I REFER to Selina Venier’s column in The Catholic Leader (Family Faith, 4/5/14) on the topic of Mass etiquette.
I do agree with her suggestions to proper Mass requirements – appropriate dressing for Mass is high on my list of recommendations as well as sufficient time for preparation and thanksgiving at so sacred an event as the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
We have 168 hours a week and to give about an hour to attend Mass is not too much to expect, as time belongs to God and could be stopped for us at any minute.
Regarding Selina’s recommendation that people who receive Our Lord under the form of the Sacred Host, should pause or bow while passing the Precious Blood, could cause some confusion.
If the Sacred Host is Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, whole and complete Jesus Christ, why pause at the Blood when the Precious Blood is already within you.
Our Lord is whole and complete under either species.
In any event one does not receive an ounce of extra grace when taken under both species.
I have seen and heard of desecration of the Precious Blood over the years.
Confusion abounds when countless people refer to the Precious Blood as wine when they remark, “There was no wine when I got to the chalice”.
As a catechist I have encountered children who say, “I receive only some of Jesus” when the Precious Blood is not made available in some parishes.
This is a misconception as Our Lord is whole and complete under either species.
Pam Edmonds
Taigum QLD
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