Standing during Communion

Hey, David,

I had some insight last night as I thought about what you'd said about communion. It doesn't change anything, but it helped me understand why I feel differently about it than you (& many others) do.

I realized that since I'm a church musician (since the sixth grade), my concern during communion time has ALWAYS been with the whole assembly. I am part of that whole procession. I am always aware of everyone in the church. My job is to make the singing work well for all of them, for all of us. It's not private at all. When I'm not playing the keyboard, I'm standing, as choir, right there near the altar. It's powerful. I love it. When I participate from the pew, I keep that perspective--being one of many people, centered together around the altar (close and active). I wouldn't trade that for anything. I see the Vatican II renewal's idea of bringing that to everyone as a gift. It was a gift to me.

But, if your formation was different, as yours seems to have been, you don't have as much of a "communal" connection with Christ at Communion time. I can see that it's private, and of course no one would want to give that up, either.

It's funny, because the liturgy renewal started by first paying attention to the more personal (though still communal), more prayerful liturgy. The first step was the translation of the Liturgy of the Hours (The Divine Office) into English. When you read the hopes of people who worked on that, they were thrilled to be bringing that to lay people as well as religious. The Office contains more, much more, of that sense of prayerful connection with Christ (that I sense you get from communion at mass and rightly don't want to lose).

So, IF we had all joined, as parishes, into the Office (the great Prayer of the Church) then we wouldn't be fighting over bits of the Sunday Eucharist, trying to make it be all things for all people, unable to gather for prayer at all unless we "have" a priest.

And that was the plan. But people rejected it. They still do. Go figure.

love you,
maggie