Tuesday, March 3, 2009

"Every believer...has the right to choose the way in which they will receive Communion."

We have noticed that the Holy Father, for some time now, always gives Holy Communion upon the tongue and kneeling. Does he want this to serve as an example for the whole Church, and an encouragement for the faithful to receive our Lord with greater devotion?

As we know the distribution of Holy Communion in the hand remains still, from a legal point of view, an exception [indult] to the universal law, granted by the Holy See to the bishops conferences who so request it. Every believer, even in the presence of an exception [indult], has the right to choose the way in which they will receive Communion. Benedict XVI, began to distribute Communion on the tongue and kneeling on the occasion of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi last year, in full consonance with the provisions of the current liturgical law, perhaps intending to emphasize a preference for this method. One can imagine the reason for this preference: it shines more light on the truth of the real presence in the Eucharist, it helps the devotion of the faithful, and it indicates more easily the sense of mystery.

(OFFICE OF THE LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF, INTERVIEW OF MONS. GUIDO MARINI IN THE PERIODICAL "RADICI CRISTIANE” N. 42 OF THE MONTH FOR MARCH 2009, "Without words before the greatness and beauty of the mystery of God" by Maddalena della Somaglia.)

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