As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, it is an appropriate time to review the proper way in which we are to approach and receive the Holy Eucharist.
First we must always be in a state of sanctifying grace in order to receive the Eucharist. If we have mortal sin on our souls because we have failed to attend Mass on Sundays or Holy Days or because we are living with someone without benefit of marriage in the Church, or we have committed some other grave sin, we need to go to Confession before receiving the Holy Eucharist. That is one of the reasons why we offer Confessions on Saturday afternoon and before every Sunday Mass.
When we come forward to receive Holy Communion, we should remember that the normative [normal or traditional] way to receive the Holy Eucharist is on the tongue. We are allowed by special permission to receive Holy Communion in the hand if we do so properly according to the directives of the Church.
Just prior to receiving the Eucharist we are to either genuflect or bow profoundly in recognition of the Divine Presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As the priest says “The Body of Christ”, we are to respond “Amen.” Then we either extend our tongue to receive Our Lord, or we extend our hands in a “throne position” to receive Our Lord. In order to receive the Holy Eucharist in the hand, both hands must be free and should be held one on top of the other. [If we are not able to receive the Sacred Host in our hands in the proper way, we should receiv Our Lord on the tongue.] We then step to the side and stopping, place the Sacred Host in our mouths.
We are not supposed to “pop” the Sacred Host into our mouths, nor are we to walk away receiving the Sacred Host as we walk along. We are to never break the Sacred Host and take part of it with us to give to another person. This is a grave abuse of the Eucharist. Only ordained bishops, priests and deacons and properly trained and designated extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist are to distribute Holy Communion to someone else.
And, of course we are never to self-communicate, that is, take the Eucharist from a ciborium or tabernacle and give it to ourselves. After having received Holy Communion, many people make the Sign of the Cross as an additional sign of reverence and belief in what has just taken place.
Many people today also receive Holy Communion under the form of the Precious Blood. However, it is important to remember that Jesus is fully present – Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity – under the form of either the Sacred Host or the Precious Blood. It is an error of the Faith to believe that we have to receive both species in order to receive the “whole Jesus.” The Church cautions us to only receive the Precious Blood if we are free of disease, colds, infections, etc. The Church has never declared as a teaching of the Faith that germs cannot be passed
through the reception of the Precious Blood. It is a pious and commendable belief that some individuals hold, but it is not a dogma of the Faith that is required of the Church or Her teachings on the Holy Eucharist. No individual may take the Sacred Host to the Chalice and “dip” it into the Precious Blood. Distribution of Communion by Intinction can only be done by ordained ministers or properly delegated extraordinary ministers.
~~Submitted by Fr. P. Berschied, Parochial Vicar
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