Receiving Holy Communion

Very rarely the thumb of the priest does make contact with the tongue of a communicant. When this happens, it is nearly always because the communicant unexpectedly moves his head forward in order to receive the Host. Please observe these norms when receiving Holy Communion:

• Close your eyes. This is one of the most effective and easiest remedies, as it will prevent the communicant from instinctively moving towards the Host just before receiving.
• Do not overextend the tongue. The tongue should be more or less horizontal to the floor (usually achieved by only slightly tilting the head up), and resting on the lower lip. 
• Try to hold steady. Take effort not to sway back and forth while receiving.
• Keep hands behind the altar rail, and below the paten. Ideally, hands should be folded and held against the torso. Pushing hands beyond the altar rail forces the priest to “dodge” out of the way, and is distracting. Holding hands immediately under the chin risks the Host falling on the floor, as the paten will not be able to be placed properly by the server.

  If, despite these precautions, contact is made, the priest will do an ablution and then sanitize his hands before returning to distribution.