Communion in the hand and fingers.

"Bread can stay fresh for two years?!" @F M Shyanguya

Matzos can, especially Manischewitz. So long as you don't open the sealed plastic inner bag, those things will stay good forever!

During the spring, I was cleaning out the basement, typical spring cleaning stuff. Like a lot of New Englanders, we keep at least two weeks worth of food/ supplies on hand because winters can be fantastically brutal. A blizard hits, and that's it. You just lost a week. So, I was vacuuming up all the cobwebs, (how can a basement have so many spiders during the winter? what do the eat?) I notice there's an old Hannaford bag that had fallen behind one of the shelves. Now we haven't shopped at Hannaford for ages. Rummage, rummage... there's two boxes of Manischewitz Matos. I check the date. "Best Used Before 2010".

Oh man, these things have been down here since Obama was in office.

Naturally, I couldn't resist bringing them back up to the kitchen and fixing a snack. Still delicious. Dry, crisply, good flavor, all from a box of ten year old matzos.

Seriously, if any of you are into all that derpy doomsday prepper nonsense, matzohs will guarantee you have fresh dry bread on your family's table long after everything else has run out.

A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who also stripped him, and having wounded him went away, leaving him half dead.

[31] And it chanced, that a certain priest went down the same way: and seeing him, passed by. [32] In like manner also a Levite, when he was near the place and saw him, passed by. [33] But a certain Samaritan being on his journey, came near him; and seeing him, was moved with compassion. [34] And going up to him, bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine: and setting him upon his own beast, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. [35] And the next day he took out two pence, and gave to the host, and said: Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend over and above, I, at my return, will repay thee.

[36] Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbour to him that fell among the robbers? [37] But he said: He that shewed mercy to him. And Jesus said to him: Go, and do thou in like manner. St Luke Ch 10

@F M Shyanguya As is also my custom, my angle remains solidly Catholic and supported by Canon Law. ;-) Passover Matzos must be made of only flour and water. The flour must be (from wiki) "ground from one of the five grains specified in Jewish law for Passover matzo: wheat, barley, spelt, rye or oat."

Thus a wheat passover matzoh (as opposed to, say, a barley one) would qualify according to Canon Law 924.2 which states:"The bread must be only wheat and recently made so that there is no danger of spoiling."

Canon Law doesn't delineate the period of time that qualifies as "recently made". Near as I can tell, the phrase "recently made" appears only in that one section.

Now someone with a bunch of badly rustled jimmies might argue that ten year old unleavened bread doesn't count as recently made. "Neener-neener, that'll teach ya to disprove my girlfriend's "Thesis" so bad I had to delete yer comment." :P

I already anticipated that line of argument even before making my first matzo-related comment here. ;-)

I'll explain and thus, charitably (from me, no less) save that unhappy author considerable embarrassment on a post where he can't control the narrative according to his preference for falsehood.

Jesus tells us in John 5:22 "For neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son." Thus Jesus Himself is the ultimate arbiter and best judge when it comes to matters concerning His Church, including the notion of time.

In Revelation 22:7, Jesus also says, "And, Behold I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book."

Applying scale of reference Jesus has for "I come quickly" to His Church's law requiring "recently made" does widen the interim up a wee bit. ;-)

Canon Law gives the proviso, "so that there is no danger of spoiling" as the final criterion. A wafer that was spoiled (due to bad ingredients, manufacturing, or improper packing) would still violate Canon Law, even if it was. in fact, "recently made". So ultimately, once the ingredients have been established, freshness must be the deciding factor for the celebrating priest and ascertained beforehand.

In this instance, the moment the sealed inner bag was cut open, the sweet aroma of freshly baked matzo wafted out, a mere ten years later.

Granted, I'm not seriously suggesting a priest should celebrate the Mass using my old matzos. For one thing, matzos are notorious for sending crumbs everywhere. Some of us DO take the matter of sacred particles a bit more seriously than those handing out Communion like snack-time cookies at a day-care. :P

However, a priest could celebrate the Mass using my old matzos and still be entirely within the laws of the Church. God forbid it should ever come to that but given the state of things today, it isn't entirely beond possibility.

The times we live in, eh?

When I was an altar boy, we were still using the paten during Holy Communion. So, the bases would be covered. There was a good amount of people still receiving on the tongue back then.

But, I see some of the responses in this thread, and the usual suspects trying to dismiss Holy Communion in the hand as the norm and it's not. It has an indult brought about due to disobedient bishops that requires 8 conditions that is broken every time at the Holy Sacrifice of the mass where Holy Communion is distributed in the hand.

Holy Communion in the hand can never take away reverence from the sacrament itself. Unless it is done among priests who have consecrated hands, it takes away reverence from the sacrament every time when people with unconsecrated hands touch our Lord.

But, what do I know. Let's ask the angelic doctor of the church who is the dogmatic theologian:

“Because out of reverence towards this sacrament, nothing touches it, but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest’s hands, for touching this sacrament. Hence it is not lawful for anyone else to touch it except from necessity, for instance, if it were to fall upon the ground or else in some other case of urgency.” Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Doctor of the Church

" Unless it is done among priests who have consecrated hands, it takes away reverence from the sacrament every time when people with unconsecrated hands touch our Lord."

That's a very, very incisive point.

"the usual suspects trying to dismiss Holy Communion in the hand as the norm"

Usual lies from the usual suspects. I call them "Jimmies".They're designed to change the "flavor" of the discussion on GTV, just like those equally artificial candy-sprinkles on ice-cream. ;-)