Pope Benedict Sets the Norm for Receiving Communion
On the Feast of Corpus Christi, a number of Catholic commentators took note that those who approached Pope Benedict XVI to receive Holy Communion knelt and received the Host on the tongue. In fact, a kneeler had been set up at the point of distribution to make it clear that the faithful were to receive Communion kneeling.
This posture, of course, is the traditional one for receiving Communion in the Western Church, which is why Catholic churches historically had altar rails at which the faithful would kneel for the reception of the Host. But since the promulgation of the Novus Ordo, the new Mass of Pope Paul VI, it has become increasingly common to receive Communion standing and, in the United States in particular, on the hand.
Some suggested that the Holy Father distributed Communion in the traditional manner only because it was the Feast of Corpus Christi--of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ--and that he was making a point about the sacredness of the Eucharist. A new interview with the master of ceremonies for papal Masses, however, makes it clear that he was indeed making a point, but that this was not a one-time thing. In L'Osservatore Romano, the official newspaper of the Vatican, Monsignor Guido Marini was asked whether the "practice [is] destined to become habitual in papal ceremonies."
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf at What Does the Prayer Really Say? provides a translation of Monsignor Marini's answer:
I really think so. . . . The method adopted by Benedict XVI tends to underscore the force of the norm valid for the whole Church. In addition, one could perhaps also note a preference for using this method of distribution which, without taking anything from the other, better sheds light on the truth of the Real Presence in the Eucharist, it helps the the devotion of the faithful, introduces them more easily to a sense of mystery. Aspects which, in our time, speaking pastorally, it is urgent to highlight and recover.
For those who have followed Pope Benedict's pontificate, this should not come as a surprise. The traditional posture for receiving Communion is preserved in the the Traditional Latin Mass, which the Holy Father last July (in Summorum Pontificum) restored as one of the two approved forms of the Mass. And the Eucharist plays a central role in Pope Benedict's thought, including in his first encyclical, Deus caritas est (God Is Love), where he writes:
The Eucharist draws us into Jesus' act of self-oblation. More than just statically receiving the incarnate Logos, we enter into the very dynamic of his self-giving. The imagery of marriage between God and Israel is now realized in a way previously inconceivable: it had meant standing in God's presence, but now it becomes union with God through sharing in Jesus' self-gift, sharing in his body and blood. The sacramental "mysticism", grounded in God's condescension towards us, operates at a radically different level and lifts us to far greater heights than anything that any human mystical elevation could ever accomplish.
When we think of the Eucharist in those terms, Pope Benedict's desire to revive the older method of receiving Communion is not surprising at all. We owe all that we are to God; when given the opportunity to achieve union with Him in the Eucharist, kneeling in gratitude seems the least we can do.
Where does this leave Communion in the hand? As Monsignor Marini points out,
it is necessary not to forget that the distribution of Communion in the hand remains, even now, from the juridical standpoint, an indult from the universal law, conceded by the Holy See to those bishops conferences which requested it.
In other words, it is an exception to the norm, and Pope Benedict is making it clear what the norm has been and still is: Communion on the tongue while kneeling.
Comments
Unfortunately the reception of Holy Communion during the past 40 years had shown less and less awe and reverence for the Body and Blood of Jesus. Glad to hear that the Church is getting its bearings again and understanding that “reverence is the root of all virtue.
Even Mother Teresa had said”The worst thing in the world today worse than famine worse than abortion, is communion the hand.” Look up Saint Augustine. It is sacrilege. Cardinal Ratzinger had said “The Catholic bastions must be destroyed.” Saint Robert Bellarmine (a Doctor of the Church) taught “If a Pope tries to destroy the Church…resist…” Why do we pray for the Pope and the Bishops at Mass - wake up people - its serious. Our Lady of La Sallette said “Rome will lose the Faith…” St Columba(6th century prophesy)said “…the Church will be despoiled of her property…” look around! “New” “Mass”, communion in the hand,changing - lying in the words of the consecration,etc., all this is supposed to be equal to the true Latin Mass? Everyone thinking to be Catholic should ask, all around,”Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Martin, I’m afraid you’re rather confused. Pope Benedict is trying to encourage people to return to receiving Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling, and you declare he is supporting Communion in the hand and trying “to destroy the Church”?
