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"I have a message for you from Jesus. Please don't deny yourself Communion. Please receive Communion in the hand."
This earnest message was given to me after Mass this week, twice, at two churches in the Land of Mordor (Wellington Archdiocese), by two holy women. One was a dear friend of many years, the other a devout Indian woman I'd never met before.
They were concerned for my spiritual welfare because I'd gone up in the Communion queue, knelt, adored, and returned to my pew. I had made a Spiritual Communion, as recommended years ago by St Padre Pio of world renown, and since Coronavirus hysteria took hold, also by Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan, who recommends "making a Spiritual Communion rather than receiving Communion in a trivial manner.
"In these cases," says Bishop Schneider, "it is better to make a Spiritual Communion, which fills the soul with special graces. In times of persecution, many Catholics were unable to receive Holy Communion in a sacramental way for long periods of time, but they made a Spiritual Communion with much spiritual benefit,” he said.
Bishop Schneider, who was born and brought up in the Soviet Union where Catholics went to extraordinary lengths - literally - to attend Mass in secret because it was banned, knows what he's talking about.
And "times of persecution" have arrived now, in New Zealand, in the Archdiocese of Wellington, where in defiance of Church law and tradition, reception of Communion on the tongue is banned.
At Mass this morning at Palmerston North Cathedral, another good friend felt impelled to rebuke the Vicar-General of the Diocese, Monsignor Brian Walsh, for refusing to give Our Eucharistic Lord in Holy Communion to "a devout soul" on his knees before him, preparing to receive Communion on the tongue.
An observer states that my friend said, firmly but respectfully, "I don't think it's right that you refuse to give Communion to this man because he's kneeling". Mons Walsh looked "shaken". But not stirred apparently; it seems he did not give Communion on the tongue.
My friend's wife was proud of her husband, she said, for advocating for one of the anawim and for sealing his action by leading the Rosary after Mass, in the presence of the Vicar-General, praying it for the eternal salvation and conversion of Pope Francis ...
At Mass this morning at Palmerston North Cathedral, another good friend felt impelled to rebuke the Vicar-General of the Diocese, Monsignor Brian Walsh, for refusing to give Our Eucharistic Lord in Holy Communion to "a devout soul" on his knees before him, preparing to receive Communion on the tongue.
An observer states that my friend said, firmly but respectfully, "I don't think it's right that you refuse to give Communion to this man because he's kneeling". Mons Walsh looked "shaken". But not stirred apparently; it seems he did not give Communion on the tongue.
My friend's wife was proud of her husband, she said, for advocating for one of the anawim and for sealing his action by leading the Rosary after Mass, in the presence of the Vicar-General, praying it for the eternal salvation and conversion of Pope Francis ...
Bishop Schneider has described any ban on Communion in the mouth as “unfounded compared to the great health risks of Communion in the hand in the time of a pandemic.”
Schneider said it’s as if some Church authorities are using the coronavirus as a “pretext” to trivialize reception of Communion.
“It seems also that some of them have a kind of cynical joy to spread more and more the process of trivialization and de-sacralization of the Most Holy and Divine Body of Christ in the Eucharistic sacrament, exposing the Body of the Lord himself to the real dangers of irreverence (loss of fragments) and sacrileges (theft of consecrated hosts),” he said.
Schneider said nobody can “force” a Catholic to receive the Body of Christ in a way that “constitutes a risk of the loss of the fragments, and a decrease in reverence, as is the way of receiving Communion in the hand.”
In its current guidelines for Communion in regard to coronavirus, the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, states that "a a parish cannot ban the reception of Holy Communion on the tongue, nor may an Ordinary or Extraordinary minister refuse a person requesting Holy Communion on the tongue. [Cf: Redemptionis Sacramentum 92.)
However, in view of the sad fact that Cardinal John Dew and the Archdiocese of Wellington persist in their contravention of Redemptionis Sacramentum - and therefore also of the Magisterium as represented by Cardinal Francis Arinze, who says: "No priest has the right to demand that (Communion in the hand), and even no bishop has the right to demand you must receive on the hand" - faithful Catholics, whose love for our Eucharistic Lord will not allow them to receive in the hand and risk fragments (every single one His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity) falling to the floor to be trodden on, need to know how to make Spiritual Communion.
