From a reader…
I used to think hosts being found on the floors in churches was just something Traditional Catholics talked about in hyperbole and not something that actually happened. Low and behold, I walk into church to make a Holy Hour before Mass and something white and circular on the floor next to the pew in the front caught my attention. Upon closer examination I identified it as Our Lord on the floor, and He’s been there all day and no
one noticed.
I called our priest who came and consumed it and purified the carpet and made Acts of Reparation, but this just saddens and angers me.
Ironically enough we’re only a week away from Corpus Christi. A Feast that once had its own Octave because of its significance and where people lined the streets in Processions of the Blessed Sacrament. How far we’ve descended into our lack of reverence and respect for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. For Shame.
Let’s all work together to increase reverence and belief and love for the Lord in Eucharist.
Fathers: Adjust your ars celebrandi and teach! Put in Communion rails.
Bishops: Take a cue from some other bishops and ask for First Communion on the tongue while kneeling, curtail Communion services, advocate Exposition and participate in it along with Benediction, put tabernacles back in the center of churches, etc.
Faithful: Stop receiving Communion in the hand.
Speaking of Reparation…. HERE
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The words of Cardinal Sarah come to mind (from the preface of ‘The distribution of Communion on the hand: a historical, juridical and pastoral survey’ by Don Federico Bortoli) :
“The most insidious diabolical attack consists in trying to extinguish faith in the Eucharist, sowing errors and favouring an unsuitable manner of receiving it,” the cardinal wrote.
“Truly the war between Michael and his Angels on one side, and Lucifer on the other, continues in the heart of the faithful: Satan’s target is the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Real Presence of Jesus in the consecrated host.”
For the sake of Our Lord, may there be no more Holy Communion in the hand. +JMJ+
Communion in the hand leads to sacrilege in the typical parish setting. And how, practically, can this be avoided? It would take an army of eucharistic supervisors to prevent people from returning to the pews without first consuming the host. We do not do this. And these facts should be obvious to all. So the message our praxis sends contradicts our faith. Only a thoroughly catechized, practicing believer can sort out the contradictions.
I visited a parish where parishioners stood with hands folded on either side of the priest a bit off to the side to watch those receiving communion. I assume they were there to ensure each recipient consumed the Eucharist. Interestingly, they were all men. In a world where masculinity is under assault, this is what real manhood looks like.
Even though I have always taken part in OF Masses and have never even been to or taken part in a EF Mass I would truly be very happy to see Communion rails being used in the OF Mass. If I could kneel for Holy Communion I would. I used to receive in the hand but for years now I only receive on the tongue. Our Lord when received should be received with the recipient on his/her knees. He deserves that much and more.
In the event one finds Our Lord where He ought not to be and there is no available priest to remedy the situation, how should a layperson proceed?
No more statements or appeals. It is past time for the bishops to do their jobs and command priests to distribute the Eucharist on the tongue only, and depose those priests who will not. And then pray for a pope who will do the same.
It would take an army of eucharistic supervisors to prevent people from returning to the pews without first consuming the host.
My parish does use 2 ushers as Eucharistic watchers to help ensure everyone consumes the host they receive. Obviously they cannot catch every instance of a problem, but they do notice and correct some. Our parish priests also take the time to notice and correct some. Quite some time ago, one of our priests would not give communion on the hand to the very young, say under 9.
But this is all kind of like closing the barn door after the horses have fled. The bishops should get their heads out of the sand and be more pro-active, i.e. re-institute communion on the tongue as the norm. And put back altar rails. The “innovations” that changed these were not improvements, they were destruction of customs for no good reason. Pure nonsense, distilled out of hatred for the True Presence.
When my son was 2, we often went to weekday Mass in an old people’s home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. After Mass my little lad liked to help clear away the number cards for the hymns. One year, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, the children of the nearby Catholic primary school had also attended. After Mass, when everyone had left, and I was collecting the number cards ready for him to sort, my little lad came up to me and said “Mummy, here is a Body of Christ”! He was holding Our Lord in his hand. As there was no-one else around, (the Priest and nuns had all left the chapel) I knelt, took the host and consumed it. I often wonder whether I should have done? I knew it must have been dropped by one of the children because it was found in the area where they were sitting, so I went to the school, and asked to speak with someone about it. The lady I spoke to was very snooty, and said ‘it could have been one of the old people who’d dropped it’ I only wanted them to ensure that the children knew what to do with the Blessed Sacrament! (I also knew that none of the elderly folk would leave the front of the Church without consuming the host.) I was glad that at 2 years old my son realised that the host should be treated with reverence, and I made sure that he never received in the hand!
The very *last* time that I took the Communion in the hand (though in purely technical theology it can never be defined as an abuse as such), is the only time in my life that our Lord fell onto the ground — what a horrid SHOCK !! My Confessor was the priest giving me the Communion, and he deftly took the Host back up to give it to me on the tongue ; since that day, Communion is for me on the tongue.
