Greetings in Christ, all!
I’m more or less back and so grateful! The procedure on my knee went well. They found I had torn the meniscus in two places, my ACL, and I had a cyst in a sensitive spot. They dealt with all of it and I am feeling so much better. Thanks for your prayers and your patience. I hate not being able to serve you in the manner you deserve; being a part of this Holy Family has been one of the best gifts Jesus has ever given me and I never feel like I’m able to show that to you on the level I feel it.
This is Corpus Christi Sunday, or in English, “The Feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus.” Everything we do is because of the Eucharist, through the Eucharist and in imitation of this amazing mystery of a God who gives Himself to us in the form of bread. We will hit on the theological elements of this in the homily, but use the bulletin article here to do some practical things to help us.
If you come to Mass, you’ll notice that most times, communion takes quite a while. There’s a simple reason for this: there are a lot of people going to communion! I am working on moving us toward installing a communion rail that we can use at Mass. The nice thing about a communion rail is that if your preference is to stand, you can stand, and if your preference is to kneel, you can kneel. Communion rails move the line much quicker as well, without rushing people. I’ll obviously keep you updated on this as we move closer to the day it comes. In the meantime, I urge us to remember how special and sacred the time is when we receive communion.
Let’s look at some practical things:
You can receive standing or kneeling. Both are permitted and no priest can forbid what the Church allows. You can receive in the hand or on the tongue. Both are permitted and no priest can forbid what the Church allows. If you receive in your hand, please avoid cupping your hands. Instead, place your dominant hand under your non-dominant hand and make a throne. The priest will place the host on your non-dominant hand and you can use your dominant hand to pick it up and place it in your mouth.
If you receive on the tongue, please lift your chin and extend your tongue. It’s a challenge when people do not do this. We ask these things because the Eucharist is very, very special, and we do not want it to hit the floor.
If you are not Catholic, but want to receive the Eucharist, please call the Parish Office and ask for Deacon Dan; he’ll hook you up!
Thanks for reading this and processing it. The Eucharist is God’s Best Gift to us; we want to make sure that we give it due honor and dignity.
I want to close by again thanking you with all my heart for your beautiful response to our 40 hours of Eucharistic devotion. I just can’t get out of my head and heart how much your response touched me and gave me strength. Thank you also for your generous response to our call for gifts for Fr. Le. You guys are amazing!
I’m so glad I get to be your priest.
fjk