Why I Receive Communion on the Tongue

“Receive Holy Communion with courage, peace and humility, in response to the Divine Spouse, Who, in order to unite Himself to us, humbled Himself and so wonderfully abased Himself as to become our very food.” – St. Francis de Sales

The short answer to this question, why do I receive on the tongue, is because my husband asked me to. He had his reasons, which I may one day share with you, if anyone is interested. But he is a convert, he knew nothing of Pre-Vatican II, and he asked me to. He doesn’t ask much of me, so I complied, as did our children. I honestly didn’t give it too much thought, as both receiving in the hand and on the tongue are considered licit by the USCCB. I had been taught as a child to receive on the hand, but around 4 or so years ago, I switched at my husband's request.

But this morning I was in church, after having had another strange dream. In my dream, there were many things that happened, including coming across a past President, but the thing that stuck out most to me toward the end of my dream, I was laying down on the ground and it was night. I was looking up at the sky and staring at the moon. The moon was full and bright, and a cloud appeared to encircle the moon. As I adjusted my view, the cloud circling around the moon and another cloud formed where my view of the center of the moon would be. It formed the shape of a cross. The moon suddenly illuminated and looked exactly like a Eucharistic Host. I woke up and immediately realized it was First Friday, and I should go to Mass. I usually try to make at least one weekday Mass, if not more, but this week’s schedule was very busy and I had not made the time to go. I knew though, that I needed to today.

While I was at Mass, I was preparing my heart to receive the Eucharist, and all of the sudden an image popped into my head. The image was of a Father feeding his infant child. It struck me as odd. But then I realized, an infant child is totally and completely at the hands of her parents. She is totally dependent and vulnerable. She cannot even feed herself.

I thought of Christ, feeding me with the Eucharist. I wanted to be totally and completely dependent and vulnerable to Him. I wanted to be fed, like a parent feeds a child. With their hand to my mouth, in total dependence.

This is not meant as a judgement on anyone who receives in the hands. For Christ wants us to receive Him with a pure heart in awe and adoration. It was just a realization for me in a tangible way, that if I use my hands, I am trying to exact a measure of control on how I receive God. And I simply want to be totally dependent on him, and receiving on the tongue is a physical way for me to portray this to Our Lord.