LifeSite reports that some foolish group in Atlanta will hold a “black Mass” during which a sacred Host will be desecrated.
The Archbishop of Atlanta has called for acts of penance, adoration and reparation. “Some” Catholic churches will have Mass to counter the sacrilege. Two were named, one of them Byzantine and, therefore, not of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. I hope there are more than two.
The bulletin of the Epiphany of Our Lord Byzantine Catholic Church in Roswell says (emphasis added):
“Jesus Christ cannot be harmed by any action of theirs, but we are responsible for allowing the Eucharist to be stolen and desecrated”….
It might be that those perpetrators of an extremely imprudent act have a Host because someone broke into a church and stole one or more. It might be that they have a priest on their rolls who supplies them.
It might be that one of their number causally walked out of church with one because of Communion in the hand.
Byzantines don’t have Communion in the hand.
Yes, we Latins are responsible. Steps should be taken always to safeguard the Hosts in our tabernacles and in their distribution at Communion.
If something is deemed important enough, then at least adequate if not superlative care will be taken.
Moreover, if we have correctly read the notices about the recent survey concerning faith if the Eucharist, the respondents themselves pointed to Communion in the hand as having been a factor in the Eucharistic faith. They recommend that, to help restore reverence and faith in the Eucharist that Communion in the hand – and extraordinary ministers of Communion – be phased out.
Is this hard? Given the stakes?
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Unfortunate but expected. When we look at what has been unleashed in the USA, transgender mutilation, sex trafficing, child molestation and the left wants to make us think it’s normal.
As Fr. Z says, Go to Confession ! and say the Rosary.
Find where the Host currently resides…a little b and e for first time offenders shouldn’t be more than a slap and a fine. Unless the county prosecutor is a George Soros fundee, then you’re looking at a 3 to 5 stretch is state penitentiary.
Father, how bad of a sign would it be to get infiltrate and go to this Black “mass” grab the Host and eat it?
It’s not quantum mechanics…if the celebrant treats the people’s reception of the most precious body of Christ in a cavalier manner, then the people will sink to the occasion.
This past year at St. Anne during the yearly novena and feast, we were blessed to have a guest priest celebrant of the Congregatio Presbyterorum a Misericordia (CPM) from Auburn KY who took exquisite care during both the celebration of Mass (the first time in a LONG time that I served a priest using a scruple spoon!) and Communion. The shrine has an extended kneeler in front of the altar (for the convenience of those who want to pray in front of the sanctuary tabernacle without having to kneel on the wood platform step…). Well…guess where father distributed Communion from? In back of the kneeler. And surprise (in this diocese, anyway)…I would say a good 3/4 of the folks KNELT and received ON THE TONGUE. Set the example and people will RISE to the challenge. Treat it as a token…and people will sink to that level.
I’ve started suggesting (hey, I’m only the sacristan of St. Anne’s…with no authority to require anything by our visiting priests…) that our attendees are receptive to receiving kneeling…only a couple have made a face at the suggestion.
It’s not hard. Raise the bar, and the majority of people of good will will rise to meet it.
This is a very touchy subject. Some will be upset, but here in Australia its just stupid level. Communion in the hand is at such a level that a man in flip flops and a t-shirt can drop the sacraed host 3 feet into the hands of someone scrambling ahead the last step to catch it. The priest was watching the whole thing and let this continue until communion was over. When I asked a friend later apparently he is well known for doing this and has been doing this for some time and no one anywhere took my suggestion that this is horrible in any serious manner.
I think a lot about how much my family is made to suffer at our local mass (we go because there is nowhere else to go. The next mass is an 8 hour drive away and it wont be any better.) this sunday we got a first reading that put me back in my place.
Isiah 53 10-11
The Lord has been pleased to crush his servant with suffering. If he offers his life in atonement,he shall see his heirs, he shall have a long life and through him what the Lord wishes will be done. His soul’s anguish over, he shall see the light and be content. By his sufferings shall my servant justify many,taking their faults on himself.
It pleases him to crunsh his servant with suffering…Through him what the Lord wishes will be done.
Oh how we take the wrong perspective on these things. I am supposed to want to suffer as long as God desires me to. Because it pleases him that I should be brought to where HE wants me to go. Catholics were made for combat. It seems sometimes that are job is to lose and continue to lose and to be seen loseing and to continue anyway regardless of what anyone but God thinks of this. Pray for us here down under in the desert of the faith. For this is a battle only God can win. When this changes it will be because God decided it should, and not because of any human agency.
“Although on its website TST claims that members do not believe in the supernatural, it conducts satanic rituals, holds legal religious status as a ‘church’, advocates for abortion as a religious ritual, and has sued Texas and Indiana over their abortion restrictions on the grounds of ‘religious liberty.'”
So, another aborticomaniac group. Catholics voting for Harris are turkeys voting for Thanksgiving.
Quoth thomas777: “Catholics were made for combat. It seems sometimes that are job is to lose and continue to lose and to be seen loseing and to continue anyway regardless of what anyone but God thinks of this.Catholics were made for combat. It seems sometimes that are job is to lose and continue to lose and to be seen loseing and to continue anyway regardless of what anyone but God thinks of this.”
Pretty much spot on. Certainly, our job is to “continue anyway,” and the sentiment is understandable. I am reminded of Galadriel’s greeting to the Fellowship in Caras Galadon in The Fellowship of the Ring: “…together we have fought the long defeat.”
It may be a long defeat (seen from the perspective of any of our individual lifetimes), but faith allows us to carry on in hope of eucatastrophe.