Communion In The Hand

[XIX]

[quote]When Mother Teresa was asked by Fr. George Rutler, "What do you think is the worst problem in the world today?" she replied without a moment’s hesitation: "Wherever I go in the whole world, the thing that makes me the saddest is watching people receive Communion-in-the-hand."[/quote]

I got that off of [mod]we don't link to those kinds of sites here[/mod] (an extremely rad-trad site)

Edited January 11, 2007 by Lil Red

[brendan1104]

You would think that it wasn't, but it actually is, I know personally. My aunt saw her at a conference in 1995 I believe and she came to our house for a party a few days later and said: "No one receive Communion in your hands, anymore!" And my grandfather said: "Why, the pope said we could in the 1970's." And then my aunt responded: "No, dad, the bishop gave that permission, but when I saw Mother Teresa she talked about it, and said that Jesus was upset when it happens."

TRUE STORY. And I was a little kid but I remember it to the least detail.

[Laudate_Dominum]

awesome

[N/A Gone]

Why?

[Didymus]

[quote name='brendan1104' post='1161676' date='Jan 11 2007, 03:37 PM']
You would think that it wasn't, but it actually is, I know personally. My aunt saw her at a conference in 1995 I believe and she came to our house for a party a few days later and said: "No one receive Communion in your hands, anymore!" And my grandfather said: "Why, the pope said we could in the 1970's." And then my aunt responded: "No, dad, the bishop gave that permission, but when I saw Mother Teresa she talked about it, and said that Jesus was upset when it happens."

TRUE STORY. And I was a little kid but I remember it to the least detail.
[/quote]

oh! I thought Mother Theresa came to your house for a party!

[MIKolbe]

Some older thoughts on Communion in the hand:

"In approaching therefore, come not with thy wrists extended, or thy fingers spread; but make thy left hand a throne for the right, as for that which is to receive a King. And having hollowed thy palm, receive the Body of Christ, saying over it, Amen. So then after having carefully hollowed thine eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, partake of it; giving heed lest thou lose any portion thereof; for whatever thou losest, is evidently a loss to thee as it were from one of thine own members. For tell me, if any one gave thee grains of gold, wouldest thou not hold them with all carefulness, being on thy guard against losing any of them, and suffering loss? Wilt thou not then much more carefully keep watch, that not a crumb fall from thee of what is more precious than gold and precious stones?" (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 23:21).

[Caedmon] accordingly went [to the house to which those that were sick, and like shortly to die, were carried], and conversing pleasantly in a joyful manner with the rest that were in the house before, when it was past midnight, he asked them, whether they had the Eucharist there? They answered, "What need of the Eucharist? for you are not likely to die, since you talk so merrily with us, as if you were in perfect health." ­"However," said he, "bring me the Eucharist." Having received the same into his hand, he asked, whether they were all in charity with him, and without any enmity or rancour? St. Bede the Venerable, Ecclesiastical History of England, 4:24

"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. But such as, instead of their hands, make vessels of gold or other materials for the reception of the divine gift, and by these receive the immaculate communion, we by no means allow to come, as preferring inanimate and inferior matter to the image of God" (Quintsext Synod of Trullo, Canon CI).

"Let us draw near to [the Eucharist] with an ardent desire, and with our hands held in the form of the cross let us receive the body of the Crucified One: and let us apply our eyes and lips and brows and partake of the divine coal, in order that the fire of the longing, that is in us, with the additional heat derived from the coal may utterly consume our sins and illumine our hearts, and that we may be inflamed and deified by the participation in the divine fire" (St. John Damascus, De Fide Orthodoxa Book IV, ch. XIII).


Just found that interesting.....that's all.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Revprodeji' post='1166733' date='Jan 16 2007, 12:19 PM']
Why?
[/quote]
Because I see Communion on the hand as one of the many outward signs of the post-Vatican II revolt.

I thought this recent article was right on:

[url="http://www.adoremus.org/1206LiturgyRitual_JHitchcock.html"]http://www.adoremus.org/1206LiturgyRitual_JHitchcock.html[/url]

[quote name='MIkolbe' post='1166759' date='Jan 16 2007, 01:18 PM']
Some older thoughts on Communion in the hand:

"In approaching therefore, come not with thy wrists extended, or thy fingers spread; but make thy left hand a throne for the right, as for that which is to receive a King. And having hollowed thy palm, receive the Body of Christ, saying over it, Amen. So then after having carefully hollowed thine eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, partake of it; giving heed lest thou lose any portion thereof; for whatever thou losest, is evidently a loss to thee as it were from one of thine own members. For tell me, if any one gave thee grains of gold, wouldest thou not hold them with all carefulness, being on thy guard against losing any of them, and suffering loss? Wilt thou not then much more carefully keep watch, that not a crumb fall from thee of what is more precious than gold and precious stones?" (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 23:21).

