Holy Food for a Holy People
Pastoral reflections on Reverence during Communion
Sunday after Sunday, the Church gathers in Christ for the celebration of Eucharist in Word and Sacrament. Members of the Christian community fast in order that they may truly hunger for Christ in mind and body.
We Listen to God’s Word
In the Liturgy of the Word, the church proclaims and listens to God’s word which speaks to us of a love that knows no limits.
We proclaim God’s love in the Eucharistic Prayer
In the Eucharistic Prayer, the Church proclaims the wonders and greatness of this love, recalling the saving death and resurrection of Jesus, waiting in joyful hope for his final coming.
God’s Word invites us to the table
The Word of love which the church has proclaimed and heard in the scriptures and in the Eucharistic Prayer issues an invitation to the Lord’s table, to share the Body and Blood of Christ. In this action the Church is to become the Body of Christ, poured out for the life of the world.
The action of Eucharist
The Eucharist makes the Church
In receiving the Eucharist we are united more closely to Christ and drawn into the unity of the Mystical Body, the Church. CCC 1396
If you are the body and members of Christ, it is your mystery which is placed on the Lord’s table. It is your mystery that you receive [...] Be what you see and receive what you are.
St Augustine Sermons 272
The Eucharist Commits us to the poor
To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us we must recognise Christ in the poorest CCC 1397.
The full meaning of Eucharist commits us to mission — to being sent forth to change the world, having ourselves already been changed by Eucharist.
We Come to the Altar
The gathered community comes to the altar to receive holy communion, in sacred and prayerful procession. The procession is a sign of our pilgrim journey. We are the Church, the one Body of Christ receiving in reverence the Body of Christ.
Communion under both kinds
Holy Communion has a more complete form as a sign when it is received under both kinds GIRM (2000) 281. It is most desirable that the faithful receive the Lord’s body from hosts consecrated at the same Mass and that, when it is permitted, they share in the chalice. GIRM (2000) 85
Receiving the Body of Christ
The Body of Christ is always offered to the communicant by a priest, deacon or minister. The Eucharistic bread is placed on the hand or on the tongue, as indicated by the communicant. The Eucharistic bread is always offered to the communicant with the words:
‘The Body of Christ.’
To which the communicant responds,
‘Amen.’
St Cyril of Jerusalem invited the early Christians to:
Make your left hand, as it were, a throne for the right, since it is about to receive a king; and hollow your palm, and receive the body of Christ, adding your ‘Amen’. Take care to lose none of it.
St Cyril of Jerusalem 386
After Holy Communion, any remaining Eucharistic bread will be reserved in the tabernacle for communion to the sick and adoration by the faithful
Receiving the Blood of Christ
The Blood of Christ is always offered to the communicant by the minister with the words:
‘The Blood of Christ.’
To which the communicant responds,
‘Amen.’
Because of the significance of Christ’s words and actions, communion from the chalice is preferable to other forms of ministering the Blood of Christ.
After each person has received the Blood of Christ, the minister wipes both sides of the rim of the chalice with a linen purifier and turns the chalice slightly before offering it to the next communicant.
If communion from the chalice occurs by intinction, it is the minister who intincts the consecrated bread in the chalice and places the same on the communicant’s tongue.
"The communicant must not be permitted to intinct the host himself in the chalice, nor to receive the intincted host in the hand" (Redemptionis Sacramentum 104).
The ministers consume what remains of the Blood of Christ at the altar. The vessels are purified insofar as is possible at the credence table.
Reverence
All movements in the liturgy are carried out with dignity and reverence. Liturgical actions are never hurried. Both ministers and communicants must always be mindful that this sacred action of Holy Communion requires of us reverence and dignity at all times.
Lord, you renew us at your table with the bread of life. May this food strengthen us in love and help us to serve you in each other.Click here to download PDF brochure