HOW TO RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION

HOW TO RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION

On the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ last year the bishops of the United States launched a three-year initiative to promote National Eucharistic Revival.  This was in part a response to Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “On the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World” (Evangelii Gaudium) in which he invited “all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them” (¶3).  Later in the same exhortation he writes, “How good it is to stand before a crucifix, or on our knees before the Blessed Sacrament, and simply to be in his presence!” (¶264).

There is no greater presence of Christ on earth than his Real Presence in the Most Holy Eucharist.  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explains on their website the reason for initiating a Eucharistic revival: “Our world is hurting. We all need healing, yet many of us are separated from the very source of our strength. Jesus Christ invites us to return to the source and summit of our faith in the celebration of the Eucharist. The National Eucharistic Revival is a movement to restore understanding and devotion to this great mystery here in the United States by helping us renew our worship of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.”  Archbishop Nelson Pérez has enthusiastically encouraged our participation in this revival as the Church of Philadelphia.  The Archdiocesan Eucharistic Congress was held at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown yesterday (Saturday), which was sold out a couple of months ahead of time.  This is a sign that the faithful in the Archdiocese truly want to see a revival for love of the Eucharist among us.

It is a blessing to be able to offer Communion from the chalice again.  As you may know, we are now offering two chalices of the Precious Blood at the 10 a.m. Mass on Sundays.  Of course, anyone who has Covid or cold or flu symptoms should not receive from the chalice.  Children should not receive from a chalice because of the potential of spills.  Teenagers may receive with the permission of their parents.  Everyone who receives Communion from a chalice must take the chalice in both hands and drink from the chalice.  There are a few parishioners who are glutton intolerant but unable to receive the low-glutton Host because, for the sake of validity, it contains some wheat.  They may receive Communion from a chalice. 

Please note that it is never permitted for someone in the congregation to dip a Host in the Precious Blood.  There is not only a danger of a drop of the Precious Blood falling to the ground but also a more theological reason – Communion is given, it is never taken.  Only the celebrant communes himself, after offering the secret prayers of the Roman Missal.  Self-communion contradicts the very meaning of communion among one’s brothers and sisters.

The Church teaches that Christ is fully present under each of the species of the Sacrament, in the form of bread or of wine.  For this reason, when one receives Communion by receiving only the Host, or by receiving only the Precious Blood, one receives the whole Christ.  There is no increase in grace when one receives under both species.  The General Instruction of the Roman Missal states that “the Catholic faith teaches that Christ, whole and entire, and the true Sacrament, is received even only under one species, and hence that as regards the resulting fruits, those who receive under only one species are not deprived of any grace that is necessary for salvation” (#282).  However, “Holy Communion has a fuller form as a sign when it takes place under both kinds” (#281).  For pastoral reasons the Latin Rite Church usually only offers the Host for the Communion.  In the Easter Catholic Rites, however, both specifies are normally received by the faithful through the practice of intinction, the dipping of the Host in the Precious Blood by the priest.  The Sacrament is then placed on the tongue of the communicant, often by the use of a small spoon.