"There are some people who go to Holy Communion to gain the esteem of the world. It avails them nothing. Others go out of habit. Poor Communions, they have not the right intention. Go to Communion to obey Jesus Christ, who has commanded you to do so, under pain of not having eternal life. Go to Communion to obtain the graces that you need, humility, patience, purity. Go to the Holy Table to unite yourself to Jesus Christ so that He will make of you other Christ’s, which happens to those who receive Him worthily. When you go to Holy Communion you should always have an intention, and say when about to receive the Body of Our Lord: 'O my good Father, who art in heaven, I offer you, at this moment, your dear Son, such as He was when He was taken down from the Cross, and laid in the arms of the Holy Virgin, and as she offered Him to You in sacrifice for us. I offer Him to You by the hands of Mary, to obtain such or such graces, faith, charity, humility.' My children, listen w
What do I think? I think both. There's a story that St. Monica complained that the people in Rome were receiving communion the wrong way. The right way was the way they did it back in her homeland of N. Africa. St. Ambrose, the bishop at the time told her "when in Rome, do what the Romans do."
ReplyDeleteAt tridentine Mass I do what the people do--receive on my tongue. At Melkite Masses I intinct. In my parish most people receive in the hand, as I, because my pastor told me that he dislikes giving communion on the tongue because most people don't know how to receive. Back in the day, when everyone received on the tongue, they knelt, so the people automatically had to put their head back, open their mouth wide and stick out their tongue. Nowadays they barely open their mouth. And if they're taller, or shorter, than the priest, then he has difficulty positioning the host directly in their mouth. And once, someone bit him. For some, touching the Eucharist makes them feel more connected to Jesus Christ himself. It takes humility to accept the Lord, present and visible, in our own hands. It's awesome to enthrone Him in my palm and gaze upon Him in prayer. Besides, Peter and Paul received in their hands and if it were good enough for Jesus' disciples then, then it's OK for me.