7 rules for receiving communion in the hand

Cyril of Jerusalem and Theodore of Mopsuestia liken the practice to that of receiving a king, and both of them note the method of reception was in joined hands (also described in other sources as hands in the form of a cross). The people administering the sacrament are asked to use hand sanitizer immediately before. Debunking the myth that today's Communion in the hand - LifeSite Their decisions should be sent to Rome to receive the necessary confirmation, []. The document does not have numbered paragraphs to cite, but youll find it a few paragraphs after the tabulation of votes collected from bishops. After stipulating the historical practice of Communion in the hand, Memoriale Domini: defends the development of discipline that led to Communion on the tongue This is more a question of moral theology than of liturgy. Communion on the tongue is recommended and considered the most consonant way to receive the Eucharist, while Communion on the hand is permitted, provided that certain precautions are observed, such as checking to see if any fragments of the Host remain on the palm of the hand. 2023 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. I think the Holy Spirit was nudging people closer to the problem, which was already in evidence decades before the Council. If Communion is received in the hand, the hands should first of all be clean. As to the way to carry out the new rite: one possible model is the traditional usage, which expresses the ministerial functions, by having the priest or deacon place the host in the hand of the communicant. [13] In the far-flung regions of the empireGaul (modern-day France and Spain) we have the witness of Caesarius of Arles[14] and the council of Auxerre,[15] and in England, we have the Venerable Bede. So the authors claim that he is exactly Vatican II is doubtful. SACRED CONGREGATION FOR THE DISCIPLINE OF THE SACRAMENTS, InstructionImmensae caritatis, on facilitating reception of Communion in certain circumstances, 29 January 1973: AAS 65 (1973) 264-271; Not 9 (1973) 157-164. For this reason, since the question of Communion in the hand is not a question of faith as such, and it has been approved by the legitimate authority, I do not believe that a priest can invoke conscience as a motive for refusing to apply a legitimate law. Whatever procedure is adopted, care must be taken not to allow particles of the Eucharistic bread to fall or be scattered. cites vote tallies to defend a claim that a large majority (longe plurimos) of bishops not only oppose introducing Communion in the hand but consider it tum sensui tum spirituali cultui [] offensioni The way we communicate the Gospel message is almost as important as the Gospel itself. R. E. Heine FotC 21 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1982). My country is not on this list but holy communion is the norm. Because those vessels are made so for our sakes. The same Instruction contained a reminder that the laws of the Church and the writings of the Fathers give ample witness of a supreme reverence and utmost caution toward the Eucharist and that this must continue. Here in India Communion is distributed both on tongue and in hand. In the context of the reception of Communion, this means a cognizance of both Church history and contemporary cultural nuances. We are the Body of Christ, moving forward to receive the Christ who makes us one with himself and with one another. Alphonse Mingana (Gorgias Press: Piscataway, NJ, 2009 [1933]). Communion should not be received on the run, as you're walking back to your place; it should be consumed before you leave the area below the altar. They are also to be instructed not to omit after communion the sincere and appropriate thanksgiving that is in keeping with their individual capacities, state, and occupation. Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church (330-379): "The right to receive Holy Communion in the hand is permitted only in times of persecution.". These practices have wide evidence of use and in some ways never died out completely. awr. The author claims that Communion in the hand could only be authorized in countries where it was an established practice but doesnt give a citation. It is a matter of particular seriousness that in places where the new practice is lawfully permitted every one of the faithful have the option of receiving communion on the tongue and even when other persons are receiving communion in the hand. Cyril of Jerusalem [c. 313-386], Catechetical Lectures, 23:21-22) Several more but no room here. What's at Stake in the Debates Swirling Around Eucharistic Coherence. For it is a deed fraught with destruction to take the tongue which serve such awesome mysteries, which has become purpled with a blood so precious, which has become a sword of gold and to change its course to abuse, insolence and ribald jests. enough bread and wine are made ready for the communication of the faithful at each Mass.45 As a general rule, Holy Communion is given from hosts . We should rejoice in that. Fire came down and consumed the sacrifices of Elijah 1. Scandinavia,October 15 1969 Ive updated the post. They probably never foresaw its subsequent, and occasionally chaotic, development in some