Father Daniel Cardo and Father Marcus Mallick, members of the archdioceses Implementation Committee for the New Roman Missal, contributed to this column. Again, the priest told me to stand up. It is too bad that it is not true. Amen. Fire and Spirit, contrary to nature 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 6, trans. After 1969, when Pope Paul VI granted permission for the first countries to begin distributing Communion in the hand, the indult spread throughout the world like wildfire. U.S. dioceses begin to bring back Communion Cup Elizabeth Klein is an Assistant Professor of Theology at the Augustine Institute. I know that they are from God. While we have the option of receiving holy Communion either on the tongue or on the hand, we must always be mindful of receiving our Lord respectfully. Receiving communion in the hand was the common practice of the Church in both East and West for the first 800 years of Christianity, and it was certainly considered reverent by the Fathers. In fact, other than the celebrant of the Mass itself, no one else receiving Communion, not even a priest, could receive It in the hand. That would be rather messy. Phillip Schaff (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889). Fire consumed the offering [16] Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, 4.24. A celebrated saying of Saint Augustine, cited by Pope Benedict XVI in n. 66 of his Encyclical Sacramentum Caritatis, ("Sacrament of Love"), teaches: No one eats that flesh without first adoring it; we should sin were we not to adore it (Enarrationes in Psalmos 98, 9). 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lords death till He comes. In the New Testament book of Acts (c. 63-70) there are references to Christians gathering to break bread, called an Agape Love Feast., They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. Acts 2:46. One time, I was visiting a parish in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and upon kneeling to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, the priest looked at me and said, We dont do that here. I stayed on my knees with my mouth open. While I have not been to a Novus Ordo Mass in several years, one thing I vividly remember is the way in which many people would receive Our Lord in the Eucharist. On May 28, 1969 the Congregation for Divine Worship issued Memoriale Domini, which concluded: "From the responses received, it is thus clear that by far the greater number of bishops feel that the present discipline [i.e., Holy Communion on the tongue] should not be changed at all, indeed that if it were changed, this would be offensive to the ADOM :: Communion: in the hand or the tongue Communion on Tongue vs. Hand? The Most Important Thing to Know - Medium If you do these things, you will recognize that it is a faithful saying that a man must be, and must continue to be, the husband of one wife to be considered for the office of a bishop, regardless of what man may claim an Apostle, or Angel from God, told him in person and face-to-face (1Timothy 3:1-2; Galatians 1: 6-9). to it gradually developed. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner[e] eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lords[f] body (Again referring to the manner in which they observe selfishly and unlovingly against the church that is the body of Christ. In this he shows a great fear, and since the hand that is stretched out holds a higher rank, it is the one that is extended for receiving the body of the King, and the other hand bears and brings its sister hand, while not thinking that it is playing the role of a servant, as it is equal with it in honour, on account of the bread of the King, which is also borne by it. According to their iconography, the catacomb Christians gave the Eucharist a much broader context by including fish in the ritual. BANNER IMAGE, PLAIN, LARGER One plate contains five loaves of bread, the other two fish, replicating the numbers in the multiplication miracle from the Gospels. Early Christian Communion in the Hand | Church Life Journal Many popes, saints, and Church Councils over the years have spoken to this topic. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner[e] eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lords[f] body. It was in this atmosphere and under these circumstances, they argue, that the practice of Communion in the hand began to be restricted. On the one hand, I think this evidence precludes describing communion in the hand as intrinsically irreverent. Have reverence for the honor which God has bestowed upon it, and do not lead it down to the vileness of sin.