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Antigone
Posts: 5
Joined: Feb 2005
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February 18, 2006 1:55 PM
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Don't worry, Vesenaz68---you're not alone! :-)
Itches are not sinful, gina, and scratching them does not constitute a "dirty act". ;-) As it is, we take the Body of Christ in our germ-breeding mouths, mash it against our plaque-y teeth (and I remember a priest telling me that the original word that Christ used when he said "Unless you eat of this bread..." is closer in meaning to "gnaw", not "eat"), we mix it with saliva, swallow and dissolve it with our gastric juices, and eventually, the material passes through our intestines and what is not absorbed is defecated. Our waste is flushed into the sewer.
This is an incredibly, incredibly shocking and instrinsically bodily act.
It is also God's plan. Rather than focusing on how shocking it is to take the Eucharist in one's hand (an act which, as ignatius points out, is PERMITTED by the Church) we would probably do better to focus on how shocking and mind-boggling God's gift of the sacrament of His own Body and Blood to be consumed and digested, really is. This, truly, is radical love.
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838790
Posts: 1
Joined: May 2006
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May 06, 2006 9:21 AM
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I have to admit that when this practice first started (I was a youg boy) it troubled me. Even at a young age, I questioned why was this being done. I had grown up in the Church when receiving Communion required you to approach the altar, kneel behind the railings and receive Communion in the mouth by a priest. An altar boy (not girl, not server) would hold a plate under your chin during the process. Don't get me wrong, I am only 42 years old, but to me this was a special way of doing it. But like all change, we learn to accept and adapt. A few years back, I found a small Catholic Church in a small Italian part of downtown. It was there that I observed that some people insisted on doing it the old way. They walk up, quickly kneel on the floor and open their mouth. Those people will also purposely get in the line where the priest is giving the Communion and not a lay person. I liked what I saw. However, this is not my parish. I only go there if I happen to be downtown in the morning. At my parish people don't do it the old way. If they did, I would probably do it also. But I would hate to be the only one.
Edited: May 06, 2006 at 9:32 AM by 838790
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