On blessings during the Communion procession

Last week, the Catholic Times published an article I wrote in which I asked, "Should blessings be given during the Communion procession?" The text of the article follows:

It often happens that persons present themselves, or are presented by others, to receive a blessing at the time others approach to receive holy Communion. While the beginning of this practice is a bit hard to pin down, it seems to have begun in the United States in the late 1980s or early 1990s out of a desire to help those who cannot receive holy Communion for one reason or another feel included.  

To be sure, inclusion is often a noble concern and Jesus came to gather the nations into the peace of his kingdom, but such a practice often neglects to reveal an important aspect of his kingdom: Everyone is welcome in this kingdom and all are called to receive the Eucharist if certain prerequisites are met. The requirements are neither burdensome nor unreasonable: a person must have received the grace of baptism, attained the use of reason sufficient to distinguish the Body and Blood of the Lord from ordinary bread and wine, and strive to live a life according to Christian morals and make use of sacramental confession to maintain communion with the church. 

Some months ago, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki wrote to the priests and deacons serving in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois to explain his practice when someone approaches him for a blessing in the procession reserved for those who will receive holy Communion: 

“I do not give any blessings during the time for Holy Communion. Everyone at Mass receives a liturgical blessing from the celebrant at the conclusion of the Mass, just a few moments after the distribution of Holy Communion and immediately before the dismissal. I do not touch anyone, pat them on the head, or make a sign of the cross on their forehead or over their forehead. I make no gesture at all toward them with my hand. If someone above the age of reason approaches me in the Communion with their arms folded indicating that they do not actually wish to receive Holy Communion, I invite them to make a spiritual communion by saying, “Receive Christ spiritually in your heart.” As I say this, I bow my head slightly toward the person while I hold the Host in my hand for the next person who wishes to receive. I do nothing with babies or children being held in the arms of an adult, since a child below the age of reason presumably would not understand the concept of spiritual communion. I do happily and readily give individual blessings to babies, children and anyone else who so wishes after the recessional as I shake hands and greet people as they exit church.”

In the same communication, Bishop Paprocki expressed his desire that “the ordinary and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion in our diocese would emulate my personal pastoral practice.”

The Holy See has been studying this issue for several years now and, while no decision has been made regarding this practice, several principles ought to be borne in mind. 

First, each liturgical procession has a purpose. The procession at the beginning of the holy Mass moves the celebrant and the ministers from the sacristy or from the door of the church to their places in the sanctuary and it is not envisioned that others take part in this procession. The procession during the Gospel acclamation moves the one proclaiming the Gospel, together with the servers and the Book of the Gospels to the ambo. Here, again, it is not envisioned that others take part in this procession. In a similar manner, the Communion procession moves the communicants from their places in the nave of the church to the steps of the sanctuary. Again, it is not envisioned that others take part in the procession.

Certainly no one would suggest that infants or young children be left on their own in the pews; parents or those watching them bring them forward because it would be unwise to leave them behind. Young children were carried or walked in the Communion procession for centuries and, to my knowledge, no child felt left out or neglected because a blessing was not given. I remember frequently accompanying my great aunt in the Communion procession and the fact that I could not yet receive holy Communion deepened a desire within me to receive the holy Eucharist. 

 A second observation pertains to blessings given by extraordinary ministers of holy Communion, those who have been deputed to assist the priests and deacons in moments of necessity. The Book of Blessings reminds us that the lay faithful, in virtue of their respective office in the church, such as parents to their children, may impart blessings, but they are not to do so while a priest or deacon is present. The reason for this is simple: priests and deacons are ordained to minister in the name of the church and in the person of Christ. Consequently, an extraordinary minister of holy Communion should not give a blessing to anyone in the Communion procession because there is always a priest present at that moment.

This leads us to a third consideration to keep, a consideration seen during periods of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. When the Eucharistic Host is placed in the monstrance for the faithful to adore, a priest does not give blessings in the church because he is in the presence of one who is greater than himself. During Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, the priest or deacon wears a humeral veil in which he enfolds his hands as he holds the monstrance to show the blessing does not come from him, but from Christ. In the same way, it would be inappropriate for a sacred minister to give blessings while he holds the Eucharist in his hands as communicants come forward to receive the Lord. 

Each of these reasons helps to explain Bishop Paprocki’s practice, a practice that is in harmony with the current liturgical norms and the tradition of the church. It is good to invite those who cannot receive holy Communion to ask the Lord for the grace of a spiritual Communion by which they seek to draw closer to him. As their hearts yearn to receive him, let us pray they will be led to request full communion with his church and so receive the Eucharistic Lord himself.

I am happy to engage in an actual dialogue discussing what I am written. I am not, however, interested in engaging with comments which do not discuss what I actually wrote.

