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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2023 21:33:55 GMT
Last night, at the Holy Thursday Mass, I had an incident at communion. I am still a little shaken by it as nothing like this has ever happened with me before.
As always, I went up to receive on the tongue. Usually I receive kneeling and on the tongue, which actually makes it easier for the priest to place the host on the tongue. However, last night I opted to receive standing and on the tongue. Not a good idea. Because of the height of the priest in comparison to my own, I almost had to squat down a little so that my head was at the correct height for the priest to place the host onto my tongue. The priest said "the Body of Christ" and I responded "Amen", but unfortunately I responded too late because the priest had already moved the host towards my mouth when I said "Amen" and my act of saying "Amen" knocked the host out of the priest's hand onto the floor. My immediate reaction was to apologise to the priest. He immediately picked up the host from the floor, produced another host, gave it me to as normal, and I went back to my pew to sit down.
This Mass was at a church I have never attended a Mass at before. I have attended a Divine Liturgy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church there before, where communion is done differently to in the Latin Church. This time it was an Ordinary Form Latin Rite Mass, but this church is set up very differently to my normal parish. The church is one of those churches where the pews wrap around the sanctuary in a semi-circle, and so I was quite confused about how I was to receive communion, which line I was to go to etc., because there were 5 or 6 priests there and the church was both small and packed with the faithful.
I am still rather worried about last night's incident. I am sure there was no sin in what happened, because it was a complete accident born out of my saying "Amen" too late, when the priest was already placing the host into my mouth. Nonetheless the thought of the Lord's Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, being knocked onto the floor as a result of my accidental act is giving me some worry.
Today is Good Friday. I might make an Act of Reparation in front of Our Lady's altar at my church. I already plan to apologise to the priest in question the next time I see him.
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Post by tisbearself on Apr 6, 2023 22:11:02 GMT
It was an accident. Jesus isn’t bothered by it, just like he’s not bothered when a priest accidentally trips or fumbles and drops a host. He knows there was no disrespectful intent.
If a person receives Holy Communion at least once a week for years, that’s gonna be hundreds of Communions and the odds are some of them will go haywire.
It’s nice to spend time with Our Lord but if you want to make reparation, focus on an actual sin you committed, or on the war or the sexual abuse crisis in the Church, and not on an unintentional small accident.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2023 22:55:16 GMT
It was an accident. Jesus isn’t bothered by it, just like he’s not bothered when a priest accidentally trips or fumbles and drops a host. He knows there was no disrespectful intent. If a person receives Holy Communion at least once a week for years, that’s gonna be hundreds of Communions and the odds are some of them will go haywire. It’s nice to spend time with Our Lord but if you want to make reparation, focus on an actual sin you committed, or on the war or the sexual abuse crisis in the Church, and not on an unintentional small accident. I know you are right, tisbear, but part of me is still shaken by it. I want to forget about it but it is still on my mind. I have decided that to avoid this happening again I shall receive communion kneeling from now on, because receiving standing on the tongue is often harder when there is a disparity in height between the priest and the communicant, and when I kneel it is clear that I want to receive on the tongue, whereas standing the priest tends to assume you want to receive on the hand. Of course, whenever I pray at church, I always pray for peace in Ukraine, forgiveness of my sins, and the resolution of family and societal issues. |
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Post by homeschooldad on Apr 7, 2023 3:57:59 GMT
Last night, at the Holy Thursday Mass, I had an incident at communion. I am still a little shaken by it as nothing like this has ever happened with me before. As always, I went up to receive on the tongue. Usually I receive kneeling and on the tongue, which actually makes it easier for the priest to place the host on the tongue. However, last night I opted to receive standing and on the tongue. Not a good idea. Because of the height of the priest in comparison to my own, I almost had to squat down a little so that my head was at the correct height for the priest to place the host onto my tongue. The priest said "the Body of Christ" and I responded "Amen", but unfortunately I responded too late because the priest had already moved the host towards my mouth when I said "Amen" and my act of saying "Amen" knocked the host out of the priest's hand onto the floor. My immediate reaction was to apologise to the priest. He immediately picked up the host from the floor, produced another host, gave it me to as normal, and I went back to my pew to sit down. This Mass was at a church I have never attended a Mass at before. I have attended a Divine Liturgy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church there before, where communion is done differently to in the Latin Church. This time it was an Ordinary Form Latin Rite Mass, but this church is set up very differently to my