God Be in My Hand — or on My Tongue?
SACRED SPECIES VS. CASUAL COMMUNION
Communion in the hand is almost everywhere the “done thing,” and it is possible that few Catholics are aware that they retain the option of receiving on the tongue.
Given that we do have two options, which is the better way of receiving Communion, and why? Or is the choice between them a matter of indifference? Let us review the arguments for putting Communion in the hand.
“Communion in the hand was done in the early Church.”
Perhaps it was. But in the early Church, women were veiled, segregated in church, and forbidden to speak there. In the early Church, penances for sin were public, lengthy, and severe. Shall we return to those usages? Unless proponents of “the primitive rite” are consistent in their support of a return to the practices of the early Church, this argument amounts to special pleading. “An argument is not like a cab,” as Schopenhauer memorably said. “You cannot pay it off when it has taken you as far as you wish to go.”
You May Also Enjoy
Leadership in a revival of Catholic devotions might be an appropriate role for those who are not priests but who are ordained: deacons.
In Church law, the communicant has the right to receive on the tongue or in the hand, and the further right to receive standing or kneeling.
We need a clearer understanding of the Church’s relationship with her past and her tradition that will help guide us along the uncharted road ahead.