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Monday, October 4, 2010
Poll on Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament
We had some more discussion on the practice of reserving the Sacrament of the Altar last week and part of that discussion turned toward us all wondering just how widespread the practice is. The poll this week will at least let us know how widespread the practice is among the readers of this blog.
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Your second and third options are really the same, are they not?
ReplyDeleteGood point, Fr. Eckardt. Also, I'd be interested in a polling two other types:
ReplyDelete1. those who neither consume nor reserve, but dispose. (and how they dispose)
2. and those who save, but in some other way than in a traditional receptacle.
Fr. Eckardt,
ReplyDeleteEvery square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a square. . . ; those who reserve the Sacrament for shut-ins no doubt are reserving the Sacrament for the next communion, however, some folks reserve the Sacrament but never use it for shut-ins, only for Sunday. That was the difference I was trying to get across.
Rev. Deacon,
I thought about including those, but out of charity I did not. Since no one should do those things, I don't want to ask anyone about them.
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I answered the second choice in the poll and, indeed, we primarily reserve for the next celebration of the Sacrament (usually next Sunday). I don't use the Reserved Sacrament for shut-ins (I was taught, following LBW: Occasional Services, to celebrate with the shut-in/ill. We also have a long practice of lay eucharistic ministers who deliver the sacrament to shut-ins (following another practice outlined in the OSB), and the reserved sacrament is available for their use.
ReplyDeleteI would echo Dcn. Latif's question, as my observation in other Lutheran congregations is that remaining hosts are frequently placed back in the container with unconsecrated hosts. And in more than one church I've seen the number of those "returned" hosts appear to be as many as were communed at that mass -- the Altar Guild fills the paten up with no concern of how many people actually commune.
Also, it's hard to find a Skippy Peanut Butter(tm) jar made of glass these days. Storing the Lord's most precious and holy body in a *plastic* peanut butter jar would just be tacky, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteFr. Hollywood,
ReplyDeleteYou show your sad ignorance of canon law! Plastic at least is "not easily broken."
Sigh.
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I voted for the third option. Our practice has gotten a lot better. We have cruets for the consecrated wine and we have a psuedo pyx for the consecrated hosts (no more mayo jars, now we have a flour container.) One of my industrious altar guild ladies found a very nice one at a store and bought it after she heard me speak on the importance of proper vessels. Is it a proper pyx, no. But it is something I can live with for the time being.
ReplyDeleteWhatever is left over is used throughout the week to make visits and on the off-chance that we have a super abundance than I hold it over until the next celebration.
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ReplyDeleteGreat question and I look forward to the discussion.
ReplyDeleteWe reserve the host and I use it for shut in visits and for the next Sunday. However I still speak the words of consecration with the shut ins and the next Sunday. We do not mix consecrated hosts with non-consecrated hosts. A practice I changed when I arrived here. We also got rid of the old beat up margarine container that was used for storing the consecrated hosts and purchased a suitable container from a church supply store.
I don't believe our Lord's body ceases to be present at the end of the Service. He said "this is" but never "now it isn't." My struggle is what to do with the hosts that are consecrated after reserving them and taking them to shut ins or for the next Divine Service. How do you treat them during the consecration?
Fr. Keith,
ReplyDeleteExactly - that is the question. I, too, cannot see any way in which these Hosts are anything less than the Body of Christ in accord with his Word. As such, they should be treated as such.
In the parish I served up in Chicago, the rite my senior pastor used for such communions was something along these lines, "These Elements were consecrated on Sunday using these Words of Institution: 'On the same night. . . '"
Something along those lines would be appropriate for a celebration that included only Hosts thus brought from the Altar on Sunday. What about when there are pieces of bread, though, that must be consecrated alongside these? Perhaps a separate paten? One does not, I think, want to give the impression that what has been consecrated needs to be consecrated again. Kind of like baptizing somebody twice, no?
Ultimately, it was these sorts of scruples and problems that moved me to the decision of consuming everything consecrated at each celebration.
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Should the wine in the flagon which is not on the corporal during the consecration also be consumed?
ReplyDelete(They don't teach you these sorts of things at seminary.)
Fr. K.,
ReplyDeleteEverything consecrated should be consumed. You should not be consecrating anything that is not on the corporal. It is best to have a credence table so that all can see more clearly what is and what is not being consecrated - but sometime that's just not an option. In that case, place what is not your intent to consecrate way off to the side of the altar.
The function of the making of the cross over the bread and wine is also to indicate what is being consecrated.
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PS: Flagons are not really meant to contain the Lord's Blood. If it is at all feasible, I think it far better to consecrate only one chalice at a time. In very large settings where this is not possible, great care should be taken with how full the flagon is filled.
ReplyDelete+HRC
Mike Keith: My struggle is what to do with the hosts that are consecrated after reserving them and taking them to shut ins or for the next Divine Service. How do you treat them during the consecration?
ReplyDeleteMy practice is based on what I've seen in Roman Catholic masses: The pyx with the consecrated hosts is centered on the gradine (where the Tabernacle would be). After the Eucharistic Prayer and Our Father (in the LBW this is as the Agnus Dei is begun), I place the pyx on the corporal, open it, and add the hosts to those that have just been consecrated, on the paten. After the distribution, I place the remaining hosts in the pyx, close its cover, and return it to the gradine.
In the LBW/OSB service used for the sick, etc., the rubrics say, ...the minister places the containers of bread and wine on a table. The containers remain closed in order that the communicant(s) not understand the biblical words of institution to be a consecration of the elements.
They continue: The minister addresses the communicant(s), not touching or lifting the bread or wine during the address: "When our congregation gathered for the celebration of Holy Communion, we heard again the story of God's mighty acts and of the love shown us in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. With thanksgiving we remembered that 'in the night...'
"We were given assurance of our Lord's presence through the gift of his Holy Spirit. Now we bring to you this same bread of life and this same cup of blessing, that you may be strengthened through your participation in the body of Christ."
This is actually the beginning of the LBW/OSB rite, with confession, pax, collect, Gospel, and "brief comment" following Only then are the containers opened, the blood poured into the cup, the Our Father prayed, and the communicant(s) communed.