QUESTION:
I am saddened when I see a large number of people leaving our parish church immediately after receiving Holy Communion. I always believed we were to stay until we received the final blessing. Am I wrong?
ANSWER:
You’re right; we should stay until the end. Those who don’t are letting their habits of haste pull them out of what should be an atmosphere of reflective gratitude. If that atmosphere is not there, you might encourage your pastor and your director of liturgical music to create it. If it is there and some are not affected by it, you might suggest the need for a few homilies focused on the centrality of the notion of gratitude to our faith and religion. The quiet time after reception of Holy Communion is, after all, intended to be a time of thanksgiving.
I can recall being encouraged as a child to recite a prayer called the “Anima Christi” after reception of Holy Communion. For those who do not know about the powerful communion prayer, here it is. Perhaps you remember the words:
Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
Within thy wounds hide me.
Permit me not to be separated from Thee.
From the wicked foe defend me.
At the hour of my death call me, and bid me come to Thee, that with thy saints I may praise Thee forever and ever. Amen.
If prayers like this were available in the pews, perhaps there would be fewer departures before the final blessing! As a good catholic faithful, we should try our best to follow closely the Holy Mass.
Got any other catholic related question? Leave it in the comment box below. May God continue to guide us!
You don’t go to a dinner party your invited to and once you have your meal you leave that’s not right
My wife & i always try to stay at least until the priest says “the mass is over”. Every man for himself after that
I served Mass for many years in the 50s and 60s, mostly with”old school” Irish priests.
Their reply when challenged on this was
“The Lord said,”Do this in memory of me!”. I don’t recall any reports of processions or hymns in the Gospels.
So, if you’re in time for the Consecration and receive Communion, you’ve completed the obligations”
Later in life I don’t this with an Archbishop (who went on to become a Cardinal) and he agreed..
That’s good enough for me!
There’s a number of fairly big faults in that, but to name one to save a lot of writing, the Gospels (and Sacred Scripture in general) aren’t the sole source of Christian doctrine and/or practice. That is the Protestant teaching of Sola Scriptura, the priests and particularly the Archbishop-turned-Cardinal really should have known this.
Unfortunately, as one of the remaining remnant of young Irish Catholics, this answer more underlines the problems among clerics of the past years than of anything else.