Dominus Est It Is the Lord! Reflections of a Bishop of Central Asia on Holy Communion

With surgical precision the cure for the crisis of the Church is diagnosed and given its solution.From reading various reviews I expected to get more than I did in terms of this book eliciting some exciting promise for renewal, a pol-emetic. Instead I got something perhaps better, a significant line of sober witnesses-- of Martyrs, Confessors of the Church, Doctors of the Church, '"Eucharistic" women',and others--giving testimonies that are sweeping and deep, which collectively lead to the all but too plain fact and conclusion that it makes no sense the church stopped requiring the reception by the faithful of communion in a kneeling posture before the priest and from the priest's hand alone receiving Our Lord directly on the tongue; and that it ought to return to it. There is a powerful little package of hope here.This presentation of holy witnesses, by its bare bone simplicity, makes ones' common sense starkly reduce the present crisis in the church to the irreducible point where we are at--all that the Bishops need to do in the church to solve its problem is to convince the faithful they are most serious about broadly and consistently working uniformly at restoring reverence to Our Lord's preeminent presence in the Eucharist by making the experience of participating in its worship notable for being always extraordinarily different in its sacredness and reverence and by structuring the liturgy according to a tight set of richly dogmatic and symbolic universally held rubrics that build up about the consecration and communion a profound reverence and adoration. This brief, simply organized and simply stated discourse made up of common sense, "Dominus Est", is a go-to for the faithful to have recourse to in that restoration.Meanwhile I will pray.May all Catholics and Christians be one under our Eucharistic Lord and His Visible Catholic Church.

Unless you eat His body and drink His blood you do not have life within you...Dominus Est chronicles not just the significance of the Eucharist in our Catholic lives but the history of holy people defying the world in order to protect the Body and Blood of Christ. This short book puts the importance of defending the sacredness of the Holy Eucharist into sharp perspective. In these days of bagged Communion and a plethera of daily abuses to our Lord, there is no greater source of hope, inspiration, history and instruction on the source and summit of our Catholic faith than Dominus Est. It is the Lord! Let us rise-up, cherish Him, protect Him and put Him back into the center of our faith. Let Dominus Est assist us in the journey! This is one of the most important Catholic books ever published!!!

A great little 63-page book on the reverence we should show the Holy Eucharist. The primary method this booklet uses is to make the argument against receiving Communion in the hand. To a lesser degree a second argument is made that kneeling at Mass should not be phased out but rediscovered. The author, a bishop of Central Asia, says that Communion in the hand and less kneeling has furthered disbelief in the Real Presence. He includes this quote of Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict):"By going to Communion without 'discernment,' we fail to reach the heights of what is taking place in Communion; we reduce the Lord's gift to the level of everyday ordinariness and manipulation." (P.41)The opening chapter, "'Eucharistic Women' and Holy Communion in the Soviet Underground", discusses the great sufferings of Catholics in the former Soviet Union from 1917-1990. What lengths of heroism they resorted to, to protect, preserve, and distribute the Holy Eucharist.The discussion of Eastern attitudes towards the Holy Eucharist includes the information that "In some Eastern Liturgies, the consecrated Bread is designated by the name 'pearl.' (P. 35). The book is also a treasure trove of quotes from 2000 years of Christendom and among others includes the words of: Pope St. John Paul II, Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, Pope St. Gregory the Great, Blessed Columba Marmion, St. John Damascene, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Pope St. John XXIII, St. Peter Julian Eymard, and St. Francis of Assisi. Highly recommended.

I used to be one of those Catholics who took Holy Communion in the hand without a second thought. This brief but thorough book by Bishop Athanasius Schneider teaches that constant Church tradition favors taking communion kneeling, on the tongue, and the practice of taking communion in the hand is an abuse that arose shortly after the Second Vatican Council (without, however, having any support or justification in the documents of the Council itself or support of any Pope) that was allowed to creep in as an indulgence, which sadly then became the norm for many.Hopefully those Catholics who read this book will take note and treat Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament with the Reverence He is entitled to.

I read this after reading "Christus Vincit" by Bishop Schneider. This gives a bit of background into his life as well as the errors we need to correct in our reverence and reception of the Blessed Sacrament. It's very short, but it's a nice break from the longer books while containing what Catholics need to hear. Read it!!

This is so very needed right now - it's just wonderful!

It is rare, almost impossible, to find a Catholic Bishop worthy of the name. And yet, His Excellency Schneider is one such man: a man of God, and a faithful son of Holy Mother Church. Do not be fooled by the brevity of this work: from beginning to end it packs a mighty punch. For men of good will, it will serve to undo much of the confusion concerning "communion in the hand", caused by the insanity of the post-Conciliar hysteria to protestantize the Holy Roman Catholic Church. If we had more Bishops like Athanasius Schneider, modernism would be over

As someone who has tended to take the view that since receiving in the hand is in the Catechetical lectures of St. Cyril, there is ancient warrant for allowing this practice, I have to say that the Bishop has made me think hard about this issue. He makes an excellent case, clear and compelling, for the old Latin Rite practice of receiving on the tongue. He reminds us, beautifully, of the holiness of the moment and of the need for reverence. If you want the case for more reverence in our worship made in an irenic but firm fashion, you won't find a better book than this. Like another Athanasius, this one may be 'contra' much of the modern 'mundum', but it strikes me he's right.

A great experience to give an insight into the Eucharist and the importance of the Eucharist in our Lives. Christs words. ''Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you shall not have eternal life'', ''Those who eat my flesh and drink my vlood unworthily shal not have eternal life.''

I love this book and am extremely pleased with it. It serves me very well and sits by by bed.

Brilliant!

I have this book and have recommended it to several friends. In my opinion it should be available as catechetical material in every Catholic parish. The sloppiness and lack of reverence with which the Host is received by some people is tantamount to being a grave sin. Ambling, strolling up to the priest in a queue, looking bored! This would never have come about if we still had altar rails and if Communion in the hand had never crept in. Pope Benedict XVI always administers on the tongue now. How I wish he would make some pronouncement about it! But he knows what he's doing: he is teaching by example. The trouble is that the majority of Catholics haven't seen a Papal Mass even on television and think that those of us who watch EWTN are laughable.I urge all Catholics to buy and read this beautiful book. Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. If we don't believe this then we are not Catholic and should depart to a protestant church; not believing it and yet still receiving Communion is a grave sin. We should wish to make sure that our friends do not fall into this pit.MaryHoka2_99