3 January 2015

Learning from Luther

Cardinal Marx believes in learning from Luther. Today, Rorate publishes a nice early engraving of Lutherans receiving Holy Communion into their mouths, and kneeling.

Nuff' said.

5 comments:

Highland Cathedral said...

Do the Lutherans still do it that way and, if not, when did they change their practice?
Notice,also, a proper crucifix. All we have in my local church is a thing consisting of bits of metal at right angles to each other.

Long-Skirts said...

THE
KNEELERS

We are St. Joan,
Philomena, Campion
The Faith in its whole
Is what we do champion.

We are St. Margaret,
Pearl of York
Where the bowels of the Faith
They tried to torque.

We are St. Thomas,
Becket the Saint
Whose reputation
They could not taint.

We are vocations
Large families and kneeling
Adoring His presence
It's not just a feeling.

We are descendents
Of Tradition and beggin'
To stop all the men
Who are turning us pagan!

We are the poor,
Uneducated ones
But in faith well-informed
The heretic shuns.

And when Synod says,
“God’s Word, just ignore.”
Since we are true Catholics
We kneel and ADORE!!

William Weedon said...

Father, at my local Lutheran parish there is a crucifix upon the altar and another above the pulpit. The communicants receive the blessed Eucharist upon their knees and for the most part in their mouths. Our pastor also elevates the Sacrament at the consecration.

Athelstane said...

Highland:

Many conservative Lutheran communities still kneel at an altar rail - some receiving in the right, some on the tongue; this is the usual practice at Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) churches, for example.

Indeed, the LCMS services I have had occasion to attend in the past frankly looked much more Catholic to the casual eye than the norm in typical Catholic parishes - the usual provisos that, yes, the latter have the Eucharist and the former do not, are a given. But it did give me pause - and not a comforting pause.

Anonymous said...

@highland cathedral
At least here in Germany you still can find nice kneeling benches in quite many Lutheran churches, and also in the Northern Countries like Sweden. When it comes to what Lutherans here usually call the Abendmahl, however, you see many different styles of receiving: some kneel and just open the mouth, some stay and open the hans, some dip in... It changed graduallly certainly influenced from the latest catholic customs, starting in the 70s. Lately now, also secondary Abendmahl Tables are being introduced, often at churches with ,liturgically informed' clerics who want to behave more oecomenically. The traditional altar arrangements with a high altar, only, still also can be found. In general you can say that the Lutherans have a tendency to preserve old things and customs. F.i. You find beautiful gothic originals more often in Lutheran churches in the North than in catholic churches. Unfortunately, the use of the patene which you so nicely see on the picture at rorate mostly disapeared, like the elder priests on the picture instead of whom nowadays more or less young ladies became the majority.