Semper Fi Catholic

[Denise]

There is a discussion over at Fr. Z's concerning receiving the Eucharist, hand or tongue, etc. I just thought I would post the end of a homily Fr. Paul gave in 2005. He tells it like it is.

I am going to go a little bit longer today than usual, I am sorry. But I need to correct something because I am your pastor and I am kind of hesitant about it but I want to show you something.

Father Paul walks to the front of the Altar where the Altar boy has placed what could be considered a Credence table. Then pointing to the two front corners of the high and low Altars he describes what sits on them

See this right here? There is one over there, there, there and there. They have little lids. This is a lavabo, which has water in it. I am also holding what is called a purificator, which is made of linen and sits right beside the lavabo. After Communion you may have noticed the deacon or me putting our fingers in these little bowls (lavabo) and then dry them on this towel (purificator). If there are any particles left on my fingers after Holy Communion, the particles go into the lavabo. This water in the lavabo is then taken to the sacrarium, which is a sink with a special drain that goes into the ground. So whatever is poured down the sacrarium is buried, it is cared for.

As a seminarian and priest I have been in diocese all over the place so I am not talking about the Dallas Diocese, ok? I am just going to leave them out! I have been at Masses where I have seen bishops, priests and lay people, after going to Holy Communion, do this…

Father takes both his hands and rubs them on the front of his Chasuble as though wiping off his palms.

I have seen bishops giving out Communion;

“Body of Christ, Body of Christ, Body of Christ.”

And somewhere in that Cathedral or Church is one of these (a lavabo) and instead I see them just do this…

Father Paul rubs his hands together as though brushing dirt away and then wipes them on his chest

I saw one bishop, who when someone didn’t bring a lavabo to him he, (which he could have asked for but didn’t,) just put his finger and thumb in his mouth. Now, how many people would receive Communion from him if before giving out Communion he thought,

“Well, I don’t want to drop a Host so I will wet my fingers.”

Uh huh! But, at least that Bishop was aware that he still had Particles on his finger and thumb from the Eucharist. The tradition in the church is, that those who give Holy Communion are to cleanse their fingers in the lavabo. In the absence of the lavabo they have a linen purificator and they can rub their fingers on the purificator, fold it over and later on have it laundered in the special way all the Altar linens are supposed to be laundered.

I want to show you something…

Father Paul walks over to what could be considered a Credence table and picks up a large piece of paper and shows it to the congregation.

This is a piece of paper that I have folded like a corporal. If you notice as I open this piece of paper it acts sort of like a bowl. Here is an actual corporal right here and has not been used since it has been laundered. This corporal folds out flat like this. The corporal that I will use at Mass today is inside the burse and is sitting on the Altar. After this corporal is used, it will go right here and the chalice will go right on top of it. After Mass the corporal is folded up like this…then if there are any crumbs (particles of the Host) they are contained right there so it can be disposed of in the sacrarium. I have seen deacons that haven’t been instructed actually shake the corporal.

Father takes the cleansed corporal and shakes it like a table cloth

Now remember, I am not talking about in the Dallas Diocese; I have been in many places for Mass. Now those deacons who have not been instructed shake the corporal like a tablecloth, if there are any crumbs where did they go? Onto the floor!

‘Father, we don’t bother with that anymore.”

Last year the Vatican published a document and this was a year before Pope John Paul II died. In fact, the very day that Cardinal Ratzinger was installed as the new Bishop of Rome and the Pope of the Church, was the day after the one-year anniversary of Redempionis Sacramentum. In this document, it talks about how Holy Communion is to be treated. One of the things it says is that the paten is to be used.

What I am holding in my hand is a paten. If any Host or particle ever falls it will fall on the paten. After Mass the deacon or priest takes the paten and gently leans it like this and moves the thumb up and down the plate so that any particle goes into the chalice and is consumed by the priest or deacon. Redempionis Sacramentum “had” to say that the paten “must” be there. For thirty or forty years you hear in many places;

“Communion paten? What? Oh no, we don’t use those.”

Well, they are in the bottom drawer of that cabinet and you “could” use them!

Saying that, we have to be so careful with the teaching on the Eucharist. Now what I am about to say is not going to be easy for you to accept, ok?

