Tuesday 23 February 2010

Reception of Holy Communion . . .

I am very grateful to Fr Allan McDonald at 'Southern Orders' for posting these videos on the Reception of Holy Communion.




While this young man's approach to his subject may appear to be a little 'over the top' one can't fault his enthusiasm and his teaching is certainly sound.

Permission to receive Holy Communion in the hand is an indult and not an obligation, and as such may be rescinded at any time.

We have many people in the parish who receive Holy Communion in the hand and many who receive on the tongue.

I am very happy for Holy Communion to be received in either way but whichever method you choose to adopt, the most important thing is that it should done 'reverently'. Reverence is the key word in both of these videos.



4 comments:

fidelisjoff said...

Father, thankyou for reminding us about the indult for communion in the hand. Church law for the exclusive reception of Our Lord on the tongue being suspended for a period of time should remind us that there may come a time where the indult is removed e.g. The Archdiocese of Lima. Mother Theresa stated that the greatest evil to enter the Church after Vatican II was communion in the hand. Protestant reformers insisted on communion in the hand as they saw it as a denial of the Real Presence. It's genesis within the Catholic Church dates to Holland around 1965 where disobedience to church law on reception of Holy Communion began and then spread troughout the Western Church despite condemnation of the strongest kind by Paul VI. In the end the disobedience was so widespread it became a lost battle and where bishops requested communion in the hand it was permitted. It has,
unfortunately, gone hand in hand with a loss of faith in The Lord's Real Presence, Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity in the
communion host. Can I recommend the short book
Dominus Est by Bishop Athanasius Schneider, a young bishop of the Church, which traces faithfully the history of the reception of Holy Communion and finally remind readers that Benefict XVI encourages us all to receive Our Lord piously by kneeling and receiving on the tongue for It is The Lord.

Anonymous said...

Thanks,Father, for consistently hitting the right notes with excellent themes, imho.

Khoi said...

Very interesting!
The content and the comments ...
There are many issues in such a small text.
Many thanks for posting it.

Anonymous said...

Fabulous Father!

Many thanks for posting this which explains clearly how to reverence the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar - the Holy Eucharist.