[Caedmon] accordingly went [to the house to which those that were sick, and like shortly to die, were carried], and conversing pleasantly in a joyful manner with the rest that were in the house before, when it was past midnight, he asked them, whether they had the Eucharist there? They answered, "What need of the Eucharist? for you are not likely to die, since you talk so merrily with us, as if you were in perfect health." ­"However," said he, "bring me the Eucharist." Having received the same into his hand, he asked, whether they were all in charity with him, and without any enmity or rancour? St. Bede the Venerable, Ecclesiastical History of England, 4:24

"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. But such as, instead of their hands, make vessels of gold or other materials for the reception of the divine gift, and by these receive the immaculate communion, we by no means allow to come, as preferring inanimate and inferior matter to the image of God" (Quintsext Synod of Trullo, Canon CI).

"Let us draw near to [the Eucharist] with an ardent desire, and with our hands held in the form of the cross let us receive the body of the Crucified One: and let us apply our eyes and lips and brows and partake of the divine coal, in order that the fire of the longing, that is in us, with the additional heat derived from the coal may utterly consume our sins and illumine our hearts, and that we may be inflamed and deified by the participation in the divine fire" (St. John Damascus, De Fide Orthodoxa Book IV, ch. XIII).
Just found that interesting.....that's all.
[/quote]
Yes, a necessary point. Being offended and/or scandalized by the effects of the post-Vatican II hi-jacking is perfectly justifiable (IMHO), but it should be remembered that the plain act of Communion on the hand is not in itself wrong, or heretical, or any such thing.
It is the roots of this phenomenon in the contemporary Church and the ideology behind it, coupled with the general profaning of the sacred and the loss of reverence that offends me deeply.
When people go so far as to say that the Church is officially guilty of heresy, or of promoting sacrilege, they have moved into the realm of rad trad heterodoxy.

[LouisvilleFan]

Sorry if I missed it, but did Mother Theresa really say that or not?

Whether she did or not, I still prefer her quote about the greatest form of poverty not being in India, but rather over here in the U.S. where people can get just about anything they want but don't know they are loved.

Well, that's not verbatim, but it was something to that effect.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='LouisvilleFan' post='1166791' date='Jan 16 2007, 01:46 PM']
Sorry if I missed it, but did Mother Theresa really say that or not?
[/quote]
I'm not sure, but I'll take brendan1104's word for it.

[Knight of the Holy Rosary]

I don't even see why someone would [i]prefer[/i] to take our blessed Lord in thier hand.

[MIKolbe]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' post='1166774' date='Jan 16 2007, 10:35 AM']
It is the roots of this phenomenon in the contemporary Church and the ideology behind it, coupled with the general profaning of the sacred and the loss of reverence that offends me deeply.
[/quote]
Well put.

[quote name='Knight of the Holy Rosary' post='1166840' date='Jan 16 2007, 11:24 AM']
I don't even see why someone would [i]prefer[/i] to take our blessed Lord in thier hand.
[/quote]
Perhaps it could give the communicant some time for private adoration of Jesus in the consecrated host. This could potentially be a very grace-filled moment and excite the communicant to greater reverence and devotion when he receives.

Unfortunately, in the modern form of Communion in the hand (no altar rail and a line of people behind you waiting for you to get out of the way) this opportunity is gone.

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='Didymus' post='1166739' date='Jan 16 2007, 11:40 AM']
oh! I thought Mother Theresa came to your house for a party!
[/quote]
So did I! I had to read it a few times....

[jswranch]

I have recently resolved to stop receiving in the hand, and have led my wife to do the same.


... however, I am still a chewer.

[brendan1104]

i wish. no it was my aunt who came. yes mother teresa really did say that.

[quote name='Didymus' post='1166739' date='Jan 16 2007, 10:40 AM']
oh! I thought Mother Theresa came to your house for a party!
[/quote]

[goldenchild17]

At least there are still some things Mother Teresa and I agree on .