www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Roman/Latin Catholic with many questions

Hi Christina,

You have a beautiful name. My daughter is also Cristina, but as you can see, in Spanish it is spelled without the "h".

Let me offer some opinions from a Roman Catholic perspective.

The rationale behind this practice is that if the Eucharist is our spiritual nourishment, then infants should be allowed to receive, as their spirits need nourishment in just the very same way an adult's spirit needs.

I happen to agree with the East in this respect.

Absolutely.

Good point.

In the Byzantine tradition, Leavened bread is used for the Eucharist. The bread is cut into small cubes and after the consecration, the cubes are dropped into the chalice.

The priest uses a golden spoon to take an individual cube (soaked in the Precious Blood) from the chalice and places it into the mouth of the communicant.

In the case of infants, no cube is taken, just a few drops of the Precious Blood, placed into the tiny mouth.

The similarity of this with cough drops might be a little mundane, but Christ is indeed our medicine.

Good question. I think there are variations from Church to Church, but in general, this happens pretty much at the same time than with us Romans (somewhere around 7 years of age).

Some Eastern Churches even have the tradition of making a party for a child's first confession, just like we do for a child's first confession and communion.

About the frequency, well, everybody should confess as frequently as required. I am not sure the once a year minimun is in force for Eastern Catholics.

Perhaps one of the Advent traditions that would be novel to us Romans is that of fasting. Advent fasting is not as strict as in Lent, but it is pretty much in force.

Also, the Byzantine Advent season starts a couple of weeks earlier than the Roman Advent, and does not mark the beginning of the liturgical year, which in the Byzantine tradition is always Sept. 1st.

My children are Roman Catholic and they do not believe in these idiotic caricatures.

They know that Santa Claus is a nick-name for Saint Nicholas, a good friend of Jesus who is always invited to the Lord's birthday party, but never to steal it away from Him. Santa's place is on his knees before the manger, just like everybody else.

The presents on Christmas morning come from the Child God (our Hispanic version of this tradition), which, in clear contrast to the Santa Claus deception, is the absolute truth for what do you have that doesn't come from the Lord?

Needless to say that more than a few parents of Cristina's classmates (from Catholic school, for Christ sake!) are ready to "excommunicate" all of us for such radical ideas.

The Easter Bunny is so out of range for our children, that it is not even a concern. The Eastern Bunny is a funny character associated with spring, with little or no religious significance.

We Christians have more important things to do at that time, like celebrating Pascha (Pascua, in Spanish), the Solemn Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord.

I totally agree.

Yes and yes.

Brace yourself. Just like Peter, John and James when at Mt. Tabor, you might want to stay there forever.

Most, if not all Byzantine parishes will have Divine Liturgy booklets available, which are quite easy to follow, so don't worry.

Even if you do not quite follow, don't worry, just follow the congregation while you catch up. Don't let the booklet (or your struggle with it) distract you from fully participating in the celebration of the Eucharist.

If you co to receive Holy Communion observe what the others do. The priest might ask your name before giving you Holy Communion.

To receive open your mouth, keep your tongue inside, tilt your head slightly backwards and close your mouth only when you're sure the spoon is out.

If you are not receiving, going to the altar with your arms crossed in front of your chest WILL NOT DO. This is the traditional pious position to receive. If you are not receiving, simply stay in your place.

There shouldn't be a problem, but use prudence. My children (7, 5 and 4 years old) are also good kids at Mass, but from time to time they get excited enough to take them out for a minue while they calm down.

Welcome aboard.

Shalom,
memo.

Dear Christina,

I really enjoyed and deepened my faith by attending a Byzantine Divine Liturgy. I was nervous about receiving Holy Communion with a spoon, but the priest made it it easy.

When I went back to my Roman Catholic parish the Mass is more spiritual and mystical for me.
I remember and pray the Trisagion when I am at Mass.

God bless you.

Paul

memo,

Thanks for your reply.

