Feeding the Multitudes
by Fr. John Granato | 07/28/2024 | Words from Fr. JohnMy Dear Friends,
For the next five weeks our Sunday Gospel readings will be coming from the Gospel of John chapter 6. This is commonly called the Bread of Life Discourse. It begins with the feeding of the multitudes with loaves and fish, a miracle that is recounted in all four gospels. The miracles of the loaves and fish have a Eucharistic understanding. Last week, we finished the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, where over 60,000 Catholics spent four days worshiping, adoring and praising our Lord. It is a response from the bishops of the United States to counteract the studies that show that a majority of Catholics do not truly understand the Church teaching on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
In the traditional Latin Mass, there was no need for a corrective measure on this teaching because the whole Mass points to the reality of Who it is we are receiving; the prayers, the gestures, the many kisses of the altar by the priest, the holding of the priest’s thumb and forefinger together after the consecration until after communion when he purifies his fingers over the chalice, the use of the chalice veil, the use of the paten when receiving Holy Communion, receiving Holy Communion at an altar rail and kneeling and receiving on the tongue, and only the priest able to administer Holy Communion.
The prayers, gestures and kisses have changed, and the Catholic Church now allows for an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion to help administer Communion at Mass, if one is needed to help the priest, but all of the other above-mentioned aspects were not suppressed. Some Catholic Churches still use a communion rail and some priests require receiving Holy Communion on the tongue only. And many priests still use the chalice veil and the use of the paten when a communicant is receiving Holy Communion. It is more difficult today to truly understand the teaching on the Real Presence with many of these changes that have occurred. More than anything else, though, a Mass must be celebrated with reverence, with beautiful sacred music (especially communion hymns that reinforce the teaching on the Real Presence) and with a reverence and piety on the part of the communicant to approach the altar and receive our Lord with the utmost devotion.
The Holy Eucharist is Jesus Christ; let us approach our Lord with joyful hearts and a pure soul. God bless.
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