Time marches on...

Yes, I know it happens every year around this time.  Time moves so much faster.  Everyone thinks it's about the holiday rush to go here and there, then there to there.  While that has a little bit of truth to it, the truth is simply that there is less and less sunshine/daylight from day to day until the Winter Solstice on December 20th when daylight hours begin to get longer once again.  Less sunshine means usually means less time awake too.  So the concept of time moving any faster is simply an illusion.

Friends, I just read an article criticizing a Cardinal of the Church for discouraging people from kneeling as they receive the Eucharist.  Frankly, I think postures during the Mass do make a difference to the holiness for everyone at Mass.  For instance, I know that some people are still unaccustomed to bowing during the praying of the Nicene Creed when we profess the Incarnation.  "And became man."  It's a simple gesture that we as a Church we called to return to after the release of the document "Liturgiam Authenticam."  It's always been there, but the bow was a simple gesture that reminds us of the importance of that one event in history.

As a priest, I have seen so many different customs by different communities in terms of gestures.  I like to remind people of also where the practice of kneeling at communion originated.  Go back to the time of the Last Supper.  How were the Apostles receiving from Jesus?  In their hand!  What about after Jesus' Resurrection?  Were the only ones taking the bread the Apostles and their successors?

Go back even a little bit farther in time -- Moses at the first Passover.  Of course, the elder of the home was to lead the rituals, but he didn't actually put the foods into the mouths of those in attendance.  He gave it to them and they ate it.

Consider one more thought -- the Blood of Christ.  IF the thought is not to touch that which is holy, then the priest/minister should be the one to hold the cup for the person receiving.  It's not what happens.  Those who receive the Eucharist on their tongues still will hold the cup of salvation and drink from it.

These are all various ways of thinking about the Eucharist and how wide the variety of opinions can be on a subject that should be as deep as the Grand Canyon, yet as plainly seen as my fingers as they type.