Our Lady of Lourdes Church and School

LITURGY: OUR GREATEST GIFT -Part 2

The Liturgy is the action of Christ, head and body; head represented by the priest and body represented by all of us, the baptized faithful. Our active and wholehearted participation in the Liturgy is the greatest gift we can give to God in union with Jesus.

 The guidelines from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for receiving Holy Communion have set out the following:

• Those coming to receive Holy Communion are in a procession. In processions people move together and with reverence. 

• As each person arrives before the Eucharistic Minister, the proper reverence is a bow of the head,  as the person in front of you is receiving.  Kneeling or genuflecting disrupts that procession and singles out the individual rather than keeping us together as one. 

• When you receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist Minister says, “The Body of Christ”.  You answer, “Amen.”

The Bishops give the option of receiving the Body of Christ in our hand or on the tongue. Since we are in the Flu season, we are urged to receive the Body of Christ in our hand so as to minimize the possibility of spreading the flu or any other disease. However, because some use walkers or canes, or because of cultural preferences, either way of receiving the Body of Christ is permissible. When consuming the Blood of Christ we ask that you refrain from receiving when you are “under the weather”.

 Advent comes from the Latin word “adventus” a word often used to mean ‘arrival’ God is waiting for us to prepare a place for the Word to “Find room” in the very fabric of our lives. To find us ready, watching and waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to come. Are you prepared? Have a Blessed Advent.