Reservation and Eucharistic Adoration in the Anglican Church in North America's Texts for Common Prayer

I have added a section on the reservation of the sacrament and the adoration of the reserved sacrament to my article, “What’s Wrong with the New ACNA Eucharistic Rites? (Part 1)” For those who read the article before I added this section, I have posted the section below.

The General Instructions following the Long Form permit the reservation of the consecrated bread and wine "for future reception in a safe place set aside for that purpose" and, in the absence of a priest, the authorization of a deacon by the bishop to distribute the Holy Communion from consecrated bread and wine. They do not disallow the practice of adoration of the reserved sacrament.

Both the practice of reserving the sacrament for future reception and the practice of a deacon distributing Holy Communion from the reserved sacrament presume a substantive presence of Christ's body and blood in the consecrated bread and wine and give liturgical expression to a particular doctrine of eucharistic presence, the doctrine of Transubstantiation, a doctrine associated with the Roman Catholic Church and condemned by Article 28. .

As noted earlier in this article, Article 28 declares that Christ did not ordain the practices of reserving the sacrament and adoring the reserved sacrament. The 1662 Declaration on Kneeling denies any substantive presence of Christ's body and blood in the consecrated bread and wine.

The rubrics of the 1662 Communion Service direct that any consecrated bread and wine that remains after the Communion should be reverently consumed after the Blessing. The Restoration bishops took the position that bread and wine that had been used for sacramental purposes should be disposed of in a reverent manner and not returned to profane use. .

The entire article can be read here.

Photo: St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, Ft. Worth