How Do You Receive The Eucharist?

[Maria Faustina]

I was wondering about this. Is there anything that states that Catholics should not receive the Eucharist in their hands? Thanks.

In Christ,
Maria Faustina

[Lounge Daddy]

I receive on the tongue. Nothing that says that I must, that I know of. But I prefer to receive that way.

[Resurrexi]

For at least 1000 years, in the Roman Rite, only a priest could touch the sacred species with his hands, and then only when celebrating Mass or distributing Holy Communion. During the Mass, after the consecration, the priest would hold his thumb and index finger (the only fingers with which he was allowed to touch the Blessed Sacrament) together when he did not have the Host in his hands to prevent any particles of the Host from being lost. During the ablutions, wine and water would be poured over his fingers to wash away any of the sacred particles, which he would then drink.

This is because the Church teaches that even under the smallest particle of what has the species of bread or the smallest drop of what has the species of wine, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity are really, truly and substantially contained.

"Praesentia eucharistica Christi a momento incipit consecrationis et perdurat dum species subsistunt eucharisticae. Christus est totus integer sub unaquaque specierum et totus integer in earum partibus, ita ut panis fractio Christum non dividat." (Catechismus Ecclesiae Catholicae 1377)

"The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ." (The Catechism of the Catholic Church 1377)

This paragraph from the CCC cites "Concilium Tridentinum, Sess. 13a, Decretum de ss. Eucharistia, c. 3 (i.e. The Council of Trent, Session 13a, Decree on the Most Holy Eucharist, canon 3) which is (in English only since I don't feel like transcribing the Latin)

"If anyone denies that the whole Christ is contained in the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist under each species and under every part of each species, when the separation has been made: let him be anathema"

Edited June 23, 2008 by StThomasMore

[Apotheoun]

I receive the Eucharist on a golden spoon.

[TeresaBenedicta]

On the tongue. For plenty of reasons.

Both ways are accepted by the Church. It has been said by some that on the tongue is preferred. There are reasons to support that.

Receiving in the hand is not a practice that is innately bad or wrong. I think most would agree that what is of absolute importance is inward disposition.

But also remember that our outward sign reflect our inward disposition....

That said, I will never receive in the hand and neither will I ever serve as a EMHC, unless grave circumstances or obedience asks it of me.

[Deb]

There are several threads on this already, I think.
I receive on the tongue and usually with tears in my eyes because I should also be on my knees.

[Galloglasses]

[quote name='Apotheoun' post='1580008' date='Jun 23 2008, 02:21 AM']I receive the Eucharist on a golden spoon.[/quote]
That an Byzantine Rite Custom?

For the record, I've received on the tounge this past while, but I was always thaught to receive on the hands since I was little. So I don't think there's anything against it.

[Lil Red]

[quote name='Maria Faustina' post='1579993' date='Jun 23 2008, 12:12 AM']I was wondering about this. Is there anything that states that Catholics should not receive the Eucharist in their hands? Thanks.

In Christ,
Maria Faustina[/quote]+J.M.J.+
like, officially, in canon law? pretty sure there isn't. both ways are valid and allowed by the Church. as my favorite priest says "Don't be stricter than the Church."

[StColette]

[quote name='Maria Faustina' post='1579993' date='Jun 23 2008, 02:12 AM']I was wondering about this. Is there anything that states that Catholics should not receive the Eucharist in their hands? Thanks.

In Christ,
Maria Faustina[/quote]

There's nothing that says a Catholic should not receive in the hands, in fact there are documents saying that you may either receive in the hands or on the tongue.

[StColette]

[quote name='Galloglasses' post='1580151' date='Jun 23 2008, 11:18 AM']That an Byzantine Rite Custom?[/quote]

Yes, it's an Eastern Rite custom. I'm guessing it's because of intinction, where the Eucharist is dipped in the Precious Blood before it is given to the communicant.

[alicemary]

I place it on my tongue myself. This is a personal moment that I share with Jesus. I am capable of doing it myself and do not want the priest to touch my mouth...plain out.

[Maria Faustina]

Thanks guys!

[prose]

I receive in my hands.