Call me a raving conspiracy theorist, but I believe the liberal bishops worldwide such as +Dew and +Cupich of Chicago have seized on Communion on the tongue as a symbol of the traditional Church, as a pretext to attack the Magisterium and ultimately to replace it with the Masonic vision of a One World Order, a 'global church' minus Jesus Christ.
NO Catholics like the women who want me to conform are aiding and abetting them, unwittingly accomplices after the fact, because they lack any kind of catechesis which might have informed them of the following:
NO Catholics like the women who want me to conform are aiding and abetting them, unwittingly accomplices after the fact, because they lack any kind of catechesis which might have informed them of the following:
“Even in cases where it is not possible to receive sacramental communion, participation at Mass remains necessary, important, meaningful and fruitful. In such circumstances it is beneficial to cultivate a desire for full union with Christ through the practice of spiritual communion, praised by Pope John Paul II and recommended by saints who were masters of the spiritual life” (no. 55).
Further on in Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict XVI urges Catholics to “rediscover the Eucharistic form which their lives are meant to have,” thus making of our lives “a constant self-offering to God….” (no. 72). The practice of making spiritual communions throughout the day is one way to rediscover our Eucharistic form.
Further on in Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict XVI urges Catholics to “rediscover the Eucharistic form which their lives are meant to have,” thus making of our lives “a constant self-offering to God….” (no. 72). The practice of making spiritual communions throughout the day is one way to rediscover our Eucharistic form.
In his encyclical letter, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Saint Pope John Paul II wrote:
"It is good to cultivate in our hearts a constant desire for the sacrament of the Eucharist. This was the origin of the practice of “spiritual communion,” which has happily been established in the Church for centuries and recommended by saints.
According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, spiritual communion consists of “an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Holy Sacrament and a loving embrace as though we had already received Him.” A prayer of spiritual Communion with Jesus can be made in a matter of seconds and repeated often throughout the day. The prayer is highly thought of by the Church since it is indulgenced (see Manual of Indulgences, 4th Edition, p.51). To make a spiritual communion you can simply say the following prayer in a recollected manner:
“My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.
“Saint Francis de Sales resolved to make a spiritual Communion at least every fifteen minutes so that he could link all the events of the day to his reception of the Eucharist at Mass.” Saint Maximilian Kolbe also made frequent spiritual Communions (p.86).u“ (From sacredheart.com).o were masters of the spiritual life.
Saint Leonard of Port Maurice has said: “If you practice the holy exercise of spiritual Communion several times each day, within a month you will see your heart completely changed” (7 Secrets of the Eucharist, pp. 97-98).
“Spiritual Communion, as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Alphonsus Liguori teach, produces effects similar to Sacramental Communion, according to the dispositions with which it is made, the greater or less earnestness with which Jesus is desired, and the greater or less love with which Jesus is welcomed and given due attention.”
Two other books which highly recommend this practice of making spiritual Communions are: The Blessed Sacrament by Father Faber (beginning at p. 438), and The Blessed Eucharist by Father Muller (Chapter 11). Surely, this practice of making spiritual Communions will draw you closer to the Lord, and make you more desirous of receiving Him sacramentally at Holy Mass.
A dear friend brought up Brethren and a fervent convert to Catholicism has a more refined method, taught her by a doughty Catholic warrior, long deceased (RIP) who presented her with a unique Spiritual Communion rosary. My friend says:
"I don't know much. It is a bead for each year of our Lord's life, I guess. The medal says "Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, have mercy on us."
"I have a prayer from another source, and it is this - I say it at the start: O my Jesus, I believe that Thou art present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love Thee above all things. I desire to receive Thee into my soul. Since I cannot now receive Thee sacramentally, come at least spiritually, into my heart. I embrace Thee and unite myself entirely to Thee as if Thou hadst already come. Do not ever allow me to be separated from Thee.
"On each bead I say "Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament on the Altar, have mercy on us."
Have mercy on us, Lord, indeed.
I totally agree with you, Julia. I will be making a spiritual communion until such time as this illicit, discriminatory ban on receiving Holy Communion on the tongue is lifted. If Coronovirus has reached such a stage in NZ that a ban is necessary then Holy Communion should not be distributed at all. In fact, prior to this ban I was seriously considering not receiving Holy Communion but making a spiritual Communion because of the risk of infection spread through Holy Communion on the hand, as the laity touch the pews, door handles, put money in the plate, touch their face, blow their noses, etc, and many priests have said it is virtually impossible not to touch the hands of those receiving Holy Communion in the hand.
