At Crisis find a piece by Michael Ortiz which delves into the long term effect in the Church of the practice of frequent Communion. He reasonably points out what the intention of Pius X was and, in good circumstances, the benefits of frequent Communion which are hardly to be questioned.
However, he also underscores that when Pius X made the changes by lowering the age for Communion and promoting frequent reception there were two major differences from today.
Consider how I often write that “we are our rites”.
Ortiz points to the fact that at the time of Pius X there was a true Eucharistic fast. In fact, people were to fast from midnight. Hence, there was bodily hunger. Pius XII reduced the fast to 3 hours in 1957.
Elsewhere, I’ve written that we, being both soul and body and not soul only, should be properly disposed to receive in both body and soul.
In soul we are disposed to receive by going to confession and being in the state of grace.
In body we are disposed to receive by fasting.
Immediately after the Resurrection, Christ began to teach the disciples (Mary Magdalen, the men at Emmaus) that they had to learn a new way of Him being with them: the Eucharist. When He was with the disciples in His earthly ministry, they were “feasting”. When He ascended they were going to “fast”, but He was still with them in the Eucharist.
Let us simply admit that today’s Eucharistic fast (one hour before Communion) is a joke.
A subtle message is imparted: if we only have to fast for an hour, what we are receiving must not be very important.
Another point Ortiz makes is that, in Pius X’s time down to the 60’s we had the Roman Rite’s Vetus Ordo in which substantial sections of the Mass were in silence.
I’ll add that they required stillness.
It is in the difficult moments, the “apophatic” moments” of deprivation that we encounter mystery in a special way.
Being in the state of grace and fasting prepare us for these transformative moments.
Being unconfessed for (usually) years and being entirely unaccustomed to denying appetites and being inundated in a brightly illuminated space that looks like a municipal airport lounge while being shouted at by people with amplifiers… doesn’t.
We had not long ago an effort at “Eucharistic Renewal”. It seems to me that a great deal of serious soul searching about reality is needed.
Moreover, there can be no Eucharistic Renewal without a renewal of the Sacrament of Penance. PERIOD.
Ceterum autem censeo sacramentum paenitentiae redintegrandum.
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I say this to encourage that it can be done, not to say that I am holier than thou, I am a sinner and have greatly benefited from this. One of my Lenten practices this year is to increase my Eucharistic fast to 3 hours – which in practice on Sunday mornings really means midnight. Our drive to Mass on Sundays is 45 minutes so the one hour fast really just meant don’t eat before getting in the vehicle. This increase in fasting has heightened my awareness of His presence in those 15-20 minutes.
Also note the emphasis within Novus Ordo parishes that the point of Mass is to receive communion. From a practical standpoint if we were to start with reinforcing the idea that the Mass is to offer worship to God, the maybe the natural next step will be the true presence and proper reception of our Lord.
Trying to come at this from a “meet them where they’re at” point of view.
Reading Dr K’s latest offering – He mentions that many of the FSSP and ICK apostolates currently follow the Pre-55 Holy Week liturgies.
Is this a stateside practice primarily ?
Also – unrelated –
Been thinking about Altar Bell(s).
The TLM Parish I attend uses a 4 Bell Cluster. Fr Z, the times I’ve attended your Rome Parish, a solitary bell was used. The solitary bell seems to better fit the solemnity of the Mass. I feel I’m out of my lane approaching my Parish Priest on this.
I don’t know anyone who does not think the Eucharistic fast of one hour is a joke. As one friend put it, a one hour fast is no fast at all. Furthermore, if the fast is 3 hours, and you have a two hour drive to Mass it doesn’t even feel like a fast.
Unfortunately, you can even get used to going to early mass every day and having had your last meal the night before. And the fact that you can get used to THAT is certainly a sign of how deep we have fallen…
Dear ProfessorCover,
but some people don’t have a two-hour drive to Mass, but work in a city office or factory and have a ten-minute walk to Mass. Also, those who do drive two hours, it is rather preparational to Holy Mass in itself; rather more than remembering “oh, I should stop eating now in order to get to Holy Communion later” sitting in front of a computer doing work (not that that would be illegitimate, don’t get me wrong).
By which I’m not saying that the three-hour fast should not be reinstituted; it probably makes for the best compromise of still keeping some fast but also keeping up with the spirit of (sorry for “with the spirit of”, I’ll explain) Pope St. Pius X’th frequent-Communion-propagation. (Though I’d personally be happy if coffee, tea, water with a shot of vinegar, and the like were exempted except for the last hours (which is my present practice, given that the Church allows ist…)
St. Pius X hadn’t lessened the requirements himself, yes. But sometimes there is such a thing as “the spirit of”: – The idea that Catholics when not hindered by mortal sin (which after all is still the usual state of a Catholic without marriage problems) should best Communicate every day if they can make it to Mass… if that sort of thing is normal for the ideal Catholic (even if, yes, Mass-attendance is valid without it and even accepting that we aren’t ideal Catholics and don’t under sin have to be): Then it just is not compatible with morning-only, fast-for-the-night, three-days abstention from the use of marriage, and perhaps having Confessed an equal amount of times, and that sort of thing.
Sometimes, one must decide, one cannot have two incompatible goods at the same time – even if the incompatibility takes 50 years to manifest. And there are, after all, true benefits from Pope St. Pius X’s decision. It would be an interesting idea to discuss whether that was all-in-all a good or a bad thing (maybe later). The participants of the discussion should know, though, that should their answer be “the latter”, a moral obligation to not-Communicate themselves does not follow. (I still do think the answer might be “the former”…)
Although my mother thinks this is an old school practice I am one Catholic who if I go to the 7:30 am Mass on Sunday I won’t eat or drink anything beforehand except for maybe a glass of water.
It is disappointing these days to see people walk in 15 minutes late or more and go to communion or leave right after communion. It’s also disappointing to see people go to communion who haven’t been to church on a regular basis (visiting relatives come to mind). Just because a Catholic has participated in first communion preparation doesn’t mean he or she receives communion at every Mass he or she attends.
I do have to confess that it wasn’t until I was in my later 20s I began to understand more of the teachings of the Catholic Church. What’s sad was I was an altar boy through quite a bit of my youth and basically went through the motions (it was the 70s and 80s and I didn’t know much difference with the watering down that took place in the parish where we lived).