Communion - it's history

[D0RK4JP2]

Gday folks,

I'm new to this forum. I'm 19 and I've been a Catholic for about 6 years now. I wouldn't call myself an 'apologist', but from studying i've come across a phenomenon in our Catholic tradition which makes me scratch my head in anxiety:

>COMMUNION IN THE HAND<<< it worries me

Firstly, i've had debates with other Catholics over this. Why? because of the phenomenon and how it doesn't seem to fit in with Catholic tradition, even though the sacred congregation of divine worship, and the pope, decrees it acceptable under a [i]recognitio[/i] - a relaxation of the normal law - from the local bishop. The reason i say it doesn't seem to fit in with Catholic tradition is because for 1800 hundreds it was forbidden for lay people to handle the blessed Sacrament or any sacred vessel.

For example, the earliest quote i have in support of this is:

[b]St. Sixtus I (circa 115)


`` The Sacred Vessels are not to be handled by others than those
consecrated to the Lord . " [/b]

The most common may be:

[b]The Council of Trent (1545-1565)

"The fact that only the priest gives Holy Communion with his
consecrated hands is an Apostolic Tradition."[/b]

Now, i totally accept the Church's teaching that Communion in the hand, under the norms, is acceptable. But, why did it become acceptable if communion on the tongue was such a tradition, as was the tradition that only conscecrated may touch the sacred vessals?

It disturbs me, it REALLY disturbs me, that in preferring Communion on the tongue these days can cause an actual division within a parish. You are marked as a 'tradionalist' or 'conservative', whereas, at least in my area, those who recieve on the hand are those who are part of the parish commitees, and are, much against the law of the Church, in charge of the parishes, and they would call themselves those who are acting 'in the spirit of vatican II'. On my road to conversion the more i believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist the more compelled i was to recieve on the tongue (i always recieve kneeling too).

Now my apologetical argument would be:

Is the preservation of the tradition of recieving communion on the tongue a consequence of greater depth of Christ in the Eucharist and a exercise of a deeper understanding and alliance with the traditions of the Church which are one of the pillars of our faith?

Like, i could go on about how desecration is more common recieving in the hand, and how it does not fit in with the norm of using a communion plate and how it does not fit in with the priest's necessity to purify his hands but not the lay communicants. But, i wanna make it a positive argument, because complaining about liberalism and modernism and subervise movements is just tiring and painful. Feel free though to comment on any of the facids that would answer this question because i feel as if it is becoming a defining factor in our alliance with the Catholic Church built on the apostles vs the Catholic Church being distorted by the devil and his witting and/or unwitting slaves.

JMJ.

[franciscanheart]

I would have to have more time to respond to your question in order to give you an answer I think would be truly useful to you but I'm sure that by the time I could do that phat or jenn will have answered you!!

However, if you see problems with receiving in the hands, do you also have a problem with standing to receive??

It is common practice to receive standing and is even asked that you do so. Our priest will not make anyone stand but he informed us that this was the proper way to receive. We are one of the only parishes in the diocease that still has an altar rail....

Anyway, I'm sure phat or jenn will be able to answer you soon.

God bless,
Laura Thomas

[cmotherofpirl]

Communion in the hand was the norm in the early Church.

No one is worthy of God. My tongue has commited far more sins than my hands.

[Fiat_Voluntas_Tua]

I am obiedient to The Norm's of the Church...The norm for the Archdiosece of Kansas City Kansas is to bow before receiving Holy Communion, and receive Holy Communion standing (even though my First Holy Communion I received kneeling, mainly because my knee's were to weak.) and it is a preference to recieve on the hand or on the tounge.

I receive on the tounge because it just remind's me how it is not myself that feed's me but rather Holy Mother Church and The Holy Trinity that give's me life.

Totus Tuus,

Andy