{"id":14139,"date":"2020-06-13T20:07:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-13T20:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bergen.katolsk.no\/?p=14139"},"modified":"2020-06-14T11:08:48","modified_gmt":"2020-06-14T11:08:48","slug":"11th-sunday-12th-of-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bergen.katolsk.no\/?p=14139","title":{"rendered":"11th Sunday – 12th of June"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Corona situation and Holy Communion<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear believers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one week we\nwill celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi. The unusual situation in which we\nfind ourselves this year, makes it impossible for us to hold a procession, due\nto precautions necessary to avoid contagion. But we can honor the Body of the\nLord at the close of the mass by placing the consecrated host in the monstrance\non the altar for a time, and then closing with the sacramental blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precautions against\ncontagion have made it necessary for all of the faithful, without exception, to\nreceive communion in the hand. Unfortunately, there are still some individuals\nwho refuse to follow these resolutions because they consider their personal\nreligious piety to be more important than the Church community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is peculiar\nthat some would construe communion on the tongue and communion in the hand as\nbeing in opposition to one another. This is not how the Church thinks. That\nwhich the Church allows is allowed for everyone. Before the Corona crisis there\nwere only two occasions in our parish when the faithful had to receive comunion\nonly on the tongue, – on Holy Thursday and Corpus Christi because we distribute\ncommunion in both forms by intinction (the Host is dipped in the Precious Blood\nin the chalice before being given to the communicant.) This is only allowed as\nlong as it is the one distributing communion who dips the Host and places it on\nthe tongue of the one receiving. Whether one receives communion in one form or\nboth forms makes no difference to the presence of Christ in the Eucharist.\nJesus Christ is totally and completely present in the form of bread as well as in\nthe form of wine. He is not more present in both forms than he would be for\nexample in a tiny piece of a Host.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The priests in\nour parish do not ordinarily have any objection to giving communion in the hand\nor on the tongue. But in the current situation, we in the Church must be loyal\nto the public authorities and follow their guidelines in order to reduce the\ndanger of the spread of the Corona virus. We do not want to contribute to the\nspreading of Corona, which could end up costing some people their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was recently\nreported to me that a believer, when asking about communion in the hand versus\ncommunion on the tongue had been told by a priest in our diocese that if a\nbeliever received the Body of Christ in the hand they were not receiving\nChrist, but only a cracker. If this really was said like this, it is heresy in\nits purest form on the part of the priest. Transsubstantiation can only happen\nonce, namely when the bread and wine is transformed into the Body and Blood of\nChrist. These can never go back to being bread or wine again as long as the\nouter forms remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether the\nBody of Christ is received in the hand or on the tongue has nothing to do with\nthe presence of Christ in the Sacrament. It is not less pious to receive\ncommunion in the hand. Nor does it make any difference whether it is a priest\nor a lay person who distributes the host. Some people think it makes a\ndifference because the priest\u2019s hands are annointed with oil when he is\nordained. But whether the hands are annointed or not makes no difference to the\nreality of transsubstantiation in the communion that is distributed. Of course\nit is important that we handle the holy elements with respect, but it makes no\ndifference to the presence of Christ whether one touches them or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people say\nthey cannot receive communion in the hand because they are not worthy. But\nwhere does such a thought come from? Are some people less worthy and some people\nmore worthy than others? Or is the hand less worthy than the tongue? If someone\nthinks that perhaps we sin with the hand and that makes it impure, then that\nperson should think about how much he or she sins with the tongue, and how\nimpure this could make the tongue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, if we\ntake that view then no one is worthy. We all know this, and that is why we say,\njust before we receive communion, \u201cLord, I am not worthy that you should enter\nunder my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.\u201d It is God\nwho, by the Holy Spirit, makes us worthy to receive the Son, who gives himself\nto us in his Body and Blood. It is the Word<\/strong>, that has been made flesh.\nWe should not look at ourselves, but at the Lord who comes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless,\nsome people believe they should receive communion on the tongue after the mass.\nThis is how it was before the Second Vatican Council. Back then one had to go\nto confession on Saturday and fast the last 12 hours before communion. And one\ncould not receive communion during the mass, but after the mass the people were\nsent off to a side altar. We may not want to return to those conditions.\nCommunion is integrated into the mass as a visible sign one is a member of the\ncommunity. That the sick can receive communion at home or in a nursing home or hospital\nbecause they are unable<\/strong> to come to mass, is not the same as if those who\ncan come to mass refuse to receive communion there and demand special\ntreatment. That they by demanding communion on the tongue during an epidemic\nrisk both the priest and others catching the disease is remarkabe. It is not\neasy to be a priest when you are pressured by believers who will not follow the\nrules of the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mass is\ncentral to the life of the Church. Here the sacrifice of Christ is made present\nin the Eucharist, and the fellowship of believers becomes a reality in the\ncommunion meal. It is not the individual who is most important, but the\ncommunity, all of us, the Church. As Catholic Christians we must therefore not\nseek first and foremost our own good, but the good of the fellowship, of the\nChurch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May God give us\nwisdom and insight and grace to always remain in the unity of the Church and to\nact according to his will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                       AMEN + <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parish Priest. Alois Brodersen Can.Reg. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Corona situation and Holy Communion Dear believers, In one week we will celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi. The unusual<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bergen.katolsk.no\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bergen.katolsk.no\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bergen.katolsk.no\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bergen.katolsk.no\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bergen.katolsk.no\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14139"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bergen.katolsk.no\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14144,"href":"https:\/\/bergen.katolsk.no\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14139\/revisions\/14144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bergen.katolsk.no\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bergen.katolsk.no\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bergen.katolsk.no\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}