Sage words

Fr Ray Blake ( My advice to the Pope's MC ), in his wise and timely manner, opens up the question of reverence for the presence of Our Lord during Holy Mass. There is a total non sequitur between what we as Latin Catholics believe and what has become, as he points out almost with a sigh, the norm. Now here I could speculate about the coming together of Western and Eastern ideals into some sort of warm and fuzzy oecumania but we just know that this whole business of standing for holy communion in the West has got nothing to do with the unity of the body of Christ but rather the bitter attempt of the modernist wing to steer belief away from the eucharistic species and diffuse it around some sort of circular hierarchy of presences during Mass. This defective notion existed before Vatican II, is reflected within the documents immediately infected by Vatican II, and has been repeated so many times since that it seems even the most 'sound' of theologians will just presume it has some sort of basis in historical Church belief.

Unfortunately to not receive the sacred species at Mass has become some sort of embarassing ecclesiastical social faux pas in much of the West. Good Heavens! Somebody might actually think we've sinned if we don't follow the rest of the sheep and join the line! How absolutely shymaking! I just don't dare to refrain no matter what profanity, or scandal, might be caused. Ecclesiastical whitewashing in other words. It's on this point that I love the traddies- it's straight forward- sin on the soul means no communion. They're not big whatever's blouses- they are prepared to admit that they muck up and sin and fall short of the glory of God.

There is certainly a problem and 'practical liturgists' (and other terrorists) will continue to point out the difficulties in giving holy communion to large numbers. Well there's a simple solution; stop general communion. We lived without it for a millenia or so before. I'm sure Papal Masses could cope with it now.