Communion in the Hand

This is a topic widely controversial in the Church today. Many feel as if they can not only distribute communion to the congregation, but feels they have a right to receive it in the hand. You may be asking yourself, whats the big deal? Who Cares? Why does it matter? In order to fully understand this lets start from the beginning, once you enter the church.

What is the first thing you do before sitting in the pew? The correct answer is.....you GENUFLECT to Our Lord in the Tabernacle. As the Mass approaches Communion, you watch as lay people (usually women), head to the front of the church in order to receive communion. Next they take Our Lord with their UN consecrated hands consuming him; usually chewing on him like a stick of Double Bubble Gum) before then doing the same to the majority of the parish. We must recognize the importance of the priest. His hands are consecrated and are the ONLY hands that should be touching this Sacred Host. By allowing anyone to receive communion in the hand we discredit the sacrifice the priest has made for us. We down play the importance of receiving Christ all the while risking dropping particles of Our Lord on the ground.

You must realize that by receiving communion in the hand, once the Host leaves the priest's hand you become fully responsible for what happens. This means that all of those tiny pieces of Our Lord that drop to the ground, causing other to walk all over become YOUR responsibility. 

Communion in the hand is an utter abomination and must be stopped.At the Council of Saragossa in (380) - "It was decided to punish with EXCOMMUNICATION anyone who dared to continue the practice of Holy Communion in the hand."

For all of you Pope John Paul lovers reading this, maybe this will help you. "To touch the sacred species and distribute them with their own hands, is a privilege of the ordained." (Dominicae Cenae, sec.11)

These are just a few statements from our church leaders who state the problem with communion being distributed in this manner. How many times must they say this?

In my opinion, I feel as if the true celebration of the Mass has been defaced. We have made this holy, most sacred offering about ourselves. We feel as if we are entitiled to everything. This Mass is reserved soley for Our Lord. Why must we feel the need to take this from him? We talk in Mass, we half way genuflect to Christ, due to our own laziness, and when we receive communion we chomp down on this most beautiful gift as if it is a Cheez-it. Is it just me, or is there something wrong with this?

This brings me back to the original question that led into Communion in the Hand. If you genuflect to Christ before you sit in the pew, in order to show reverence, why cant you do the same when his living, beautiful body is right in front of you? Sounds like a little bit of a double standard to me. Sometimes doing what is right is not always easy. I understand that changing this mindset and those of those around you may be a little awkward but I guarentee you that the outcome is so beautiful.

I recently moved to North Little Rock where I found myself being the only one in Mass kneeling for Communion. After just over 2 months, a little confidence in Our Lord, and the courage to continue kneeling for Communion, I witnessed more that 6 people kneeling to receive Christ this Sunday at Mass. This goes to show that people know what is right. Sometimes they are just waiting on that one person to initiate the practice.

In 1984, during one of the Blessed Mother's Apparitions, she said this, ""My Son is not pleased with the manner in which His Body and Blood is being given to all of the humans upon earth. "Communion in the hand has not been, and will not be accepted by Heaven. This is a sacrilege in the eyes of the Eternal Father, and must not be continued, for you only add to your punishment when you continue on in the ways that have been found to be unpleasing to the Eternal Father." 

In conclusion, I ask that you truly think about how you act in Mass, and reevaluate whether you are contributing to the abomination that is floating throughout our Catholic Church. It is our obligation to bring back Tradition, restoring what it means to be Catholic inside and outside of Mass.