SIS. Agnes Sasagawa is a religious in the Institute of the Handmaids. On June 12, 1973, while she was taking her vows, a bright light appeared on the tabernacle of the convent chapel. In the next two days, the tabernacle was also lighted.
During a liturgical celebration, while the sisters of the community were all receiving “Holy Communion on their hands, a stigmata appeared on Sister Agnes’s left hand and forced it to shut with horrible pain,” Nicky Eltz narrated in Divine Substance: Holy Communion on the Tongue while Kneeling as Compared to Communion in the Hand while Standing.
So, Sister Agnes had to receive communion by the tongue. An identical wound appeared on the right hand of the Lady of Akita statue which also bled profusely.
Francis Mutsuo Fukushima who studied the Akita apparitions in his book Akita, Mother of God as Coredemptrix: Modern Miracles of the Eucharist, wrote: “The most serious crisis of faith resulted from the decline in the faithfuls’ ability to recognize the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.”
In Akita, “God and the Holy Mother planned to revive the people’s faith in the real presence by imparting the divine lessons about the importance of receiving the Holy Eucharist on the tongue.”
Could these sufferings respectively signify “reparation for the abuses in the left hands of the laity and the right hands of the priests?” Eltz asked.
The incident was recognized by the church, and since, then Sister Agnes and her sisters receive Holy Communion on the tongue.
Holy Communion
Likewise, since apostolic times, the real presence of Jesus has always been recognized, so the Congregation of Doctrine for Faith (CDF), the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW) “prefer kneeling to standing as the more appropriate posture of the two approved signs of reverence before receiving Holy Communion.”
In Jesus’ time, the traditional custom is for the host of the gathering to feed his guests with his own hands, placing the symbolic morsel in the mouth of guests.
To the question, who will betray Him, Jesus answered: “It is the one to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it,”—Communion by the mouth.
The gospel of John, 13:26-30 implies Jesus himself gave communion in the mouth.
Communion by hand
In 1965 Cardinal Bernard Alfrink of Holland started receiving the Communion by hand.
The CDW on October 22, 1965, through the concilium writing on behalf of Pope Paul VI wrote: “Council offer operative resolutions so that the traditional manner be restored.”
In 1966 the Dutch New Catechism incorporated communion by hand and its distribution by lay people standing with the cardinal’s imprimatur, said Fr. Edgardo M. Arellano in Kneeling; The Most Appropriate Posture in Receiving the Holy Eucharist.
The “vehement warning of Pope Paul VI was ignored,” Memoriale Domini says, despite the “Holy See’s refusal to budge to the request for indult or special dispensation from 1965 to 1969.”
The Netherlands, France, Germany and Belgium united to promote communion by the hand without permission from the pope.
The bishops of the world were consulted whether to allow communion by the hand. The result: Out of 2,136 voters, 57.8 percent voted No; 26 percent, Yes; and 15 percent voted but were not pleased, according to Memoriale Domini.
Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, the then-president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “reported that the vote had fallen short of the required two-thirds of all legally present members, thus, could not be concluded until the absent bishops were polled.”
Holy See’s final verdict
“1. Communion by the mouth remains enforced.
2. The indult or special dispensation to have communion by the hand shall be granted only to bishops conference that asked for it, provided: “The Traditional way [by the mouth will not be refused communion]. Taking care to avoid the risk of false doctrine about the Eucharist.”
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’s Document on the Eucharist “allows communion kneeling or standing, by hand or tongue.”
However, “special care should be taken to ensure that the host is consumed by the communicant in the presence of the minister, so that no one goes away carrying the Eucharistic species in his hand. If there is risk of profanation, then Holy Communion should not be given in the hand to the faithful.”
The Eucharist: The Church’s spiritual wealth
Pope John Paul II on April 17, 2003, signed and gave the Church the Ecclesia de Eucharista. It said: The Holy Eucharist “stands at the center of the church life…it unites heaven and earth…embraces and permeates all creation and is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey.”
Holy Tradition teaches that the first adorer of the Eucharist is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the first tabernacle, too, having carried Jesus in her womb.
Archeologists, while lowering the body of Pope Pius XI on Saint Peter’s Crypt in 1939, accidentally struck the crypt. Signs and symbols of Christian faith “revealed art forms about scriptural teachings. Above all, it confirmed the early Christians’ willingness “to die for the Living God…who came back to life…and told them that He Himself will be their food,” the Pittsburgh Center for Peace, True Presence says.
The early Christians believed that eating the body and drinking the blood of their God was their greatest secret. Martyrs abound for they refused to denounce their faith.
Jesus, who has sovereignty over everything, made possible many Eucharistic miracles. Stories about the dead rising to adore the Eucharist in their own funeral masses; levitating hosts; Eucharists from the tabernacle flying to settle by itself on the mouth of communicants; unexplainable glows on both the faces of priests and communicants during the reception of the Eucharist; Jesus Himself or angels distributing communion; and even animals adoring Eucharists abound in books about Eucharistic miracles.
The dead revered Him
Even the dead recognize Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist. He has transformed them to be tangible witnesses to His Living Presence.
In the early days, it was the custom to bring the remains of the dead in front of the altar and the coffin was left open during the religious services.
During the consecration of Joseph Volo, a young Capuchin novice, lifted his head and body, opened his eyes, clasped his hands in adoration. After saying some words, he lay down again on the coffin.
Saint Paschal Baylon is a Franciscan lay brother who served the community in many lowly positions. When he could not attend Mass because of his obligations, he would kneel and an angel often appeared to give him communion. His ardent love for the Eucharist was manifested during his funeral Mass. He got up, turned his head toward the altar before the consecration which caused the coffin to tip. Then he opened his eyes to adore during the elevation of the Host and chalice with Christ’s blood.
Known as the Saint of the Blessed Sacrament during his lifetime, he was proclaimed Patron of All Eucharistic Societies and Congresses by Pope Leo XIII. When the priest raised his hands during the consecration of the host, Blessed Matthew Girgenti also raised his hands and folded them back on his chest after the consecration.
While Blessed Bonaventure of Potenza sat up on his coffin to make a devout bow to the Blessed Sacrament, Saint Catherine of Bologna rose, went down, knelt, bowed her head on the ground to honor the Eucharist, then went back to her coffin.
Saint Catherine, who spent her time before the Blessed Sacrament in ecstasy, was the spiritual directress of cardinals, bishops and popes. Her profound love for the Eucharist is said to be the source of her wisdom. Indeed, the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. How do you revere Him?
Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education-National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris College in Calauan, Laguna.