By Cynthia Aralu

Hi everyone! Pray the Rosary.

Recently, I got told that “I like to do ‘Holy Holy'”. This is a Nigerian way of saying I was overdoing the practice of holiness in this person’s eyes and that I loved to do so a lot. It was an ordinary thing I mentioned that I might try. I told this person that I would try to kneel down to receive Holy Communion on the tongue and apparently that was doing too much.

I would normally receive Communion on my hand, but I noticed that when I received Communion from a certain church, there were particles left on my hand, and I had to lick it off my hand. It felt uncomfortable to me. Later on, I considered the possibility that I had missed seeing particles on my hand in the past. So, I resolved to receive Communion on the tongue.

This Sunday, I felt the minister gave me a weird look. I did not see anyone in the church receive Communion on the tongue. Perhaps, I imagined the weird look, but I felt triumphant that I went through with it.

On Monday though, I went to a different church and the priest acted strangely in my opinion. He picked up the Holy Communion and lifted his hand above his head, as he said, “The Body of Christ”, and then I stumbled over my response before I received the Communion on my tongue. I do not know his reasons. I cannot say. but it made me feel weird. In this church, some people receive Communion on the tongue on their knees, while other receive on the hand while standing. Could it be because I stood that he acted that way or perhaps something benign that I am not privy to?

You might wonder, “Why did you not kneel?”. Well, I did not have the comfort of a kneeler and I wondered if I could be graceful about kneeling on the ground.

On Wednesday, I decided to give it a go again at this same church and it was a total disaster. The minister was shorter than me, so I bent slightly, and she dropped the Communion before it reached my tongue. The second time, she got it. I was in shock and my day felt even more disagreeable than it was at that moment. I could not say my prayers completely and I left the church distracted.

It has been weird for me so far. It should not even be. I grew up receiving Communion on the tongue in Nigeria and we would kneel at the altar rail, on the kneeler, which was in a semi-oval shape and separated the altar from the congregation. We had altar servers who walked with the priest, with a paten in hand to catch any accidental fall of the Communion when it is given to communicants. I do not know if this is still the practice there because people started receiving on the hand when there was an outbreak of Ebola. I think people went back to receiving on the tongue after it was over, but I didn’t. When I went back in January, I received Communion on my tongue while standing, at a weekday mass. I think I might have been doing as I saw people do. A Sunday mass will be different there, with people using the kneeler.

Anyway, as I walked to the bus stop, I considered that perhaps I was doing something wrong with the way I received Communion, so I decided to google, “How to receive Communion on the tongue”. There were things I never considered on the video I watched.

Regardless, I felt like I was trying to do something good, but the worst happened. I considered strongly going back to receiving Communion on the hand but when I got called “Holy Holy”, it was a fuel to do it again but this time around kneeling down, because the act of kneeling to receive Communion on the tongue should not be considered excessively holy. It is right and just or in other words, fitting for our King, and I am not my standard of holiness. I also thought, “What if I am being called to do this?”.

Then, I remembered that as a kid in secondary school I was called “Holy Holy” once and left out of a conversation because they did not want to corrupt me. I hated it and denied being holy. Now, it feels like perhaps I might be on the right path in my life since I have been told this again. Although, I have to say, human standards can be faulty.

Today, I will be trying some of the suggestions I got from the video and also getting on my knees. I have even practiced doing this at home and at work. I am feeling embarrassed actually about the whole ordeal, but I need to get through it to get over it.

Thank you for reading today’s post. Remember to like this post and share it with your friends if you enjoyed it. Follow me on my blog, Katmira’s blog or my podcast, Amara’s Musings, to receive notifications whenever I have a new post. You can also subscribe below to get an email notification whenever a new post is out. This is particularly helpful if you don’t have a WordPress account.

Pray the Rosary. Let it be, until we meet again or “Ka ọ dị” as it is said in Igbo.