From Catholic News Agency
In interview published in the Wednesday edition of L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict’s new Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, Monsignor Guido Marini, says he believes that people receiving Communion kneeling and on the tongue will become common practice at the Vatican.
Msgr. Marini’s comments were made during an interview with Gianluca Biccini on some of Pope Benedict XVI’s recent liturgical decisions and their meaning.
Biccini noted in the exchange that Pope Benedict distributed Holy Communion to people who knelt and received the host on their tongues during his visit to Brindisi (Southern Italy) last week.
When he was asked if this would become a common practice at the Vatican, Marini responded, "I believe so."
"In this regard it is necessary not to forget the fact that the distribution of Communion on the hand remains, up to now, from the juridical standpoint, an exception (indult) to the universal law, conceded by the Holy See to those bishops' conferences who requested it,” the liturgical master of ceremonies reminded.
Canada, Mexico, the Philippines and the United States are all countries that have been granted an exception from the universal practice of receiving Communion on the tongue.
It seems though that the Pope wants to provide an example for the Church, according to Msgr. Marini, “The form adopted by Benedict XVI is meant to highlight the force of this valid norm for the whole Church."
"It could also be noted that the (Pope's) preference for such form of distribution which, without taking anything away from the other one, better highlights the truth of the real presence in the Eucharist, helps the devotion of the faithful, and introduces more easily to the sense of mystery. Aspects which, in our times, pastorally speaking, it is urgent to highlight and recover."
2 comments:
Well, I am underwhelmed by the news that receiving communion kneeling, and on the tongue, is a happening thing at the Vatican now. I hope all concerned enjoy the greater spiritual benefits, the blessings, the renewed spiritual and even physical health that the Holy Eucharist may bring to us when we honor it as central to our lives. But I am underwhelmed. That's because I receive holy communion at daily mass in Chicago, and apparently the powers that be aren't paying much attention to the Vatican and its antics (for so they are perceived). Here in Chicago it's a whole nother church. The reform of the reform came through pretty rapidly, and it would appear that it didn't take. I have written bitterly about this on my own blog, in a letter to Castrillon Hoyos, who wishes traditional people would quit complaining. I wish he could forgive me, and help me, because struggling to kneel unassisted and rise unassisted from the marble floor--I like to kneel to receive, just like my betters in Rome, but there's no place, you see--has made me lamer, and crankier, than ever.
Have linked to your blog. Good piece on the economic crisis.
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