tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13804788.post4104958099418673854..comments2024-03-27T11:27:31.790-05:00Comments on A Catholic Life: Book Review: "Dominus Est - It is the Lord" by Bishop Athanasius SchneiderMatthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07929374709032473716noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13804788.post-48976278706448369552011-12-16T14:50:37.322-06:002011-12-16T14:50:37.322-06:00To the above commentor, please read my post that r...To the above commentor, please read my post that refutes much of what you say above:<br /><br /><a href="http://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2007/07/mission-restore-eucharistic-reverence.html" rel="nofollow">http://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2007/07/mission-restore-eucharistic-reverence.html</a>Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07929374709032473716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13804788.post-50203361438776474042011-12-15T17:43:05.751-06:002011-12-15T17:43:05.751-06:00Communion on the tongue is a surely a laudable and...Communion on the tongue is a surely a laudable and reverential way to receive the Eucharist, but I think that recommending it exclusively becomes conflated with ideology and the lack of a historical perspective. Patristic evidence shows a diversity of practices in receiving communion. For instance, Cyril of Jerusalem in his Mystagogical Catecheses advises the newly baptized to "make a throne of your hands in which to receive the King in Holy Communion." Does Schneider factor in the witness of the Fathers?<br /><br />For this reason, it seems uncharitable to link reception in the hand to a Protestantization of the Church. This creates an "us" vs. "them" mentality, as if this was a zero-sum game if we affirm what Protestants once affirmed. Also, it is unfair to lump together all Protestants as if they were a monolithic group; some did indeed see the Eucharist as a mere symbol or figure, but many believed in the Real Presence while simply disagreeing with having a description of the change locked into the categories of Aristotelian philosophy. <br /><br />And if this practice is indeed part of the tradition, linked to the early Church, don't you think it unfair to label it Protestant? Again, I find this an unhelpful and unecumenical attitude. <br /><br />You simply cannot prove that communion in the hand can be blamed for innumerable abuses; a post hoc, ergo propter hoc in my opinion. I am all for restoring a sense of reverence for the Eucharist, but this begins in one's heart and immersion in the Eucharistic mystery and cannot be definitively linked to a manner of reception deemed "more worthy." To make the outrageous claim that one is not placing the Lord first in one's life if one is receiving on the hand betrays a juddgmental attitude that does not befit a follower of the Lord, who alone can judge hearts.Kevinnoreply@blogger.com