Passing God around like crackers at Pope’s Philippine Mass

Via Fr. Carota, who had this to say:

I know that these priests and people did not mean to be disrespectful to God/Jesus in the Holy Communion.  I am sure they really wanted to receive Jesus’ Body and Blood at this papal mass.  But, nonetheless, giving out Holy Communion this way is disrespectful and anyone could receive and take Jesus home as a souvenir or to give to a satanist.  What needed to be done, is patiently let people kneel and receive God on the tongue as God deserves.  Practicality over Sacredness and Godliness.

It is also not necessary that we receive Jesus every time we go to Holy Mass. We should, but it is not at all necessary in order to get all of God’s graces at every single Holy Mass.

The video evidence:

Fr. Carota is certainly being charitable. The people perhaps did not mean disrespect or sacrilege but the priests should have known better, as should the organizers.  This kind of feeding frenzy and rough handling of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity Incarnate in bread is utterly unacceptable. The rough handling and mob mentality that is on display is indicative of the highly disordered beliefs people have developed regarding the Blessed Sacrament, what it is, and what it means. In a sense, Cardinal Kasper is right, that the Blessed Sacrament is not a reward handed out at Mass just for the good behavior of being present at Mass.  It is a sign and act of the deepest meaning, indicating a heart submitted to God and all the Truth He has revealed through His Church, who so desires intimate union with the Creator that it would even be so bold as to consume His Flesh, at His command.  But in the post-conciliar Church, reception of the Blessed Sacrament is treated not as an incredible privilege but as a right, and we know from sad experience that a very large number of people unworthily receive the Blessed Sacrament, blaspheming the Lord in the most offensive way possible.

Yes it is highly desirable to receive the Blessed Sacrament whenever possible, but not at the expense of scenes like this.  Even worse than the outer turmoil and sacrilege we see on display in the video is the inner turmoil that roils so many souls and the silent sacrilege that occurs under so many unworthy receptions.  It used to be, before the Council, that a good percentage of souls at Mass would not receive. That was not because they were “bad” Catholics, it was quite the opposite, they were good Catholics who knew that they could only receive their Lord when their heart was in the right place and their soul acceptably free of sin.  Who knows how many sacrilegious communions were made in the scene above?

Things like this only increase the disrespect for the Blessed Sacrament and the profusion of disbelief in the Real Presence. Such disbelief is already rampant.  Very few Catholics even know, and fewer still accept, the Church’s belief in the Real Presence.  This is such a sad scene.

But here is the problem post-conciliar practice, especially regarding unextraordinary ministers of Holy Communion is concerned, generates: already in most Masses in “large, suburban parishes” a dozen or more people go up around the altar to hand out Hosts at every Mass.  What we see in the Philippines, or in Neo-Catechumenal Way Masses, is simply the post-conciliar practice of casual handling and reception of the Blessed Sacrament taken to its logical conclusion.  If 12 or 20 people can hand out “crackers,” why not 20,000?  And if everyone can walk up and receive their Lord casually, on their feet, handling him with their profane, unconsecrated hands, why not just do what is done here?  There can be no real objection, because the difference in practice between what happens in most parishes every Sunday, and what happened in the Philippines, is not one of kind but only degree. 

And that is the real tragedy of the Philippines, not the fact that things like this rarely happen, but that things like this happen in almost every parish every day, and are treated as ho-hum no big deal.  Novus Ordo priests of a more conservative or orthodox bent often lament the fact that they find Hosts scattered in pews, in the aisles crushed to dust, outside in the lawn, or even in the bathroom stalls or urinals.

May God permit the shock and dismay caused by this extreme instance of abuse cause the people in the Church to reconsider the regular, mundane abuse they permit and encourage every day.