June 12, 2010

Dear Fellow EMs,

Attached please find your copy of the EM Schedule covering the summer cycle from June 26th thru September 19th, 2010.

With this schedule we reinstitute the practice of distributing the precious blood at all masses. If you feel a bit rusty regarding the procedure, please consult your EM Guidelines booklet. If you’ve misplaced your Guidelines booklet, there are some in the input drawer at the base of the schedule distribution slots in the cabinet just outside the sacristy.
For those of you who also take communion to the sick and homebound, you’ll find the Guidelines for that portion of our ministry also attached. Please review them.
Deacon Vadino has asked that we identify all those currently distributing communion to the homebound so we can ensure they have all received the Archdiocesan and parish training required for that ministry. If you know of anyone not currently on our EM roster that is providing this service, please drop me a note with their names and I’ll contact them to arrange the training. Thank you!

The following reflection on “The Living Bread” by Caryll Houselander, British mystic, poet and spiritual teacher, may further enrich your appreciation for the Eucharist and our Ministry. It did for me.

“In the offering of the bread and wine we give material things, as our Lady gave her humanity, to be changed into Christ. At the words of consecration the bread and wine are not there any more;… instead, Christ is there. In that which looks and tastes and feels like unleavened bread, Christ comes closer to us even than the infant could come, even than the child in the womb. He is our food, our life. We give ourselves to him. He gives himself up to us. He is lifted up in the priest’s hands, sacrificed. God accepts the sacrifice and gives Christ back to us. He is lowered onto the altar; he who was taken down from the cross is given to us in Communion, buried, laid to rest in our hearts. It is his will to rise from the dead in our lives and to come back to the world in his risen Host-life. In his risen life on earth Christ often made himself recognized only by the characteristic of his unmistakable love, by showing his wounds, by his infinite courtesy, by the breaking of bread. He would not allow the sensible beauty and dearness of his human personality, his familiar appearance, to hide the essential Self that he had come back to give. Wholly consistent with this is Christ’s return to us in the Host. We know that in it he is wholly present: body, blood, soul and divinity. But all this is hidden; even his human appearance is hidden. Because this is the way of absolute love, he insists on coming to us stripped of everything but himself. For this self-giving Christ in the Host is poor, poorer than he was when, striped of everything, he was naked on the Cross. He has given up even the appearance of his body, the sound of his voice, his power of mobility… He has made himself as close to nothing as he could be, while still being accessible to us… In the Host, he is our life on earth today.”

Thank you again for the gift of your stewardship in this ministry.

Sincerely,

Norb Josten
EM Coordinator
(h) 610-874-9058
E-mail: josten3@comcast.net

Guidelines for EM’s taking Communion to the Sick & Homebound

The ministry of Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion (EM) includes the opportunity to carry the body of our Lord to the sick and homebound. Some EMs support this aspect exclusively while others undertake it occasionally or on an as needed basis. The training requirements of both Archdiocesan and Parish level EM training remain for any one fulfilling this important and sacred task.

Procedure for obtaining the Body of Christ:

Prior to the start of Mass, in the Vesting Room area of the sacristy, there is a metal door for the closet containing chalices, ciboria and other materials for celebration of Holy Mass.

On the shelf to the left, at about chest level, there is a stack of blank Communion Request slips about the size of a business card. The EM taking communion to the sick or homebound should take one of these cards, fill in their name and the number of hosts needed and, if they don’t already have a pyx (the small metal container used to transport the Eucharist) borrow one from the basket alongside the request slips. [These should be returned after use. Those of you performing this ministry regularly are encouraged to purchase a pyx of your own at a religious goods store.]

The EM then places both the slip and its accompanying pyx on the left side of the tabernacle (when facing it). Either the Celebrant or the Deacon will fill the pyx after distribution of Communion to the congregation. The Ordinary Minister (clergy) will place the filled Pyx back alongside the tabernacle for the EM to retrieve after Mass.
Note: The appropriate time for the EM to approach the tabernacle and retrieve their pyx now containing the host(s) is immediately after the conclusion of Mass once the Celebrant has processed from the altar.
Once the pyx is retrieved, the EM proceeds immediately to administer Communion to the recipient(s). Once the EM has the Sacred Species in hand, they must proceed to the distribution location. It is never appropriate to conduct other errands prior to administering Eucharist to the intended person(s).

Please address any questions regarding this ministry to Sister Eileen Mortimer, Norb Josten, Deacon Vadino or Father Bajorek.