parts of the Church. Monaco, 31 October 1969 If Communion is received in the hand, the hands should first of all be clean. (I dont direct this at you, I mean it to everyone on all sides.). Several readers pointed out that I made no mention of a text of St. Cyril when mentioning the historical foundations of the practice. It seems appropriate to conclude this reflection on the Communion Procession and the reception of Communion with a quotation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. However, since it is a permission, it does not generate an absolute right, and the pastors can rescind the permission, either generally or in particular circumstances if objective motives exist for doing so. The Truth About Communion in the Hand | The Fatima Center The guidelines, which are to be included in missalettes and other participation aids published in the United States, seek to remind all those who may attend Catholic liturgies of the present discipline of the Church with regard to the sharing of Eucharistic Communion. Communion in the hand is legitimate only where permitted, and it remains in the realm of a permission. [6] Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogical Catecheses 5.13. In reply to the request of your conference of bishops regarding permission to give communion by placing the host on the hand of the faithful, I wish to communicate the following. Sacrilege is at an all-time high, yet use of the Sacrament of Confession is at an all-time low. John Paul II and Mother Theresa on Communion in the Hand Communion on the Tongue Is an Apostolic Tradition Communion on the tongue remains the usual and common form of administering Holy Communion. Elizabeth Klein is an Assistant Professor of Theology at the, The Abandoned: Toward a Christocentric Phenomenology of Prayer, The Conclusion of Karl Rahner's Dissertation on the Origin of the Church from the Side Wound of the Crucified Christ. Care must also be taken that the communicants have clean hands and that their comportment is becoming and in keeping with the practices of the different peoples. To that which you are you respond Amen (yes, it is true!) and by responding to it you assent to it. The rationale for Communion on the hands being an ancient practice is from St. Cyril of Jerusalem. Japan, 27 June 1970 Do we have faith in the efficacy of the sacraments or not? I used the wordnecessarilyas an equivalent to in and of itself. There is no inherent reason why Communion in the hand is less reverent. The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? If Your Hand/Hands are Impeded . Timothy O'Malley on the meaning of Eucharistic coherence in the life of the Church. Devotion and reverence toward the Eucharist in the case of communion in the hand. He said that he had checked with the then Apostolic Delegation and had been assured that the pope was giving the boy a rosary. Your email address will not be published. Click herefor a handout that can be placed in your bulletin for your parishioner. On the other hand, this mode of communion is not anywhere associated with lay involvement or accessibility, nor is it thought to de-emphasize the role of the priest. Permission for administering Communion in the hand was granted by the Holy See to the following countries and regions under Pope Paul VI:[UPDATED 3-2-18], Belgium, 31 May 1969 [T]hose who restrict communicants to receive Holy Communion only in the hands are acting against the norms, as are those who refuse to Christ's faithful [the right] to receive Communion in the hand in dioceses that enjoy this indult. With regard to the second, we have many early witnesses including Paul (see 1 Cor 11:27) and the Didache (seechapter 14). Papua and New Guinea, 28 April 1976 Uruguay,October 15 1969 Because Catholics believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life, and worship, members of those churches with whom we are not yet fully united are ordinarily not admitted to Holy Communion. Instead, this option must increase in them a consciousness of the dignity of the members of Christs Mystical Body, into which they are incorporated by baptism and by the grace of the Eucharist. On the other hand, if the sins are not so great that a person should be judged to deserve excommunication, he ought not to withdraw from the daily medicine of the Lords body.[26]. Or is there more context that is missing? It is advisable, therefore, that the rite be introduced gradually and in the beginning within small, better-prepared groups and in favorable settings. According to Roman Catholic discipline, the Code of Canon Law does not object to the reception of Communion by Christians of these Churches (canon 844 3). [19] This list is by no means exhaustive, and it would be tedious to cite all of these references as a catalog, but let us turn to a few of them to see what the Fathers have to say about the meaning of this practice. 