[StColette]

I receive on the tongue. Sometimes I'm a little scared to do so though because many EMHC's aren't trained or used to people receiving that way. It's almost caused Jesus to be dropped a few times because they aren't aware of the fact that you can either receive on the tongue or in the hands. I try to go to a priest or deacon for that reason because they are more accustomed to both of the norms for receiving. If I do receive from a EMHC I have my hands ready to catch Jesus just in case they aren't used to the norm or paying attention to the fact that I don't have my hands out and I'm receiving on the tongue.

[TeresaBenedicta]

[quote name='StColette' post='1580282' date='Jun 23 2008, 02:55 PM']I receive on the tongue. Sometimes I'm a little scared to do so though because many EMHC's aren't trained or used to people receiving that way. It's almost caused Jesus to be dropped a few times because they aren't aware of the fact that you can either receive on the tongue or in the hands. I try to go to a priest or deacon for that reason because they are more accustomed to both of the norms for receiving. If I do receive from a EMHC I have my hands ready to catch Jesus just in case they aren't used to the norm or paying attention to the fact that I don't have my hands out and I'm receiving on the tongue.[/quote]

I second this whole-heartidly.

And I have, actually, had to catch Jesus once. The priest I was receiving from had gotten distracted because a young boy in the Communion line next to him was confusing the EMHC and was about to receive Communion when he was certainly not yet old enough... anyways, the priest had already said "The Body of Christ" to me, was looking over there as he tried to place the host on my tongue... Well, Jesus fell and luckily I had quick enough hands to catch Him.

I joke about it as the only time I have ever "received in the hand".

[Lounge Daddy]

[quote name='Apotheoun' post='1580008' date='Jun 23 2008, 03:21 AM']I receive the Eucharist on a golden spoon.[/quote]

[iggyjoan]

I receive it with my hands because that's simply the way I was taught.

[Vincent Vega]

I always try to get in the priest's 'line' so I can receive on the tongue...I don't like receiving in the hands, nor on the tongue by an EMHC...

[premed_jakey]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' post='1580463' date='Jun 23 2008, 05:22 PM']I always try to get in the priest's 'line' so I can receive on the tongue...I don't like receiving in the hands, nor on the tongue by an EMHC...[/quote]

I agree. Though, at my home Parish, I generally still recieve on the tongue, even when an EMHC is doing it, but not at other parishes, because I am not sure of how used to it they are.

[Resurrexi]

Here's an interesting [url="http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0800122.htm"]news story[/url] from a little while back.

Bishop says Catholics should kneel, receive communion on tongue

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The reverence and awe of Catholics who truly believe they are receiving Jesus in the Eucharist should lead them to kneel and receive Communion on their tongues, said a bishop writing in the Vatican newspaper.

"If some nonbeliever arrived and observed such an act of adoration perhaps he, too, would 'fall down and worship God, declaring, God is really in your midst,'" wrote Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, quoting from the First Letter to the Corinthians.

In a Jan. 8 article labeled a "historical-liturgical note," Bishop Schneider reviewed the writings of early church theologians about eucharistic reception and said the practice of laypeople receiving Communion on the tongue was the predominant custom by the sixth century.

The article in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, appeared under the headline, "Like a nursing child in the arms of the one who nourishes him."

Bishop Schneider said that just as a baby opens his mouth to receive nourishment from his mother, so should Catholics open their mouths to receive nourishment from Jesus.

"Christ truly nourishes us with his body and blood in holy Communion and, in the patristic era, it was compared to maternal breastfeeding," he said.

"The awareness of the greatness of the eucharistic mystery is demonstrated in a special way by the manner in which the body of the Lord is distributed and received," the bishop wrote.

In addition to demonstrating true adoration by kneeling, he said, receiving Communion on the tongue also avoids concerns about people receiving the body of Christ with dirty hands or of losing particles of the Eucharist, concerns that make sense if people truly believe in the sacrament.

"Wouldn't it correspond better to the deepest reality and truth about the consecrated bread if even today the faithful would kneel on the ground to receive it, opening their mouths like the prophet receiving the word of God and allowing themselves to be nourished like a child?" Bishop Schneider asked.

In 1969 the Vatican published an instruction allowing bishops to permit the distribution of Communion in the hand. While at papal liturgies most people who receive Communion from the pope receive Communion on the tongue, they also are permitted to reverently receive the Eucharist in the hand.



I'd also like to add the Holy Father's example of distributing the Blessed Sacrament to communicants only kneeling on the tongue as of late.

Edited June 24, 2008 by StThomasMore