Baby steps ....

At today's Mass for the Feast of Christ the King, a number of children in the parish received their First Holy Communion. Something completely unexpected and rather wonderful happened. Our parish priest, Father Thomas, used this opportunity to reintroduce kneelers for those who want to receive communion kneeling.

He cited the feast of Corpus Christi during which Pope Benedict first distributed communion to the faithful whilst they were kneeling and on the tongue and that Monsignor Marini had subsequently indicated that this was to become the norm at Papal masses, which has since proved to be correct. Father Thomas also asked people to reflect on the fact that particles of the Host can easily be transferred to the hand and that reception on the tongue was preferable in order to prevent this from happening. He also noted that the reception of communion in the hand was an exception, rather than the rule. From now on we will be able to kneel to receive communion. The choice, however, remains with the individual. Nevertheless, this is definitely a Father Z 'brick by brick' moment.

This may not seem to be particularly exciting news to most people, but I have never had the opportunity, before now, to receive communion kneeling. Thank you Holy Father and thank you Father Thomas.

Speaking of Corpus Christi again brought to mind our Corpus Christi procession earlier this year and I thought it might be a good idea to post a few pictures. Corpus Christi processions like this are, on the whole, rare in South Africa.

A beautiful carpet of flowers had been laid out for the Blessed Sacrament

This carpet extended all the way around the courtyard and ended at the entrance gate

The re-entry of the Blessed Sacrament through the church gates

Although we had only just entered winter it was a bitterly cold and rainy day. We processed to a park about a kilometre down the road where Father Manuel, another of the priests who serves at our parish, gave a Benediction. Another Benediction was given in the church on our return for those who could not participate in the procession. The amazing thing was that the rain held off for most of the procession and only started to really come down again when we returned.