Cardinal-Prefect Cañizares on receiving Holy Communion

Here is a news story from last year that was still news to me yesterday. A sign of hope.

Lima, Peru, Jul 28, 2011 / 01:56 pm (CNA).- Spanish Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera recently recommended that Catholics receive Communion on the tongue, while kneeling.

“It is to simply know that we are before God himself and that He came to us and that we are undeserving,” the prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments said in an interview with CNA during his visit to Lima, Peru.

The cardinal’s remarks came in response to a question on whether Catholics should receive Communion in the hand or on the tongue.

He recommended that Catholics “receive Communion on the tongue and while kneeling.”

Receiving Communion in this way, the cardinal continued, “is the sign of adoration that needs to be recovered. I think the entire Church needs to receive Communion while kneeling.”

“In fact,” he added, “if one receives while standing, a genuflection or profound bow should be made, and this is not happening.”

“If we trivialize Communion, we trivialize everything, and we cannot lose a moment as important as that of receiving Communion, of recognizing the real presence of Christ there, of the God who is the love above all loves, as we sing in a hymn in Spanish.”

In response to a question about the liturgical abuses that often occur, Cardinal Canizares said they must be “corrected, especially through proper formation: formation for seminarians, for priests, for catechists, for all the Christian faithful.”

Such a formation should ensure that liturgical celebrations take place “in accord with the demands and dignity of the celebration, in accord with the norms of the Church, which is the only way we can authentically celebrate the Eucharist,” he added.

“Bishops have a unique responsibility” in the task of liturgical formation and the correction of abuses, the cardinal said, “and we must not fail to fulfill it, because everything we do to ensure that the Eucharist is celebrated properly will ensure proper participation in the Eucharist.”

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This was not the first time His Eminence publicly supported the traditional method of receiving Holy Communion, either. God bless him. I hope he is heeded.

Dominus Est

The Most Reverend Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, is the author of Dominus Est, a book which calls for greater care and reverence in the distribution of Holy Communion, and a return to traditional practices that have been abandoned in the last 30 years. Here he speaks with someone from Gloria.tv:

From Alcuin Reid's review of His Excellency's book:

It was 1969. Paul VI was the Pope. The Congregation for Divine Worship issued an Instruction, Memoriale Domini, on the manner of receiving Holy Communion. It makes very interesting reading.

After recalling the development of the reception of Communion on the tongue as a fruit of "a deepening understanding of the truth of the Eucharistic mystery, of its power and of the presence of Christ in it," the Instruction declares that "this method of distributing holy communion must be retained...not merely because it has many centuries of tradition behind it, but especially because it expresses the faithful's reverence for the Eucharist. The custom does not detract in any way from the personal dignity of those who approach this great sacrament: it is part of that preparation that is needed for the most fruitful reception of the Body of the Lord" it said.

It also warned: "A change in a matter of such moment, based on a most ancient and venerable tradition, does not merely affect discipline. It carries certain dangers with it which may arise from the new manner of administering Holy Communion: the danger of a loss of reverence for the august sacrament of the altar, of profanation, of adulterating the true doctrine." And it published a survey of the world's bishops, which led it to conclude: "the vast majority of bishops believe that the present discipline should not be changed, and that if it were, the change would be offensive to the sentiments and the spiritual culture of these bishops and of many of the faithful." For this reason it reports, "the Holy Father has decided not to change the existing way of administering holy communion to the faithful."

What happened, for communion in the hand is now practically universal and younger generations know practically nothing else?

First Holy Communion

An Irish prayer for you, godson,
on this your First Holy Communion Day:

May God give you...
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.

Keegan, may your good angel
guard you and guide you,
May all your communions be holy and life-giving,
May Christ live in you
and you in Him,
so that your days may be blessed
in this world and the next.

Bishop Tod Brown Refuses Holy Communion To A Kneeling Woman

I miss kneeling to receive Holy Communion. People treat our Lord so casually now! In this video, a woman attempts to receive kneeling, as all Roman Catholics did, not that long ago, but Bishop Brown refuses until she stands. What is wrong with showing reverence to our Lord by kneeling?

It is hard to see what is happening, and only a little bit of the exchange can be seen, but watch for a woman wearing a black sweater and a long white skirt, in the far line of people coming up for Communion.


Here is the description that accompanies the video:

Open Letter to Tod Brown, Bishop of Orange
http://www.renewamerica.us/...

Mean Tod Brown
http://closedcafeteria.blog...

There were two videographers, since it was a special Mass. The incident was caught on tape by accident. Watching it I can say that the lady walked up, knelt down and was ready to receive Communion. Bishop Brown immediately grabs her hands (not violently, it seems) and says something - I think I can make out 'scene...up'(a Mexican oompahpah oompapah 'Communion song' drowns out everything else). The lady's own account recounts it like this:

I was sitting on the side of the Church, 3rd row, where Bishop Tod Brown distributed the Holy Eucharist, (in the video, I am the woman with short brown hair and glasses, wearing a black sweater and long white skirt sitting on the opposite side (from the camera) of the aisle in the center of the church) and upon approaching the Bishop to receive, I genuflected, out of reverence for the Sacred Species and remained on one knee to receive the Blessed Sacrament. Bishop Brown refused to give me Holy Communion. Bishop Brown said, "You need to stand up".

I was in shock and didn't move or respond. He then reached out and took hold of my folded hands, attempting to physically pull me to a standing position, and said more sternly, "You need to stand."

I looked up and whispered, quietly and respectfully, "Please, bishop", and he then grabbed my arm, and pulled me, as though to physically pull me up to a standing position (although obscured, you can see where he bends down and extends his right arm to grab mine) as he stated more loudly, "Get up".

Still on one knee, I then asked very quietly and with genuine ignorance, "Why?"

As he stood up straight he responded, very loudly and sternly, "Because THAT'S the way we receive communion. Now, GET UP, you're causing a scene.'

He gives her Communion after she gets up. From viewing the tape, I have to say that if he had given her Communion right away, there wouldn't even have been any delay, she wasn't putting on a show or anything. Even after he grabbed her twice, she bowed her head briefly, got up, received Communion and left right away.

From the Vatican (Congregation for the Divine Liturgy):
Even where the Congregation has approved of legislation denoting standing as the posture for Holy Communion, in accordance with the adaptations permitted to the Conferences of Bishops by the Institution Generalis Missalis Romani n. 160, paragraph 2, it has done so with the stipulation that communicants who choose to kneel are not to be denied Holy Communion on these grounds.