by Stanley Anderson » June 1st, 2007, 3:11 pm
Ok, so I'm sure that many here know that we are fairly recent converts to Catholicism. But before that we were traditional Anglicans for 24 years and the two are fairly close in many respects. So the transition, while it takes some adjustment has not been terribly difficult. And since being confirmed before Lent, we have been receiving Communion for about three months about three times a week. It's been going fine with nary a slip up as far as I knew. You go up, bow slightly, cup your hands, the priest (or whoever) says "The Body of Christ", places a wafer in your hands and you put it in your mouth, cross yourself and go sit down. Pretty much the same as we did in the Anglican Church for 24 years before that. Nothing new in the technique. Again, as far as I knew -- and it had been working well that way for the last three months.
So. Last Monday we went to a special Memorial Day outdoor Mass at a local cemetery where people from another church conducted the Mass. Since we happened to be in the first row of chairs I ended up being the first one in line to receive Communion from the deacon in that area. I walked up cupped my hands and he said "The Body of Christ" and waited. After a second he said "What do you say?"
My mind reeled. What should I say? Frantically I tried to think of possible replies. I immediately rejected "Thank you!", "...And also with you", and "The Blood of Christ". I searched mentally for other choices. Random phrases raced through my head -- "Four score and seven years ago...", "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God...", "Don't Tread on Me", "I pledge allegiance to the flag...", "Hail Mary", "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away...", nothing seemed to fit.
Of course you all know what simple thing I was supposed to say, but I was blank, and finally the deacon told me "you say 'Amen'...", so I did, he gave me the wafer and I went on back to my seat, all defensive, thinking "but nobody ever told me...", and "where's the rewind button..." and "I wonder if anyone will notice if I just go sit in the last row in the back".
So anyway, don't worry. I'm all better now, and you can be certain I'll never forget that little bit of propriety again. HOWEVER, I have to say that when we went to our regular Tuesday night Mass the next evening, I could hardly keep the smile off my face as I walked up to receive Communion thinking to myself "whatever you do, don't accidentally say Thank you". See, it's just such a natural thing ingrained in your head since childhood to think, when someone says "what do you say?" that the proper expected response is "Thank you", that it was hard for me to keep it straight. I almost messed it up again.
Whew!
Amen,
--Stanley
(Anyone got any other similar church faux pas' they'd care to relate?)
…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.