From my childhood I knew the Church’s teaching of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, but when I read “Dominus Est” (It is the Lord!) I felt challenged: do I have enough respect for Our Lord in the Eucharist? Do I realise how fortunate I am to be able to go to mass and receive Holy Communion?

The author is The Most Rev Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Karaganda, who was born of German parents in 1961 in Kirghizstan, and deported to Central Asia by the Soviet Authorities.

The Eucharist was received in the hand only up to the 6th Century when the Church began to distribute the Eucharist directly into the mouth. Liturgist Joseph Jungmann notes that this eliminates the need for the faithful to purify the palm of their hand, and demonstrates the Church’s concern that not even the smallest particle of the Eucharist should be lost.

Christ invites us to receive the Kingdom of God like a little child (Luke 18:17), so the attitude of a child is the truest and most profound attitude of a Christian before God. It was a Middle Eastern tradition for the head of the house to feed his guests with his own hand, placing a piece of bread into their mouths. So it is highly probable that Christ gave the bread of the new covenant to the apostles directly in the mouth.

Gestures have always been important when showing veneration. In a recent explanation of Divine Liturgy of the Russian Orthodox Church the faithful are “to approach the chalice with fear of God”. “Each one must prostrate on the ground, adoring Christ truly present in the Sacred Mysteries”. The ancient liturgical tradition of the Coptic Church states “Let all prostrate on the ground, small and great, and then they will begin to distribute Communion”.

Throughout the two millennia history of the Church there has been organic development in the piety of the Eucharist. The Church fathers throughout history, through Pope John Paul II and up to Pope Benedict XVI, have all exhorted the faithful to show proper care and reverence in receiving the Sacred Species of Holy Communion. We therefore must show the reverence due to Christ and receive him like “like little children”.

John Lawson is due to be ordained in the Parish of St Joseph’s New Malden on 12 June 2009.