As a prologue to this post, I might want to mention (or refresh this blog's memory, if I talked about this before) about my journey from taking Christ's body in my hand to receiving Him on the tongue. When I finished RCIA, the norm (at this specific parish) was to teach candidates and catechumens to receive the Lord in their hands and then to consume the host from there. I never had a problem with this (still don't have a problem with it because I am not a Bishop and must rely on their decisions) but soon I developed a problem that was either a deeper issue in my conscience or God trying to tell me something. Everytime I received the host, I felt like I had crumbs or residue left on my hand...it was so bad that I was tempted to lick my hand every time, and I just felt wrong about it. Thus, I started recieving on the tongue, and I must say that it does allow me to approach Christ with a lot more reverence than previously, even if it is just because my mind isn't focused on holding Christ, potentially dropping his Body and Blood, etc.
Well, I've enjoyed reading about the debates about how the Eucharist should be received, and I must say that I come down on the side of taking it on the tongue, and perhaps even kneeling. Altar servers used to hold plates under the chin to make sure none of the precious Body was lost as well. I think this at least reminds us of the importance of the Eucharist and what we are doing.
I bring all of this up because a fellow convert from the Church of Christ recently blogged about another unintended consequence of receiving in the hand. Check out his post.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Very interesting. Yet another thing to read about! Thanks! What I did hear in the background was another of my new favorite songs, "Here I Am, Lord!"
Actually, I always receive the Lord's supper on the tongue, because with my disability, it's a little difficult to lift my hand to my mouth, haha. However, after studying Catholicism over the last couple of years, I feel a little funny every time I dust crumbs off my pants, but I know it doesn't matter, b/c we see it as only a representation and even if it was really the body and blood of Christ, ours wouldn't be a valid Eucharist anyway :-)
Post a Comment