I normally sit up front for Mass and usually close my eyes to pray after Communion so I’m less distracted by the large number of people passing by as it’s a large church with many attending. Well one Sunday prompted by the Holy Spirit I suppose I opened my eyes to see a lad of about 9 receive in his hand then making the motion as if to consume it. But I could see it in his palm as he passed by me. Overcome I jumped up and climbed out (I was in the middle of the pew) and sprinted after the kid. I kept my eye on him the whole time since it was a crowded Mass and people were standing in the side aisles waiting for Communion. I caught up with him and yes it was still in his hand. I immediately said you need to put that in your mouth which he did. I then turned to his father who I’d actually outpaced and said he needs to be told to put it in his mouth when he receives.
Pretty sure I shocked the boy. And dad. And everybody else standing around there.
The next Sunday Mass I sincerely hoped the Holy Spirit would not so inspire me again!
My family didn’t know what to make of my behavior until I explained after Mass. I don’t relish making a spectacle. But of course I will for the Lord.
I’m reading “Eucharistic Miracles” by Joan Carroll Cruz. It’s amazing how many of the miracles happened after someone received Communion the way they did back then, but managed to take it out of their mouth and attempt some desecration.
Joy65 says: “Our Lord when received should be received with the recipient on his/her knees. He deserves that much and more.”
Absolutely! Or, at the very least, should have the *option* to receive in such manner.
Dear Miss Elizzabeth, you have done a wonderful job teaching your young son. :^)
God bless you!
I am horrified to read of this happening. I well remember processions in the streets outside our church on the Feast of Corpus Christi when I was a boy. But this never happens now. One big difference is that there is much more traffic along those streets today.
I have three heartbreaking stories on what Communion in the hand leads to — and they’re reality, not “Traditional Catholic hyperbole”
1) I entered a church for A visit on the way home from work. The janitor was sweeping up. As I passed the pile of trash on the floor, I saw there in the pile a partially consumed Host: Christ Himself. I was stunned….I gathered it up from the dirt pile lovingly and enfolded it in my mantilla, carried it across the street to the Rectory (it never occurred to me I should consume It; I assumed the Priest should be informed), and when I was let in and asked for the Pastor, showed him the Host and explained, he took It from me gruffly, wrapped It in a piece of notepaper from his desk and placed it there roughly (!) and then gave me a belligerent look, as if to say “Well, you can leave now; I’ll take it from here….” I left struck dumb, not knowing what to say.
2) At Saturday evening Mass, I often would sit a few pews behind the same family each week. Their *teenage* daughter (about 15) would take the Host back to her pew each week, wave it around while talking to her family, break off little pieces to eat It a little at a time and so on. I was so shocked as I knelt there making my own thanksgiving that I didn’t know what to do, given her parents were right there next to her and just letting it happen.
Finally, after seeing this 2-3 times, I stopped her father after Mass one Saturday and told him what I was seeing. I said: “That’s Our Lord. Your daughter needs to receive Him with reverence and consume the host immediately….” The father looked shaken up and the daughter used to stare at me every week after that until she stopped coming to Mass altogether. It makes you wonder if such corrections harden them and they use it as an excuse to stop coming to Mass altogether, then YOU feel guilty.
3) A friend of mine recently attended a Mass, watched a man pretend to consume the Host, then clearly saw him put it into his pocket and disappear from the church. When she turned around to see where he went, he was already gone. Unfortunately, when confronted with these situations, shock sometimes leaves you paralyzed with confusion and disbelief before something can be done.
NONE OF THIS WOULD BE POSSIBLE WITH COMMUNION ON THE TONGUE AT A COMMUNION RAIL……
Ave Crux wrote, “It makes you wonder if such corrections harden them and they use it as an excuse to stop coming to Mass altogether, then YOU feel guilty”. Thank you for making clear to the offender and her Father that such grievous behavior was incorrect. That you did not remain passive but actively pursued letting the daughter and Father know that her behavior was inappropriate is deserving of praise; indeed, one should NEVER feel guilty for speaking up for what is correct. It is passivity and complacency that reinforce the continuance of such acts, whatever their causes. You did the right thing, Ave Crux; more of us should follow your lead in this regard.
Gotta get em young. What a shame to see, year after year, each and every first communicant stick their hands out. I have little doubt that “in the hand” is the default manner being taught in most NO parishes, and I have to wonder if the kids are even told about the possibility of receiving another way. And even if they were, it would take extraordinary courage for a seven-year old to be the only one receiving on the tongue.
When I see how practically universal this practice has become, I think it would take a literally miraculous turn around on the part of the bishops and the clergy to tell folks, “sorry, your ‘traditional’ way of receiving in the hand is suppressed. And all you EMHCs, your time in the spotlight is over. Please take your seats.”
