Over the last year I have compiled more than enough resources to make (in my opinion) an irrefutable case for communion on the tongue. Below are the links to all the resources I have compiled for this position. Want to learn why communion on the tongue is a more reverent way to receive our Lord? Want to make a strong case for communion on the tongue?
Here are the links (I will continue to add to this list):
http://athanasiuscm.blogspot.com/2010/01/bishop-athanasius-schneider-criticizes.html
http://stjohnsvaldosta.blogspot.com/2010/06/lost-fragments.html
http://unamsanctamcatholicam.blogspot.com/2008/01/rethinking-communion-in-hand.html
http://www.catholic-pages.com/mass/inhand.asp
http://catholicforum.fisheaters.com/index.php/topic,3429564.0.html
www.cfnews.org/comhand.htm
www.cfnews.org/sacrilege.htm
I have read through all of the links you have provided and I must say that they provide compelling arguments for communion in the hand. I was prepared for sentimental discussions but found historical and rational discussions for respecting the sanctity of the Holy Eucharist.
ReplyDeleteGreat references!
ST. SIXTUS I (115-125). Prohibited the faithful from even touching the Sacred Vessels: "Statutum est ut sacra vasa non ab aliis quam a sacratis Dominoque dicatis contrectentur hominibus..." [It has been decreed that the Sacred Vessels are not to be handled by others than by those consecrated and dedicated to the Lord.]
ReplyDeleteST. BASIL THE GREAT, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH (330-379). "The right to receive Holy Communion in the hand is permitted only in time of persecution." St. Basil considered Communion in the hand so irregular that he did not hesitate to consider it a grave fault.
ReplyDeleteSIXTH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, AT CONSTANTINOPLE (680-681). Forbade the faithful to take the Sacred Host in their hand, threatening the transgressors with excommunication.
ReplyDeleteST. THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274). "Out of reverence towards this sacrament [the Holy Eucharist], nothing touches it, but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest's hands, for touching this sacrament." (Summa Theologica, Pars III, Q. 82, Art. 3, Rep. Obj. 8)
COUNCIL OF TRENT (1545-1565). "The fact that only the priest gives Holy Communion with his consecrated hands is an Apostolic Tradition."
POPE PAUL VI (1963-1978). "This method [on the tongue] must be retained." (Apostolic Epistle "Memoriale Domini")
POPE JOHN PAUL II (1978-2005). "To touch the sacred species and to distribute them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained. (Dominicae Cenae, sec. 11)
"It is not permitted that the faithful should themselves pick up the consecrated bread and the sacred chalice, still less that they should hand them from one to another." (Inaestimabile Donum, April 17, 1980, sec. 9)