5. Most often when speaking of reverence, however, the Fathers emphasize two main things: 1) that every precaution should be taken lest the Eucharist fall to the ground and 2) that communicants should be from serious sin and quarrels with other Christians. On this point, I will leave you with a beautiful exhortation from the Golden Tongue: Think of what you receive in your hand and never lift it to strike another and never disgrace with the sin of assault the hand that has been honored with so great a gift. At the same time he has taken into account the reasons given to support your request and the outcome of the vote taken on this matter. Finally, the fact that the Communion Procession is a profoundly religious action tells us something about the way in which we should participate in this procession. As a scholar of the early Church, I was surprised to learn that the practice of communion in the hand is such a hotly debated topic; it came to my attention during the early days of the pandemic, when many dioceses required communicants to receive in this way. Some advocates of communion on the tongue, at least online, seem guilty of thinking that (however much more virtuous than I they probably are in their lives). Rather maddeningly, it is the Anglicans who in the West have retained the practice as described by St. Cyril, while contemporary Latin-rite Catholics tend to consume the Host as if it were a potato chip., From the historical point of view, we can say that there is strong evidence that the practice existed in early centuries in some areas of the Church. God has come to live in us. For Catholics: As Catholics, we fully participate in the celebration of the Eucharist when we receive Holy Communion. Never receive Holy Communion in the hand when your hands are impeded; e.g., carrying a cane or some other walking-assistance device, carrying a child in your arms, carrying a purse, have a tissue or handkerchief in your hand, have a cast on your hand, etc. New Zealand, 24 April 1974 To unite us to Himself and to nourish our soul with His [24] Trans. If a priest has great personal difficulty due to deeply and sincerely held views regarding this practice, he can always petition the bishop for a personal exemption or a permission to not apply this permission to his parish. This catechesis must succeed in excluding any suggestion that in the mind of the Church there is a lessening of faith in the Eucharistic presence and in excluding as well as any danger or hint of danger of profaning the Eucharist. The faithful should consume the host before returning to their place; the ministers part will be brought out by use of the usual formulary, The body of Christ, to which the communicant replies: Amen. Church Life Journal Pope Benedict XVI 1927-2022 tribute page and access to resources here. There is a twofold purpose here: that none will find in the new rite anything disturbing to personal devotion toward the Eucharist; that this sacrament, the source, and cause of unity by its very nature, will not become an occasion of discord between members of the faithful. Do we accept an experience of the Real Presence only when the externals and the lingo of 1950 are seen and heard? Unless there is a sense of discipleship rooted in baptism. 91). From a hygienic point of view, the hand carries a huge amount of bacteria. Wherefore, if any one wishes to be a participator of the immaculate Body in the time of the Synaxis, and to offer himself for the communion, let him draw near, arranging his hands in the form of a cross, and so let him receive the communion of grace. If, for some reason, the communicant is not able or willing to drink from the cup then that person should receive only under the form of bread. Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), 2 October 1971 A Journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life, by Elizabeth Klein It is bad if it makes us prideful/judgmental and distracts from more important things. To signify, seal, and apply to believers all the benefits of the new covenant. Communion in the hand is allowed in the United States by decision of the American Bishops. University of Notre Dame, McGrath Institute for Church Life I dont think reception in the hand is destroying the Church like what some prominent leaders in the Church have implied, but this practice has still had wide ranging [and not entirely positive] ramifications in the Church over the last half century, far beyond the obvious choice of the individual communicant. When receiving in the hand, the communicant should be guided by the words of St. Cyril of Jerusalem . Fr. No wonder so many people there have given up on Christianity. The infamous coffee cup masses Dorothy Day describes in her book may have had good intentions behind them, but the way they appeared to trivialize the Holy Sacrifice of the mass lent no dignity to the then new Pauline mass. Since the question involves human attitudes, this mode of communion is bound up with the perceptiveness and preparation of the one receiving. Indonesia, 27 March 1971 Your email address will not be published. A Pastoral Guide to Receiving Communion - Crisis Magazine 843 1; cf. The Reception of Holy Communion at Mass | USCCB Pope Paul Vl approved this Instruction, confirmed it with his authority, and ordered its publication, setting the day of publication as its effective date. The list obviously is not complete, for this article says that Germany and France both received permission from the Holy See on the same day in 1969: A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord without prior sacramental confession except for a grave reason where there is no opportunity for confession. 