Receiving the Host in the hand…

My current Church in Gainesville FL posted a notice in the weekly bulletin this week that to receive the host in the hand was valid and preferred way to receive the host.  I am not sure I agree with this at all.

Too many of our Saints (as sanctioned by the Church) have stated that we should be receiving ONLY by the mouth, preferably by ONLY a Priest or Deacon should be administering the Communion and rarely by Acolyte (which should be male as well).  There have been many stories by our Saints and Visionaries stating that doing so otherwise was bad for us, and counted against us in the end, in not showing proper respect to God.

We were also told that we should not be kneeling, but standing and “bowing our head” and receiving by hand.

I think it is time to bring back the kneeling rails and going back to the old way of receiving, on our knees (for those that do not have health issues stopping them from kneeling) and by mouth.  By the Priest and Deacons and the rare Acolyte…

Your thoughts?

 

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The Catholic Church and Saints

One of the issues I had early on in life and most Protestants still have is the perceived way the Catholics deal with Saints.  Early on, this was a factor for me that kept me away from the Catholic Church and from looking at it seriously.  I felt that instead of praying to God, the Catholics were making “minor gods”, in the Saints, and using icons of Saints to worship them.

How wrong I was, and the Protestants are!

All people who die and go to heaven are felt, by the Catholic Church, and to the best of my knowledge, all Christian based faith systems, to be saints.  A way to look at it are saints (those who die and go to heaven) and Saints (those who lead, at least at last parts of their life, a life of Christ and in Christ) being two categories of Saints, in the Catholic Church.

To be labeled as a Saint, big S vs little s, by the Catholic Church there are some steps to go through.  First the last years of the life of the person must have been lived well by the standards of the Bible.  By that I mean that the person used the Life of Christ as a way of life themselves.  It may include being a martyr on behalf of Christ (and if you die fight for Christ, you almost automatically get Saint status).  Next, after at least 5 years from the death of the person, a petition can be submitted to have the person Sanctified, or Sainted.

A background investigation is done to verify that, at least at the ends of that person’s life, they lived a good life, that they were not breaking the law of the Church, were helping the poor, etc..  If they meet a long list of requirements they are then reviewed to see how they have interceded on behalf of “the people”.  In the old days, there had to be at least 5 “miracles” attributed to intercessory request of that person by “the people”.  Today the requirement is 2 or 3, depending on the “severity” of the miracle.

What does being a Saint, vs a saint, mean?  ALL it means is that the life, at least the later part, of this person is one that we should emulate and/or learn from.  We should look at the good qualities of this person and strive to add them into our life as well.

Does the Catholic “worship” and pray to them?  No, a good Catholic person does not.  The Catholics believe that those in Heaven, all saints and Saints, are able to hear our pleas and request, and we “talk to the Saints” asking for their Intercessory prayers to God our Father.  EVERY conversation with a Saint should be followed by a prayer to God asking God for what you asked the Saint to intercede on your behalf to God for.

Why the icons/statues/etc?  They are to be reminders of the life of that person, to help you focus yourself on their attributes that took them to Heaven.  They are not “idolized”, prayed to, etc.  They are a focus of our memory to remind us what we should be doing!

Why pick “Patron Saints”?  The Patron Saint(s) you select should have the attributes that you are lacking and want to have in your life.  These may change as you grow in Christ and in life.  They don’t always have to remain the same as you change.  So, if you see a statue or other representation of a Saint at a friends house, it means, or should mean, that person is wishing to emulate and learn, or has learned from that person’s life.

Now, this all said, SOME Catholics are not fully aware of what the Saints are, and how the interaction with them is best suited, per the Church.  We are all human, and not all have been educated in the ways of the Church, as many Protestants or other faith systems, have not been fully indoctrinated in their system.  SOME people MAY pray to a Saint INSTEAD of God, or leave out the prayers to God asking for what they are “praying to the Saints”  for.  This is NOT the standard of the Church though!  It is NOT the main way the majority of the Catholic faithful use the Saints either.  The vast majority of the Catholic faith actually follow the guidelines and teachings of the Church!

In Christ!

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Religious Life Ends

During the year 2008, our supervising Bishop retired due to health, and shortly after that, our Superior General left the Order for some reason.  In the process, the newly selected Superior General moved the Order to Ft. Lauderdale Florida.  A few months later, he petitioned the Archbishop of Miami, our new local See, to be our Supervising Bishop.  Several months later, in early 2009, the Archbishop of Miami shut the Order down on grounds that it was not set up correctly 13 years earlier, that it had not had correct supervision during that time, and therefore the vows given were not valid.  We had 24 hours to move out and turn everything over to the Church or other Non-Profit organization per our Rule of Life.  (I want to add here that he was 100% correct on the past of the Order, but I’m not sure he did the right thing in shutting us down, instead of allowing us to get back within Canon and working with us to get things right.)

I began looking for other Religious Orders to join, but was universally told that I was too old, being over 40, inching VERY close to 50 (turn 50 this month, as I type this!).  I was tentatively accepted to one Order and went to a Silent Retreat in preparation for being accepted, but in the middle of it, I was told that I would not be accepted due to age again.

One thing led to another and I ended up moving to Kentucky, continuing to study the Bible, the Catholic Faith, and learning all I can about God and His requirements on us.

After much prayer, and much reading and even more prayer, I very much feel the call to Religious Life, and have decided to follow the path of one of my Patron Saints, Saint Francis of Assisi, and have started a new Order, The Order of Brothers of Reconciliation, that will allow any male, 18 and older, in communion with the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and of sufficient health, mental capacity, and abilities to become a Religious into the Order.  Age is not to be a discriminating factor, only being in communion with the Church, the Canon of the church, and health, both physical and mental, will be considered.

In Christ!

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