Although nothing new, the Spanish Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 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.”
Michael Voris weighs in:
Other also read:
I heard a talk on this subject once and an image was presented that has stuck with me ever since. The image is that of a baby bird receiving food from the parent.
LOVE IT!!!!
We attend a Novus Ordo Rite Mass and we have been receiving on the tongue exclusively for the last 3 years. But we do so while standing due to the fact of two “ministers” standing at the foot of the altar …. are we supposed to bow also prior to receiving in this manner? I’ve been a little put off by the practice instituted several years ago because so many people bend right over at waist, oblivious to the person standing right behind them .. suitable distance or not.
Those cardinals have been known to say a lot of silly things. Some deny the holocaust, others harbor and defend child molestors, others have even questioned the divinity of Christ and the nature of the Trinity. This is just one more example of why we faithful really are on our own.
Cardinal Llovera is right! To receive Holy Communion on our feet, as opposed to on our knees, is dead wrong.
In an edition of “The Wanderer” from last year or the year before, I read the archbishop of Lima wanted his see’s Catholics to receive Communion on the tongue, and kneeling. This is in sharp, and welcome, contrast to Orange Bishop Todd Brown, who actually went so far as to, when he saw a lady kneel for Communion, assaulted her and ORDERED her to stand up. Fortunately, Bishop Brown turned 75 on November 15th, meaning he’s as good as retired the moment the Holy Father names his successor.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo, also requires Catholics in his see to receive Holy Communion kneeling, and on the tongue. If only more prelates would follow his lead.
I have a friend who, like me, volunteers for a Catholic apostolate that is among the most orthodox in the Church. I recently asked him to send, and got, literature that drives home the point that ONLY priests can give out Holy Communion(I have a friend who is a “Eucharistic Minister”, a term I’m increasingly “falling in loathe” with, and she needs to realize that non-priests have no business putting their hands on the Eucharist).