"Receiving Eucharist kneeling will be norm at papal liturgies" - Catholic News Service, 6/26/08:
He said "it is necessary not to forget that the distribution of Communion in the hand, from a juridical standpoint, remains up to now an indult," which is an exemption from a general requirement that is granted by the Vatican to the bishops' conferences which have requested it.Wouldn't the "preference" be up to the recipient? The indult says nothing about kneeling or standing.
However, the pope's preference for the traditional practice is not meant to "take anything away from the other" permissible form of standing or receiving the Eucharist in the hand, he said.
via Catholic Courier
6 comments:
oh boy. This is a can of worms. I won't open that but just wondering why kneeling is a problem for you? Even if it becomes the norm you won't be prevented from standing.
Thing is, I would love to be humble enough to practice that much devotion ... to kneel ... or lay flat out ... without it going to my head. But I can't.
And it doesn't matter if "everyone else is doing it, too."
I still don't understand. I personally do not kneel at the Ordinary form because:
1) I couldn't control my pride while do it.
2) And this is related, I would feel like a show off. And feeling like a show off is not the way to receive Our Lord.
I receive on the tongue standing. No fuss. Its the conscience-clearest way for me to do so. Now if they put out a priedeu (sp?) I would use it because I would feel less wierd.
Oh, I forgot to mention ...
My premonition that the pope's preference spreads to my parish.
And everyone kneels again.
Everyone except me. Again.
The indult doesn't have anything to do with standing/kneeling, it is true. The posture was determined earlier, in Eucharisticum Mysterium n. 34/a: "In accordance with the custom of the Church, the faithful may receive communion either kneeling or standing. One or the other practice is to be chosen according to the norms laid down by the conference of bishops and in view of the various circumstances, above all the arrangement of the churches and the number of the communicants. The faithful should willingly follow the manner of reception indicated by the pastors so that communion may truly be a sign of familial union among those who share in the same table of the Lord."
I don't really know when standing was a custom in the US before Vatican II...
OK, so the bishops decide ... so the pope gets to decide for his "diocese." Yes, I gave thought to the practical side - church layout and number of communicants. If the Pope gives to only a handful, the time it takes to kneel, etc., isn't too time-consuming.
The faithful should willingly follow the manner of reception indicated by the pastors
So, if the bishop says, "Stand" and the local pastor says, "Kneel," then I kneel?
I've always tried to cultivate a "when in Rome ..." openness to go along with the majority of the congregation, especially when visiting churches. But, because of pride, I couldn't kneel in my home parish when everyone else did.
Anyway, I did eventually conclude that if I couldn't exhibit sufficient community where it really counted - during communion - then I shouldn't receive. I stopped receiving. Then, sort of, stopped believing.
It's a snowball effect, as you might anticipate.
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