Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Yes, the Holy Eucharist, and specifically, the Holy Communion. The sacred host is not an idea, and it is not merely a sacred thing, but a sacred person, even a divine person, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is really present substantially and with all His divinity in this little sacred host. My concern is that we should be ever more aware and conscious when people approach to receive Holy Communion, that here is the Lord of the universe, God in His unending majesty, who humiliated Himself so much. Not only did He become incarnate to assume our human nature, but He went even further. He humiliated Himself to this state of being in the Eucharist, defenseless, so He is delivered into our hands, and we can do with Him what we want.
I think the moment of Holy Communion is the moment of the most intimate possible encounter with the Lord on this earth, with our God incarnate. This moment has to be very sacred. We have to pay so much attention and take time, and it has to be solemn and sacred. But unfortunately, when I came to the West from the experience of the underground Church with my family, my mother, and all, it was a great shock and a very great sadness to notice that, especially in the moment of Holy Communion, it became superficial and banal, especially with the practice of receiving Holy Communion directly in the hand, touching the holy host with the fingers, and then placing it in the mouth.
There are many consequences that flow from this, but I will highlight four that are evident and undeniable. Firstly, the loss of the little fragments of the host. This loss is very great. In every little fragment, the whole divinity is present.
Interviewer: That’s an important point to focus on. Sometimes, you almost get a sense that people think, if a fragment breaks off from the host, then it’s not really the Eucharist anymore.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: It is. It is the Eucharist because this is a dogma of our faith established at the Council of Trent. It is a dogma that in each, even the smallest part of the host, the whole Christ is present. We have to behave according to this dogma. With the manner of receiving Holy Communion in the hand, we expose our Lord to a great loss of fragments. The fragments can stick to the palm of the hand, to the fingers, or fall between the priest and the communicant.
Even in our country, we do not practice communion in the hand, thanks be to God. We always use a paten. Even in my experience, after each Mass, some fragments remain on the paten, but when there is no paten and communion is received in the hand, fragments fall, and our Lord is crushed underfoot in many places. We cannot be silent about this. It is licit legally, yes, but we have to reflect upon it. This is the first very grave consequence.
Interviewer: If I might add something, a priest I met who had been in a Communist Chinese prison was given bread and wine smuggled by his mother. He would break it into the tiniest fragments to make sure each prisoner could receive even a fragment of Holy Communion. This was done at great risk over many years. Each fragment was treated as precious.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: That is a very impressive example. The second grave consequence of this manner of receiving Holy Communion, which is today widespread, is the stealing of the host, which has increased in many countries. We expose our Lord to theft.
The third consequence, objectively speaking, not considering the interior attitude of the communicant, is that this form of receiving the holiest of holies by hand, with minimal gestures of adoration, reduces the sacredness. Receiving the Lord in this manner is similar to taking ordinary food in a kitchen or cafeteria. We have a situation of absence of a real, clear, unequivocal, sacred gesture. We have to reflect very seriously on this.
Interviewer: As a matter of fact, related to the points you just made, in the last couple of years, a man attended a Mass celebrated by Blessed John Paul. After his beatification, he claimed he had a piece of the bread given to him and tried to sell it on eBay. He was not trying to steal; he thought of it as a souvenir. The Knights of Columbus intervened and asked eBay not to allow such items to be sold because it is too sacred.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Yes, and these examples are countless. We have to wake up. Stop, kneel down, and adore our Lord. It is logical. In the Apocalypse, the angels in heaven prostrate themselves before the lamp, yet we do not do the same before the lamp of God in the host. Why not?