Communion on the tongue

OK you priests and EMHC's out there...does it really have to be so hard to distribute communion on the tongue?  Weren't you properly trained?  Why do I have to have anxiety over receiving Jesus because you don't know how to place the host properly on one's tongue?  I'm not doing it out of spite or some "it's a holier practice" belief (though I do really believe that the most humble way of receiving Jesus is on the tongue from a kneeling position at an altar rail).  I simply have a disability...one that by just looking at me you'd never know...one that does not allow the physical possibility of turning my hands palm up and therefore being able to "make a throne of my hands for the King" in order to receive Him.  Please, if you've never given the host to someone on the tongue, do not, I'll repeat, DO NOT act surprised or confused when someone presents in line for reception on the tongue.  Do not be aghast at the possibility of having to get near someone's mouth.  I am sensitive to it...have been all my life, especially in those dark days after Vatican II and everybody wrongly assumed we could no longer receive on the tongue.  Imagine a young girl, so excited to be able to receive Jesus every Sunday to only find out that she would no longer be able to because she was deformed.  Really.  Jesus said, let the children come to me and I was essentially being told I was not worthy because I had messed up arms.  Is it any wonder I had difficulties with mystery of the Eucharist when I was constantly being shooed away...almost even shunned.

Priests and EMHC's...if you've never had to give communion in a way other than in the hand...do not get used to it.  There are more and more people wanting to receive in the manner that the Vicar of Peter himself prefers.  You will need to learn a good technique for distribution on the tongue (and trust me, there are better ways than the ones laden with subtle disgust that you employ now).  There are properly formed ministers who know how to do this and do it well.

I will now step down from my soap box.

At crossroads...should we stay or should we go?

AHHHHHHHH!!

I. simply. can't. take. it. anymore.

The excuses..."well, he isn't intentionally trying to be obstinate"...."well, he has issues"...."well, it really is just words and I'm sure God is up there shaking his head at the big deal we humans make over words"...."well, really, his intentions are good and he does make convincing arguments".... "well, there is that one little pro multis problem, oh, and maybe the silly little thing about the Christological tropes at the Agnus Dei, but really, can you show me where else there are illicit liturgical practices"...."well, there is that shortage of priests--maybe the bishop really doesn't want to discipline him and then we lose a priest."

Ack.

I think I just threw up a little.

I mean, really, if a pastor can't follow authority, SAY THE BLACK AND DO THE RED, then does he really have any business being a priest?  What other person who consistently breaks the rules of his work would keep his job?

For God's sake, and the sake of His people, could we please insist that our priests be good stewards of the perfect liturgy God gave us...you know, the one He gave us in order to more perfectly worship Him?  You know, the one in which we could have never come up with on our own because we are mere mortals.  Please, priests, resist the temptation to make the Mass "your own."  Resist the urge to change anything YOU think is wrong.  Because, in essence, when you think something is wrong with our God-given inspired Catholic Mass, you think God is wrong.  There are 2000 years of history, the Church Fathers, a whole bunch of saints, Scripture, and a world-class theologian at the helm who disagree with you.  I have to inform you that your "lone voice in the wilderness" is just that...a lonely cry that holds absolutely, positively NO weight.  Your soul is counting on your magisterially faithful obedience to the Pope, to the Liturgy, to the One who gives us all.

For the sake of my soul and those I am bound to (namely, my husband and my children) I think it may just be high time for us to leave our parish for one that has pastors who do not disturb the divine Mass because of their "issues" and for one that has faithful who will not live with the status quo.

