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Saint Joseph’s R.C. Parish

Holy Week: Good Friday

A Commentary on the Mass

The Communion Rite

The Our Father contains seven requests. These requests are not made as a worker to a boss, but as a child to a parent. Jesus used the word ‘Abba’, which is a word of affection, it’s the word a child would use. In our own culture, the word Father has a formal, even distant feeling. So, say ‘Our Father’, but think ‘Daddy’.

The practice of receiving communion in the hand was the norm for the first eight hundred years of the Church’s history. We’re encouraged to go back to that practice. In the fourth century Saint Cyril of Jerusalem had this advice, “With your left hand make a throne for your right hand, which will receive the King”

The practice of receiving communion from the chalice was the rule until the twelfth century. Again, we’re encouraged to go back to that practice. If you’re in two minds, remember that it was Jesus himself who said, “Take this, all of you, and drink from it”.

After the communion procession there is silence. People sometimes fear the silence, or perhaps see it as a time of waiting. In fact, the silence is a time of opportunity, a time to listen to God, to be with Jesus. Make the most of the opportunity.

Commentary Sections:

The practice of receiving communion from the chalice was the rule until the twelfth century. Again, we’re encouraged to go back to that practice. If you’re in two minds, remember that it was Jesus himself who said, “Take this, all of you, and drink from it”.

After the communion procession there is silence. People sometimes fear the silence, or perhaps see it as a time of waiting. In fact, the silence is a time of opportunity, a time to listen to God, to be with Jesus. Make the most of the opportunity.

Deacon Mark Howe

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