896. Particularly in regard to this way of receiving communion, experience suggests certain matters requiring careful attention. This is the reason why you say after him: Amen.[21]. Archbishop Anthony Fisher, OP, of Sydney published an excellent paper on the topic of conscience and authority which can be found at:https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=7833or, in a slightly briefer form athttps://zenit.org/articles/bishop-fisher-on-conscience-and-authority/. 3. Documentation: Approval of Communion in the Hand under - PrayTellBlog Elizabeth Klein is an Assistant Professor of Theology at the Augustine Institute. Have reverence for the honor which God has bestowed upon it, and do not lead it down to the vileness of sin.[27]. However, while this text is undoubtedly ancient evidence of the existence of Communion in the hand, it is, like many patristic texts, fraught with interpretative conundrums. [9] Theodore of Mopsuestia, Catechetical Homilies 6. How to Properly Receive Communion on the Hands - catholiclegion A. Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist: Whatever one thinks about the practice today and its reemergence after Vatican II, it is important that our conversation be grounded in an accurate picture of the history of this practice. I similarly think Cardinal Sarahs frankly ridiculous comments about Lucifer are draining credibility from his cause (one that I admittedly align with sometimes), even if some of his proposals are good ones. It must also increase their faith in the sublime reality of the Lords body and blood, which they touch with their hand. Over and over again the prayers of the liturgy and the norms of the General Instruction emphasize this fundamental concept of the unity of the baptized, stressing that when we come together to participate in the Eucharistic celebration we come, not as individuals, but as united members of Christ's Body. So they reintroduced the practice of Communion in the hand (it had been originally introduced as a widespread practice by the Arian heretics of the Fourth Century to deny that Jesus is God). From these documents, we can deduce the following points. If, however, Communion is given under both kinds, the rite prescribed in nos. Fast forward to 2004, when The Congregation for Divine Worship in its new Instruction named Redemptionis Sacramentum, stated: "Although each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, at his choice, if any communicant should wish to receive the Sacrament in the hand the sacred host is to be administered . I quite deliberately eschewed entering the historical argument as it would have digressed from the main point of that article. The rite of communion in the hand must not be put into practice indiscriminately. If you are the body and members of Christ, then it is your sacrament that is placed on the table of the Lord; it is your sacrament that you receive. Gross Alexander NPNF 13, ed. PDF Instructions on Receiving Holy Communion with Proper Reverence What is the proper way of receiving Communion in the hand? Its just BREAD!!. Yet even here, the experts sometimes forgot the unrepeatable reality of original circumstances so that restoration is never quite the same. The True Story of Communion in the Hand Revealed - OnePeterFive 13.3, trans. For you hear the words, the Body of Christ and respond Amen. Be then a member of the Body of Christ that your Amen may be true (St. Augustine, Sermon 272: PL 38, 1247). My simple point is that the individual ways our Church evolves over history have a significant impact on its life thereafter, often in ways we dont expect. Nor did the Vatican interpret it that way, near as I can tell. If our reader had said that he believed that Communion in the hand was more prone to dangers of accidents and profanation, I would accept the argument. The communicant replies, Amen, and receives the Sacrament either on the tongue or, where this is allowed, in the hand, the choice lying with the communicant. Reverence can be good if it opens us to God & neighbor and makes us more loving. The person distributing Communion says audibly to each person approaching, "The Body of Christ." 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. Ireland, 4 September 1976 I am a daily witness at the Basilique du Sacr-Cur de Montmartre (Paris).. First, Cyril: Coming up to receive, therefore, do not approach with your wrists extended or your fingers splayed, but making your left hand a throne for the right (for it is about to receive a King) and cupping your palm, so receive the Body of Christ; and answer: Amen.[20], To receive the Sacrament which is given, a person stretches out his right hand, and under it he places the left hand. From the historical point of view, we can say that there is strong evidence that the practice existed in early centuries in some areas of the Church. Middle Africa, 3 February 1970 For you believe, and correctly, that you are answerable if anything falls from there by neglect.[25]. My sense is that if theres something demonic in all this it is the Galatians moment in which many Catholics find themselves, especially those on the traditional side.

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