Lay Readers | Distribution from the Reserved Sacrament?

Clipped from: https://www.aestheticritualism.com/articles/reserved-sacrament-distribution
By Fr Brandon LeTourneau

Feb 14

Written By Brandon LeTourneau

Introduction:

In the absence of regular access to ordained clergy, the need arises for lay distribution of Holy Communion to the Faithful. There are instances where a layperson may need to administer the Sacrament to even entire congregations. Although irregular, it is fortunate that our Prayer Book provides us with a form for such distribution. No doubt those who have read the Prayer Book are aware that the rites for Holy Communion allow – provided certain omissions are made in the liturgy – for the distribution of Communion from the Reserved Sacrament. What many fail to notice, however, is that these rubrical directives are for Diaconal distribution of Holy Communion only:

In the absence of a Priest, the Bishop may, at his discretion, authorize a Deacon to distribute Holy Communion to the Congregation from consecrated Bread and Wine. – 2019 Book of Common Prayer, 142.

One only has to read the rubrics to see that the Prayer Book assumes that it is a deacon using the modified rite – what is commonly called “Ante-Communion” with distribution of the Reserved Sacrament – and not licensed laity. Many seem to ignore the fact that this is quite clearly the incorrect form to be used by laity when distributing the Sacrament. So then what is appropriate? Once again, we are fortunate that there is such a rite: “Communion of the Sick.” Some may be surprised, but they shouldn’t be if they’ve read the rubrics. The “Communion of the Sick” is not for the sick only. The Prayer Book says clearly:

[L]ay persons may be trained and authorized to carry the consecrated elements of Christ’s Body and Blood to the sick (or those otherwise confined or kept away from regular celebrations of the Holy Communion) under provisions set forward by the Ordinary. – 2019 Book of Common Prayer, 222.

I would argue that those who are without a priest to regularly celebrate the Holy Communion fall under the category of those otherwise “kept away from regular celebrations of the Holy Communion.” The Communion of the Sick then is not only the solitary rite where a layperson may administer the consecrated elements, but it is also an appropriate rite for lay distribution in certain extenuating contexts. It must be asserted then that it alone must be followed by the laity, unless some alternative form is provided for the Province.

A Scottish Prayer:

The Following prayer was added to the Scottish Liturgies between 1764-1776 to be used in place of the Canon when distributing the sacrament from the “Reserved” or “Pre-Sanctified” gifts. You can see that it is based on the Canon, but the words have been changed so that what is consecrated is not the elements, but the communicants. The language has here been adjusted to accommodate contemporary liturgies. In the 2019 Book of Common Prayer’s “Communion of the Sick,” the rubrics allows for additional prayers to be said immediately after the sermon. This is when the follow may be used:

God our heavenly Father, in your tender mercy, you gave your only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption. He made there, by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and he instituted, and in his Holy Gospel commanded us to continue, a perpetual memory of his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again. So now, O merciful Father, in your great goodness, we ask you to bless and sanctify, with your Word and Holy Spirit, us your servants here assembled before you, and grant that we receiving these your gifts of bread and wine already consecrated into the most precious body and blood of your son our savior Jesus Christ, according to his holy institution, in remembrance of his death and passion, may be partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood: and sanctify our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto you.  And we earnestly desire your fatherly goodness mercifully to be favorable to us sinners: asking you to grant that, by the merits and death of your Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his Blood, we and your whole Church may obtain forgiveness of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion, may be filled with your grace and heavenly benediction, and be made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and we in him, and finally may obtain everlasting life with you, O Lord Almighty, being reconciled to us through him; by him, and with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. Amen.

– Rt. Rev. Alexander of Dunkeld.