A BULLETIN MINI SERIES:

EXPRESSING REVERENCE IN OUR CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST

COMMUNION

When we attend a meal, especially a banquet, we enjoy the food placed before us not only for the nourishment but also for the meaning of the meal. When we celebrate the Eucharist, the Lord Himself invites us to His table. We gather with others who also know Him and celebrate in thanksgiving what He has done and continues to do for us. Our reception of the Body and Blood of Christ is our partaking of the banquet. The sacred food nourishes us on our spiritual journey and truly brings us into "communion" with the Lord and with our brothers and sisters who receive along with us.

Our realization that we are truly receiving the Body and Blood of Christ ought to fill us with an awe and respect for this wonderful mystery. Jesus took common food and drink and provided us with a ritual meal as a means to be in communion with Him.

In this mystery we not only receive the Lord spiritually at communion, we receive the physical body and blood of the Lord into our body. Our body digests this food and the Lord becomes literally part of our cells and our body. We are therefore slowly transformed into Jesus Himself. What a wonderful experience when we receive Communion! Have we taken this for granted because it has become too familiar?

The manner in which we receive communion reveals our understanding and appreciation of this mystery. Persons who wish to receive in the hand MUST have their hands free to properly receive. When receiving in the hand, remember to let the minister place the host in the palm of your hand. It is not appropriate to "take or grab" the host from the minister. The Eucharist is then IMMEDIATELY consumed, that is, placed in the mouth and swallowed. When receiving from the cup, please take the cup with both hands and take a sip and return the cup to the minister of the cup. Persons who are holding their children in their arms, holding songbooks or anything else should not receive Holy Communion in the hand.

As we approach the minister distributing communion, a reverence (bow or sign of the cross) is made. Then, the minister will hold up the host and say: The Body of Christ! and we respond aloud: AMEN!. This "amen" means that "I believe that this is the true presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and I welcome Him into my life". The same is true when we are presented with the cup containing the precious blood of Christ. The practice of "intinction" (dipping the host in the precious blood) for communion is not an approved practice for the parishes of the Diocese of Manchester.

We then either extend our hand or tongue to receive the host. Either way, we are to do this with the utmost care and reverence. Does the manner in which we receive the Eucharist express the Church's devotion and reverence for this wonderful encounter with the Lord?

The End of the Mini-Series!