It was such a beautiful afternoon we had tea outside following Mass, where Peter Cullinane spoke of the challenges facing the LMS following the MP/SP. Chatting with people afterwards brought up a load of questions relating to how to square the EF and the ordinary rite. Not just to mantilla or not to mantilla, but how do you receive Holy Communion, do you genuflect, cross yourself, or bow, and what about Extraordinary Ministers. Some really interesting questions.
The next Mass at OLOC will be a 3.00 pm Missa Cantata, so if you've never been to one, or have never been to an EF Mass at all and you can make West Grinstead, give it a try, the more the merrier!
2 comments:
Surely only on ones knees and by mouth is the way to receive the body of Christ.
To stand and hold out ones hands is positively profane.
Hi, Shepherd :). Wow. What a lot you said in so few words. I don’t think I could be as brief as that, so I’m going to go on a bit!
I obviously kneel and receive on the tongue at an EF Mass, and receive on the tongue when at the ordinary form, but don't kneel. I don’t feel comfortable receiving in the hand. It doesn't 'feel right', and I don’t like standing to receive. I know there are a lot of arguments as to why standing is ok, but sorry, it's my God I'm receiving here, and I really want to be on my knees, not just out of reverence, but out of gratitude and sheer amazement at what Our Lord did for me. It kind of seems the least you can do in the circumstances. I know some people object to sticking their tongues out, but it’s not exactly a throat examination, you don’t have to stick it out that far. I think it’s actually a beautiful thing to do, it’s complete submission, it’s being fed, it says in the simplest way possible that we are as dependent on God as an infant, yet are making an adult and conscious decision to be as little children before Our Lord.
I'm not saying standing is wrong per se, it is allowed. Yet I would like the option of being able to kneel to receive communion in the ordinary rite without being perceived as peculiar. It’s difficult though when there are more than a hundred people behind you, and there is no possibility for even a few seconds of reflection on your knees after receiving as it’s the congregation that moves on in the ordinary form and not the priest. I think that’s the wrong way round.
What I have never understood is why Anglicans can still receive communion kneeling, but it's no longer the 'done thing' for us.
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