LITURGY LESSON: RECEIVING THE BODY OF CHRIST

            (Given:  November 14, 2010    33rd Sunday Ordinary Time)

 

Last week we talked about receiving Communion from the cup.  Today we are saying a few words about receiving the Body of Christ.   Since the Second Vatican Council the Church offers us two ways to receive the host.   We now stand to receive Eucharist and may receive the Body of Christ either directly on the tongue or in the hand.  We had a great reverence for the Real Presence and not touching the Eucharist added to that reverence.  Why make such a change?  Consider these three points:

 

ONE: Standing for Communion had been an ancient practice in the Western Church and was the on-going practice in many Eastern Churches.  For many reasons, including infrequent Communion, kneeling became the common posture in the West when receiving Communion.  After the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, the posture of standing when receiving communion began to be re-introduced as the standard practice in many places throughout the world.

 

We should remember that standing itself is a gesture of reverence.  It is our cultural custom to stand when a dignitary enters a room or when we sing the national anthem. 

 

In 2000 the United States Bishops determined that standing would be the customary posture for receiving communion in the United States.  At that time they also recommended a “bow of the head” as the sign of reverence before receiving the consecrated host or drinking from the chalice. 

 

The church began to regain the ancient appreciation of standing as a posture than symbolized reverence and the joy of welcoming the Risen Christ.

 

The 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal  sees the various postures and gestures engaged in by the assembly during Mass as a sign of unity.  The sign of unity is absent when people use different gestures or postures.  Most people would consider it strange if a few individuals refused to stand at the gospel.   Thus, it would be contrary to this vision of unity to prescribe or even recommend a gesture that could not easily be performed by all in a dignified manner.  Since many people, because of age or infirmity, find it awkward to genuflect without the support of a pew or a kneeler, the genuflection was not chosen. 

 

                                                                   Continued >>>>>

 

 

TWO: At the Vatican Council, the Pope and the Bishops really wanted Catholics to feel less of a separation from the Church. All the people comprise the People of God. Each Catholic has his own vocation, but no Catholic is better than another simply because of the role he or she fulfills.

 

THREE: A practical Liturgical change was that new churches were built without Communion rails. This, too, was to lessen the separation and to gather the people around the altar as much as possible.

 

All three of these combined to bring about standing for Holy Communion and being able to receive Communion in the hand or on the tongue. There is no preferred way.    Either method can and must be very reverential.

                                                                                                                                        

 

Just as a reminder, if you are receiving Communion in the hand:

 

          + Extend both hands, one cupping the other.

 

          + When you receive the host you respond with “Amen”

 

          + After the host is placed in your hand, step to the side, and use your fingers

              to place the host in your mouth.

             

Above all, as we process to Communion with our brothers and sisters, let us be aware of the great gift we are about to receive.