normal parish. The church is one of those churches where the pews wrap around the sanctuary in a semi-circle, and so I was quite confused about how I was to receive communion, which line I was to go to etc., because there were 5 or 6 priests there and the church was both small and packed with the faithful. I am still rather worried about last night's incident. I am sure there was no sin in what happened, because it was a complete accident born out of my saying "Amen" too late, when the priest was already placing the host into my mouth. Nonetheless the thought of the Lord's Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, being knocked onto the floor as a result of my accidental act is giving me some worry. Today is Good Friday. I might make an Act of Reparation in front of Our Lady's altar at my church. I already plan to apologise to the priest in question the next time I see him. The priest should have put down a purificator on top of the place where the Host landed, retrieved It, and cleansed the spot afterwards, with the linen being washed in water, and the water put down the sacrarium. This kind of problem is eliminated at the Traditional Latin Mass, where everyone receives kneeling, on the tongue, with a paten placed between the priest and communicant, so that if a Host, or even a crumb, falls, It will be caught by the paten. As an altar server at both the TLM and the Novus Ordo, I've seen the latter happen many, many times. Of course, the story now is that Hosts are manufactured with sealed edges so that there are no crumbs. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2023 6:02:33 GMT
Last night, at the Holy Thursday Mass, I had an incident at communion. I am still a little shaken by it as nothing like this has ever happened with me before. As always, I went up to receive on the tongue. Usually I receive kneeling and on the tongue, which actually makes it easier for the priest to place the host on the tongue. However, last night I opted to receive standing and on the tongue. Not a good idea. Because of the height of the priest in comparison to my own, I almost had to squat down a little so that my head was at the correct height for the priest to place the host onto my tongue. The priest said "the Body of Christ" and I responded "Amen", but unfortunately I responded too late because the priest had already moved the host towards my mouth when I said "Amen" and my act of saying "Amen" knocked the host out of the priest's hand onto the floor. My immediate reaction was to apologise to the priest. He immediately picked up the host from the floor, produced another host, gave it me to as normal, and I went back to my pew to sit down. This Mass was at a church I have never attended a Mass at before. I have attended a Divine Liturgy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church there before, where communion is done differently to in the Latin Church. This time it was an Ordinary Form Latin Rite Mass, but this church is set up very differently to my normal parish. The church is one of those churches where the pews wrap around the sanctuary in a semi-circle, and so I was quite confused about how I was to receive communion, which line I was to go to etc., because there were 5 or 6 priests there and the church was both small and packed with the faithful. I am still rather worried about last night's incident. I am sure there was no sin in what happened, because it was a complete accident born out of my saying "Amen" too late, when the priest was already placing the host into my mouth. Nonetheless the thought of the Lord's Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, being knocked onto the floor as a result of my accidental act is giving me some worry. Today is Good Friday. I might make an Act of Reparation in front of Our Lady's altar at my church. I already plan to apologise to the priest in question the next time I see him. The priest should have put down a purificator on top of the place where the Host landed, retrieved It, and cleansed the spot afterwards, with the linen being washed in water, and the water put down the sacrarium. This kind of problem is eliminated at the Traditional Latin Mass, where everyone receives kneeling, on the tongue, with a paten placed between the priest and communicant, so that if a Host, or even a crumb, falls, It will be caught by the paten. As an altar server at both the TLM and the Novus Ordo, I've seen the latter happen many, many times. Of course, the story now is that Hosts are manufactured with sealed edges so that there are no crumbs. I always receive communion on the tongue, usually kneeling, but sometimes if I think it will be easier for the priest, I receive it standing. That can be problematic because if you are standing the priest tends to assume you want to receive on the hand and you have to open you mouth to signal to him you want to receive on the tongue, which can mean you can't say "Amen" safely before he puts the host into your mouth. In my opinion, the Church should go back to the practice of everybody receiving kneeling at the altar rail on the tongue. I think allowing communion on the hand was a mistake. However, I should emphasise I do not judge those who prefer to receive on the hand and I received on the hand until a few months ago because our bishop had banned communion on the tongue. |
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Post by theguvnor on Apr 7, 2023 10:34:07 GMT
This is purely an accident Luke, my aunt is an EMHC and distributes hosts to the very elderly still although she is nearing ninety herself. She notes that often the elderly can't grasp or hold the host or chew it properly. They don't make a big deal of it. They just give them another host.
I wouldn't worry about this too much, there was no intent to sin here.
