De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Further to my post on Tuesday , which looked at the need for a more balanced understanding of the Mass as Sacrifice, and how a change in our understanding from emphasing the meal aspect, to a more proper understanding of Sacrifice, how how this could be the key to a more reverent attitude toward the reception of Jesus in the blessed sacrament at Mass, one reader, Adam Coates, directed me to this excellent video on the subject by Fr. Paul Nicholson. (Sorry, that sentence was far too long!). Receiving communion on the tongue or in the hand is nothing anyone else can make you do. You are free to choose the manner of your own reception and the way you approach God, but these sorts of things are what led me to change the way I receive communion myself. I have found that if I approach Christ in the blessed sacrament with humility and temerity, properly disposed and longing for communion with Him who is God, the experience is an extraordinarily powerful one. And this is something I have hea...

As someone who instructs in the faith, I am obliged to pass on, not my own opinion, but what the Church holds and teaches. This is an obligation which comes with a heavy weight of responsibility for me, because I don't know everything about the faith (who could?) and often, I don't feel like I know very much at all. This means that I am always open to correction, and always trying to find out more. This is the process that has led me to change my perspective on the way we receive Holy Communion, and become somewhat of an evangelical advocate for making a sign of reverence (a deep bow, or genuflection) before we receive the blessed Sacrament, and only receiving on the tongue. If I'm honest, my study has led me to the conclusion that one should rightly be on their knees when they receive, as is the norm when receiving from the Holy Father, but until kneelers are reintroduced, we will have to make do. The way we conduct ourselves is essential and important. It, in it...