It seems to me that what is most important in the reception of communion is the inner disposition of the person receiving it. Jesus did not distribute the last supper to the apostles on their tongues while kneeling.
The Mass is a “continuation” of the same event and is intended to raise us to a union with God so intimate that Christ prayed we be made one with Him in God as He Himself is:
John 22: “And I have given them then glory you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one, (23)I in them and You in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that You sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.”
If it is argued we are not the apostles you might look to the beginning of this prayer said at the last supper.
John 20: “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word…”
John 20-26 is one of the most beautiful and revealing passages in the Bible where our true destiny and dignity as children of God is revealed.
As far as Mother Teresa saying that receiving communion in the hand is worse than abortion; All I can say is I am glad she is not the Pope!
After reading the comment about Mother Teresa saying that the reception of the Eucharist in the hand was worse than abortion, I just had to track this comment down.
I have a special love for this modern day saint and could not believe she would say such a thing.
I am relieved to find out that what she is reported to have said is that what “made her the saddest” was to see people receiving communion in the hand.
I don’t have a transcript of the conversation in which she made this statement, but I can only assume that it emanated from her own devotion to the Eucharist, and her insight into the general lack of respect displayed for the Sacrament by many modern day Catholics.
As human beings we experience different degrees of joy and sadness. I think if her statement was properly interpreted, we would understand that she experienced her most intense sadness when witnessing (what was in her eyes) a custom that has led to a lessening of devotion and respect for the Body and Blood of our Saviour.
I can only assume that anything she saw as contributing to a loss of Love and devotion to Christ (especially within His Church) would have elicited the same degree of sadness from her.
This is far from saying that she believed it to be the worst sin!
Anthony,
How do you know He did not give communion on the tongue to kneeling apostles. Scripture does not say that they were not kneeling, nor does it say that He did not give it on the tongue. You speak with much authority, from whence does it come?
Having experienced the reception of the Eucharist both before and after Vatican II, I recall the extreme sentimental mystification of the Eucharist. We were not permitted to chew the bread as the apostles and Jesus himself did, but we had to swallow it whole - chewing would be a form of desecration of the Body of Christ. Nuns told us stories of bleeding hosts that had fallen accidentally from the communion plates. If a real host fell to the floor it was reason for a serious mystical recovery operation– requiring of course the sacred fingers of a priest to save the day. The celebrant was not permitted to open his index and thumb until they were thoroughly washed over the chalice and he would drink the libation, making certain that not a speck of the wafer was desecrated by touching anything other than Catholic tongues and ordained digits. (Evidently a Golden Chalice is still OK with the Lord). Is this form of fanatical piety a new restoration of mystery or mystification? Isn’t this a form of Catholic navel gazing? Remember this standard way of receiving Eucharist did not include the other essential element of the Eucharist–the wine; No, only the priests could receive the blood of Christ. This was of course God’s ordained way of reception which lacks a speck of Biblical support. What the Word of God tells us is that Jesus saved his most scathing words for the Religious Mysterians of their day–the Pharisees and Scribes. Hypocrites he calls them, noting their pious preoccupation with the speck in the other person’s eye while ignoring the beam in their own. Or “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! (Mt 23:24)
Mystification is about power, an instrument of control. Jesus saw through their pretensions. Unfortunately the governance of the Church still remains sinfully naive of its own capacity for self-deception ala self-preservation. Witness the cover-ups by the Bishops in American cities (Boston and Philadelphia in particular) in the sexual abuse of children by priests (By the way, one was in my parish and was the sponsor of the parish Boy Scout troop. He was pre-Vatican II and situated in the catbird’s seat for the parish pedophile.) In Boston’s case the Vatican gave sanctuary to Cardinal Law from the U.S. courts. No doubt, like the makers of Hebrew National hot dogs, the Vatican answers to a Higher Power rather than International law by harboring suspected criminals. Naive, self-serving and self-preserving.
It is truly a disgrace that this re-mystification of the Eucharist which in a sense is a further diminution of the laity - the people of God - and its role in the Church. It’s a power grab; a restoration of the Good Ol’ Deity, de-Incarnate, transcendent to all but the holy mediators and their high paid lawyers.
Joe Clarke
Philadelphia, PA.