I hope to bring my daughter up without Santa Claus and the Easter bunny as well. I think that the emphasis on Santa Claus really distracts from the whole meaning of the holiday. But I would probably cause scandal within my own family as well. Although my mom who is Hungarian was also brought up to believe that St. Nicholas brought gifts on St. Nicholas' Day and that the Baby Jesus brought her gifts on Christmas day. There was no Santa Claus.

I am assuming from your post that you are still a member of the Roman Catholic Church who has a deep respect for some of the traditions of the Eastern Catholic Churches. If I may ask, have you tried to incorporate some of their traditions into your family?

Thanks,

Christina

Hi:

I'd be fine with this, but not having Byzantine family ties, there is no particularly strong devotion to St. Nicholas in my family and therefore his feast day passes just as any other feast of the saints.

And certainly my wallet doesn't need ANOTHER gift-giving holiday . My childrens' birthdays (11/5, 12/5 and 12/28) and the already existing traditions both for Christmas and Epiphany are quite enough for this time of the year.

Your assumption is correct. You may ask and the answer to your question is that not really. My love and respect for the Eastern traditions is not something I can say I share with my family.

When she's in good mood, my wife thinks that this part of my spiritual life makes me a little odd.

When she's not, "little" goes away, and "odd" is replaced by more colorful words, if I may put it that way.

Shalom,
Memo.

Dear Friends,

As far as St. Nicholas goes, you can always try what we do. We just put him back on his day (Dec. 6) and celebrate him with a visit to the kids. In addition to this, we remember him in our morning and evening prayers, read a story about him and just remember and honor what a historical saint he really was (focussing on his life for Christ).

Then, we celebrate the Nativity and Manifestation of Christ when that day arrives. Its been working well with our family and it helps us to keep focussed on what our Church is actually celebrating in its liturgical cycle.

In Christ's Light,

Ghazar

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

I am a Latin Catholic who has lived and worshiped with my Eastern brothers and sisters for many years earlier in my life. May I respond to some of the questions.

It is my understanding that the three Mysteries of Initiation were to follow each other in the same liturgical experince for the one initiated. In the Apostolic Tradition of both East and West, one was baptized, immediately chrismated, and immediately given the experience of the Living Christ in the Mystery of Holy Communion.

In the West, Confirmation or Chrismation was reserved to the bishop by custom. In the East, a bishop delegated this to his clergy. (Perhaps as a missionary necessity.) It was easy to keep the sequence going in the West when a bishop was nearby but eventually came to be separated as distances made a bishop's appearance at every Baptism impossible.

Confirmation was required, however, prior to one's reception of Holy Communion for the first time as late as 1910 in the Latin Church. In 1910, Pope St. Pius X, granted an Indult to the members of the Latin Church. That is, he relaxed the requirement for Confirmation to be given prior to the reception of Holy Communion so that young people would not have to wait for the grace of the Eucharist until they were confirmed.

My great grandmother related to me in the 1950s that she had to wait until she was 12 to receive her First Communion since the bishop of the diocese where she lived would not confirm before the age of 12. The age of confirmation varied, as my inquiries since that time have found, from the age of 7 (the age of "reason") to 12.

In some places in the Latin Church today, I have been told, there is permission for confirmation to be done at Baptism. I have this from people who are involved in catechesis who travel to regional conferences and exchange notes with their counterparts. On the other hand, my children had to wait until they were Juniors in high school since our bishop has taken the position that confirmation/chrismation should be a sacrament of adult initiation and be done as one becomes ready to reaffirm a more adult commitment to the Faith.

As with so many areas of orthopraxy, there seems to be as many practices and reasons for those practices as there are Christians.

Thank you all for sharing.

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

May I add my own experience of the first time I attended a Divine Liturgy and received Our Lord with those present?

I sat far enough back to observe how others responded--crossing themselves, bowing, etc., and soon figured out what should be doing.

I also got far enough back in the Communion line to be able to observe how others approached so I wouldn't be out of place.

But my most important consideration was to fit in so that I would not give offense or even scandal to anyone present. I believe that it is important to build up others by word and example. But that doesn't mean that one should be so hard on oneself that coming into the living experience of the Lord in the Liturgy is lost in worrying about the fact that I crossed myself in the opposite fashion.