The obligation is to attend Mass, not to receive Communion

Sometime Sunday morning before the arrival of the Holy Father, an announcement over the loud speakers (which they were) to the effect that because the winds took down the Eucharistic adoration tents during the night it would not be possible for Holy Communion to be distributed to the 1.5 million pilgrims.
Something in this announcement - made in English - didn't make sense to me and my fellow priest secretaries and masters of ceremonies could also make little sense of it.  Together we devised an hypothesis that now seems to have been correct.

The Catholic News Service's Cindy Wooden has the details, with my emphases and comments:

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- More than a million young Catholics learned the hard way about a venerable Catholic tradition: "spiritual Communion" or the "Communion of desire."

After a wild storm Aug. 20 at World Youth Day in Madrid left six people injured -- including two with broken legs -- Spanish police collapsed the tents where most of the unconsecrated hosts for the next morning's Mass were being kept [it didn't make much sense to us why the hosts were already in the tents, but several things about Spanish liturgies didn't make sense to us].

Without the hosts in the tents, organizers had 5,000 ciboriums holding 200 hosts each; they were consecrated by the pope at Mass Aug. 21 and distributed to pilgrims in the section closest to the altar.

Distributing Communion to just 100,000 people wasn't a decision anyone took lightly, and apparently there were long discussions with World Youth Day organizers and Vatican officials trying to find a solution. In the end, it just wasn't possible logistically to locate another 1.5 million hosts.

A couple of hours before the Mass, organizers announced that most of the people present would not be able to receive; they asked the pilgrims to offer up that sacrifice for the pope's intentions and told them they could receive Communion later in the day at any church in Madrid [which seemed an unlikely solution for at least two reasons.  First, it isn't always easy to find a priest in the church on a Sunday afternoon (and the rectories are hard to locate).  Second, it would be very difficult to, I should think, to find 1.5 million consecrated hosts in the tabernacles of Madrid].

The decision to cancel Communion for most Mass participants was reached "with the greatest pain," Yago de la Cierva, director of World Youth Day Madrid, told reporters Aug. 21.

Whenever there is a huge crowd for a Mass, whether in St. Peter's Square or at a World Youth Day, there always are some people unable to get to the Communion distribution point in time to receive. But in Madrid, de la Cierva said, "almost everyone" was among those not receiving.

Obviously, receiving Communion is the way to participate most fully in the Mass, but it's not always possible for everyone to receive at every Mass, nor do many Catholics in the world even have regular access to Mass.

The idea of "spiritual Communion" -- inviting Jesus into one's heart and soul when receiving the actual sacrament isn't possible -- is part of Catholic tradition.

In the 1700s, St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote a special prayer for spiritual communion: "My Jesus, I believe you are really here in the Blessed Sacrament. I love you more than anything in the world, and I hunger to receive you. But since I cannot receive Communion at this moment, feed my soul at least spiritually. I unite myself to you now as I do when I actually receive you."

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said it would be a huge mistake to believe the Mass had no value for those who were unable to receive Communion.

"Communion is always an extraordinary gift, and one must be in awe of being able to receive it," he told Catholic News Service Aug. 24.

"It is not something one can presume to have an absolute right to as if he'd bought a ticket for it by going to Mass. Someone who thinks that hasn't understood who is in the consecrated host and what the Mass is," the spokesman said.

The eucharistic adoration and benediction at the vigil in Madrid underlined that point, he said. Jesus is present in the Eucharist, which is why it is adored and why Catholics spend time in its presence, even outside of Mass.

The "eucharistic fasting" many of the young pilgrims in Madrid were forced to endure could also help them be in spiritual solidarity with other people who find themselves desiring the Eucharist, but unable to receive it, he said.

"I'm thinking of Catholics deprived of priests in many parts of the world for many reasons," he said, but there also are those "who would like to celebrate the Lord's Supper with other Christians, but don't have intercommunion out of respect for the norms of the church. Isn't it meaningful in these situations to know we can unite ourselves with Christ through love and desire?"

In an era when people are encouraged to receive the sacrament frequently, they don't hear the term "spiritual Communion" very often, but it is still mentioned in church documents.

The Vatican's preparatory document for the 2012 International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin said those who cannot receive the Eucharist can have spiritual Communion, declaring their desire to receiving the Eucharist and uniting "their suffering of that moment with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ."

The working document for the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist in 2005 addressed the idea of offering up the sacrifice of being unable to receive Communion. It said: "Spiritual Communion, for example, is always possible for elderly persons and the sick who cannot go to church. In manifesting their love for the Eucharist, they participate in the communion of saints with great spiritual benefit for themselves and the church. By offering their sufferings to God, the church is enriched."

In "Sacramentum Caritatis," the document he issued in 2007 reflecting on the synod, Pope Benedict cautioned people against thinking they had "a right or even an obligation" to receive the Eucharist every time they went to Mass.

"Even in cases where it is not possible to receive sacramental Communion, participation at Mass remains necessary, important, meaningful and fruitful. In such circumstances it is beneficial to cultivate a desire for full union with Christ through the practice of spiritual communion," Pope Benedict wrote.