Receiving Holy Communion

Several Sundays ago, a parishioner asked about the correct way to receive the eucharistic bread and wine. Tradition informs us that we are to receive "into our hands" the Sacrament of the Lord's Body; we should not receive it with our fingers, nor with one hand only. Our practice comes from the teaching of Cyril of Jerusalem, 382 AD, "by making the left hand a throne for the right, and hollowing the palm of the right to receive the Body of Christ, " by placing the left hand under the right, both hands being held open and lifting them together to be received by the mouth. Also, it is proper to use the hands, guiding the chalice, in the reception of the Blood of Christ.

Though one may receive only the consecrated Bread (since the Real Presence of Christ is manifested in both the Bread and the Wine), the Chalice has its own special grace - "the grace of gladdening." As a physical banquet is incomplete without drink, so Christ's Spiritual Banquet can only be completely enjoyed, with entire satisfaction for the soul, if to spiritual eating is added spiritual drinking. Indeed the common cup powerfully suggests human fellowship of an intimate, unselfish, generous, and uplifting nature.

(Some notes drawn from Liturgy and Worship: A Companion to the Prayer Books of the Anglican Communion, 1964>

A Poem: death came ....

death came
to blacksburg
yesterday
in a cloud of
murderous rage
as children
were slaughtered
in the academic halls
of a university.

death came
to blacksburg
yesterday
as Seung-Hui Cho
"a normal looking kid"
they say fired rounds
of ammunition in
dorm and classroom
brutalizing, terrorizing,
destroying human life.

death came
to blacksburg
yesterday
and we yearn
to know why;
our grief is unrelenting
our sorrow weighty
with tormenting emptiness.

death came
to our children
yesterday
in the blackness
of gun powder
and the horror
of madness.

death came,
death came,
my God, my God why ....?

The Tenth Day of Easter

O God, by the waters of Baptism you have renewed those who believe in you: Come to the help of those who have been reborn in Christ, that they may overcome the wiles of the devil, and continue faithful to the gifts of grace they have received from you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, wo lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 62

On the Priests of the Monastery

If an Abbot desire
to have a priest or a deacon ordained for his monastery,
let him choose one
who is worthy to exercise the priestly office.

But let the one who is ordained
beware of self-exaltation or pride;
and let him not presume to do anything
except what is commanded him by the Abbot,
knowing that he is so much the more subject
to the discipline of the Rule.
Nor should he by reason of his priesthood forget
the obedience and the discipline required by the Rule,
but make ever more and more progress towards God.

Let him always keep the place which he received
on entering the monastery,
except in his duties at the altar
or in case the choice of the community and the will of the Abbess
should promote him for the worthiness of his life.
Yet he must understand
that he is to observe the rules laid down by deans and Priors.

Should he presume to act otherwise,
let him be judged not as a priest but as a rebel.
And if he does not reform after repeated admonitions,
let even the Bishop be brought in as a witness.
If then he still fails to amend,
and his offenses are notorious,
let him be put out of the monastery,
but only if his contumacy is such
that he refuses to submit or to obey the Rule.