You know they have these special lights today that if someone has touched something they can take a blue or black light and shine it on something to see finger prints after they dust them. All the movies today have these. They think they don’t have a finger print and all of a sudden someone shows up with this dust and brush it over an object and then take the light and bingo, there is a print, right?

When you go to receive Holy Communion, you have the option of receiving Holy Communion in your hand. The normal way is to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, ok? I want to straighten something out because I have never said this to you before. But, I am your pastor and if I don’t say it I am not doing my job; I don’t want anymore of that! Ok?

If you receive Communion in the hand, the odds are that there are particles left on your hand. Now you can do this after you receive Holy Communion when you take the Host and put it in your mouth. You need to think about doing this, ok?

Father Paul pulls his hand very close to his eye and with the other shut is scanning his hand for particles.

Before you move from your place in line, you need to do that! Or if you are like me…

Father Paul stretches his arm out in front of him to look at his hand as though he was farsighted

OK? If you don’t have time to do that then I am sorry; there are only two more possibilities. The vacuum cleaner with the mouth or…

Father licks at his hand as though cleaning the particles up

Right? OR, you could do like many priests and bishops.

Father wipes his hands on his chest again.

You know, way back when this was permitted, nobody gave the instruction. I have been a priest 16 years and have I ever given this homily that forcefully? No! So I have to tell you, if you do receive Communion in the hand, you are responsible for the particles, the crumbs.

Look at this Gospel! Did they leave the crumbs and the pieces on the ground? NO! They put them in baskets and they carried them back. As Catholics we believe that every crumb, every particle is JESUS! Just as we believe that life begins at conception, if you break a consecrated Host and a piece of it falls to the ground… that is Jesus. So…I am telling you, you need to think about this. I know it is hard after so many years.

“Well, who is he to tell me?”

You notice I didn’t order you? I didn’t tell you in the way of an order because after this, you are responsible! I have seen some priests in the past in different Dioceses, needing someone to help with Communion, just point out into the congregation and say,

“You! You come up here and help me distribute Communion!”

This person had no clue what was going on and could even have been under the pain of mortal sin! The priest telling someone to do that is a danger because the person he chose may very well have not been prepared. In the past, if you ever gave out Communion and didn’t purify your hands, let's don’t worry about it now, let's look to the future.

What I am saying is, I am your pastor and I have to tell you these things because I do believe that every crumb or particle that falls from a consecrated Host is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. IT IS HIS BODY, BLOOD, SOUL AND DIVINITY! If I don’t tell you who will?

I am telling you this because for the last forty years Catholics have heard in their Churches that Jesus didn’t perform this Miracle; that He didn’t multiply the five loaves and two fishes. Isn’t it amazing how we are not doing our jobs? I have got to do my job. Your job, when receiving Holy Communion is to make sure it is done in accord with the correct teaching of the Church. I can guarantee you that you can find priests and repeat what I have just said to you and they will say that I am crazy or that I am kooky. They can call me every name in the book but I don’t care. I know that any particle that falls from the consecrated Host IS THE BODY, BLOOD, SOUL AND DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST!

If you think that what other priests tell you is contradictory to what I am telling you is true, just ask them to show you their view on things in the Catechism or in Redempionis Sacramentum that came out last year. They can’t because their view doesn’t exist in these documents and I bet they probably haven’t even read them.

So… if you do receive Communion in the hand, it is an option. The traditional way is on the tongue. If you choose to receive in the hand you are going to have to figure out what you are going to do in finding out if there are particles on your hand. What are you going to do, wait till everyone lives the Church and look around and then, slurrrrp? I am serious! When this was implemented thirty or forty years ago, nobody discussed it! They just said,

“Here! You can do it now, ain’t it great, come on up and everybody can go…even Catholic politicians who support abortion.”

The thing is that Jesus told them to collect the scraps and to care for them and so every left over particle of Holy Communion today will go into that Tabernacle and that is why these two lamps are burning, to tell us that those “scraps” contain the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. It is not an easy thing to get up here forty years late but it is a start. Don’t look to the past, don’t look behind, look to the future.

Do we treat the Blessed Sacrament with too much respect? Absolutely impossible!


They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over, twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting woman and children
_________________
The closer one gets to God, the simpler one becomes. St. Therese