Saturday, March 29, 2008
"As Bishop I Cannot Be Silent"
The auxiliary bishop of Karaganda in Kazakhstan has spoken with Gloria.TV about his new book "Dominus est" in which he sharply criticises the practice of communion in the hand.
Labels: Bishops, Catholic Belief, Communion, Litugical Abuse, Traditionalism, Video
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Thou Art Present!
As Catholics, we firmly believe that the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ is transubstantially present in the consecrated hosts of bread and wine.
In the Liturgy, we see that Christ is present as both priest and victim. He is present as priest in the person of the celebrant and victim, in the Eucharistic species. This has been affirmed by the council of Trent; "For, it is one and the same Victim, the same one now offering by the ministry of the priests as He who then offered Himself on the Cross, the manner of offering alone being different" (Denzinger-Schonmetzer 1743).
Over the course of the last 30 odd years, we have been seeing a decline in the believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. What has contributed to this? Here are some of my findings/ideas:
- Christ's Sacramental Presence devalued; put on par with Christ's presence in the Scriptures.
- The idea that the common priesthood is more important becasue it makes Christ spiritually present.
- Genuflections which show adoration to Christ has been reduced significently; down to 3 from the original 14.
- Revised Offertory; "the bread of life", "spiritual drink".
- The Eucharist often being refered to in relation to the congregation and not in itself.
- The current GIRM makes no mention of the Real Presence. The word "bread" is used almost throughout the GIRM.
- The Celebrant is encouraged to receive the Body of Christ reverently without making a genuflection.
- The purification of fingers have been suppressed.
- The keeping of the thumb and finger joined as a sign of respect for the Sacred Particles from the consecration has been suppressed.
- Over usage of laity in the distribution of communion.
- Communion standing and on hand.
- The turning of the House of God into a entertainment center where audio-visual projectors screen advertisments, video clips, etc...
- The use of wine glasses in place of chaices and stainless steel bowls in place of gold-plated metal ware.
Labels: Communion, Eucharist, GIRM, Traditionalism
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist
I was approached by an aging priest this evening after Holy Mass to be an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist. He said that he gets awfully tired/drained after distributing Holy Communion to the congregation; and even the ciborium was too heavy.
Well... I suppose that I could offer some assistance.
I think that it would be easier for priests to distribute Holy Communion with the faithful kneeling along the rails (regradless of communion on hand or tongue). That way he does not need to re-adjust his back and arm to meet the different heights of communicants. It wouldn't be mundane as well because the priest gets to stretch and walk when he reaches the end of the rail to return to the start.
Labels: Communicants, Communion, Eucharist, Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, Personal, Thoughts
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Calls to unite Anglicans and Catholics under Pope
According to some Anglicans, YES. From The Times. Andrew has commented on this in his post.
5 Reasons why I feel the Anglicans should reunite with Rome:
- First, I am convinced that The Lord's will for His Church is that it should be one (John 13:34-35, John 17:11, John 22-23). Historically, the Catholic influences and traditions within Anglicanism has always sought to bear witness to that truth; from that tradition they have come.
- Second, the distance between official Anglicanism and what might be termed historical faith and order have grown very rapidly. Increasingly unorthodox belief and practice has crept in, so that both Catholic and Protestant ways of understanding the Gospel have become incongruent with it.
- Third, the present disarray of Anglicanism is, in itself, clear evidence of the need for a defined focus of authority in the life of the Church on earth, and that such a magisterium is to be found in the person of Peter and his successors in the Holy See; The Pope.
- Fourth, the ordination of female priests and Homosexual Clergy and the blessings of same-sex unions- such an act is sinful and has “consequences”; wrath of God (Romans 1:18-32, Leviticus 20:13, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
- Fifth, I thank God for the good and beauty that can be found in the Anglican tradition. As Anglicanism continues to decay around the world, I believe that it can best and “most safely be preserved within the household of the Roman Catholic Church and form a Single Eucharistic Community” (Archbishop John Hepworth, the Anglican Communion’s highest-ranking cleric. He is a key personnel in leading the Anglican Church in the USA to reunification with Rome.)
Labels: Churches, Communion, Eucmenism, Holy Father, News, Protestants, Thoughts, Vatican
Communion in the Hand
P: ECCE Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollot peccata mundi
C: DOMINE, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tecum meum, sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea
P: CORPUS Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen.
C: DOMINE, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tecum meum, sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea
P: CORPUS Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen.
"The Church is very clear in Her documents that she desires that we would receive Holy Communion on the tongue and not in the hand."
Monday
September 10, 2001 Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Reading (Colossians
1:24-2:3) Gospel (St. Luke 6:6-11)
FATHER ROBERT ALTIER:
In the first reading today Saint Paul, in his Letter to the Colossians, talks about how, in Christ, is hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. This is because He is almighty God; He is the Creator of the universe; He is the Savior of the world; He is God, absolute and perfect. Saint Paul says at the beginning of the reading that he makes up in his flesh for what is lacking in the suffering of Christ, for the sake of Christ's body, the Church.
In Christ, now, there is no suffering, but only in the Mystical Body. But there is one place, which I would like to address this morning, where I believe that Our Lord is truly grieved. I want to challenge you in that area: That is, the manner by which we receive Holy Communion.
The Church is very clear in Her documents that she desires that we would receive Holy Communion on the tongue and not in the hand.
The bishops of America, as well as a few other countries in the world, have allowed Communion in the hand as a dispensation. But the Church is very, very clear that She does not want us receiving Communion in the hand.