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ReplyDeleteBob Gill says:
ReplyDeleteI had again to attend the Novus Ordo Mass locally today. This will change from next week, however.
I noticed the collection baskets on display again when entering St Joseph’s Dannevirke this morning. I advised that collection baskets were not being used overseas and that if these were used here we would gain nothing through doing away with the Sign of Peace. I was advised they hadn’t been told not to use the collection baskets – so, being proactive doesn't come into the picture, it was business as usual! The contents of the baskets were later placed into one basket and handed to the celebrant with the Offertory gifts.
I have insisted that as a concerned parishioner my disapproval be registered.
On asking if the lay minister would be washing her hands before handing out Communion, I was advised that a hand sanitiser had been provided.
At least I do know I can rely on my non-Catholic wife, if I were dying, to contact an SSPX priest on my behalf to be assured of giving me Communion on the tongue.
• At least I do know I can rely on my non-Catholic wife, if I were dying, to contact an SSPX priest on my behalf to be assured of giving me Communion on the tongue.
Helen Carver says:
ReplyDeleteVicar-General rebuked by member of congregation for obeying the Bishop: shameful
I say:
ReplyDeleteBut Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God, rather than men (Acts 5:29).
My friend was offering the Vicar General a fraternal correction for the good of the whole Church. In the words of that great Doctor of the Church, St Thomas Aquinas: “When there is a danger for the faith” (such as there was to the man on his knees, obeying the universal norm for the reception of Holy Communion), “subjects are required to reprove their prelates, even publicly."
As St Augustine comments: “Peter himself gave an example to his superiors by not disdaining to be corrected by his subjects when it occurred to them that he had departed from the right path” (Summa theol.,ii-11, 33, 4c) – as the Vicar General had departed from the "right path" in obeying his bishop, who has disobeyed the Magisterium.
Communion on the tongue is the norm prescribed by the Magisterium of the Church and NO BISHOP or priest anywhere in the world may deny it to the faithful. We must obey the Magisterium as the teaching of the Lord Himself - “He who hears you, hears me” (Lk 10:16) rather than any bishop or priest who disobeys.
Bob Gill says:
ReplyDeletePeople are frustrated at the New Zealand Church’s approach to the issue, so I’m not surprised a person takes it out on the Vicar-General. That person showed empathy for another kneeling to his God in vain, and I can understand that.
The Church is bending over backwards enforcing no Communion on the tongue, yet is not showing equal concern in ensuring hands are scrupulously clean when taking Communion in the hand – the likes of allowing hands to be contaminated through passing the collection plate around, in New Zealand, that is. That kind of mentality doesn’t impress me.
What has surprised me these past two weeks is myself deciding to make Spiritual Communions only. The realisation while doing that has been that I am not being subject to Church politics.
Monica Devine says:
ReplyDeleteI am happy to receive communion on the tongue or on the hand but always with care and respect. However, an obvious risk-minimisation strategy would be to have only one priest distributing communion at all Masses rather than 5, 6 or 7 people (or more than 20 different people over a few weeks) potentially passing on the virus. It is simple to monitor closely the health and symptoms of one person rather than an ever-changing group of parishioners
I say:
ReplyDeleteI don't believe there has ever been a single documented case of infection resulting from receiving our Blessed Lord in Communion.
The issue with Communion in the hand is above all, I believe, the risk of fragmentation of the Host, resulting in sacrilege. This is why the practice was so assiduously promoted by Luther, Calvin, et al. The Masonic-inspired 'Reformation' was all about attacking the Eucharist.
Monica Devine says:
ReplyDeleteA simple solution to the fragmentation issue is to use a communion plate which can be held by the communicant or a server.
Bob Gill says:
I witnessed your "obvious risk-minimisation strategy" in action in St Joseph's Dannevirke at this morning's school Mass for St Joseph, Monica. I was very surprised to see a deliberate no lay ministers approach in distributing Communion - just the celebrant! I couldn't believe it!
Not sure exactly what you are suggesting, though, with a Communion plate with regards to fragmentation. That can only work, of course, while taking Communion on the tongue.
Monica Devine says:
Good point. Wasn't thinking too clearly, long night in Parliament last night and St Patrick's celebrations the night before. But maybe the altar server could hold the communion plate under the communicants hands?