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I have two questions that have been bothering me for some
time:
We sing Hymns of receiving the Holy Bread and Wine
at Mass, and the celebrant also recites Jesus' Words:
Take this all of you and drink from it, This
is the Cup of my Blood,
But at my parish, the priest drinks all of the wine
and gives those that have come to Mass only the small
consecrated host. I feel this is hypocritical in
that I not able to say the Prayer after Communion where
we give thanks for receiving the Body and Blood
of Jesus Christ. I asked the priests about this, but
they kept mum. I read somewhere that the wine
is to be offered only to small gatherings in the Church. No wonder so many sin by not receiving the [Consecrated
Wine|Blood of Christ].
Most of the statues of Saint Anthony of Padua have
a Rosary on him. The Rosary is the one Mother Mary at
Lourdes gave to Sister Bernadette more than a century
ago, but St. Anthony lived way back in 1200s A.D. and
died between 1235 A.D. and 1237 A. D.
At that time, the ten-decade Rosary was not said, rather
a rope Rosary was used for the 150-bead Psalm Rosary.
Why then is St. Anthony being shown with the five-decade Lourdes Rosary?
Even St. Anthony might question this if he miraculously
appeared to see his Statue with the Lourdes Rosary.
Kindly resolve these issues to increase my Faith.
I was born and raised Catholic. Hallelujah!
Jonas
{
Why
can't we receive Communion like the priest does and why is St. Anthony shown with a Rosary? }
Mike
replied:
Hi, Jonas —
The practice of whether the parishioners receive
the sacred species under both kinds: the consecrated host and the consecrated wine or just under the
consecrated host, will vary from parish to parish.
The local bishop will obviously have some
input.
The important thing to know is even if you only
receive the Blessed Sacrament under the consecrated
host, you always receive:
The Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our
Blessed Lord. Just because you don't drink from
the chalice doesn't mean you don't receive the
precious Blood of Our Lord.
You do!
You may ask:
How can I receive Something that is liquid (the
precious blood) in a solid form (the consecrated
host)?
My answer:
Look up God's job description : ) With
Him anything is possible.
On the Rosary and statues of Saint Anthony of Padua:
You said: Most of the statues of Saint
Anthony of Padua have a Rosary on him.
Most Franciscan religious, as well as other religious,
have a devotion to the Holy Rosary and many wear
one on their monastic rope [belt] which is tied
around their mid section.
Usually, St. Anthony has been depicted with the
child Jesus in his arms.
I looked up his biography on New Advent and found
nothing about what you have said.
You said: The Rosary is the one Mother
Mary at Lourdes gave to Sister Bernadette more
than a century ago, but St. Anthony lived way back
in 1200s A.D. and died between 1235 A.D. and 1237 A.D.
At that time, the ten-decade Rosary
was not said, rather a rope Rosary was used for
the 150-bead Psalm Rosary.
Why then is St. Anthony being
shown with the (five-decade) Lourdes Rosary?
Even St. Anthony might question
this if he miraculously appeared to see his Statue
with the Lourdes Rosary.
I'm unfamiliar with this history and I don't know
what a Mother Lourdes Rosary is.
Our Blessed Mother at Lourdes did ask Bernadette
to pray the Rosary, but I can't add anything past
that. Maybe my colleagues can add something.
The Rosary as we know it today was given to the
Church through a special vision from Our Blessed
Mother to St. Dominic who lived from about 1170 A.D.
to August 6, 1221 A.D.
It was in the year 1214 that the
Church received the Rosary in
its present form and according
to the method we use today. It
was given to the Church by St.
Dominic, who had received it from
the Blessed Virgin as a means
of converting the Albigensians
and other sinners. Saint Dominic,
seeing that the gravity of people's
sins was hindering the conversion
of the Albigensians, withdrew
into a forest near Toulouse, where
he prayed continuously for three
days and three nights. During
this time he did nothing but weep
and did harsh penances in order
to appease the anger of God. At this point our Lady appeared to
him, accompanied by three angels,
and she said,
"Dear Dominic, do you know which
weapon the Blessed Trinity
wants to use to reform the
world?"
"Oh, my Lady," answered
Saint Dominic, "you know
far better than I do, because
next to your Son Jesus Christ,
you have always been the chief
instrument of our salvation."
Then Our Lady replied, "I
want you to know that, in this kind
of warfare, the principal
weapon has always been the Angelic
Psalter (nowadays: the Rosary), which is the foundation-stone
of the New Testament. Therefore,
if you want to reach these hardened
souls and win them over to God,
preach my Psalter."
So he arose, comforted, and burning
with zeal for the conversion of
the people in that district, he
headed straight for the cathedral.
At once, unseen angels rang the
bells to gather the people together,
and Saint Dominic began to preach.
During this period of time the Blessed Virgin
revealed to Saint Dominic in a private revelation
15 promises to those who would devote themselves
to praying the Holy Rosary on a regular basis.
A few hundred years later these same promises
were revealed to Blessed Alan de la Roche (also
known as Blessed Alan De Rupe) in a private revelation.
Because these promises were handed down to
the Church in a private revelation, Catholics
are not bound to believe them at all.
That's the best I can do.
Mike
Richard
replied:
Hi, Mike —
I'm not sure when the practice of praying (five
decades of the Rosary at a time), rather than all
fifteen became common but it probably happened after
the lifetime of St Anthony.
If so, then a five-decade Rosary on
a statue of St. Anthony would be a sort of anachronism. <a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists.>
I think that is what Jonas is getting at.
I suppose this is a case of religious art taking
liberties with history: using a set of Rosary beads
in the form familiar to us.
Richard
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