A parish that doesn't have:

• A pastor who refuses to say "for many" and instead says "for all" in the words of consecration at Mass because he finds it heretical.
• Liturgical "so-called" dance.
• I-don't-care-that-you-officially-call-them-a-deep-version-of-violet-they-are-blue-Blue-BLUE-so-blue-even-your-deacon-calls-them-blue-at-Mass Advent vestments
• People who continually call EMHC's "Eucharistic Ministers"
• EMHC's who come up to the altar before the priest has received Holy Communion
• Priests, deacons and altar servers who make a spectacle grabbing each other's hands at the back of the altar during the Our Father
• Encouragement for people to go up to Communion with their hands crossed over their chests to receive a blessing because for some reason or not they are not able to receive the Eucharist, and EMHC's who believe that it is ok for them to a) bless someone during Mass and b) lay hands on someone.
• Happy clappy "I'm OK with Jesus" social-justice-themed music.
• The singing of the same song during the dismissal of kids for "Liturgy of the Word" with what amounts to the addition of an acclamation to the liturgy because it is sung EVERY WEEK.
• The processing in of EMHC's with the readers and clergy at the Entrance.
• A cantor that is forced to speak ad nauseum before Mass from a script
• The insistance that people who are visiting stand up (or who are even sometimes cajoled) so the rest of the congregation can clap for them to "welcome them."
• A priest who insists on saying "Good Morning" after the entrance rite
• A cantor who is not allowed to call the first song of Mass the "Entrance processional" or "Entrance Hymn" but instead forced to call it the "Gathering Song" (Um, yeah, the people have already gathered and the purpose of their singing is the unification of those already gathered...go ahead and look that one up in the GIRM if you don't believe me).
• The faithful say the Apostle's Creed every Sunday because the pastor believes the Nicene Creed, especially with its translation changes is TOO HARD for every one (come on, I don't believe that's the real reason anyway, because if it were, then he would be admitting that he thinks we're just too stoo-pid to keep up).

I've got to stop...this is making me furious, giving me a headache, stirring up  a little acid reflux and quite possibly causing an increase in blood pressure.

Lord, please change this or help us find the right parish that will not infuriate us every time we go to Mass.

St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle.

Right where God wants me, part 2...

Ok, so much for "crystal clear" signs of what God envisions for my life.  I lost the job that I thought God had placed me in.  Well, lost my job is not exactly accurate.  Given an ultimatum (be willing to go full-time at some time during the school year or "perhaps this wasn't the job" for me) is more like it.  So, not wanting to work in an environment of impending doom and not exactly seeing eye to eye with the new boss, I decided that perhaps, it wasn't the job for me after all.  Not that I wasn't upset (downright P.O.'d and hurt if you must really know), but in hindsight this was a sign, too.  God needed me in the temporary position to help out the business manager who was dying of cancer (who has since passed on, God have mercy on her soul) but He obviously does not want me wasting my time as an accounts payable clerk.  He's got better plans for me.  I don't know what they are at the moment.  A few other opportunities came up...a religious education coordinator, a music director at a parish nearby, an online/at-home bookkeeping position)...all which seemed almost perfect and worth doing but in the final analysis, something was missing with each of them, something that made me decide against pursuing them.  It's not like we really NEED the money (though it would be nice), but I get the sense that a little financial struggle and depending solely on God for our every, again here's that word, NEED, not want, is the lesson I'm to learn right now.  When our family finally surrendered to His providence, we have discovered a high school that is willing to give us generous financial aid for my oldest son as well as a "job" for him where he helps to serve lunch at his school in exchange for a free hot-lunch every day, a parish-sponsored middle-school education for my youngest where we pay what we can in the form of tithing to the parish (which also includes our time, of which we donate freely and very, very often), bumper backyard crops with more food than we know what to do with, a permanent job for my husband that comes with better benefits for the family and lots of "free" time for me to do the things that matter most (prayer, exercise, volunteering at the boys' schools, artistic endeavors, practicing the piano, for starters).  So, I guess while I may have seen "somewhat dimly" before, the signs really are still very much "crystal clear."  

An open letter to Catholic Priests, everywhere, especially those who serve in the diocese in which I live...

June 10, 2012


Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord
(aka Corpus Christi)


Dear Catholic Priests,

I'm begging you, please, please, PLEASE say the black and do the red.  The prayer does say "for many" NOT "for all."  Don't change the Eucharistic prayer to suit your desire to appear inclusionary (remember Code of Canon Law c.838 and the Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy?). There are distinct theological reasons "pro multis" means "for many," not the least of which is that the prayer directly quotes Scripture (see today's Gospel if you need proof).

Thank you and may God richly bless you in the service to His flock.

Signed,

A faithful and liturgically orthodox Catholic