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Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Time To End Communion In The Hand



For many years now, there has been a point of contention among Catholics as to whether Holy Communion should be received on the tongue, or in the hand.

There have been many disagreements, with some insisting communion should only be received on the tongue. They feel it is both irreverent and disrespectful to Our Lord for our hands to touch His body.

Others have said that this is nonsense and that these people are just hold overs from the "old days". They say that as long as we make a "throne" with our hands to receive the Body of the Lord, we are showing proper respect.

Then the "tongue only" folks point out that it would be too easy for someone to sneak off with the host for it to be used in some profane ritual.

I have to say, that I totally and completely agree with those who say that communion should only be received on the tongue. I think that the reception of Holy Communion in the hand should not just be discouraged, but banned outright in all Catholic Dioceses.

No, I am not calling anyone heretics...Vatican II modernists...or anything else.

After seeing how upset we all became with a Harvard University Club sponsoring a Satanic Black Mass, and the planned use of a host in that sacrilegious act , it became apparent to me, that only allowing reception on the tongue is the only way that should be allowed for any Catholic to receive the Body of Our Lord.

[Granted, in the case of the Harvard University Club, there were several conflicting statements as to whether or not the Satanists were actually in possession of a consecrated host. First they said they had a consecrated host....then they had a host, but it was not consecrated...then they didn't have a host at all, but planned to use bread. I think it best to assume that they did in fact have a consecrated host, and even knowing it was consecrated, they (the Satanists) would proclaim it as not being consecrated anyway, since they deny that transubstantiation takes place, and therefore deny the Body of Christ.]

If a priest, or EMHC (Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion) places a consecrated host in the hand of any communicant, it is far too easy for that communicant to pretend to have consumed the host, and then transport it elsewhere for their own nefarious purposes. We have all read about or heard of priests stopping communicants from leaving a parish with a host that had been placed in a pocket or purse instead of being consummed.

In any case, the fact remains that it would be much more difficult for anyone to remove a host from their mouth, when that host had been placed on the tongue by the priest or EMHC. It seems to me, that the action of the communicants owns saliva upon the host, would render it unsuitable for transporting, even if that was what the recipient had in mind.

Let me say here, by my own decision, beginning with my own first communion, I have always received on the tongue and not in the hand. No one told me to receive that way. No one forced me to receive that way. It was my decision, and mine only. I felt, and still do feel, it is the only proper way to receive the Body of Our Lord.

I do hope, that after this blatant disregard for the Catholic faith by some students at Harvard University, that bishops in the United States, and around the world, will put an end to receiving Holy Communion in the hand.

© Gary Stephen Smith and Faith of the Fathers, 2014.

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