Let me explain a little as to why. First of all, to receive is something that is passive. The priest takes Holy Communion because the priest is the one who offers the Victim in sacrifice. Therefore, the one who offers the Victim must also take part in that Victim. But the people of God are to receive Holy Communion. To take the Host from your hand and put It into your own mouth is to take Communion, not to receive Communion; and so it is an active thing, not a passive thing. The Lord desires to give Himself to you as a gift, not to be taken by you. We need to be very careful that we do not lose the symbolism of what is happening in the Blessed Sacrament.
Also, if you will notice, during Mass after the Consecration, my fingers remain together because of the particles of the Host that are there. When we take Holy Communion in the hand, there are particles of Our Lord that are on our hands and on our fingers. That is why, after Communion, the priest will purify his fingers- because of the particles of the Host. But how often the people of God, after receiving Holy Communion, simply brush the particles onto the ground and walk on Our Lord. Or they put their hands in their pockets, and Our Lord is right there
on their clothing. The abuses that this opens them up to are very grave. Not that anyone is intentionally doing that, but I think it is something that we need to consider exceedingly carefully.
What I always tell people is that you can look forward to the Day of Judgment and ask yourself how you intend to approach Our Lord, because He is your Judge. The same Lord you approach in Holy Communion is the same One you will approach on the Day of Judgment. Do you assume that you will put your hand out to Our Blessed Lord on the Day of Judgment?
Is your view of judgment that you will shake Our Lord's hand and tell Him how wonderful it is to see Him? Or is your view that you will do great reverence to Our Blessed Lord? My view is that I will be flat on my face - not shaking His hand.
We do not put out our hand to God. Scripture says that God holds us in the palm of His hand. We should not be holding God in the palm of ours. He created us; He made us in His image and likeness. He is the Creator; we are the creature. We must approach Him with the greatest reverence, the greatest respect.
If we simply look at the fruit that has been borne by Holy Communion being taken in the hand, it is not good: the loss of reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, the familiarity.
Thankfully it is not happening here, but go to most churches and ask yourself if you see people praying before Mass or if they are chatting, goofing around, and talking.
We have lost the reverence for the Real Presence because Jesus is just "our buddy" when we put our hand out to Him; He is not our God when we do that. So we need to be very careful. But beyond that, we can look also at what has happened spiritually to the people of God. Since we have been receiving Communion in the hand, we have lost sight of the idea of going to Confession, of our own sinfulness, of the reverence we must have for Our Lord. We have made Communion so easy a thing and so nonchalant a thing that people have lost that sense of reverence, of awe, and of respect in the Presence of Our Lord.
I challenge you to think very seriously about this issue. The bishops, like I say, have allowed it; it is not a sin if you receive Holy Communion in the hand. In some places in the early Church they did that; Saint Justin talks about it. But the Church stopped it because of the abuses against the Blessed Sacrament that were occurring. I ask you to really pray about that.
Look at Jesus in the Eucharist and ask yourself, "Do I really, truly believe that this is God? That this is my Creator and my Redeemer? How, then, do I desire to approach Him?" I really believe, if you pray that through, that there is only one conclusion to which you can come.
Then, I beg you, do not remain silent about it. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Bring that word to others because all those good people out there, I do not think that they are willfully trying to do anything that would grieve Our Lord; they are doing what they have been told to do.
But again, look at what has happened in the last forty years of this particular practice and ask yourself if the fruit it has borne has been good. Obviously, you love Our Lord: You are here at daily Mass; you are here every morning. The love of Our Lord is evident in you. Bring that love of Jesus out from here. The love that is in your heart, proclaim it to others and ask them in the same way to consider their actions toward Our Lord.
Let us bring the reverence to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament back so that we can give Him fitting worship and praise because He is God, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are contained.
See my Open Letter to the Catholic News, 'Communion on Hand '.
Labels: Communion, Eucharist, Homily, Traditionalism
Saturday, October 28, 2006
OPEN LETTER: Communion on Hand
I am not sure whether faithful Catholics as well as Church authorities are aware about the problem (or rather danger) of receiving communion on the hand.
A seminarian brought this matter to my attention earlier this year and I decided to check it out for myself. Thus, over the course of the past two weeks, I received communion on my hand. The results were shocking! 5 out of the 14 times I received communion on my hand, I noticed sacred fragments of the consecrated host left behind. I consumed the fragments by licking my palm.
The truth is that many people do not realize this grave matter and simply rub their palms together or on their clothing after the reception of our Lord’s sacred body. I’m sure that they cannot be held accountable for sacrilege. However, we should respond by rectifying this problem. If we do not do something, our Eucharistic Lord will continue to be trampled on each day at mass.
One dogma of the Church comes immediately to mind when examining the reception of the Sacred Host on hand:
The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and
endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and
entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in
such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ. (Catechism of
the Catholic Church 1377) [Note 205: Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1641.]
Therefore, very great reverence, respect and care is to be taken of these fragments. Since this is the case, why would we multiply immensely the number of persons who are handling the Sacred Host?
Also, St. Augustine tells us that:
“Each receives Christ the Lord, and He is entire in each portion. He is not
diminished by being given to many, but gives Himself whole and entire to
each.... the body of our Lord is contained whole and entire under the least
particle of the bread."
If this is so, what about the Fragments that are being left on the hands of the faithful? Very great reverence, respect and care are to be taken of these fragments.
The sure way to solve this problem is to encourage every Catholic to receive communion on the tongue. Pope Paul VI tells us in Memoriale Domini that this method of reception is also more conducive to faith, reverence and humility, affirming that, "This method, on the tongue, must be retained”.
To this must be added three points:
- The increased danger of dropping the Sacred Host on the ground,
- The increased ease of stealing the Body of the Lord for superstitious or horrible purposes.
- Perhaps the decline in the belief of the Real Presence could be attributed to the less reverent way Communion is now distributed.
The Eucharist is Core to our Faith.
Let us give it the reverence it deserves.
Labels: Communion, Eucharist, Open Letter
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