Saturday, January 17, 2009

Back to the future: Communion with physical signs of reverence


H/T to Fr Ray Blake for this 


A book, Dominus Est: by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, about the history of the reception of Holy Communion was endorsed very stronglyby Cardinal Francis Arinze and was reviewed very favourably by in in L'Osservatore Romanum. Schneider comes down very heavily in favour of receiving Communion on the tongue.

Interestly one of the first interviews with Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Divine Worship, dealt with Communion on the Tongue

"No, it is not just a matter of form. What does it mean to receive communion in the mouth? What does it mean to kneel before the Most Holy Sacrament? What dies it mean to kneel during the consecration at Mass? It means adoration, it means recognizing the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist; it means respect and an attitude of faith of a man who prostrates before God because he knows that everything comes from Him, and we feel speechless, dumbfounded, before the wondrousness, his goodness, and his mercy. That is why it is not the same to place the hand, and to receive communion in any fashion, than doing it in a respectful way; it is not the same to receive communion kneeling or standing up, because all these signs indicate a profound meaning. What we have to grasp is that profound attitude of the man who prostrates himself before God, and that is what the Pope wants."

Cardinal Stafford, Prefect of the Apostolic Penitentiary speaking of sins reserved to the Holy See, spoke recently of desecration of the Holy Eucharist, said,
"this offense is occurring with more and more frequency, not just in satanic rites but by ordinary faithful who receive Communion and then remove the host from their mouths and spit it out or otherwise desecrate it."

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