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Post by homeschooldad on Apr 7, 2023 11:51:45 GMT
The priest should have put down a purificator on top of the place where the Host landed, retrieved It, and cleansed the spot afterwards, with the linen being washed in water, and the water put down the sacrarium. This kind of problem is eliminated at the Traditional Latin Mass, where everyone receives kneeling, on the tongue, with a paten placed between the priest and communicant, so that if a Host, or even a crumb, falls, It will be caught by the paten. As an altar server at both the TLM and the Novus Ordo, I've seen the latter happen many, many times. Of course, the story now is that Hosts are manufactured with sealed edges so that there are no crumbs. I always receive communion on the tongue, usually kneeling, but sometimes if I think it will be easier for the priest, I receive it standing. That can be problematic because if you are standing the priest tends to assume you want to receive on the hand and you have to open you mouth to signal to him you want to receive on the tongue, which can mean you can't say "Amen" safely before he puts the host into your mouth. In my opinion, the Church should go back to the practice of everybody receiving kneeling at the altar rail on the tongue. I think allowing communion on the hand was a mistake. However, I should emphasise I do not judge those who prefer to receive on the hand and I received on the hand until a few months ago because our bishop had banned communion on the tongue. I am totally in agreement with you, though due to orthopedic issues, I cannot kneel unless I have a communion rail, or something similar, on which to brace myself getting down and getting back up again, and even then, I can only kneel for a very short time. I sit in a hidden-away corner of the transept, on the "Mary side", at Mass, so that I will not be a distraction to those who can kneel normally (I dislike sitting on the very back row of the church). What the contemporary, post-Vatican II Church seems to be telling us, even if only indirectly, is that "Hosts are made differently than they used to be, so that there will be no fragments, but even if there are, you are not to worry about it". The question then is "how large or visible does a crumb have to be, to retain the Real Presence, and if it does, why do you not venerate it as the Body of Our Lord, God Incarnate, and preserve it from even involuntary sacrilege?". Again, at the TLM, these problems are avoided entirely, as the Host is only given on the tongue, with a paten underneath, held by the altar server. There is always the option of receiving the Precious Blood alone, though that practice seems to have disappeared in the wake of the pandemic. And the PB is never given at the TLM, unless one has a gluten sensitivity and arranges with the priest beforehand. When the practice returns in the Novus Ordo, and if I am forced by circumstances to assist at the NOM (something that will happen on Easter as my mother is in hospital downtown, there is a parish church nearby, and I cannot drive 35 miles each way to the TLM), that is what I shall do, if it is a parish where it is not easy to select the priest's communion line. Again, I promised I would not discuss this topic, a promise I shall keep even though two of the main objectors are no longer active on this forum, so I'll leave it at that. I do not judge those who receive CITH, though obviously I do not, for the reasons I have given. (And, yes, I know, "the early Church"... always "the early Church", that speaks volumes as to what the commentator thinks of that pesky 1500+ years between then and now, Protestants, LDS, and JWs have similar objections... received CITH, and I would be interested to know what the Church Fathers thought of the "crumb issue". Is that recorded anywhere?) |
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Post by homeschooldad on Apr 7, 2023 11:58:01 GMT
This is purely an accident Luke, my aunt is an EMHC and distributes hosts to the very elderly still although she is nearing ninety herself. She notes that often the elderly can't grasp or hold the host or chew it properly. They don't make a big deal of it. They just give them another host. I wouldn't worry about this too much, there was no intent to sin here. What do they do with the first Hosts? If They are partially consumed, I certainly hope They end up in the sacrarium. One option is merely to administer a small crumb on the tongue. My mother cannot swallow a dry full Host, so if the priest visits her in the hospital to confer Extreme Unction and to bring the Sacrament, I am going to ask him if he could do that (though that should be something that any properly-trained priest would already know, he shouldn't need an old traditionalist warhorse like me to remind him). A droplet of the Precious Blood is another option. Terri Schiavo, requiescat in pace, communed in a similar fashion. |
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Post by tth1 on Apr 14, 2023 12:20:02 GMT
