Dear Parishioners,

With Holy Week and Thursday’s Celebration of the Lord’s Supper fast approaching, I thought it beneficial to offer some REFLECTIONS and REMINDERS that pertain to the Holy Eucharist – that great mystery that Christ gave us at the Last Supper. The word Eucharist comes from the Greek word eucharistein, which means “thanksgiving.” It is one of the church’s seven Sacraments and, like each of them, can be broadly defined as a visible sign of an invisible grace. In other words, the Eucharist makes visible that invisible presence of Christ which manifests itself in four distinct ways: the gathered assembly, the minister of the priest, the proclamation of the Scriptures, and most especially in the consecrated elements of bread and wine—Christ’s Body and Blood.

The church received this gift of the Eucharist from Jesus himself at the supper on the night before he died when he took the bread and charged it with new meaning by declaring that it was his body. He performed the similar gesture with a cup of wine when he declared it to be his blood of the new covenant that would be shed for the forgiveness of sins. He then commanded his disciples to do this in his memory, which Christians have been doing since.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) recognizes the uniqueness of Christ’s real presence under the forms of bread and wine. The church also upholds that this presence remains in the Eucharistic Elements as long as the species of bread and wine remain. If, for example, the consecrated bread decomposes and can no longer be considered bread, then neither can it be considered the Body of Christ. The belief in the real (and remaining) presence of Christ in the Eucharist can be traced to the earliest days of the Church when the practice of reserving the Eucharistic Bread in people’s homes became customary for the purpose of giving communion to those who were prevented from attending the Liturgical gathering, e.g., the sick, the dying, the imprisoned. This practice was eventually discontinued, perhaps because of spiritually unhealthy customs that may have compromised the meaning of the Eucharist.

Among the hierarchy of the church, there is a legitimate concern that all Catholics do not truly understand or believe what the church teaches about the Eucharist. There are those who claim that the bread and wine in the Eucharist are the actual body and blood of Christ. Others claim that the bread and wine are mere symbols of his body and blood. Neither statement is a clear expression of the church’s belief. The Catechism of the Catholic Church does not speak of the actual body and blood of Christ but rather of the real or sacramental presence of Christ. The word actual connotes the physical flesh and blood of the earthly Jesus, which would make cannibals of all those who partake of the Eucharist. That has not been the consistent teaching of the church.

For some, the word symbol in reference to the Eucharist is equated with disbelief in the real presence. This need not be so. The General Instruction to the Roman Missal calls the Eucharist a symbol of that one body of which Christ is the head. Unfortunately, symbols are too frequently thought to mean less authentic or not real. In Plato’s philosophy, a symbol truly participated in the reality it symbolized. In Platonic thought, therefore, the Eucharist might be called a symbol because it shares in the substance of what it symbolizes, namely the risen Christ.

Another reason why the word symbol is not to be jettisoned from our Eucharistic vocabulary is because, from the original ancient Greek, the word meant to “throw together,” “compare,” or “correspond.” This is what we do when we write or speak about the Eucharist; we “throw” (bring) together a rich variety of images and metaphors that help to unpack its multilayered and mysterious meaning. This is why we can refer to the Eucharist as a sacrifice, a meal, the Bread of Angels, the Medicine of Immortality, and the foretaste of the Heavenly Kingdom. No single image can exhaust its inexhaustible meaning.

There is an ancient adage from the church’s history—Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi—literally meaning, “The Law of Praying is the Law of Believing.” (Law in this context does not refer to a rule or regulation but to a standard way of performing something of value, like an act of worship.) What this adage teaches is that the beliefs of a community are expressed in the prayer of a community. If those who knew nothing about Catholicism were to observe our Sunday liturgy, they should be able to discern what we believe (or a significant part) about the Eucharist. This would (or should) be evident all throughout the rite itself—in what we say or sing, in how we handle the Eucharist Elements when we bring them to the altar, how the Elements are reverenced and acknowledged while they are on the altar, how they are received in the act of Holy Communion, and how they are returned to and reserved in a secure and appropriately adorned tabernacle.

A word about Reception of Holy Communion:

Woven throughout the liturgy are postures and gestures intended to signify and effect unity among the worshippers. They demonstrate the public, corporate character of the Mass. They remind us that individuals are not free to impose their personal pieties, agendas, and practices in a rite that belongs to the whole church and is regulated by legitimate authority figures in the church.

In the United States, the two approved ways of receiving the Eucharist Bread are in the hand (the oldest practice) and on the tongue, a practice which emerged later in history due to inordinate scrupulosity on the part of individuals, but also to prevent abuses such as taking the host for superstitious or sacrilegious purposes. While receiving the host on either the tongue or in the hand are approved options, there is also a prescribed manner for enacting these options.

If receiving on the tongue, the communicant should extend his/her tongue far enough from the mouth so that the minister may place the host on the tongue without having to touch the latter. (Ever since COVID, we have become painfully aware of how easily pathogens may be spread.)

When receiving the host in the hand, which in our parish is probably 97% of the people, the right hand of the communicant should be placed directly below the left hand. Once the host has been received, the individual should step to the side and immediately use his/her right hand to place the host in their mouth.

There is a 4th-century poetic instruction attributed to St. Cyril of Jerusalem in which he tells the communicants about to receive communion, “With your right hand make a throne for the left, which will receive the King.” No one should ever carry the host back to their pew or out of the church.

Whether one receives the host in the hand or on the tongue, and if one is also receiving Communion from the chalice, there is a required bow of one’s head before taking either. This gesture was incorporated into the U.S. liturgy in recent years by the Bishops, intending it to be an expression of adoration and belief in Christ who is sacramentally present in the Eucharist.

Lest we foster a sense of hubris or spiritual righteousness, we need to recognize that one manner of receiving Communion is not superior to the other. The tongue is not holier than the hand or vice versa. Each member of our bodies is a part of the Holy Spirit’s temple, and each can contribute to the building up of God’s church.

In whatever manner one chooses to receive Holy Communion, the essential value that should inform all our liturgical actions is a profound reverence. Reverence is that interior disposition that begins in the heart and grows outwardly, finding expression in our words and actions. It recognizes the holiness and dignity in the other, whether that be a physical object, another human being, or God.

In many ways, reverence is the language of love used by those who believe that Divine Grace permeates all creation. It is out of this conviction that St. Benedict, in his Rule for Monasteries, asserts: “All the utensils of the monastery and in fact everything that belongs to the monastery should be cared for as though they were the sacred vessels of the altar.” (The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 31)

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