[27]. cit., p. 191, n.25. Though known through those authors, the Didache in manuscript form had been lost for over 1,400 years until it was re-discovered in 1873 by a Greek Orthodox Metropolitan, Philotheos Bryennios, in the Jerusalem Monastery of the Most Holy Sepulcher in Istanbul. Pope Paul VI, in Memoriale Domini, he says, This method (on the tongue) must be retained., Pope John Paul II, in Dominicae Cenae, he says, To touch the sacred species and to distribute them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained.. . The holy boy, Tarcisius, is called the Eucharist martyr. He was beaten to death rather than let the Communion bread fall on the ground. Then after you have with care sanctified your eyes by the touch of the holy Body, partakegiving heed lest you lose any particle of it (the bread). According to some critics version of history, popular in certain quarters, Communion on the tongue became the universal norm in this way: During the Middle Ages certain distortions in the faith and/or in approaches A Case for Communion on the Tongue | EWTN We call these sacred vessels. Made of precious metal, they are set aside for sacred use only. Debunking the myth that today's Communion in the hand - LifeSite As we prepare to receive the new English translation of the Roman Missal on the first Sunday of Advent, let us take this opportunity to reflect on the manner in which we receive our Lord in holy Communion. Rather, facts seem to point to a different conclusion: Pope St. Leo the Great (440-461) is an early witness of the traditional practice. Once upon a time sadly, a lot of stories about Catholicism begin that way large numbers by Jim Bannister . Remember your church, O Lord; save it from all evil, and perfect it in your love. The original article can be found here>HISTORY OF COMMUNION. Communion in the Hand: A Grave Abuse and a Graver Sin 3. Is it okay to recieve Communion in the hand? - Living Faith - Home This John was of suspect orthodoxy, as we know from the correspondence of St. Epiphanius, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine. Catholics believe that the "real presence of our Lord" is in the bread and wine and . We are urged to do so by an uninterrupted tradition, which from the first centuries on has found the Christian community ever vigilant in guarding this treasure. Inspired by love, the Church is anxious to hand on to future generations of Christians, without loss, her faith and teaching with regard to the mystery of the Eucharist. [Cf: Redemptionis Sacramentum 92. The most ancient practice of distributing Holy Communion was, with all probability, to give Communion to the faithful in the palm of the hand. Especially not a single priest in order to minimize the handling of the Host as you so earnestly contend is an Apostolic Tradition. Why I Receive Communion on the Tongue | Marc Barnes Infact, in the letter, En Reponse a la Demande, which was written to the presidents of the conferences of bishops who had petitioned for the indult to distribute Holy Communion in the hand in 1969, the first stipulation of the indult says, The new manner of giving communion must not be imposed in a way that would exclude the traditional practice. Yet, in parishes around the world, priests have attempted to deny the faithful Communion on the tongue. Hundreds of faithful gather in prayer for Pope Francis at Budapests oldest parish church, Pope Francis says he did not lose consciousness before hospitalization in March, Pope Francis warns of technological domination, threat to human ecology at university in Hungary, The Good Shepherd calls us to open our hearts to love, Pope Francis says at Mass in Hungary, TEXT: Dont be couch potatoes! Pope Francis urges youth. Two millennia later Christian Communion is exclusively celebrated (Latin celebrare meaning to assemble to honor) as reflecting the Last Supper when Jesus pronounced the Bread His Body and the Wine His Blood. I do not praise you. out of reverence towards this Sacrament, nothing touches it, but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest's hands, for touching this Sacrament. It was considered enough to gaze upon the Sacred Host during the elevation. known for something very important to liturgical studies. It was Jesus' last meal with his disciples before his crucifixion. Basil the Great, 330-379 stated, The right to receive Holy Communion in the hand is permitted only in times of persecution. This statement may very well have been made in response to St. Cyril of Jerusalem in 348. That is a topic for another day. [9] Theodore of Mopsuestia, Catechetical Homilies 6. In recent years I have observed that a growing number of young Catholics, particularly seminarians, choose now to receive holy Communion on the tongue. He made a motion that they take vote as to whether it was the prevailing custom already. For in the holy Eucharist, the Catechism of the Catholic Church notes, "Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present (1374). So it was during A Case for Communion on the Tongue by: David L. Vise Revision 2: November 4, 1995 (Feast of St. Charles Borromeo) The Bible Speaks. Rather than be totally deprived of the Bread of Life, they could receive by their own hand. But make your left hand as if a throne for the right, and hollowing your palm receive the body of Christ saying after it, Amen. The practice of the priest placing the consecrated Bread directly into the mouth of the communicant thus developed and, they think, was unwisely imposed. Seven people, one of whom is a woman, are reclined/seated at a table where there is a cup of mingled red wine and two large plates. It is usually presumed that this was so. The True Mind of the Church according to the True History of the New Rite" - was published in Rome in 1990. origins during the unfortunate Middle Ages, a period whose liturgical practices we would do well so they think to rid ourselves of.) If Communion is received in the hand, the hands should first of all be clean. But is it not a form of clericalism to allow the priest to touch the Sacred Host and to forbid the laity to do the same?