to restore…

 

[Cat]

May I relate a situation that happened to me recently on a Sunday at Mass.

I had received Communion and returned to my pew. Usually I put my face in my hands and pray my Thanksgiving to the Blessed Lord; but this time I didn’t do that.

I was on the end of the pew and I saw a woman pass right next to me and she was about to put the Host into her pocket.

Like a flash I grabbed her arm and held it tightly (frankly, I did not think of any possible consequence to this action); she took the Host into her other hand and started to chew on it like she was eating a cracker.

She did not appear to be Catholic (she didn’t know how to put the Host in her mouth) but I didn’t let go of her arm (and I remember holding onto her arm very tightly) until she had consummed the Host completely.

All this time she was blubbering while I was giving her a lecture on the sinfulness of what she had intended to do. I am sure I frightened her.

I must have been talking to her very softly and I was completely unaware of anyone taking any notice at all. They must have been though because the church is large and the pews were full.

When she had consumed the Host I let go of her arm and she walked away. I returned to my pew but I was shaken.

Our Pastor was away for the day and the Deacon was attending to three visiting Priests who con-celebrated the Mass. After Mass I told him what happened and he said I did the right thing and a situation like this comes from giving Holy Communion in the hand.

But I wonder if a Priest should have noticed that she really didn’t know how to respond to him when he offered the Host.

Now, this whole occurrence appears surreal as though we were alone in the church and no one else noticed, but I think Our Lord wanted me to see her because possibly some other person may have been afraid to react (reacting without thinking is a fault I have).

Has anyone ever had this experience? It still comes into my mind very often and I don’t understand why.

From your description, it sounds like this woman may have a mental illness or some other kind of cognitive disability. People who are “normal” don’t “blubber”–they get mad and argue and walk away.

Poor thing.

It was proper and good of you to correct her and stop her from taking the Host into her pocket. But I think perhaps some gentleness on your part would have been better. A lecture on her sinfulness (which may not have been culpably sinful if she was, indeed, mentally ill)–no wonder she was frightened.

Keep in mind that not all mental or emotional disabilities are visible or require a caregiver. It’s very possible that the woman is able to live on her own. It’s possible that she is on meds, and at the Mass you attended, she may have been close to medication time.

I have a friend who is schizophrenic. She looks a little “sloppy” but so do a lot of “normal” people. You would probably not know. But she is so paranoid that when we go into a store together, she is convinced that everyone thinks she is shoplifting. (She isn’t.) She doesn’t go out without a community friend (like me) because she is subject to panic attacks. You can’t see any of these disabilities, but they’re there.

I think it’s always better to be too compassionate.

 

[love4mary]

My husband, a cradle Catholic said that as a child, the altar boys would hold a paten under the Eucharist when people received and he would tell me that after Communion the paten would have many particles of our Lords precious Body on it,(which I understand is Why they used a paten).

Our parish does NOT use the paten in this way so I receive in the Hand ONLY. I can use my hands as a sort of paten, trying my very best to be careful and not drop any part of my Lord. If I received on the tongue, I have no such assurances.

I visited a parish that DID use the paten at Communion so I received on the tongue,and I have to admit that for me, this was a spiritual blessing. At my home parish, I will continue to receive in hand until such time as they start using the paten.

I love my Lord wayyyyy to much to think of Him being dropped on the floor and stepped on

As an aside,I am an Extra Ordinary Minister of Holy Communion (EMHC) and take great care in making sure that I place the Eucharist in the center of the palm and try to hold my paten under their hands best I can.