Last night, at the Holy Thursday Mass, I had an incident at communion. I am still a little shaken by it as nothing like this has ever happened with me before. As always, I went up to receive on the tongue. Usually I receive kneeling and on the tongue, which actually makes it easier for the priest to place the host on the tongue. However, last night I opted to receive standing and on the tongue. Not a good idea. Because of the height of the priest in comparison to my own, I almost had to squat down a little so that my head was at the correct height for the priest to place the host onto my tongue. The priest said "the Body of Christ" and I responded "Amen", but unfortunately I responded too late because the priest had already moved the host towards my mouth when I said "Amen" and my act of saying "Amen" knocked the host out of the priest's hand onto the floor. My immediate reaction was to apologise to the priest. He immediately picked up the host from the floor, produced another host, gave it me to as normal, and I went back to my pew to sit down. This Mass was at a church I have never attended a Mass at before. I have attended a Divine Liturgy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church there before, where communion is done differently to in the Latin Church. This time it was an Ordinary Form Latin Rite Mass, but this church is set up very differently to my normal parish. The church is one of those churches where the pews wrap around the sanctuary in a semi-circle, and so I was quite confused about how I was to receive communion, which line I was to go to etc., because there were 5 or 6 priests there and the church was both small and packed with the faithful. I am still rather worried about last night's incident. I am sure there was no sin in what happened, because it was a complete accident born out of my saying "Amen" too late, when the priest was already placing the host into my mouth. Nonetheless the thought of the Lord's Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, being knocked onto the floor as a result of my accidental act is giving me some worry. Today is Good Friday. I might make an Act of Reparation in front of Our Lady's altar at my church. I already plan to apologise to the priest in question the next time I see him. Sin is not committed simply by doing something or failing to do something. It becomes a sin when we know doing something or failing to do something is wrong and we still choose to do it or nor do it. As you clearly had no intention to allow the host to fall on the floor you cannot be culpable of a sin. It was a simple accident. It will not be the first time this has happened and it will not be the last. It may have upset you but I do not think it is something you should dwell on. |
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Post by homeschooldad on Apr 15, 2023 14:40:08 GMT
Last night, at the Holy Thursday Mass, I had an incident at communion. I am still a little shaken by it as nothing like this has ever happened with me before. As always, I went up to receive on the tongue. Usually I receive kneeling and on the tongue, which actually makes it easier for the priest to place the host on the tongue. However, last night I opted to receive standing and on the tongue. Not a good idea. Because of the height of the priest in comparison to my own, I almost had to squat down a little so that my head was at the correct height for the priest to place the host onto my tongue. The priest said "the Body of Christ" and I responded "Amen", but unfortunately I responded too late because the priest had already moved the host towards my mouth when I said "Amen" and my act of saying "Amen" knocked the host out of the priest's hand onto the floor. My immediate reaction was to apologise to the priest. He immediately picked up the host from the floor, produced another host, gave it me to as normal, and I went back to my pew to sit down. This Mass was at a church I have never attended a Mass at before. I have attended a Divine Liturgy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church there before, where communion is done differently to in the Latin Church. This time it was an Ordinary Form Latin Rite Mass, but this church is set up very differently to my normal parish. The church is one of those churches where the pews wrap around the sanctuary in a semi-circle, and so I was quite confused about how I was to receive communion, which line I was to go to etc., because there were 5 or 6 priests there and the church was both small and packed with the faithful. I am still rather worried about last night's incident. I am sure there was no sin in what happened, because it was a complete accident born out of my saying "Amen" too late, when the priest was already placing the host into my mouth. Nonetheless the thought of the Lord's Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, being knocked onto the floor as a result of my accidental act is giving me some worry. Today is Good Friday. I might make an Act of Reparation in front of Our Lady's altar at my church. I already plan to apologise to the priest in question the next time I see him. Sin is not committed simply by doing something or failing to do something. It becomes a sin when we know doing something or failing to do something is wrong and we still choose to do it or nor do it. As you clearly had no intention to allow the host to fall on the floor you cannot be culpable of a sin. It was a simple accident. It will not be the first time this has happened and it will not be the last. It may have upset you but I do not think it is something you should dwell on. Again, communion on the tongue, with a paten underneath, would virtually eliminate such accidents. I have served more Masses (both TLM and Novus Ordo) than I can count, and if a Host fell onto the paten even once, I don't recall, but fragments do fall frequently. If a Host had fallen, the paten would have been there to catch it. I may be having a false memory --- this is paging back through 45+ years of brain cells --- but I think it did happen once or twice. Again, falls onto paten, no harm done. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2023 7:03:14 GMT
Interestingly, the exact same thing happened with a particular foreign ambassador who attends our parish today.
I observed His Excellency go up to receive communion, open his mouth, and then saw the host fall onto the ground as the priest tried to place it on his tongue. The Ambassador immediately picked the host up off the ground and consumed it rverently. It was almost exactly like what happened to me. I had a talk to him afterwards regarding unrelated topics and he was fairly cheerful though.
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