Fleas Like Certain People?

COMMUNION ON THE TONGUE AND RECEIVED IN THE KNEE

The oldest practice of distributing Communion was, in all probability, to give Communion to faithful in the palm of your hand. The history of the liturgy emphasizes, however, whether the process started early enough, the transformation of the practice. Since the days of the Fathers, was born and consolidates a growing tendency to restrict the distribution of Communion in the hand and encourage that on your tongue. The reason for this preference is twofold: first, to avoid the dispersion of the fragments Eucharistic other hand, growth of the devotion of the faithful to the real presence of Christ in the sacrament.

use only to receive Communion on the tongue also refers to St. Thomas Aquinas, who said that the distribution of the Body of Christ belongs to the priest alone ordered. This is for several reasons, including quotes, Angelico also respect for the sacrament, which "is not touched by anything that is not consecrated, and then they are consecrated to the corporal, chalice and so the hands of the priest, to tap this sacrament. No other permission is so out of touch when necessary, eg if going to fall to the ground, or other similar contingency "(Summa Theologiae, III, 82, 3).

Over the centuries, the Church has always sought to characterize the moment of communion with the sacredness and dignity sum, constantly striving to develop the best external gestures that would promote understanding of the great sacramental mystery. In his thoughtful pastoral love, she contributes to that the faithful may receive the Eucharist with the proper dispositions, which include the inwardly understand and consider the real presence of Him who is to receive (cf. Catechism of St. Pius X , nos. 628 and 636). Among the signs of their devotion to the communicants, the Western Church has also set the posture of kneeling. A famous expression of Saint Augustine, taken at No. 66 of Sacramentum Caritatis, Benedict XVI teaches: "No one eats that flesh [the Eucharistic Body], if he has first adored. Sin were we not to adore it "(in Enarrationes Psalmos, 98.9). Kneeling shows and fosters this adoration necessary After receiving Christ in the Eucharist.

In this perspective, the then Cardinal Ratzinger had assured that "the Communion is at its depth only when it is supported and understood by the adoration" (The Spirit of the Liturgy, Cinisello Balsamo, Sao Paulo 2001, p. 86). For this, he believed that 'the practice of kneeling for Holy Communion has in its favor centuries of tradition and is a particularly expressive sign of adoration, completely appropriate in light of the true, real and substantial presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the consecrated species (cited in the Letter of the Congregation This Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 1 July 2002: EV 21, No 666).

John Paul II in his latest encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, wrote to the No 61:

"giving the Eucharist the prominence it deserves, and being careful not to diminish any size or need, we show that we really aware of the greatness of this gift. Invites us to do an uninterrupted tradition, which from the first centuries saw the Christian community ever vigilant in guarding this "treasure." [...] There is no danger of excess in our care for this mystery, because "in this sacrament is recapitulated the whole mystery of our salvezza”».

In continuità con l’insegnamento del suo Predecessore, a partire dalla solennità del Corpus Domini del 2008, il Santo Padre Benedetto XVI ha iniziato a distribuire ai fedeli il Corpo del Signore, direttamente sulla lingua e stando inginocchiati.