I used to think this too until I was preparing to serve mass and someone brought to our attention a host that had been left on the floor. That particular chapel had so much foot traffic (crypt of a very busy Cathedral) it could have been from any number of masses but that made it no less sad.
I also thought that stories about people taking away hosts from mass without consuming them was a myth but I have witnessed it and confronted the party involved.
These problems will continue for as long as communion in the hand is allowed. Why John Paul II and Benedict didn’t outlaw the practice for good is beyond me.
You may consume.
No, it’s not a myth. About ten years ago, while attending the vigil mass in my old parish, I noticed, during the distribution of communion, a Host lying in the carpet between the front pew and the sanctuary. No one else seemed to have noticed It, and It was lying in an area where It was liable to be trampled, so I picked It up and consumed It immediately. I’m not sure, in retrospect, whether that was the correct procedure, but I was getting worried and acted hastily.
A few years ago, I experienced profound reverence for the Eucharist. The faithful were hushed and reverent inside the temple. The liturgy was celebrated solemnly and according to the rubrics. The Kiss of Peace was made by all with a Eucharistic greeting: “Christ is in our midst!” The priest alone administered Holy Communion; though this had never occurred to me before, it seemed as though a father feeding his infants, intimately and tenderly. Some of the faithful walked away backwards, rather than turn their backs on Our Lord. The hungry were fed from the unconsecrated surplus.
In case you haven’t put two and two together yet, I can tell you that this is a Greek Orthodox parish. My hunger was great as I stood in my pew without the Sacrament. The occasion was a parish festival with food and entertainment. As I spoke to the volunteers and the clergy, I was offered several invitations to convert and join them. I was also handed a polemic tract on the “heresies of the Roman Church”. So they are not shy about making converts by any means necessary.
I realized that if I am supposed to love in the way Aquinas defines it, then I should start acting more loving. Likewise, if I want to be humble before the Eucharist, I should act more humble. So a couple of years ago, I began to kneel to receive Holy Communion. Am I proud to be humble? I don’t know. I just feel secure in following Tradition, and following the words of Francis Cardnal Arinze, and the example of Pope Benedict XVI.
At one of the parishes I attend the parochial vicar was seen several times putting the host in his pocket —- it’s not just lay people disrespecting the Lord present in the Eucharist.
It was 22 years ago after reading Book IV of “The Imitation of Christ” that I realized I could no longer receive Our Lord in the hand or standing. A beautiful devotional meditation on the holiness of the Eucharist, well worth reading.
I visit my local parish every morning I work. If you are going to work next door to where God himself lives you might as well take in a visit every morning. It only makes sense.
This one morning I go in and find a host on the floor. no one is around I have no pix I can’t carry this around all day what do you do.
So I ate it. My wife hated that part but what else are you going to do. I like to believe that because of where I found it the host was unblessed bread, but can I really know this. No.
It does happen a lot more than any of us would like to believe.
I once found a host on the floor myself, after a weekday Mass I attended. I am not quite sure It/it was consecrated, though, but obviously I don’t see how an unconsecrated host would find its way out of the backdoor (of the Sacristy) around through the main entrance. In any case, I brought it to the Sacristy and gave it to the priest who had celebrated the Mass before. Good that he was there, I wouldn’t have known what to do myself (if you eat it, do you eat it as the Body of Christ? But if it isn’t?).
Our priest recently told the story of the Chinese Eucharistic martyr who inspired Bishop Sheen to make Eucharistic holy hours. In China about 1900 an 11-year old discovered 32 consecrated hosts on the floor of the sanctuary. Secretly, each evening she returned to make a holy hour and consume one host bending down to retrieve it with her tongue. On the 32nd night she was discovered by soldiers and beaten to death.
Melkite Greek-Catholic here – only the priests and deacons are ever allowed to touch the Eucharist, which for us is consecrated leavened bread. The clergy serve the Eucharist directly into the mouth of the communicant. Acolytes hold a cloth under the chalice to catch any of the small consecrated pieces. It’s happened that someone receiving accidentally bumps the cloth or the host fell out of their mouth. Clergy immediately stop everyone, clear the area, and go face first to the ground to put any remaining particles directly into their mouth. Our priest commonly corrects people who aren’t receiving in a way that would avoid this.
Interestingly, the bread we used for the Eucharist is baked by parishioners. During the Divine Liturgy, half is not consecrated but is blessed by the priest. At the end of liturgy, everyone comes forward to receive the blessed bread (all can receive this, not just Catholics). We’ve on occasion found blessed bread in random places and needless to say the clergy were not happy about it! Feel free to read more about the Melkite traditions and the Byzantine rite at https://moreincenselessnonsense.wordpress.com