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Tongue or hand?
Oh man, what a topic in our Catholic world.
It seems that both sides have strong evidence from the early Church about why their way is the correct way.
Leave it to humans to turn the greatest Gift in the entire world into a divisive issue. Judgement and pride seep through as both defend their way, all the while, hearts deep down coming from a place of love for Our Lord in the Eucharist.
The tongue vs. hand debate will go on forever and the question will always remain: What is the disposition of the heart? With the Church allowing both ways of receiving, this question is where each person’s answer lies.
During this coronavirus/flu season of life, we have all been “encouraged” to receive on the hand. A traditional and holy priest said that even though this is “encouraged,” the laypeople of the U.S. still do have an option and will not be acting out of disobedience by receiving on the tongue – “and people throughout history, during every plague, still received on the tongue.”
In an act that I’m still uncertain of, I decided to receive Our Lord in the palm of my hand.
I brought my mouth down to Him and took Him under my roof.
I walked back to the pew, hands still folded, knelt and prayed. After sitting, I opened my hands, looked down at them, and found a Crumb.
Tears of shock rolled down my cheeks with no effort.
You always hear about the possibility of Crumbs, but I always imagined them too tiny to find and not frequent.
This Crumb was the size of a Chick-fil-a crunchy you get excited about after all the nuggets are gone.
I brought Him to my mouth in disbelief of how Jesus was still on my hand and I had no idea.
My thoughts then went to times when we receive Him in our hands and without seeing the Crumbs, the Savior of the World, the King of Our Life, Our Lord of Lords and Prince of Peace … falls to the ground … and we then step on God.
My heart broke into a million pieces and the tears become violent.
How many times have we stepped on Our Lord? The Most Holy and Precious of all Gifts, trampled on.
God knew this would happen, and He STILL desired to give Himself to us. He knew His Crumbs would be falling from our hands, and yet He still became Bread for our salvation.
His desire for intimacy with us is something that is absolutely unfathomable.
The thought was then placed in my heart, I trample all over His heart each and every time I sin -- and that, that hurts Him the most.
The tongue vs. hand debate will go on forever and the question will always remain: What is the disposition of the heart?
But to sin, that is never a question. We just do it. We just trample all over Our Dear Lord’s heart without checking the disposition of our hearts.
Our pride tramples on His heart.
Our unforgiveness tramples on His heart.
Our hatred and intolerability of each other tramples on His heart.
Our desire for more materialism and social status tramples on His heart.
Every single time I have sinned, I have been a part of the Scourging of Our Lord.
“Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?”
Yup. Every time I sin.
Oh, Dear God, help us. Have mercy on us. Send us all the grace we need to check the disposition of our hearts before we lash out against each other. Before we lash out against you, whom we are to love above all things. This life is hard, Dear Lord, but we know that with you, we can crush our sins. Please, God, help us crush our sins and not your most Holy and Sacred Heart. Amen.
Copyright 2020 Stephanie Stovall
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