{"id":23278,"date":"2010-11-22T11:02:15","date_gmt":"2010-11-22T15:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?p=23278"},"modified":"2017-03-09T22:04:59","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T22:04:59","slug":"communion-hand-or-mouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/","title":{"rendered":"Communion; Hand or Mouth?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Yesterday at Mass,<\/strong> my husband noticed that on the floor of our pew, by our feet, was a quarter of an unconsumed Host. He picked it up and consumed it.<\/p>\n

Discussing it on the way home, my husband chose to think the best, not the worst. \u201cMaybe [at a previous Mass] the wedge was part of Consecration Host, and it somehow got picked up with another one and missed, or dropped onto a sweater, or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

My husband is always quick to think the best, especially when a matter is too troubling to consider, otherwise. We don\u2019t want to think the worst, that someone simply threw the Blessed Sacrament on the floor, or had casually nibbled at the Host, as though it were a cookie \u2013 although such things do, sadly, happen.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless it brought home to us, again, the reasonableness of receiving the Eucharist by mouth, rather than by hand. My husband currently receives in the hand; I have, over the years, gone back to receiving by mouth; neither one of us has an issue with the other\u2019s choice \u2013 they\u2019re just our personal preferences. But my husband has said that if the choice disappeared, he\u2019d have no problem receiving by mouth again.<\/p>\n

So, it is very interesting to read<\/strong> Pope Benedict\u2019s thoughts<\/a> on the matter:<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI am not opposed in principle to Communion in the hand; I have both administered and received Communion in this way myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, he explains: \u201cThe idea behind my current practice of having people kneel to receive Communion on the tongue was to send a signal and to underscore the Real Presence with an exclamation point. One important reason is that there is a great danger of superficiality precisely in the kinds of Mass events we hold at Saint Peter\u2019s, both in the Basilica and in the Square. I have heard of people who, after receiving Communion, stick the Host in their wallet to take home as a kind of souvenir.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this context, where people think that everyone is just automatically supposed to receive Communion \u2014 everyone else is going up, so I will, too\u2013I wanted to send a clear signal. I wanted it to be clear: Something quite special is going on here! He is here, the One before whom we fall on our knees! Pay attention!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It seems like Light of the World<\/em><\/a> is allowing the pontiff to address some negative assumptions that are immediately made about his every move\u2013like, why he wore<\/a> the camauro<\/a>:<\/p>\n

For example, in December 2005 Benedict XVI once sported the camauro, a thick woolen cap last worn by Pope John XXIII. Several commentators touted it as an example of Benedict\u2019s traditionalism, but in the Seewald interview the pope says the reality was far more prosaic: It was a cold day, Benedict has a sensitive head, the camauro was lying around, and he simply put it on.<\/p>\n

Benedict says he\u2019s never done so since, \u201cin order to forestall over-interpretation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My husband is quick to assume the best about even the worst situations\u2013to try to credit the good, until something else convinces him otherwise. Wouldn\u2019t it be great if the media\u2013or even some Catholics\u2013could do that, once in a while, about the Pope?<\/p>\n

Or if we all<\/em> could do that<\/strong>, just a little more than we do, about others, in general\u2013assume the best, rather than the worst about others\u2013whether they are in the pew behind us, or personal acquaintances, or media folk, or even some politico-types\u2013until we have a real reason not to? That\u2019s a lesson I know I keep needing to learn, over and over.<\/p>\n

To that end,<\/strong> I think I am going to close comments for the first week of Advent. I am becoming convinced that the internet\u2013wonderful as it is as a tool for information and communication\u2013is also turning people into curmudgeons or hand-wringing hysterics. Too much time in the forums and on the comments threads and in the echo chambers\u2013all that noise\u2013it can\u2019t<\/em> be good for us, or our souls. We\u2019ve all gotten into the habit of instantly jumping to respond to stories, events and people\u2013instareactions<\/em>\u2013that everyone seems kind of edgy and unhappy. Maybe a little quiet time will make us more reflective, and that will make for a fruitful Advent.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday at Mass, my husband noticed that on the floor of our pew, by our feet, was a quarter of an unconsumed Host. He picked it up and consumed it. Discussing it on the way home, my husband chose to think the best, not the worst. \u201cMaybe [at a previous Mass] the wedge was part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,26,30,33,92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent-2010","category-benedict-xvi","category-blogs-and-blogging","category-bookchat","category-eucharist"],"yoast_head":"\nCommunion; Hand or Mouth?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yesterday at Mass, my husband noticed that on the floor of our pew, by our feet, was a quarter of an unconsumed Host. He picked it up and consumed it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Communion; Hand or Mouth?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday at Mass, my husband noticed that on the floor of our pew, by our feet, was a quarter of an unconsumed Host. He picked it up and consumed it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Anchoress\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-22T15:02:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-09T22:04:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/i4.photobucket.com\/albums\/y125\/TheAnchoress\/communionbymouthatrail.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Scalia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Scalia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/\",\"name\":\"Communion; Hand or Mouth?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-22T15:02:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-09T22:04:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b\"},\"description\":\"Yesterday at Mass, my husband noticed that on the floor of our pew, by our feet, was a quarter of an unconsumed Host. He picked it up and consumed it.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Communion; Hand or Mouth?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/\",\"name\":\"The Anchoress\",\"description\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Scalia\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/author\/elizabethscalia\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Communion; Hand or Mouth?","description":"Yesterday at Mass, my husband noticed that on the floor of our pew, by our feet, was a quarter of an unconsumed Host. He picked it up and consumed it.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Communion; Hand or Mouth?","og_description":"Yesterday at Mass, my husband noticed that on the floor of our pew, by our feet, was a quarter of an unconsumed Host. He picked it up and consumed it.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/","og_site_name":"The Anchoress","article_published_time":"2010-11-22T15:02:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-09T22:04:59+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/i4.photobucket.com\/albums\/y125\/TheAnchoress\/communionbymouthatrail.jpg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Scalia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Scalia","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/","name":"Communion; Hand or Mouth?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-11-22T15:02:15+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-09T22:04:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b"},"description":"Yesterday at Mass, my husband noticed that on the floor of our pew, by our feet, was a quarter of an unconsumed Host. He picked it up and consumed it.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2010\/11\/22\/communion-hand-or-mouth\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Communion; Hand or Mouth?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/","name":"The Anchoress","description":"Elizabeth Scalia","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/89fc1174c0d765bb372cf892e199b06b","name":"Elizabeth Scalia","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18a7adac49c37442f07444789de0e73?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Scalia"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/author\/elizabethscalia\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}