There Were 118 Particles of the Hosts Left in the Hand After the Hosts Were Taken...

"Communion in the hand has not been, and will not be accepted by Heaven. This is a sacrilege in the eyes of the Eternal Father, and must not be continued, for you only add to your punishment when you continue on in the ways that have been found to be unpleasing to the Eternal Father."
- The Bayside Prophecies
Our Lady of the Roses, June 30, 1984
A Pastor’s Descant
Perhaps you have heard that the Holy Father has begun the practice of distributing Holy Communion on the tongue to kneeling communicants. No doubt he has often heard of abuses of the Holy Sacrament and offers his example as a corrective. There have been only a couple of brave bishops in the world who have mandated the Pope’s practice in their own dioceses. A rumor circulating now that he plans to issue a document on the liturgy gives rise to the hope that the Pope may encourage the return to the ancient practice or even to forbid hand Communion entirely.
Some people told me that here and there priests have refused to give Communion on the tongue, citing the fear of spreading the swine flu. Curiously, however, the distribution of Communion from the chalice for the laity has often been retained where, it would seem, the danger of infection is much more likely. Of greater concern (one would think) should be the fact that communicants receiving Communion in their hands have already touched the church doors, pews, holy water fonts, hymn books (and often the hands of others in the sign of peace) before they receive the Host in their hands and consume it. Why is there no worry there? Or is the scare of contamination merely a pretext for imposing hand Communion? One wonders.
There is an issue of grave importance here regarding the reception of Holy Communion which has to do not only with retaining the traditional manner of receiving Communion or of insisting on the way of a greater reverence in receiving the Sacrament. Rather, it has to do with the profanation of our Lord’s Body. The Fall 2009 edition of the Latin Mass Magazine (recommended to you) ran a report of the conclusions drawn from an experiment on the particles that are lost through the practice of hand Communion. A brief summary of the finds is that out of 100 unconsecrated hosts placed in black-gloved hands (for easier detection), there were 118 particles of the hosts left in the hand after the hosts were taken.
What’s the concern? The Catholic faith instructs us that Christ, whole and entire, is contained in each particle of the Host. That is to say, all the Lord’s humanity (body and soul) and God Himself are in every particle of Communion. What follows from this is that the priest has a grave obligation to ensure that the Lord’s Body and Blood are not defiled. But whenever Communion particles fall in the hands of the Communicants and are not consumed they must be on the floor, the pew or the clothing. Consider that if the fragments of the loaves from the miraculous multiplication in the Gospels were carefully “gathered” by the apostles, then all the more should the small pieces of the Host be carefully gathered and consumed. For this reason, the Church specified the use of the Communion paten (plate) to be held under the chin–even at a time when Communion was given exclusively on the tongue. (We have retained this safeguard at the Grotto, as you know).
Question: Is the Lord’s sacred Body being defiled in many of our churches by unknowing people who not only receive Communion in their hands but who also trample on the particles in the Communion line? If that were only a remote possibility–instead of a most probable conclusion–should not the permission for hand Communion be rescinded?
Let’s hope that the example set by the Pope will again be observed by the universal Church. We’ve come a long way from the once ubiquitous reverence in the reception of the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
Fr. Eduard Perrone, Pastor
Assumption Grotto Catholic Church
13770 Gratiot
Detroit, Michigan 48205
grottorectory@ameritech.net
"You must not take the Body of My Son in your hand! You open the door for the entrance of evil spirits to defile My Son's Body! The consecrated fingers of a duly ordained man of God, the priest, shall place My Son into your mouth, and you must absorb His Body with goodness and love."
- The Bayside Prophecies
Our Lady of the Roses, March 22, 1975
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