Childlike Faith - My Brother Wasn't Given Communion On Thursday

[missionseeker]

We went to the church that is in our town- it is one that we usually do not go to on Sundays but only for holy days, because of silliness and such.

When my (nine year old and tall) brother went to communion, he folded his hands at his chest in a prayerful manner and waited for the EME to say "Body of Christ". However, the EME blessed him and sent him on his way. He somehow wound up in line not in front of any of us big people so he - confused and upset and not knowing what to do- went back to his seat. By the time he got there, he was in tears.

When we figured out what had happened, the lady behind us (who goes to church at the same place we do now, for the same reasons) said that it had happened to her daughter, too. It was because they had their hands folded and were prepared to recieve on the tounge. It's not a first.

We told Father and we told him (hes a good priest, he is just there only two days a week and Sunday, so the silliness is not really able to be reigned in as he resides at and cares for another parish 80 miles away.) and he got them communion, but I afterwards, I was telling Daniel that EMEs generally don't know how to put the Host on a person's tongue and a lot of times drop it and so usually if it isn't a preist, it's almost better to recieve in the hand (so that Jesus isn't dropped). He just looked at me, opened his hands and said "Look at them...I couldn't do THAT" as I looked at his hands, I saw that they were typical little boy hands: rough, cut and scratched, calloused and peeling, just from being a boy and playing outside and planting a garden and swinging on monkeybars. But as I looked, I was deeply touched by his care. He's a nine year old boy and "careful" is not necessarily a widely used functtion for him. But I realized that because of his great care, love, fatih, and devotion- his hands were probably much more fitting to recieve Christ's body than mine that were clean and soft.

[Archaeology cat]

I'm humbled by your brother's faith and devotion. And thank you for sharing this.

[Balthazor]

Your brother is awesome......

[Selah]

aww, what a cool brother

[Justin86]

The best thing to do would seem to instead of folding your hands over your chest when you go up for Communion, would be to fold them in a prayer position instead. It still is a good point about the EEM dropping the Host though.

Your brother faith is inspiring.

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='Justin86' post='1629511' date='Aug 17 2008, 08:25 AM']The best thing to do would seem to instead of folding your hands over your chest when you go up for Communion, would be to fold them in a prayer position instead. It still is a good point about the EEM dropping the Host though.

Your brother faith is inspiring. [/quote]

I think that's what was meant-- he had folded them (in prayer possition) over his chest.

[Justin86]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' post='1629519' date='Aug 17 2008, 10:06 PM']I think that's what was meant-- he had folded them (in prayer possition) over his chest.[/quote]

Oh, I thought she meant he folded them over his chest in "X" form.

Edited August 17, 2008 by Justin86

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='Justin86' post='1629511' date='Aug 17 2008, 01:25 PM']The best thing to do would seem to instead of folding your hands over your chest when you go up for Communion, would be to fold them in a prayer position instead. It still is a good point about the EEM dropping the Host though.

Your brother faith is inspiring. [/quote]
Yeah, I generally try to make sure I get to the priest, as I don't like making EMHC's distribute on the tongue. Though today the Host almost dropped when the priest was giving it to me. But it turned out alright - nothing happened.

[geetarplayer]

[quote name='missionseeker' post='1629466' date='Aug 17 2008, 02:45 AM']He just looked at me, opened his hands and said "Look at them...I couldn't do THAT" as I looked at his hands, I saw that they were typical little boy hands: rough, cut and scratched, calloused and peeling, just from being a boy and playing outside and planting a garden and swinging on monkeybars. But as I looked, I was deeply touched by his care. He's a nine year old boy and "careful" is not necessarily a widely used functtion for him. But I realized that because of his great care, love, fatih, and devotion- his hands were probably much more fitting to recieve Christ's body than mine that were clean and soft.[/quote]
That's beautiful!

[allis-challmers]

your brother has a very sweet outlook on faith. I really liked it. I don't think that I really understood the Eucharist untill I was around 18 or so....

[TeresaBenedicta]

Wow. Just wow. Kudos for your brother, that's just awesome.

[VeniteAdoremus]

A friend of mine had exactly the same problem yesterday... with a deacon! She's currently working up the courage to talk to her priest about it.

[TeresaBenedicta]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1629771' date='Aug 17 2008, 03:09 PM']A friend of mine had exactly the same problem yesterday... with a deacon! She's currently working up the courage to talk to her priest about it.[/quote]

I've had something similar happen with a deacon. I came for Communion. I had my hands folded in front of me, right thumb over left... and he just stared at me. Looked down at my hands, then at me, and then at my hands again. He finally ended up giving me Communion on the tongue... but it was a weird experience for me-- I had only been Catholic for a few months and I didn't understand why there was such a problem.

[VeniteAdoremus]

I once had a priest saying "we do it like [i]this[/i] here" and pushing Him into my hands.


Wanting to receive on the tongue doesn't automatically make one a holier-than-thou radtrad, but some people seem to think so.

Edited August 17, 2008 by VeniteAdoremus

[corban711]

your brother is awesome. but you already knew that.